Pitino says he regrets what he told the team right before the Laettener shot
- Thread starter Princecal
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Oh, how I wish I could…
The grass always looks greener from the other side. Refs were blowing whistles on everyone who looked at Laettner that game. And if he wasn’t going to miss a turnaround with two seconds left and a man in his face there’s no way on Earth he would have missed a foul shot from the same spot with all the time in the world.
It took me near thirty years to realize it. And maybe it’ll take him longer. But Pitino did everything right in that game. Everything.
In fact, while K coached that game too and beat him, he had more NBA talent on his roster. He also had the refs on his side, pretty clearly.
In that game, largely recognized to have been the best college game ever played, there’s a real strong case to be made that Rick Pitino turned in the best single-game coaching performance in history. Time to stop beating himself up over it.
It took me near thirty years to realize it. And maybe it’ll take him longer. But Pitino did everything right in that game. Everything.
In fact, while K coached that game too and beat him, he had more NBA talent on his roster. He also had the refs on his side, pretty clearly.
In that game, largely recognized to have been the best college game ever played, there’s a real strong case to be made that Rick Pitino turned in the best single-game coaching performance in history. Time to stop beating himself up over it.
If the refs had any back bone at all they should've tossed Laettner for stomping on Timberlakes chest.
He has said the same thing for 30 years. He said that at the Father and Son Camp in the Summer of '92....I was there. We watched a replay of the game.
That game was the rebirth of UK basketball. As agonizing as it was in the moment, we've won 3 titles since then. Prior to that point you have to go back to 1951 to to get to 3 titles.
We were on a 14 year year draught at that point. I refuse to look at that game negatively any longer and haven't since HS to be honest. Once we beat them in '98 that devil was slayed.
Time for the next rebirth.
It obviously bothers him. In that regard I feel bad for him.
He just said it. So I shared it. I wasn't even alive yet so that shot doesn't hurt me that much, at least compared to those who watched it live. It's UK history, with a new quote on it from the coach at the time, so I shared it here.
32 years before the shot, Cotton Nash hadn't played a varsity game yet.
All he could have done better is put a man on Grant Hill, making it harder for him to throw that inbound pass.
Both Pelphery and Feldhaus were scared to breath on him you could tell the million times I e seen it they both back away and throw their hands up. It was supposed to be Both Pelphery and Feldhaus front and back on Leattner but when he caught the ball they just backed away.
Yup, and he shouldn’t have even been in position to take that shot if the refs called the game fairly and thru his punk ass out for stomping on a player.
That is life and man is that crazy.
It is weird (not in a bad way) to look at stuff that way. Someone who was my age (44) in 1992 would have been born in 1948 and is now mid-70's. Life is short. As long ago as that shot was, it simply doesn't feel like it to me.
The chances of the ball going to anyone but Laettner = nonexistent. I will echo what has been said a thousand times, Pitino should have had one of our tallest players guarding the inbounds pass. The defense that Pitino set up allowed a straight pass to Laettner at the free throw line instead of an , up for grabs, lob. It is more than possible the ball would have gone to the side for a last second heave from 3/4 court. Still, it was a great game by a well coached UK team.
I wish he would’ve put someone on the ball taking it out of bounds.
The interview was new, and even being on this board since 2004 I've never heard it. Sorry for my ignorance
And leave four of our guys—but not our four tallest—playing number 1 Duke four on four with Laettner in and Mashburn fouled out and Laettner still not having missed a shot all game and the refs still whistling anyone who looked at him?
Trusting that that wouldn’t be a problem because GRANT HILL wouldn’t be able to juke poor Andre Riddick for an eighth of a second to throw it around him or through his arms?
That’s fools gold.
That’s exactly a case of the grass looking greener from the other side.
Anything is possible. We COULD have won it that way and we COULD have won it the way we played it. But in terms of deeply and correctly-reasoned usage of the available assets and the real probabilities, it is inferior to the plan Pitino came up with. Even though Pitino only had a few moments to think of his plan and the people second-guessing him, including himself, have had over 32 years now.
I will not debate you on this. Feel free to debate someone else about it. I’m just establishing that I meant what I said when I said I put near thirty years of careful analysis into this. That didn’t include me forgetting that Rick had the option to put a man on the ball.
Just for fun:
Tim Higgins, Charles Range, and Tom Clark were the refs. Range was the one who called Laettner for the tech but didn't toss him even though it was clearly an unsportsmanlike foul when the ball was dead, which warranted ejection. It was the last UK game Range ever officiated.
I was so stressed during that game that I kept dashing out to my back porch to try to calm down. I'll always feel bad for the UK players and coaches, especially Pitino.
Tim Higgins, Charles Range, and Tom Clark were the refs. Range was the one who called Laettner for the tech but didn't toss him even though it was clearly an unsportsmanlike foul when the ball was dead, which warranted ejection. It was the last UK game Range ever officiated.
I was so stressed during that game that I kept dashing out to my back porch to try to calm down. I'll always feel bad for the UK players and coaches, especially Pitino.
This. And you would think future coaches would learn from it. But nooooope. And I've seen it bite coaches right in the ass.
Don't say God Himself can't sink a ship.
Don't ever say the Q word on a shift when working in retail, IT, emergency management, or health care
and PUT A MAN ON THE INBOUND.
These are facts of life.
I often wonder if we made the Final Four that year how we'd do. Indiana would've wanted revenge and that was Knight's last great team there. Who knows. If we knock Duke out the Hoosiers may have won another title.
Nah we probably win that game. That game was the title game that year and is STILL the best game of college basketball EVER played.
Possible. Then we play Michigan in the title game. If Pitino won in 92 he may have gone to the pros even earlier.
I have always said that he should have subbed Aminu Timberlake and Andre Riddick! Aminu should have been Fronting Laettner and Riddick Behind him and even if he would have caught it over Aminu then he still wouldn’t have got the shot to go over Riddick!!
