With less than two weeks to go before college basketball teams throughout the country begin practicing, the sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant war of words between Kentucky's John Calipari and Louisville's Rick Pitino is back in the news.

This time it's Calipari on the offensive. The Big Blue Nation leader launched the latest barb during an interview with KSTV's Matt Jones while in the middle of paying a visit to the Kentucky fans camping out for tickets to UK's Big Blue Madness event on Oct. 14.

Among other things, Calipari noted that part of what makes Kentucky basketball great is that it's the only real program in the state.

"It's a unique thing," Calipari said. "There's no other state, none, that's as connected to their basketball program as this one. Because those other states have other programs. Michigan has Michigan State, California has UCLA, North Carolina has Duke. It's Kentucky throughout this whole state, and that's what makes us unique."

Louisville, according to the most recent "L" edition of the World Book Encyclopedia, resides within the borders of the state of Kentucky.



