ATLANTA – Louisville senior Peyton Siva had played for Rick Pitino through four seasons and 143 games, which in normal human time is like 75 years. There was all that conditioning, all that cajoling, all that instruction, all that patience, all that impatience, a little bit of failure and so many phenomenal successes that resulted from their collaboration. There still was one more game to be contested, though, which meant the coach had no choice but to continue coaching.
So at halftime of the NCAA championship game Monday night at the Georgia Dome, Pitino presented his point guard with a caustic challenge: “Do you know the plays? You keep looking over at me and asking what plays to run.”
During the second half of this thrilling battle with the Michigan Wolverines, Pitino presented his point guard with still more prodding sarcasm: “You’re out of shape … I know what you’re doing, but you’re not in shape. I thought you were.”
How do you win a championship without stars? You win it together. How do you build that sort of togetherness, a bond so indestructible that starters cheer the reserves as they steal away their playing time and glory and everyone weeps out in the open when one of their teammates is shattered? Well, the coach makes everyone equally miserable when there is work to be done, even when that work involves trying to conquer a fabulous basketball team under championship pressure.
Louisville’s 82-76 victory over Michigan presented Pitino with his second NCAA championship on the day he was honored with selection to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, joining active coaches Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Roy Williams of North Carolina and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse.
So now Pitino has coached the BEST team of the past 25 years, and he has coached the best TEAM.
by Sporting News
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