CARDINALS

Duke heightens Louisville's ACC buzz

Tim Sullivan

@TimSullivan714

Rick Pitino prefers milestones of his own making. He had no interest in being the victim of Mike Krzyzewski's 1000^th victory and has shown little appetite for the subordinate role of spoiler.

"I'm very happy," the University of Louisville basketball coach said Friday, "that I wouldn't be part of a trivia question."

That Duke enters today's Atlantic Coast Conference nooner on a two-game losing streak, with Coach K surprisingly stuck on 997 career wins, has eliminated one tantalizing story line from this tilt. Yet it has barely dented the buzz that's been building since U of L was invited to join the ACC in November, 2012.

Though the list of Louisville's league "firsts" is now longer than Anas Mahmoud's inseam, most of what has transpired to date feels like a soft launch as compared to Duke's inaugural trip to the KFC Yum! Center. With the possible exception of last fall's visit by Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston and Florida State's reigning football champions, none of U of L's ACC games have carried more cachet or richer context.

Duke basketball is the ACC's signature brand and Krzyzewski its most accomplished coach. It's been 38 months since Coach K eclipsed Bobby Knight as college basketball's winningest coach and nearly 23 years since Christian Laettner became inextricably linked with Pitino's legacy, and there are still people in these parts who regard Duke as an open wound.

Ask a Kentucky fan to identify a rooting interest in the Duke-Louisville game and see how long it takes to get a response. And no, ceiling collapse is not an option.

Ask a Louisville fan to identify the school's fiercest rival and the answer would surely be Kentucky. But if there's an ACC opponent capable of supplanting Big Blue Nation as U of L's arch-enemy, it's bound to be the Blue Devils.

Though their head-to-head meetings have been infrequent, both Krzyzewski and Pitino have coached teams that have cost the other a spot in the Final Four. Krzyzewski's first NCAA Championship game was lost to Denny Crum's 1986 Louisville team. Pitino's last NCAA Championship was earned after Kevin Ware fractured his leg against Duke in the Midwest Regional. Among active coaches, only Coach K has made more Final Four appearances or maintained a higher NCAA Tournament winning percentage than Coach P.

"We've been good friends for a while," Pitino said Friday. "He knows how much respect I have for him and the Duke program and we've been very good friends for many years. I always say that Coach K and (Florida's) Billy Donovan are the two poster (children) for how to act as a coach.

"One's a little older than the other, but in their tenure, they have the total package – from coaching, teaching, recruiting mentoring, developing assistant coaches into head coaches, how they treat their players, how they handle losses, in always giving credit to the other team. Both guys I've seen are in a class by themselves."

If not for the eight seasons he spent in the NBA, the 62-year-old Pitino might be pushing the 67-year-old Krzyzewski for career victories. Before Kentucky extended John Calipari's contract last summer, Coach K and Pitino had ranked 1-2 among college basketball's highest-paid coaches.

Though none of that history has much direct bearing on current events, it creates a compelling backdrop and a palpable buzz. Duke was ranked No. 4 in the most recent Associated Press poll; Louisville No. 6. Though both teams have their issues – "I just have felt since Christmas that there's something missing with our group," Krzyzewski said Tuesday -- both are led by iconic, Hall of Fame coaches. Both teams tend to improve as the season progresses. And Duke, like Kentucky, has nine McDonald's All-Americans.

"I wouldn't say they're going through a losing streak (after) two games," Pitino said Friday. "When you're 14-2, which we are, and they are ranked 4^th, I think we're all trying to do the same things. We're all trying to get into March a much better basketball team with a decent seed."

Both teams should get a good gauge from playing the other.

Tim Sullivan can be reached at (502) 582-4650, by email at tsullivan@courier-journal.com