Louisville's Rick Pitino shows ugly side after loss to Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rick Pitino is paid roughly $6 million a year. You’d think part of earning that salary would be handling defeat – even bitter defeat – with an ounce of grace and accountability.
The coach of the Louisville Cardinals displayed none of that Saturday. On a day when his team played reasonably well and extremely hard before falling 75-73 to archrival Kentucky, Pitino made himself the talking point by bailing on postgame interviews and (perhaps) flipping off Wildcats fans on his way off the Rupp Arena floor.
Failing to face this particular music, after the Cardinals pretty much played their guts out, was an embarrassment. Sending out associate coach Ralph Willard to handle the press conference was a colossal copout. Willard has done a few other postgame media ops in Pitino’s place this season – including their only other loss, at Michigan State – but you don’t pull that maneuver here and now. Not after the Kentucky game.
If Pitino’s intention all along was not to do interviews after this game, that was never relayed to the media. And, again, this isn’t the game for that. This is no time for Ralph Willard. This is the time for the $6 million man.
The alleged flip-off is less conclusive. Fans and media members pored over cell-phone video of the alleged flip-off like the Zapruder film, creating Bluegrassy knoll conspiracies. It was virtually impossible from the video to know for sure.
Still, it would seem more likely that Pitino was giving someone in the crowd the bird than waving hi. He likely wasn’t in much of a wave-hi mood at that moment.
Kentucky fans have been merciless over the years to a guy who rebuilt the program from the ashes of probation, and that has bothered Pitino. The ugliness has been out of proportion, given his major contribution to UK’s history.
But I didn’t see any signs Saturday or other overt shots at Louisville’s rich, inviting troll target: the ongoing NCAA investigation into an alleged escort scandal in the basketball program. Pitino has had ruder welcomes to his old arena in years past.
Still, he handled this loss like a thin-skinned 37-year-old – like the guy who came to Kentucky as its coach in 1989 – instead of a 63-year-old Hall of Famer. Which probably has a lot to do with who he lost to.
Pitino always has been one of the world’s worst losers, which is a significant reason why he loses so rarely. It clearly eats away at his innards and tends to make him an incredibly hard guy to be around in the hours and days after a loss.
And nothing brings out the sore-loser demon in Pitino more than being defeated by Kentucky. Especially Kentucky coached by John Calipari. Regardless of the pregame grip-and-grin they annually stage, the two men detest each other.
Calipari now has beaten Pitino eight times in nine meetings since they got to their current schools. Cal’s current winning streak in the series is now four.
More painful for Louisville fans is that this was a game the Cardinals could have – and maybe should have – won. If Kentucky is the better team, it is by a thin margin. The Wildcats came into this showdown having lost to 7-5 Ohio State last Saturday, while the 11-1 Cardinals rolled in on a six-game winning streak against outmanned competition.
Kentucky needed a lot of great things to happen to pull out this victory, after a 16-point lead was reduced to a one-possession game in the final minute. It needed a masterful, 39-minute performance from point guard Tyler Ulis – scoring 21 points, handing out eight assists, committing just one turnover and dogging Louisville counterpart Quentin Snider into a shutout. It needed a 14-point, six-rebound, three-block performance from Alex Poythress, including a stretch in the second half when Poythress took over and Kentucky expanded its lead to 16 points. It needed a miraculous shooting day from backup Dominique Hawkins, a defensive specialist and 17 percent career 3-point shooter who splashed three 3s and scored 13 points, nearly doubling his previous career high of seven.
“It’s a great win for this group,” Calipari said. “They do know this is who we have to be and how we have to play. That kind of energy, that kind of aggressiveness, that kind of attack, that kind of loose offensive [play]. And again, that’s against a really good team. That team, Louisville’s going to do some damage and I don’t know how we’ll finish, but they will be one of those teams left standing. We may have them again.”
College basketball should be so lucky.
The two combatants in the game’s fiercest rivalry have met twice in the NCAA tournament in the past four years. Kentucky has won both of them – one in the Final Four in 2012, one in the Sweet 16 two years later. That’s part of the Big Blue baggage Pitino has carried around like a millstone in recent years.
Both teams are good enough – and have enough growth ahead of them, with still-developing rosters – to be national championship contenders. The outcome of this game, while mightily significant to the fans on either side of the rivalry, doesn’t alter that belief. If anything, it reinforces it.
If they do meet again, you’d hope Rick Pitino would handle the outcome better than this one. Win or lose. Because this was a weak showing by a coach who is bigger and better than he acted.
