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EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 24, 2013Richard PitinoLAHAINA, HAWAII JIMMY DYKES: Rich Pitino is next. Head coach of Minnesota in his first year, just his second year as a head coach. Was on the cusp of making the NCAA Tournament last year with Florida International. He's only 31 years old. He's been around the game of basketball his entire life. He's been on the coaching staff, obviously, with his dad at Louisville. He's grown up around the dinner table and NBA locker rooms. He's very, very comfortable in who he is as a 31‑year‑old head coach. He also served under Billy Donavon and in my estimation Billy Donavon and Rick Pitino are two of the top 10 coaches we have in our game today. There is a heavy influence of what you'll see from his ballclub from both how his dad's teams play and how Billy Donavon's teams play. He's completely changing the culture of Minnesota basketball. They're going to get up and down that floor. I'm pretty sure they pressed the flight attendants on their flight over. That is who they are now. And it's now my pleasure to hear a few words with you as well from Richard Pitino, the head coach of the Minnesota Gophers. COACH PITINO: Very excited to be here. My last time being here actually Jeff Brassow tipped in a lay‑up against Arizona I believe in 1993 with Kentucky. So that was the last great memory of Maui Classic, and I'm excited to certainly be a part of it. Normally you watch as a spectator, and this is really the pinnacle of preseason tournaments. Unfortunately, we have to play Syracuse first game, and got to go against Coach Boeheim who has about 900 more wins than I, do whatever it may be. Going to be difficult. They're always very, very good, and certainly consistently one of the best teams in the country. Somebody asked me did I watch any of Louisville's film against them from last year, and I was trying to see what they did. They had this kid Montrezl Harrell on the baseline and they threw it to him and they'd go up and dunk it, and we said we can't do that. So we're going to try a different game plan. I asked my power forward, I asked can you dunk like him? He said no. I said, okay, we're going to try something else. I have so much respect for Coach Boeheim and my family has known him for a long time. My mother loves him. I'm not sure if she'll be rooting for him or for me tomorrow, but it's going to be really exciting. It's an unbelievable opportunity. Great coaches, great programs, and we'll try our best tomorrow to see how we stand with them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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