Up Close With PSR:
Rick Pitino

In 18 seasons as a collegiate head coach at four different schools, Pitino has compiled a 416-154 record, a .732 winning percentage that ranked him ninth among active coaches and 25th all-time entering the 2004-05 season. Perhaps Pitino's greatest coaching was done at Kentucky between 1989 and 1997, when he led the Wildcats to two Elite Eights, two Final Fours, and a National Championship in 1996. He gained his 400th career coaching victory last season. PSR's George Von Benko recently got up close with Pitino.

PSR: What do you think about the rankings and the fact the coaches picked you to win the Conference USA championship?

Rick Pitino: I don't pay too much attention to the league rankings, because I don't think anybody knows anything about each other's teams. You can't rank teams today, because so many guys leave and so many people are new. It's not like the old great UCLA teams where you knew every player was coming back in the unbelievable backcourt, or the great North Carolina teams or the Kentucky teams. It just didn't work that way.

Certainly, I don't think in our conference anybody is better than us, but I don't think we're better than Cincinnati, Memphis, Marquette, Charlotte. Charlotte is going to be terrific this year, and DePaul. But certainly we're as good as anybody in the conference and I think our conference is as good as most power conferences in the country. So I think if you're as good as anybody in our conference, you're as good as anybody in the country.

PSR: How much will the loss of highly regarded freshman forward Brian Johnson to knee surgery hurt your team this season?

RP: It's a real unfortunate situation for Brian and for our basketball team. This is the first year we were to have some front-court depth. Generally, you need five to six front-court players at the 4-5 spots and one swing player. The difference, though, why we remain tremendously optimistic, is that we have great quality up front. We don't have the quantity, but great quality.

PSR: How do you look at the overall picture in college hoops? Will you be in the mix for the national championship?

RP: It's been really fun listening to the pro scouts when they come in and talk about what teams are good. And they give you the best read because they base it purely on talent. They liked our team a lot, but every college they see is in the top 50 or 60 and it's interesting because they come away with Memphis and Charlotte as the two best teams they've seen consensus-wise in the country. They mention Kentucky, Illinois; they say Wake Forest is by far the best backcourt. Wake and Illinois have the two best backcourts they've seen. Arizona they thought was really, really strong. Some that had a big reputation they didn't think were quite as good. It's fascinating to listen to them because they base it on pure talent, not reputation, not polls, just talent that could possibly play at the next level.

PSR: Louisville will be joining the Big East next season. How do you see the overall athletic program fitting in?

RP: It's great for our athletes to compete in maybe the strongest and deepest men's basketball conference in the history of the game. And it's unbelievable for the fans, who are now going to see competition like they've never witnessed before in the great tradition of Louisville basketball. It's a win-win for everybody involved from the fans, our academic institution, the student-athletes and as a sidebar, me personally, just because I have so many great memories in the Big East.

Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino could be in the cat-bird seat next season as Louisville enters the Big East...Every year from this point on, Bobby can have a dominating football program and anything that he wants and needs for his football program, we will go out as an athletic department and get for him - an indoor practice facility, whatever it may be. We are going to expand our stadium. We will be one of the major players in the Big East in football. We will be a top 10 program in football.