Quick thoughts from Rick Pitino's pre-UNI Q&A
SEATTLE -- Rick Pitino spoke to the media on Saturday and previewed Louisville's second NCAA tournament game, which tips off near 9:40 p.m. ET on Sunday.
The Cardinals (25-8) will take on fifth-seeded Northern Iowa.
A few thoughts from Pitino's press conference:
Rozier and the NBA. Late in his Q&A, Pitino was asked about a proposed change to the NBA draft rules for college players. In short, the rule would move the NBA draft declaration deadline back into late May to allow players to receive more evaluation and feedback before making their final decisions to stay in school or go pro. Part of that new process would involve an NBA draft combine for prospective players.
Pitino really likes the idea and referenced 6-foot-1 guard Terry Rozier as the perfect example of a player the new process would help. If all the information that Rozier has to go on is what an 18-man evaluation committee and NBA scouts tell Rick Pitino, it's a challenging decision to make.
"I don't know how a young man could -- with the (current) rules -- made a good decision," Pitino said. "Because in the NBA, they don't start working you out until May and June ... So let's take Terry Rozier. (This is a hypothetical): He's going pro, and he's middle-to-late first-round possible, maybe a second round, but he doesn't know. What you have to do is contact the league, and they have a committee set up that brings us back information ... but they don't know whether teams are interested or not. The only way you truly find out is by the kids working out with the team.
Transcript continues after the video
"So for Terry, it's going to be a very difficult decision for him. I do think he's going. I said that all along. But it's going to be a difficult decision to him because he's not going to know -- whereas Montrezl Harrell, he knows he's going and he knows he's going to be a first-round pick."
New starters? The initial question was: Is Chinanu Onuaku healthy after taking a nasty fall in a rebounding scrum on Friday? Pitino said the 6-foot-10 freshman is feeling fine, but then he hinted at a bit more interesting subject. He said he hadn't decided yet if he would go with Mangok Mathiang or Montrezl Harrell as his primary center, and "someone else" at power forward. Has the door officially opened for Jaylen Johnson? Pitino has talked him up so much in recent weeks that there may be a chance of it.
Most painful loss? Pitino made the joke again: "I don't hate Christian Laettner." He was obviously referencing the recent 30 for 30 documentary about Laettner, the former Duke star who had his fair share of detractors and enemies in sports. Part of Laettner's legacy, of course, is his turnaround, game-winning jumper in a 1992 regional final against a Pitino-coached Kentucky team. But that wasn't the only game that Pitino mentioned as his most painful March loss. A game five years later did.
"I would say we had Arizona beat for a back-to-back championship (in 1997) and one of my favorite players of all-time, Nazr Mohammed, missed seven free throws in overtime and I haven't spoken to him since," Pitino joked.
A small note. Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson also spoke on Saturday, and the biggest issue he addressed is the health of UNI guard Matt Bohannon, who is the Panthers' top 3-point shooter in terms of volume. He has made 52 of 135 3s this season, which is 38.5 percent. But Bohannon broke a finger on his non-shooting left hand in UNI's win over Wyoming on Friday, and it's unclear if he'll play against Louisville. Jacobson said Bohannaon participated in the team walkthrough on Saturday, but also that he wasn't sure if Bohannaon would be able to actually play.