Louisville Basketball

[Boston Red]

I've always hated Big East basketball. Those Georgetown/Syracuse games were always on Sunday afteroons on CBS back in the day and used to bore me to death. I loved it when Louisvillle was in the Metro and played a team from a different major conference (or at least a powerhouse team from outside the conferences) on national TV every weekend (Syracuse, Kansas, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Ohio State, UCLA, NC State, Maryland, UNLV, DePaul and Notre Dame were pretty regularly in the rotation). Those were the best of times.

Unfortunately, football caused all the conference realignment and kind of ruined everything.

[BoxingRed]

Glad to see Preston! go out in style. Didn't get to see the game but I am looking forward to seeing the highlight of the no look flip to end the half.

For any Cards fan that aren't already in the know, CardChronicle.com is an outstanding fan run site. Often tongue-in-cheek but almost always insightful and informative, this fanpage/blog can be a bit off color on occasion, so hide your eyes if you are really sensitive.

[WVRed]

Was at the WVU-Louisville game today. Louisville pretty much got screwed in the last 19 seconds.

I don't see Louisville making a big run in the NCAA tournament. The spread the court style offense Pitino has been using can work against some teams, but Louisville's lack of size (both inside and the guards) really showed today. When they get hot, they can score points in a hurry, but if you put them against a more physical team like WVU, its not going to help.

[BoxingRed]

Was at the WVU-Louisville game today. Louisville pretty much got screwed in the last 19 seconds.

I don't see Louisville making a big run in the NCAA tournament. The spread the court style offense Pitino has been using can work against some teams, but Louisville's lack of size (both inside and the guards) really showed today. When they get hot, they can score points in a hurry, but if you put them against a more physical team like WVU, its not going to help.

It was a rough loss for sure. I think Preston fouled him at the end. Should it have been a no-call, maybe, but no one is going to get away unscathed by the refs in that arena.
The worse call was the out of bounds call. Just horrible.

I hear what you are saying about physical teams, but they beat Pitt and Syracuse and hung with Georgetown till the end. Let's not forget they had already beaten West Virginia.
Personally, I think losing by 2 points on some questionable calls on senior day at Morgantown is nothing to hang your head over.

[Topcat]

I am so proud of the Cards and the season they provided us fans. Tough loss but the reality of it is ........... it happened and now as fans we move on and reflect on a truly special season that was viewed as a bridge year.

[WVRed]

Wondering what Louisville fans think of bringing back Little Ricky as Head Coach in Waiting? That is the rumor that is going around.

I'd be kinda ticked right now. Once Pitino does decide to hang it up, they have the ability to bring in a top coach. I could see Brad Stevens leaving Butler for Louisville even. Turning it over to Richard Pitino has Pat Knight written all over it IMO.

[joshnky]

Wondering what Louisville fans think of bringing back Little Ricky as Head Coach in Waiting? That is the rumor that is going around.

I'd be kinda ticked right now. Once Pitino does decide to hang it up, they have the ability to bring in a top coach. I could see Brad Stevens leaving Butler for Louisville even. Turning it over to Richard Pitino has Pat Knight written all over it IMO.

No way it's true. Jurich is too good of an AD to make that type of commitment. And Louisville is too high profile for a first time head coach.

If he does come back as an assistant, I think it is the best possible move given the timing as a replacement for Masiello. With Willard considering retirement, Pitino needs someone who knows his system to prepare his scouting reports and Richard will fit that role nicely.

What might be happening is that both father and son are looking for a coach in waiting deal for Richard or at least a commitment that he'd be in the running to follow his dad. No way Jurich commits to anything more than allowing Richard to be in the running when the time comes.

Update: Jurich has denied this report "That's not the way I operate"

[WMR]

Richard Jr. would be a good fit as HC at UL.

[WVRed]

No way it's true. Jurich is too good of an AD to make that type of commitment. And Louisville is too high profile for a first time head coach.

If he does come back as an assistant, I think it is the best possible move given the timing as a replacement for Masiello. With Willard considering retirement, Pitino needs someone who knows his system to prepare his scouting reports and Richard will fit that role nicely.

What might be happening is that both father and son are looking for a coach in waiting deal for Richard or at least a commitment that he'd be in the running to follow his dad. No way Jurich commits to anything more than allowing Richard to be in the running when the time comes.

Update: Jurich has denied this report "That's not the way I operate"

Ok, that article makes a lot more sense. I think people read too much into that.

I think Brad Stevens will be at Louisville when Rick retires or even at Indiana if the fans get impatient with Tom Crean. I think Richard Pitino would make a good head coach, but he needs to get a start somewhere other than Louisville.

Say what you want about Rick Sr, but he has gotten young coaches into the league.

[Boston Red]

Richard Jr. would be a good fit as HC at UL.

See, I think he would just be the ideal fit at UK. Him or Massiello.

[WVRed]

Well, looks like the Nike experiment didn't last very long. Looks like Tim Fuller is headed to Missouri:

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ulf...ers-departure/

I wonder if they will be able to hang onto Rodney Purvis.

[joshnky]

Well, looks like the Nike experiment didn't last very long. Looks like Tim Fuller is headed to Missouri:

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ulf...ers-departure/

I wonder if they will be able to hang onto Rodney Purvis.

Not good.

[WMR]

Sounds like there's more to this Ricky Jr. as next UL coach than UL fans want to believe. Pitino runs that basketball program, not Jurich, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if there has been a 'behind the scenes' agreement but with all parties agreeing to keep quiet for a couple seasons so Ricky Jr. can "earn the job."

“Richard’s got an opportunity right now to go back to Louisville as the associate head coach with an opportunity to possibly be the coach-in-waiting there,” Donovan said.

“The situation at Louisville is really going to depend on how he feels about (being the coach-in-waiting), whether he wants to do something like that. I know it’s been talked about for him … How he feels about that is probably something he’ll talk to his dad and the A.D. about, but I know that’s something that has been talked about.”

If that has been discussed, it makes sense that Donovan would know about it. Louisville’s current head coach, Rick Pitino, is Richard’s father. Rick Pitino and Donovan have been close for more than two decades.

Donovan played for Rick Pitino at Providence, then coached under him at Kentucky.

The younger Pitino has never been a head coach, which would seem to make him an unusual choice for a program as prestigious as Louisville. He recently was considered for head-coaching jobs at Iona, Florida Gulf Coast and Missouri State, but was not offered the jobs.

Despite his age, he already has assembled a solid career. After one-year stints as an assistant at Northeastern and Duquesne, he spent two seasons at Louisville and the past two years at Florida.

“Richard’s very, very close to being a head coach,” Donovan said. “I think in today’s day and age, people say, ‘Wow, he’s really young,’ but Richard’s done it the right way … He’s worked his way up; he just wasn’t handed the Louisville job and the Florida job. He worked through it.

“It’s a matter of time before he’s going to have his opportunity to become a head coach. I think besides having a chance to go back to Louisville and be the head coach, the thing that was more important to him was having a chance to be reunited with his father and mother.”

http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/gator...ichard-pitino/

[WVRed]

Not good.

Outside of possibly losing Purvis, I don't think Fuller has done all that much at Louisville. I'm just an outsider looking in, but Louisville already had Wayne Blackshear in the fold before Fuller and the only reason they landed Behanon was because Kentucky had Anthony Davis. I don't think you can credit Fuller for that. He had connections to Quincy Miller, but I don't think Louisville wanted to offer him and Deuce Bello, while it was pretty clear that they were a package deal.

So really, what has he done?

[joshnky]

Outside of possibly losing Purvis, I don't think Fuller has done all that much at Louisville. I'm just an outsider looking in, but Louisville already had Wayne Blackshear in the fold before Fuller and the only reason they landed Behanon was because Kentucky had Anthony Davis. I don't think you can credit Fuller for that. He had connections to Quincy Miller, but I don't think Louisville wanted to offer him and Deuce Bello, while it was pretty clear that they were a package deal.

So really, what has he done?

He was only here for a year and landed Purvis and helped Louisville get on the list of several more recruits. What more can you expect in only a year's time? The 2011 class was set before he arrived but his impact has been felt on the 2012 class.