Elite Eight: Pitino-Donovan Subplot is Main Attraction

Ursula Hennessey · March 24, 2012 at 9:22pm

I just finished refereeing my own "elite eight" matchup here in suburbia. Let no man tell you that running a two-hour party for twelve 8-year-old girls is not just as challenging as holding Tom Izzo's Michigan State to 44 points, an all-time low for a No. 1 seed.

Now that my husband and my 71-year-old mother are deeply involved in scraping chocolate frosting off the floorboards and collecting piñata streamers out of the mouths of my younger children, I can sit and reflect upon developments in the NCAA basketball tournament, such as Louisville's historic win on Thursday. Priorities, people, priorities.

As an aside, let us all say a joint Ricochet prayer (or throw out a group positive vibe, if you are an atheist in our mix) that smcguire and chrislangevin have what it takes to surge to the top of the Ricochet pool. They have the best potential, it seems to me, but several other folks have hope, too. Please, I beg you all, do what it takes to alter the name at the top of the pool by the end of tomorrow night. Wasn't POTUS hanging out at the top right until the end of last year's pool? Why does this keep happening? The lesson: Never write this guy off.

I have to admit I don’t know how think about Louisville's Rick Pitino anymore. I admired the guy for a long time, not just for his basketball smarts or for his tough, no-nonsense, disciplined approach to the game and his players, but for his serious approach to Catholicism. But the disgraceful events of a few years ago left me wondering just what to believe about him. Maybe it was one time lapse of judgment? Or maybe his image was all a sham. I stopped following his career because I was worried it was the latter. What's the latest? Any thoughts on his fall? Has he redeemed himself in any way?

At any rate, today's Louisville-Florida contest has no shortage of subplots. Florida coach Billy Donovan played for Pitino at Providence in the 1980s. Donovan has a reputation sort of like the one Pitino used to have -- smart, disciplined, solid, Catholic. Pitino's son was Donovan's assistant while all the scandal fallout happened. It seemed as if the son was keeping his distance from his dad. But now he's now back under his dad at Louisville. It's gonna be good basketball, and a good story, to boot. I'm looking forward to it, and I only have about 10 minutes to wait. I hope the floor is cleaned up downstairs. March Madness, indeed.

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show Kennedy Smith's comment (#1) ←

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May '10

Re: Elite Eight: Pitino-Donovan Subplot is Main Attraction

Kennedy Smith

And the Louisville game has an even more significant plotline, involving your fear of getting a visit from the Secret Service for sending suspicious packages to the White House.

Many crunchy numbers for you, including an exciting Obama revelation: http://ricochet.com/member-feed/Sweet-16-New-World-Order

Also, cheerleaders. Well, technically the Kentucky dance team.

Edited on March 24, 2012 at 9:28pm

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March 24, 2012 at 9:28pm ·
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show Charles Allen's comment (#2) ←

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May '10

Re: Elite Eight: Pitino-Donovan Subplot is Main Attraction

Charles Allen

As a freshman at Syracuse, I traveled with some friends to New Orleans to attend the Final Four. Syracuse's first opponent was the Pitinio/Donovan team. SU won and went on to lose the infamous heartbreaker to Indiana and Keith Smart in the National Championship game.

After he left Providence, I have always liked Donovan and his hard-nosed style. Here at Pitino and Donovan from that era...