Q&A with U of L's Rick Pitino
After receiving an award from the NABC on Sunday evening, Louisville hoops coach Rick Pitino chatted for about 15 minutes with The Courier-Journal and WLKY.
Here's the full transcipt of the Q&A:
On still having passion for coaching at 62: The thing I'm most pleased about is not the awards, it's the fire and the passion, because you think you'd get a little tired as age creeps up on you, but it's the exact opposite for me. The adrenaline's been so over the top where I'm going through the tournament and I'm still not sleeping. I'm going on little sleep and you're watching 10 films of each team and now you want to watch the 11th and you want to watch the 12th. You don't think you have enough. I'm really happy with that, because that means you still have a lot left in the tank. That's what you want to see.
On looking back at the season: I do feel better. It's heartbreaking when it comes down to it. You look at all the things -- the free throw, look, we got lucky on the first one, so you can't complain about the second one. We weren't the best free-throw-shooting team anyway. To have a bad free-throw-shooting team, to look back on it ... what do you take back on what you could have done differently? Twice we brought the ball down and we got stripped in crunch time. That's what you can control. You can't control the missed shots and the missed free throws. You can control those type of things -- the missed layups, taking your eyes off the rim -- those are the things you work on in the offseason to make yourselves better.
On Frank Kaminsky's career arc and if his players can learn from him: Well, it's funny you mention that because we already Xeroxed that story of Frank Kaminsky about how he didn't play much as a freshman and sophomore, didn't score much, and now he's playing for the final, player of the year. For guys like (Chinanu Onuaku and Shaqquan Aaron), and all the guys who are in such a rush to get there, well, look at him. He's proof in the pudding of hard work, staying in the gym, working at your trade, getting in the weight room, and now he's playing for the national championship and he's player of the year. We've already put it in everybody's locker for (Monday) when they get to the gym.
On why some young players are in a rush to be stars: Like I said in the speech tonight, what the players don't realize ... because I've been through the NBA, and I've talked to all my players who played in the pros, as well as all the other guys, and whether it's Michael Jordan or Barkley or whoever it is, they will tell you there's nothing like their college days, nothing close to it. Everybody says that because you're on scholarship. It doesn't mean room, board, books and tuition; it means no worries, no bills, no people asking you for money, because that's what the scholarship is all about. You go to sleep at night just worrying about getting to practice and getting to class. You don't have to worry about all the things you do when you get married, have children and pay rent. It really is a scholarship, and that's why the players love these -- like Jahlil Okafor's only going to stay one year, Karl Towns is going to stay one year or Frank Kaminsky stays four years -- it'll be the greatest year or great years of their lives, regardless of how much money they make or how far they get into the pro ranks.
On his team's needs: What we're going to have is an awesome attitude because Mangok is a phenomenal leader. He cares little about himself and cares a lot about the team. He's very enthustiastic, so he's going to be a great leader. What we have to do is -- we've got a lot of talent coming back, our bigs are going to be very good, they're all going to be special in their own way. What we have to get is a fifth-year senior, or maybe two, because we need to get some experience into this talented young group. We're going to get that done.
On if he's looking specifically for shooters: That's a mandatory thing in my life. For the next 40 years I'm going to live in my life, I'm never recruiting a non-shooter ever again.
On if you can teach shooting: You can improve shooting. We improved Montrezl Harrell's jump shot by working long and hard. It's not just repetition. It really is developing -- like Quentin Snider is getting better at it because he developed arc. We call it shooting at a big rim. Guys, when they came in, shoot at small rim, like Terry (Rozier) and (Snider). Then there's the opposite, the ultimate big-rim shooter, Steph Curry, who shoots at the biggest rim imaginable. So you try to get your guys to shoot at a big rim rather than changing their form and certain techniques. We're working on it. We're working on Matz (Stockman)'s shot, which has gotten a lot better. We're working on it.
But from this point on, as long as I live, if somebody cannot shoot the basketball, I'm taking them off any letter-writing list.
On naming his captains: I know Mangok's going to be one of those guys. I don't know who the other will be. I'm hoping it'll be a fifth-year senior who has leadership qualities.
On if he helps departing players with anything: What I do is I stay out of the agent business. The only time I give advice to my guys is if they need financial advice. I tell them what to do because that's where they make their biggest mistakes.
On Terry Rozier: We talked about this at the beginning of the year, at the midpoint of the year. I knew he was going pro 100 percent. His mom thanked my wife at the game and said Terry just loved playing for your husband. I knew it. It was not an agreement as much as I knew his family plight, and I knew if he had a good year, he was going to go. It wasn't just me saying it. We talked about it. You don't just come at the end of the year and, in 24 hours, make this decision. If you have a good year, I'm going. If you don't, you come back. Well, he had a good year. He led his team, he was the leading scorer of his basketball team. The fans were hoping he'd come back. I was very up front and honest he wasn't coming back.
On how grad transfers can help U of L: Well, first of all, they've got to be a great person. I'm very much for the one and done in this regard. I love one and dones at the fifth-year level because you get mature individuals who have leadership qualities who really, really want to be part -- maybe they weren't a part of the NCAA tournament and the national stage, and this is their opportunity and they're hungry for it. I love one and done players. This will be my first one and done.
On the national title game: I have an opinion on most games. I thought that Duke would handle Michigan State because of how they're playing right now. I couldn't pick the Wisconsin-Kentucky game. I thought Kentucky would win based on -- they haven't lost -- but this game I can't pick because Duke is at a different level than what we saw at Louisville earlier in the year. Wisconsin has gone through teams -- the teams they've had to play to get there. Can they get themselves back from that emotional high of beating Kentucky? Duke had a relatively softer game. It happened to us when we played Minnesota (in 1997). We got the hell beat out of us physically, and then we had to play Arizona and lost in overtime. Sometimes games take a heck out of you emotionally and physically, so it all depends on how much it took out of Wisconsin.
On how he's dealt in the past with what Kentucky is dealing with now: I've never had that type of loss because I've never been undefeated. That was an incredible season that they had and they're going to really appreciate it -- the team, the coaches, the fans -- they're going to look back at it and say, 'Man, that was unbelievable. We never lost a game and then we got to the Final Four.' It hurts, but if you look at it as not winning a championship, it's silly. This wasn't his best Kentucky team. I think Anthony Davis's team was his best team, and look at what they did. It was an amazing job by the coaching staff, an amazing job by the players, and in a week's time, they'll look back and say, 'They didn't fail. They just didn't reach that magical moment.'
On reaching the Hall of Fame: It's the biggest honor a person can get. But I always say this, coaches don't get into Hall of Fames for their wins and losses, players put coaches in the Hall of Fame. We coach great teams and great players. Players get there because of their statistics and what they've accomplished; coaches get there because of their players.
On watching the Final Four: I watch every game because I want to learn something from every game. I enjoy the game. I'm a big Tom Izzo guy and what he stands for in the game, so we just -- what you have to do when you lose is give the other team credit and walk out with your head high. You never play the what-if game. The other team beat us. Hey, Michigan State, you were great. We went to work the next day. We practiced the next day individually to work on things to get back to this moment. What I don't want is -- you see it all the time, with Connecticut this year, Florida, Kentucky lost to Robert Morris -- we haven't had slippage. This is the year that, if you look at us, there could be slippage. What I'm trying to do is put a stop to slippage.