Pitino: still waiting for NCAA interview

The NCAA investigation at Louisville, meanwhile, appeared to be fading into the background. College athletics governing body has recently cited Hall of Famers such as Syracuses Jim Boeheim and SMUs Larry Brown, suspending both coaches nine games each for violations they contended occurred outside of their view. He might be uncontrollable for the school administration right now when it comes to keeping his mouth shut, but that doesn’t mean he’s nonsensical. The subject of the press conference is unclear.

Pitino offered an alternative to the NCAA’s tortured crime-and-punishment system, which nearly always penalizes players who had nothing to do with the violations. “But we’ll give it our best shot”.

That way, he said, “innocent people will not pay the price”. Louisville is a very young team so of course they will be fine next season, but what happens to seniors Lee and Lewis?

“I’ll just keep doing my job”, Pitino said Tuesday morning. Lee hailed from Drexel and Lewis from Cleveland State.

Head coach Rick Pitino, who claims he had no idea of the violations, is pleading to the school (and the NCAA) to reverse the decision so that the Cardinals (19-5, 8-3 ACC) can participate in March Madness. Is Pitino a victim of a Ramsey PR move? A banner hung Saturday morning from the front facade of popular Patrick O’Shea’s bar across the street from the Yum Center that read, “Ramsey Is A Coward”.

Regardless of what type of punishment he might receive, Pitino refuses to resign and he ultimately believes he will be cleared of any wrongdoing when it is all said and done.

“Tom made this decision, not Dr. Ramsey”, Pitino explained. Ramsey’s decision goes a long way toward putting one ugly episode behind the university.

As the drama continues to intensify, can Tom Jurich be far behind in their quest for some relief or vengeance? “He’s a great AD. Did he hurt us?” More than you could ever imagine. He’s taken enough heat from enough places.

The day has finally arrived that Louisville fans have feared. But that suggestion has little chance of being enacted any time soon, since the organization’s membership is made up of college administrators and athletic directors who by their have made it clear that treating the athletes that represent their institutions fairly is not a priority for them. “We love the man, we respect the man….”

“We would have done this [self-imposed ban] a month and a half ago”, Pitino said. Before the ban was announced, Louisville was a No. 5 seed in the CBS Sports Bracketology bracket projection, but that’s moot now.

“What was her motive?”

“Cameron is one of the most historical places to play in college basketball”, Lee says.

The scandal has been simmering in Pitino’s mind all season, occasionally rising to a public boil. “We have nine game left”. They’ve won 15 of their last 16 games, their lone loss a very close one to third ranked Notre Dame.

Forward Deng Adel, who replaced Lee in the lineup, stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

A Louisville team hasn’t played at Cameron Indoor since 1983, when coach Denny Crum’s team beat Duke 91-76 and Pitino has never taken a team to Raleigh-Durham. The home games inlcuding BC are Syracuse, Duke and Georgia Tech on Senior Night. The rest of the team stood behind them. Nobody seemed to know here Saturday. And that a postseason ban would be part of the Louisville’s penalties is also unsurprising.