Only when two lovers are separated does that deem true. And the saying, "out of sight, out of mind", does not apply to the rematches that this week holds.
Not when Tom Izzo and Roy Williams both shared the sideline at Ford Field in Detroit this past April in the national title game. That game, too, was a rematch of the Big 10/ACC Challenge earlier last season. This time they meet in Chapel Hill at the Dean Dome where Dickie V says North Carolina's sophomore point guard Larry Drew will "be the key factor in tonight's game." The eleventh ranked Tar Heels have not forgotten the ninth ranked Spartans just because they are out of conference foes and not part of the elite Atlantic Coast Conference. The loss to Syracuse proved that conferences like the Big 10 and Big East are not too far behind the ACC when it comes to powerful and highly ranked teams. Izzo and his boys in green and white haven't forgotten the loss to Williams' Tar Heels in neither last year's Big 10/ACC Challenge nor last year's national title game. The Challenge's games are already exciting but with a team hungry for vengeance and full of experience visiting the home court of a young but talent-packed reigning champion, we are certain this game will be one for the books.
The other rematch this week comes on Saturday as the two top ranked football teams meet for the crowning of the SEC Championship. The Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide will meet in a rematch of last year's conference championship game. The 364 days since their last battle has not been a time of fond hearts and bittersweet separation. The Alabama boys have wanted another shot at Tim Tebow and the boys from Florida since the second the game ended in the Georgia Dome last year. The two teams have been equally talented and successful in their regular seasons this year just as they were last year. Two of the best offenses in the nation, two of the best defenses in the nation, two of the best coaches in the nation, and two potential Heisman candidates. The rematch will be a story played out in true Southeastern Conference fashion that we will want Eli Gold, Alabama's famed radio broadcaster, to tell us for years to come. Out of sight, out of mind? No and no. Just because the two teams haven't seen one another on the grid iron this year doesn't meant that they haven't had their eyes on eachother all year long. It's been talked about and anxiously awaited for since Florida and Alabama have traded places amongst the rankings and held their opponents in defeat for twelve straight weeks. This rematch is almost too good to be true.
Enjoy the best of the best this week. College basketball and college football - the beginning of one season and the ending of another - but either way, revenge and redemption are looming.
As always, Go Heels and Roll Tide!
-BJJ
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