Today marks one of the biggest days in college hoops in a long time, with a full slate of critical games, none more interesting than the Louisville-Kentucky tilt that features a battle between old rivals Rick Pitino and John Calipari.
Here’s a column from Rick Bozich on the relationship between the two coaches.
After his admissions of marital infidelity and a pending trial, Pitino is sure to get an earful from the UK faithful and it should be something to watch (3:30, CBS).
**I’ll be at Cincinnati-Rutgers tonight in what should be an entertaining affair. Rutgers, which won only two Big East games last season, needs to win this game to defend the RAC, while Rashad Bishop and the Bearcats are coming off a 71-69 victory over No. 10 UConn in which Lance Stephenson hit two key foul shots with .7 seconds left. The game will be shown live on SNY at 8 p.m. SNY also has the Pitt-Syracuse game at noon.
**In another key tilt, No. 1 Kansas visits Juan Fernandez and Temple. In one of three bylines he has in today’s New York Times (take a break, my man), Kevin Armstrong has this interesting feature on Fernandez‘s journey from Argentina to Philly. Kevin also has a piece on Army coach Zach Spiker.
**In the high school ranks, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins and South Florida coach Stan Heath watched as Paterson Catholic improved to 5-0 with a 70-67 OT victory over Huntington (West Va.) Prep in Wheeling, West Va.. Junior guard Myles Mack was named MVP after putting up 21 points on 9 for 15 shooting to go with 6 rebounds and 3 steals and Seton Hall-bound forward Fuquan Edwin added 19 points. Junior forward Derrick Randall added 12 points and 11 boards. PC, ranked No. 8 in the PrepNation.com poll, was coming off winning the City of Palms tournament with a win over Austin Rivers and Winter Park (Fla.).
Cougars coach Damon Wright said Heath inquired about the 5-9 Mack, who has had a tremendous season thusfar.
