Rick Pitino

Nick Ater: Why I am even responding to this goofy article is beyond me...just found it rather funny. I expected little else considering it's from Danville, KY. You can't compare Pitino's 5 year record to Tubby's. Tubby was left with a Championship team on his lap while Pitino started with a 12-20 Louisville team that couldn't make the NIT even if it wanted to. Apples and oranges. Reverse the roles and it's not even close.First of all, Tubby wouldn't have the recent success of Pitino to get the top recruits in the door.

Sports editor Larry Vaught asked readers for their insights about what was wrong with the Kentucky basketball program and the responses continue to center on coach Tubby Smith except today two readers are supporting Smith. Smith is the problem How can anyone not know what is wrong with Kentucky basketball. After watching Tubby Smith for the last eight years, I am convinced that he could not coach little league... Every time we lose he blames this player or that player or the whole team, but never does the buck stop with him. I remember Adolph Rupp saying if we shoot too quick, don't set the pick, don't move without the ball, then it is the coach's fault.

Now that Tubby Smith seems to have found what it takes to get his University of Kentucky Wildcats to do the things necessary to win, it's easy to see how the Wildcats could still salvage a respectable season. But Louisville? The Cardinals might still have a better record than Kentucky, but today if you had to pick which team had the best chance of making the NCAA Tournament, it would be the Wildcats. Louisville is 13-4 overall, but 1-3 in Big East play. Kentucky is 11-6 overall, 1-2 in Southeastern Conference play.

LOUISVILLE - It's not unusual to see media members, or even fans, huddled together on the Churchill Downs backside during Kentucky Derby week. Usually the center of attention is a Derby trainer, owner or jockey. But not Wednesday. No, this time the person drawing the most attention outside the Churchill track was Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino, not trainers Nick Zito or D. Wayne Lukas. With horses working out on the Churchill track near him, there stood Pitino under the only basketball goal on the Churchill backside at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday discussing the state of Louisville basketball.

Having a high-profile college basketball coach in "serious discussions" with a NBA team is not a new story in Kentucky. However, this time it's not Tubby Smith or Rick Pitino doing the flirting. Instead, it's Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who has won three NCAA championships and made 10 Final Four appearances with the Blue Devils. The Los Angeles Lakers apparently think Krzyzewski could be the right replacement for Phil Jackson, who didn't have his contract renewed even though he won three NBA championships from 2000-2002.

For University of Louisville fans, this has been a banner week - and it should get better Sunday when Rick Pitino's basketball team wins at Tennessee a lot easier than Kentucky did Tuesday. First, the Cardinals got the state's top football recruit, Trinity quarterback Brian Brohm. He picked the Cardinals over Tennessee, Notre Dame and Kentucky. Forget all the scuttlebutt about the potential problems the Cards will have because they also signed highly-touted Male quarterback Michael Bush a year ago and have Stefan LeFors returning at quarterback after leading the team to a bowl game.

Rick Pitino now owns the state of Kentucky. Or at least the Kentucky-Louisville basketball series. While University of Kentucky basketball fans may not want to admit that, or even believe it, there's no denying that Pitino has made his Louisville Cardinals the best team in the state. Numbers don't lie. He beat UK 81-63 in Freedom Hall last year before the Cats went on their 26-game win streak that was snapped with a loss to Marquette in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region final.

The college basketball season is still almost two weeks away, and Kentucky and Louisville won't play until late December. However, there's already been a salvo fired in the UK-Louisville rivalry. This time, though, the controversial remark was not made by a Kentucky or Louisville coach. It wasn't made by a Louisville or Kentucky player. It wasn't even made by a fan. No, this brouhaha was created by CBS-TV commentator Jim Nantz. His column on CBS SportsLine.com this week reminded everyone that it was Nantz who broke the news way back in December that Bill Parcells was being courted by the Dallas Cowboys and that Kentucky had also had contact with Parcells during its coaching search.