Few people – in any line of work let alone college basketball – have had as successful a career resurgence as Rick Pitino. This season Pitino has led St. John’s to its first regular-season Big East title since 1992, its first Big East Tournament title since 2000, and maybe more improbably, even Kentucky fans now love their former head coach.
Pitino went from hero to hated in Lexington when he returned to college basketball after an unsuccessful stint with the Boston Celtics and chose the Louisville Cardinals. Pitino was a natural foil to then-beloved Kentucky head coach John Calipari as the two developed a rivalry in a basketball-crazed state. Then, as Coach Cal’s tenure lost steam last season, ending with a first-round NCAA Tournament upset to Oakland and an exit to Arkansas, Pitino stepped back into the spotlight in New York.
Kentucky, naturally, hired Pitino’s former point guard from his 1996 national championship Wildcats team, Mark Pope, as Calipari’s replacement, and the fanbase’s feeling flipped, ousting Cal and embracing Rick. Pitino even tried to use his newfound goodwill in Lexington to encourage fans not to boo Calipari when he returned to Rupp Arena in February.
While no longer rivals and no longer sharing the same state, Pitino and Calipari are forever linked through Big Blue Nation, and now the two could meet in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Big East champs drew the No. 2 seed in the West Region, and are set to face 15th-seeded Omaha in the first round. If the Johnnies advance, they will face either No. 7 seed Kansas and national championship-winning head coach Bill Self, or Calipari’s 10th-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks.
Pitino vs Self would be a marquee matchup in its own right, two legends of the game squaring off for a spot in the Sweet 16, but Pitino vs Calipari would be must-see TV. They both left Kentucky on very different terms, Pitino regrettably looking to translate his college basketball dominance into NBA success, and Calipari offered a life raft made of Tyson Chicken money out of an untenable situation with an unsatisfied fanbase. Still, both left as national champions and looking to prove that it can get better after leaving "Camelot."
Rick and Cal are forever tied in college basketball history, and while a Round of 32 matchup may only be a footnote in their legacies, it would be a treat for college basketball fans in the first weekend of March Madness.