Morning Wrap: Rick Pitino and Louisville Wins Battle of the Pitino's

((ht: espn.com))

It's not very often you see father coaching against son. Sure, it's happened, just not frequently.

Friday night, college basketball fans were treated to that rare event.

Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals squared off with Richard Pitino and his squad from Minnesota at a U.S Air Force base inAguadilla, Puerto Rico. And suffice to say...a Pitino won.

It was the more experienced Rick and slightly more talented Louisville who walked away from the gym with the victory, 81-68.

Montrezl Harrell dropped 30 points, Terry Rozier had 18 to lead the Cardinals. And by the way, this wasn't the first time the Pitino's squared off. Rick now holds a 2-0 lead in the coaching series against his son.

Highlights from ESPN.com:

Teenager Scores Against Louisville In Hoops

((HT: Mike Rutherford's Vine/College Basketball Talk))

Patrick McSweeney, a 15-year-old battling leukemia since the age of five, got plugged into the Bellarmine hoops program through a Boston-based nonprofit that matches chronically ill children with local college teams known as Team IMPACT.

Here's his bucket against the Cards...


And here's how WHAS-TV covered McSweeney's debut
Louisville coach Rick Pitino said afterwards: "(Sunday was) a cool thing for a young man. Everyone in Card Nation and at Bellarmine is praying that he makes a nice recovery."
Pitino is 100-percent correct...

NCAA Friday: It Wasn't The Two Fours, But It Did Bring An 8

((HT: March Madness TV))

The HQ thought that the most underrated seeds in the men's college basketball tournament were the two 4's in Michigan State and Louisville...

Turns out the 8-seed Kentucky has something to say about that...
In a back-and-forth game that resembles any regular season meeting between the two, UK beat U of L to move on to the final 8 teams left and will get Michigan Sunday night.

Here's the ending...


Michigan State held off Virginia in the other Friday game- knocking out a 1-seed- by a team a lot of people thought should never be a 4-seed...

There are 3 B1G schools in the Elite 8 for 1st time since 2005- when it was Illinois, Michigan State, and Wisconsin. The Illini and MSU made the Final 4, but UNC won the title that year.

Rick Pitino's Tattoo: Things We Didn't Need to See

Wow! Rick Pitino wins an NCAA Tournament title coaching the Louisville Cardinals and celebrates by getting a tattoo?

Yup.

Apparently Pitino promised he'd do just that if his team won the title. And he's apparently made good on the promise.

Behold the red L in it's pasty Italian greatness.

You know...while we respect Pitino and the job he did with the Cardinals this year, we kind of think this is one of those things that probably shouldn't be shared publicly.

Though in hindsight, we suppose since the usually nattily attired Pitino will have this covered at all times, we kind of wonder what would have happened if the bet was that he had to shave his head.

Just a thought...

Richard Pitino to Get Minnesota Coaching Gig

((ht: cbssports.com/goodman))

Richard Pitino

Wow! Really....

30-year old Richard Pitino, son of Louisville coach Rick Pitino, is moving on up in the coaching ranks.

According to a report by Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com, the younger Pitino is expected to be named head coach at the University of Minnesota, replacing the fired Tubby Smith.

Pitino just finished his 1st season as a head coach at Florida International, where his team won 18 games. The job at FIU was his first as a head coach.

Read the Jeff Goodman story on CBSSports.com RIGHT HERE

Talk about moving on up.

Pitino the younger has been an assistant at Florida and under his dad at Louisville, coaches his own team 1-year and is now in the Big 10. And replacing a coach that many questioned the firing of (Smith)

At Minnesota, he inherits a team that was mid-pack in the Big 10, but had won 20-games or more in 5 of the past 6-seasons under Smith. The Gophers were in this years NCAA Tourney, winning one game before losing to Florida in the South Regional.

As for his previous team, FIU was 8-21 the season before Pitino's arrival, so 10-more wins is a significant upgrade.

DEVELOPING: Pitino Won't Coach Past End Of Contract

((HT: WDRB-TV))

Even if that is the 2016-2017 season...

That would mean, if the HQ's math is right, that he would have coached at Louisville for 16 seasons if he makes it to the end of his contract.

Pitino is the only coach to lead three different schools to a Final Four appearance, and was given a four-year contract extension back in August.

He'll be making between three and four million a year between now and the end of the contract at present...

Here's the early thoughts from Louisville...