Minnesota vs. Louisville: Father-Son Clash a Big Opportunity for Richard Pitino
Louisville vs. Minnesota isn't the very first game of the 2014-15 men's college basketball season—it might not even be the best game on the first day of the season—but we've been looking forward to Friday's game between the Cardinals and the Golden Gophers for months.
It's Rick Pitino vs. Richard Pitino.
It's father vs. son.
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It's the civil war for the Armed Forces Classic.
And, perhaps most noteworthy of all, it's a chance for Richard Pitino and Minnesota to prove that they both belong in the discussion about the Big Ten elites.
By and large, the first month of the college basketball season doesn't mean a thing in the long run. Last season, Michigan had already suffered four losses just a little over five weeks into the season, but the Wolverines still darn near earned a No. 1 seed in March.
But then there are games that transcend the record books.
Games like this one between Rick Pitino and Richard Pitino mean more than whatever impact they end up having on RPI metrics and AP rankings.
This isn't some meaningless game in a nameless preseason tournament. This is a massive opportunity for Richard Pitino to step out of his father's shadow and start his own legacy in a game played for our troops.
In the above video from a dual interview conducted on Tuesday night, Rick Pitino said, "It's an unbelievable privilege for both programs to be playing in this game (honoring our veterans). That's the way both of us feel. We're really excited to get to the island and put on a good show for everybody."
Richard Pitino added, "So much is made of us vs. them and me and him, but when we get there, I know our guys will learn a lot. They'll be very gracious and make sure they embrace and enjoy it as much as possible."
But in the spirit of hyping up a game that is so important to both teams and coaches, let's go ahead and make more of the father vs. son dynamic.
While conducting interviews for an upcoming piece, I asked Mike Krzyzewski what it would take for Duke to schedule a nonconference game against Harvard, given his history with Tommy Amaker as both a player and assistant coach.
His response:
"Duke will never schedule a nonconference game against Harvard. A father does not like to play against his son, especially when his son would probably beat the father."
There are differing opinions between legendary coaches because this is the second time that the elder Pitino has agreed to a game against the younger, even though this is just Richard's third year as a head coach.
Their first showdown was pretty ugly. Not surprisingly, Louisville handled Florida International with ease, winning by a score of 79-55 in December 2012.
"This is totally different (than the last time)," said Richard Pitino in the video above. "At FIU, I was collecting a check and moving on. That was a guarantee game we needed to play. Here, certainly, we're preparing to win a game."
Had he not spent those eight seasons in the NBA with the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, Rick Pitino would be right up there with Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim on the list of all-time winningest college basketball coaches.
He's currently 18th all time with 693 wins, but even assuming a modest 24 wins per lost season—he has averaged 27.6 wins per year over his past 19 seasons at the college level—he would be fourth all time with 885 wins. That would put him less than 100 wins behind Krzyzewski—a man he's nearly five years younger than.
In a perfect world, Pitino might have been the greatest college basketball coach in history.
And in a perfect world, a Pitino may still go down as the greatest coach ever.
In an interview with ESPN.com's C.L. Brown from a week ago, Richard Pitino said, "I'm 32 years old, I've only been a head coach for two years, so I probably don't deserve this job.
"I'm very lucky, but I don't think being Rick Pitino's son is going to help me beat Tom Izzo at Michigan State or beat Thad Matta at Ohio State. I don't think any of it matters anymore. The opportunity is here, now I have to take advantage of it."
Emphasis on the age, because at 32 years old, Richard already has 43 more wins than his father did before celebrating his 36th birthday.
He isn't the youngest head coach in college basketball history—Krzyzewski, for example, was only 28 when he became the head coach at Army—but he's got to be the most experienced 32-year-old coach in history.
"Our whole life really revolved around (Rick Pitino's) job, and that's not to say he made it about himself," he told Brown. "I think more than anything it was because we all loved being around it. ...That's why it's kind of funny to see him at my games just because, for my whole life, (we've) been going to his games."
One of those games with father watching son was Minnesota's NIT championship win over SMU. With Louisville getting eliminated by Kentucky in the Sweet 16, Rick was able to see his son in action for a few games.
But that didn't stop him from trying to coach, as documented in Brown's piece.
"Is he going to foul?" Rick shouted out from behind Minnesota's bench with the Golden Gophers clinging to a three-point lead with five seconds remaining.
Richard turned around and addressed the man who taught him everything he knows: "I am going to foul."
"It's about time you started fouling," called back Rick with a laugh.
He probably won't be offering too much advice to his son on Friday, though.
If Louisville wins the game, ho-hum. By Thanksgiving, we'll practically forget it even happened.
If Minnesota wins, however, it could be the start of an incredible season that concludes with something other than the slightly disappointing honor of winning the second-best postseason tournament.
Outside of Wisconsin at No. 1, the Big Ten is w-i-d-e open this year. As Reid Forgrave of Fox Sports wrote earlier this week, "After (Wisconsin), your guess is as good as mine. I count a massive and fluid second tier of seven teams, any of which could vie for second place and all of whom could make the NCAA tournament: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State."
An opening-night win over one of the 10-best teams in the country could really propel Minnesota to the top of that heap of second-tier Big Ten teams, putting the Golden Gophers in great, early shape to compete in the tournament the nation actually cares about.
That's not to mention what a win could do to jump-start Richard Pitino's coaching legacy and his bragging rights around the holiday dinner table.
Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.
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