Larry Brown Sports

Rick Pitino is still winning. The veteran coach won his first national championship with the Louisville Cardinals last month and reeled in his first marlin earlier this week.

As you can see from the photo above that Jody Demling of the Cardinal Authority shared with us, Pitino went fishing in the Bahamas with a group of friends and caught an 80-pound fish. He said it was the first time he and his friends went marlin fishing. Apparently they’re a bunch of naturals. Here’s another shot of the monster:

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One of the motivational tactics Rick Pitino decided to use with his 2013 national champion Louisville squad was the promise of a tattoo. Pitino promised his players that he would get a tattoo commemorating their tournament run if they ended up cutting down the nets, and the 60-year-old kept his word.

As you can see from the photo above that Louisville senior associate athletic director of media relations Kenny Klein posted on Friday morning, Pitino got a Louisville logo, the words “NCAA Champions” and his team’s 2012-2013 season record on his back left shoulder. Here’s another angle that gives you a better idea of how big the tattoo is:

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Rick Pitino freaked out when he heard fireworks (aka confetti cannons) after Louisville beat Michigan 82-76 to win the national championship game.

It’s that sort of reaction time that keeps a man alive at war … or in the hood.

Below in GIF form:

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Rick Pitino was looking rather, umm, pale, during the national championship game Monday, and the Internet took notice. The Louisville coach morphed into a vampire while witnessing Michigan’s explosive first half, leading to a solid meme:

Rick Pitino looks like death. twitpic.com/ci1he4

— Farsi Montana (@ThatPersianGuy) April 9, 2013

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Rick Pitino and Mike Krzyzewski may be in competition with each other, but they are also friends who have immense respect for one another.

The friendship between Pitino and Coach K began after their teams competed in the 1992 East Region finals of the NCAA tournament. Krzyzewski’s Duke squad beat Pitino’s Kentucky team 104-103 on Christian Laettner’s famous shot. The game is considered to be one of the best in college basketball history.

On Sunday their teams met in the regional finals, marking the first time the coaches have faced each other in the NCAA tournament since that game. Pitino’s Louisville squad got the best of Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils 85-63 to even things out between them.

Pitino and Krzyzewski had nothing but praise for each other before the game. Pitino, now the coach at Louisville, even called Coach K “the modern-day John Wooden.”

“He’s the modern-day John Wooden. He’s a true winner on and off the court,” Pitino said of Krzyzewski in an interview with CBS before the game.

“What I love about him, too, is that when he loses, he’s a gracious loser. He doesn’t give you the blow by handshake. He’ll stay there, he’ll congratulate you, he’ll praise you in the press conference. So he has it all together.”

Pitino expounded on their friendship while meeting with the media Saturday.

“We’ve been friends from that point on,” Pitino said, via The Lexington Herald-Leader. “Both of us looked at the game a lot different than the Kentucky fans or, for that matter, the Duke fans. Both of us just sat back and coached and watched an incredible offensive display.

“Any time you write a whole book about one game, it’s kind of special.”

Comparing someone to Wooden is about as strong of praise as you can get. Wooden won 10 national championships at UCLA and was considered to have character as strong as his coaching ability. But Coach K isn’t too far off from Wooden. He has reached eight championship games, won four national titles, and his 11 Final Four appearances are one shy of tying Wooden’s record 12. He’ll have to wait another year before having a chance to match Wooden.

Louisville lost its second straight tough game in a row on Tuesday night, this time at the hands of Villanova. Over the weekend, the Cardinals lost a tough home game to No. 6-ranked Syracuse. However, the Wildcats are a team they should have beaten. Had they been more successful from the charity stripe, Rick Pitino’s team may have come away with a win.

Louisville hit only 12 of its 24 free throw attempts, and Pitino was livid about it after the game. So livid, in fact, that he decided to take it out on Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard.

“It was really a simple answer to why we lost,” Pitino told reporters, via the Courier-Journal. “Basically we were Dwight Howard or Shaquille O’Neal. We came down we had a six-point lead and it could have been eight. Could have kept coming down and extending it but our free throws were a turnover. Very simple answer for why we lost. Our foul shooting was despicable.”

The final score was 73-64, so obviously the free throws the Cardinals missed were crucial. Louisville missed the front end of a one-and-one on two occasions down the stretch, which made it incredibly difficult to close out a game that they led in the second half. At one point, forward Chane Behanan missed five free throws in a row.

The Cardinals has lost two games since being ranked No. 1 in the nation, and they have not gotten off to a good start in Big East play. If they don’t solve their free-throw shooting woes going forward, they’ll be in danger of falling even further.

Chest bump to The Dagger

Most of us are familiar with Rick Pitino the championship-winning college basketball coach, but very few of us know Rick Pitino the horse enthusiast. Two of Pitino’s horses are currently being trained by thoroughbred trainer Randy Bradshaw, and he recently asked the Louisville coach for help in naming the pair of two-year-old colts. Natually, Pitino named them after his players.

“The Bellamy Road colt was a spectacular big, big colt,” Pitino said according to the Courier-Journal. “He was lanky, had great potential and goes the distance. I said I got the perfect name for him. I said ‘Gorgui.’”

Of course, Pitino is referring to his 6-foot-11 big man, Gorgui Dieng. He led the team in rebounds and set a school record for blocked shots in a single season. It sounds like he’s deserving of the honor, but don’t worry — Pitino didn’t forget about his back court.

“(The second horse is) very, very quick — has a great first step, so to speak,” Pitino explained. “I said I got the perfect name there, too.”

Pitino named the other horse “Siva,” after guard Peyton Siva. As you know, the Cardinals got hot at the right time last season and charged their way all the way to a Final Four appearance. Many great players have played under Pitino, but obviously this crew left a lasting impression. You don’t just going throwing names at your horses unless they mean something.

H/T Game On!
Photo credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE