NEW ORLEANS — Crazy things happen when a state becomes divided along basketball lines.
On Monday, at a dialysis center in Georgetown, Ky., Louisville fan Charles Taylor hit Kentucky fan Ed Wilson after the former said Wilson gave him the finger.
“I went up to him and I hit him,” Taylor reportedly said. “Didn’t hit him that hard, but I hit him.”
“The Louisville fan punched out the Kentucky fan?” Wildcats coach John Calipari asked Thursday when informed of the event. “I’m dissappointed by that.”
Said Kentucky senior Darius Miller of the dialysis fight: ” I actually hadn’t heard that. That is pretty crazy.”
Still, as wild as that story is, it may pale in comparison to what Louisville shooting guard Chris Smith said happened to him this week.
“I would say the craziest thing is, I was walking through the mall and a Kentucky fan asked for a ticket to the game,” the former St. Benedict’s Prep guard said here Thursday.
“She said if I give her a ticket to the game and we win, she’ll run on the court butt naked.”
Was she cute?
“No,” Smith quipped with a deadpan.
Smith, the younger brother of Knicks guard J.R. Smith, didn’t produce the ticket but he does believe the Cardinals can produce the upset win on Saturday.
In fact, he’s pretty confident his team can avenge the 69-62 New York’s Eve loss at Rupp Arena.
“I don’t think they’re in as good a shape as us really and that will hurt them down the stretch,” Smith said of a Wildcats team loaded with future NBA players like Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Terrence Jones. “But I would say their guys have matured a lot as players now, so it’s kind of scary actually. Once a basketball player is matured, they pretty much become men.
“They have pros on their team, so it’s no fluke that they won a lot of games.”
Still, after his team worked out Thursday, Smith said, “I’m probably more confident right now than ever. Walking on that court this morning, that made me even more confident that we could beat them.”
And if that happens, watch out for the streaking Kentucky fan.
