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Posted: Thursday October 31, 2002 5:12 PM Updated: Monday November 04, 2002 12:04 PM Louisville Cardinals
The following preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the most thorough preview available of the upcoming season, order the 2002-03 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518. Team Preview | Blue Ribbon Analysis
A few years back, Rick Pitino wrote a book called Born to Coach. The book is out of print now, but if a publisher ever wants to reintroduce it someday, the following name change might be in order: Born to Coach (College Basketball). This we can safely surmise after last season, during which Pitino, defying the odds yet again, worked his brand of magic with a downtrodden Louisville program, coaxing 19 wins and an NIT trip out of the Cardinals. Pitino’s handiwork came on the heels of his second stint as an NBA coach, during which he failed to put some life back into the Boston Celtics. That Pitino’s former assistant, Jim O’Brien, did resurrect the storied franchise and coach the Celtics back into the playoffs last season could well have illustrated a point. Pitino, a teacher, master motivator and micro-manager, is in his element in the college game, where his young charges are more coachable and he holds sway over them, more than he ever could with overpaid professionals. Scholarships, after all, are one-year renewable. Multiyear deals for millions of dollars are not. Despite his inability to reverse the Celtics’ fortunes, Pitino credits his experience in the NBA with making him a better coach.
"What people do not understand, there is much more game coaching and strategy that goes on in the NBA than the collegiate level," Pitino said. "There's more player development and practice execution that goes on at the collegiate level. It definitely helps you in your bench coaching for the collegiate game, because of all the strategizing that goes on with matchups and execution in a professional game. It's a lot different in how you equate the two, but certainly the pro background is very beneficial to coaching college basketball." Perhaps that’s true, but when it comes down to it, Pitino is first and foremost a teacher. Individual instruction and daily improvement are the central threads that tie together his programs. He has taken his philosophy and won at Boston University, Providence and Kentucky, where he claimed a national championship. And if last year is any indication, he’ll return Louisville to its former elite status. "[Teaching] is the cornerstone of our program," Pitino said. "The way you overachieve and the way you turn around programs is to take players that don't necessarily even believe they can make it themselves and succeed. A player like Nazr Mohammed [former Kentucky forward, currenty with the Atlanta Hawks], for instance. People that may even have some physical liabilities but are willing to turn it around with hard work and succeed. It creates a raising of one's self-esteem through the hard work, but you also see right before your eyes the improvement in how you're playing the game." There’s no question Pitino coaxed a lot of improvement out of the scruffy band of players left behind by Hall of Famer Denny Crum, whose final years at the school belied his past achievements. Pitino had work to do, and that effort will pay off this season, as all five starters return. Better still, they’ll be joined in December by 6-foot-10, 240-pound center Marvin Stone. Guard Reece Gaines (21.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.6 apg), a 6-6 senior, might have been the chief beneficiary of Pitino’s tutelage after turning in an All-Conference USA season, during which he became just the second U of L player in 30 years to average more than 20 points. Gaines led the Cards and was second in C-USA and 25th in the nation in scoring. He also led Louisville in assists, free-throw percentage and 3-point goals (91, the second highest single-season total in school history). Pitino expects even more out of Gaines this season. "Reece is a legitimate candidate for player-of-the-year honors," Pitino said. "He has size, agility and mobility and is getting stronger." Despite Gaines’ accomplishments, Pitino still sees room for improvement. "This year we expect Reece to pick up his defense," he said. "He's just as dangerous on defense as he is on offense. If he can do that, he'll be one of the more well-rounded players in the country." A year ago, Gaines was joined in the starting lineup by 6-5 senior Erik Brown, 6-0 junior Bryan Northern, 6-8, 230-pound junior Ellis Myles and 6-7 junior Luke Whitehead. Brown (8.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg), began his career at Morehead State -- where he led the nation’s freshmen in scoring (19.3 ppg) -- but has proven he’s up to the task at a higher level of Division I. Last season, he scored in double figures 13 times, matching his career high with 20 points against DePaul. Brown was effective in the postseason, coming up with 10 points, six rebounds and two steals in a first-round victory over Princeton and 11 points against Temple in the second round. Northern (7.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.8 apg), a former walk-on, earned his scholarship last season, starting 12 times, including nine of the last 10 games. He showed he belonged in the lineup, too, with a 25-point effort against TCU (including 6-of-7 3-pointers) in the C-USA Tournament and 17 points, five assists and just one turnover against Marquette. Up front, Pitino got a lot of mileage out of Myles (8.9 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 1.0 bpg), who led the Cardinals and ranked third in C-USA in rebounding. He also paced Louisville in blocked shots (34), 20 more than he had as a freshman. Four of those swats came in one game against Memphis. Myles became a rebounding machine last season, with 13 double-figure efforts. He also shot a team-high .519 from the field, which meant he put together a few double-doubles (11 in all). His better efforts included 18 points and 12 boards against Cincinnati and 15 points, 15 rebounds and those four blocks against Memphis. Whitehead (10.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg) started 22 times last season and wound up as Louisville’s No. 2 scorer and rebounder. Whitehead was also No. 2 behind Myles in field-goal percentage (.498). Whitehead also produced in the postseason, coming up with a career-best 25 points against Marquette and 11 points and a career-high tying 12 rebounds against TCU, both in the C-USA Tournament. He also piled up 14 points and 11 boards against Temple in the NIT. Other returnees from a year ago are 6-8 sophomore Otis George (1.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg), 6-2 sophomore Alhaji Mohammed (3.9 ppg, 1.6 ppg), 6-6 junior Simeon Naydenov (3.6 ppg, 1.3 rpg) and 6-4 sophomore Larry O’Bannon (5.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg). Newcomers will play a big role this season, starting with Stone. Pitino didn’t risk incurring the further wrath of Kentucky fans (who were already hurt and disappointed that he took over arch rival Louisville) for nothing when he brought in Stone in December 2001. Stone, who had clashed with Kentucky coach Tubby Smith for three seasons, finally pushed Smith too far when he failed to return to school after Christmas break. When Smith cut loose Stone, Pitino quickly grabbed him up, even though he’ll be available for just the second semester. Stone averaged 5.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in nine games with the Wildcats last season. More important, he was Kentucky’s best post defender. For various reasons, Stone was never a featured frontcourt player at Kentucky, but he will be in Louisville, where the Cardinals are starving for size up front. "Marvin gives us something we did not have -- size at the five spot," Pitino said. "He has good skills as a passer and good footwork for a big man. He presents something that we haven't had and that is a center that has the ability to make others better." Another newcomer who will find instant playing time is 6-3 junior Prileu Davis, who played last season at Phoenix (Ariz.) College, where he averaged 22.9 points, 5.3 assists and 3.2 steals. Davis also shot 46 percent from the field, including 41 percent from three-point range, and 82 percent from the free-throw line. Chances are good that Davis, who also considered Kansas, Minnesota and Texas A&M, will find his way into a starting job, at either guard spot. "Prileu is a very versatile player," Phoenix coach Kip Banks said. "He was recruited by schools as both a point and shooting guard. He's very strong with the basketball, shoots well off the dribble or off the pass, is very quick and moves well without the ball." Davis suffered a setback in September when he caught a teammate’s inadvertent elbow in the face. The blow shattered his left eye orbit and he had to undergo surgery. He returned to practice in October after the surgery. No Pitino team is complete without several 3-point shooters. He found two in incoming freshmen Taquan Dean and Francisco Garcia. The 6-7 Garcia, originally from the Bronx, played last season at the Winchendon (Mass.) School, where he averaged 18.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He shot 41 percent from 3-point range. As a prep senior, Garcia was ranked by several recruiting services among the top 40 players in the country. Dean, 6-2 and a consensus top 60 player, averaged 17.3 points, 4.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds for Neptune (N.J.) High School. Two other newcomers who will compete for time in the backcourt are 6-3 sophomore Greg Tinch, a wide receiver for the Cardinals’ football team, and 6-3 sophomore Coric Riggs, a walk-on who sat out last season. Tinch, who played for Westover High School in Albany, Ga., averaged 19.2 points, 13.0 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots two years ago and was ranked among the top 75 players in the country. Riggs averaged 23.0 points. 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.2 blocks two years ago for Louisville’s Fairdale High School. Seeking to fill an immediate need, just as he did with Davis, Pitino went to the junior college ranks for 6-10, 220-pound junior Kendall Dartez, who played last season for Vincennes (Ind.) College. Dartez averaged 12.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 blocks as a sophomore while shooting 52 percent from the floor. As a high school senior at Cecilia, La., he was rated the No. 2 center in the nation by The Sporting News, behind only Zach Randolph, who signed with Michigan State. Pitino hopes to build off the success of his first season, but knows he still has much work to do. "I think it's going to take three solid recruiting classes and a commitment from the current players to want to turn it around now," Pitino said. "Usually there's slippage behind that and then you succeed. The commitment from the program above us, it's a commitment from the players and the program now, and it's a commitment from the future Cardinals." We look for the Cardinals to slip above the 20-win barrier this season and wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them make a return to the NCAA Tournament. And if Pitino’s track record holds to form, Louisville will be a regular participant in the Big Dance in the years to come.
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