Joel Huerto is managing editor of One Man Fastbreak.net and a sports consultant with Opposing Views.com. He has been a member of the sports media for almost 20 years, which included nine years as a news editor at the Los Angeles Times. He will cover a variety of topics, from coach and player profiles to hot-button issues. Joel is also known as "maniLA ice" for his cool demeanor in the friendly confines of the YMCA hardwood. He loves to shoot the "tear drop" and prefers to play zone to hide his deficiencies on defense.
The Louisville Cardinals are not a sure bet to win the NCAA title, but coach Rick Pitino should like his Cards enough to go all in come March.
The Cardinals are ranked seventh in the AP poll and undefeated in the competitive Big East Conference, thanks to an NBA-type front line and a coach who has managed to reinvent himself for the fourth time since 1985.
Senior Terrence Williams, junior Earl Clark and freshman Samardo Samuels are athletic and versatile. Clark, one of the most underrated players in the country, is a 6-9 forward capable of playing all five positions. Samuels is a 6-8, 240-pound force on the block and Williams, a member of the conference Honor Roll, is a 6-6 swingman who fills up the stat sheet. Guards Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith complete the five-Card stud lineup.
Since 2001 when he took over the Louisville program, Pitino has masterfully guided the Cardinals back to elite status. The men's program has not enjoyed such sustained excellence since the days of Denny Crum.
Pitino led Louisville to a Final Four appearance in 2005 and made it to the Elite Eight a year ago. He's nearing 600 career victories and is the only coach to lead three teams to the Final Four. In a few more years, he should find himself standing on the podium in Springfield, Mass., as a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Pitino owns a PhD in rebuilding programs. He put Providence on the map with a Final Four appearance in 1987. He inherited a Kentucky program that was on life support, and when he left the Wildcats were the envy of college basketball. His three-point happy Kentucky teams influenced the way teams played offense during the 1990s. Other coaches began taking a page out of the Pitino playbook, incorporating the three-pointer as a primary option instead of a desperation.
Pitino took two Kentucky teams to the finals, winning in 1996 with a squad good enough to make the NBA playoffs. The Wildcats won a championship in 1998, coached by Tubby Smith, but Tubby did it with Pitino's players.
After a brief stint in the NBA, it took Pitino only four years to get Louisville back to the Final Four. Before the start of the 2004-05 season, Pitino thought he had a commitment from New York City high school legend Sebastian Telfair. But the point guard, who was tabbed as the next Louisville Legend, said "no" to Pitino and "yes" to the NBA.
Had Telfair chosen Louisville, he would have been paired with Francisco Garcia and the two of them might have been pushed the Cardinals to a national title.
Though much of Pitino's kudos come from the college game, he does not get enough credit for laying down the foundation of the current Boston Celtics. His NBA coaching record may not be Auerbach-like, but he was responsible for drafting Paul Pierce in 1998. His legendary "Larry Bird ain't walking through that door! ... Kevin McHale and Robert Parish ain't walking through that door!" speech reverberated around Beantown and made enough of an impression on the Celtics management that it prompted a big-time franchise face lift.
Part of the clean-up process cost Pitino his job but without his stinging poke at the Boston faithful, the Celtics may still be mired in mediocrity.
Another Pitino gem was Chauncey Billups. When the Celtics made Billups the third pick overall in 1997, heads turned and the pick was so criticized even Billups began doubting himself. After 11 years in the league and an NBA finals MVP in 2004, no one is knocking the Billups pick now.
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