Final Four familiar territory to Pitino

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rick Pitino is right on schedule.

College basketball’s great rebuilder needed four seasons to guide Louisville from crumbling program to the Final Four, just like he did at Kentucky in the early 1990s. He got Providence there in two years in the mid-80s and is the first coach to take three teams this far in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

The Cardinals (33-4), back in the Final Four for the first time since they won it all in 1986, play Illinois (36-1) in St. Louis on Saturday.

“It happens so fast,” Pitino said. “The NCAA starts, the season ends so abruptly. It goes on, and you don’t expect anything. We haven’t really been able to catch our breath. It’s been a great ride.”

It nearly ended in Albuquerque, where West Virginia put Louisville in a 20-point hole in the regional finals and led by 13 at halftime.

Pitino wasn’t sure the Cardinals would come back, but they defied the 5,300-foot altitude and rallied from a double-digit deficit for the fourth time this season for a 93-85 victory.

“They’re very resilient, very tough-minded,” he said of his team. “Whatever has made them tough, they’re tough. I’m just a pussycat following their coattails. I just sit back and marvel at what they accomplish.”

Pitino sees them only getting better. They have won 22 of their last 23 and new stars keep emerging.

“Our players have been like a blue chip stock. They’ve just been going like this the whole time,” Pitino said, raising his right arm.

At some point during the year, every Cardinal had an injury.

“That’s what makes this season so fulfilling,” Pitino said. “Everything you believe in as a coach, every principle, every dream, has come true. You have to overcome injuries and most of the times, you lose. This year, the guys wouldn’t take any losses.”