Rick Pitino
Rick Pitino
Richard Andrew "Rick" Pitino is an American basketball coach. Since 2001, he has been the head coach at the University of Louisville, and coached the Cardinals to the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. As a college head coach, Pitino has also served at Boston University, Providence College and the University of Kentucky, leading that program to the NCAA championship in 1996. In addition to his college coaching career, Pitino also served two stints in the NBA, coaching the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth18 September 1952
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
They do such a good job of penetrating. We got beat constantly off the dribble. It was a matter of a team much more athletic than us. Our style is a very athletic style being played by not very athletic people.
This group is inexperienced, but once they start practicing together more, I think the sky is the limit to how good they can become. We've won all our games not because of who we played but because we've played them all at home. It will be interesting to see how they handle going into this environment.
This is the most disappointing preseason I've experienced in a long time. We'll look for the silver lining, and when I can find it, I'll let everyone know.
They're just physically more talented. They're bigger and better.
They're going to have to get a coach as good as Bob Huggins, and that's not easy to find. But if they can attract someone of the caliber of Bob Huggins, they can certainly continue.
It's a big hindrance. If we were playing in the Maui Classic, we'd be in seriously bad shape. But we're not. We're starting at home. We think we can withstand these injuries.
The whole NIT we're playing great defense, that's what we're trying to stress. We talked about, we can't hang our heads because we had injuries, we can't hang our heads because we're young. If you can head to the NIT Final Four, it means you're playing good basketball.
I've never beaten a team that played that well. This is the gutsiest, most phenomenally tough group that I've ever been around.
These are special fans. That was a great 14,000 fans - they were terrific. The NIT is a chance for some of our fans who don't have season tickets to help our team, which they did tremendously. I think our guys responded like there was a lot at stake, because there is a lot at stake.
I've tried to talk to him about it. He's not playing with Francisco, Larry (O'Bannon) and Ellis. And they know every little move that each other makes. He's playing with all new people. They don't know each other. He's got to let the game come to him and trust his teammates. And the more he goes inside to (center) David (Padgett) the more open shots he's going to get.
Missouri State is a great team. We now know how the Missouri Valley Conference is underrated and probably Creighton and Missouri State should be in (the NCAA Tournament).
Nobody we've played this season, ... has come with this much size, this much talent and this much experience. North Carolina and Georgia Tech probably have the most overall talent. Now that they're healthy, they're probably believing they can do it.
We've never been a Top 20 team, at least not yet. Don't get carried away with beating Louisville. Any win in the Big East is great, but I wouldn't use it as a barometer.
We didn't have any bench, so rather than come in with all second-unit guys, I figured let's mix it up so we didn't lose anything when we subbed.