Louisville head coach Rick Pitino to coach Puerto Rico National Team
2021-02-08
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino announced on Monday 20 December that he accepted Puerto Rico’s offer to coach their National Team in next year’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in their bid to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.
“It's a tall order and that's why I'm taking it,” said Pitino, who is the only men’s college basketball coach to have final four stints with three different teams. “If they were already in the Olympics, I wouldn't do it. Their backs are to the wall.”
Pitino confirmed that he talked with Puerto Rico’s basketball officials on Sunday 19 December, and he was impressed with their optimism, making him believe that the team would have a great chance to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. He also reiterated that coaching the Puerto Rico National Basketball is an honor for him.
“For me to step into a situation like that they'd have to have a tremendous desire to win because there's no compensation for me except love of the game,” Pitino said. “So I want to make sure their best players are really into it.”
Pitino also added that he would talk with potential national team members that are currently playing in the NBA like J.J Barea of the Dallas Mavericks, Carlos Arroyo of the Miami Heat, and Renaldo Balkman of the Denver Nuggets, who all threw their support to their new head coach.
“I want to see how much passion there is for winning because their backs are to the wall,” Pitino said. “They've got to finish in the top two, excluding the United States, to get into the Olympics against very good competition on foreign soil, so they'll have to be very competitive.”
In order to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, the Puerto Rico National squad will have to reach the finals of the FIBA Americas Qualifying Tournament, but it would be a tough task because they will be facing formidable teams like Brazil and Argentina, who are also both eyeing a spot in the London joust.
Despite the difficult task ahead of him and the Puerto Rican team, coach Pitino said that he is optimistic and he believes that the players will play for pride and glory in order to reach their goal next summer.
“For these guys, playing for the national team is the biggest thing in the country,” Pitino said. “They are very, very passionate about it and that was a major factor for me on my decision to take the job.”
If they would not finish on the top two in the FIBA Americas Qualifying tournament, Puerto Rico will still have a chance as long as they would finish on the top five of the FIBA Americas tourney to have a slot in the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
The top four teams in the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament would qualify for the London Olympics, but if the Great Britain National Team will be given an automatic slot, only the top three teams will have a wildcard spot in the Olympics.
When asked how his decision will affect his coaching stint with Louisville, Pitino said that Louisville would actually benefit from it since he is planning to have joint practices.
“We're going to be able to play against the national team 2-3 times and play against NBA-type players,” Pitino said. “That's going to be great for our incoming freshmen.”
Although he knows that leading Puerto Rico to the Olympics will be a gigantic task, Pitino declared that he is up to the challenge and he vowed to give his best to help the team qualify for the Olympics for the first time since the 2004 Athens Olympics. Get into all the sports betting action at www.sportsbook.com the home of sports betting.
The No. 5 seed Butler Bulldogs will be facing the No. 1 seed Duke Blue Devils; Monday April 5, 2010, tip-off is at 9:15pm on CBS. www.Sportsbook.com had the opening line of this game with the Duke Blue Devils as -6.5 favorites, as I write this preview the line has already moved to 7.5 and the over / under is at 128.5 points. The Blue Devils have proved that they have the talent to beat any opponent. The Duke Blue Devils are the only school to have a better scoring average then the Butler Bulldogs; I guess it was fate that these two teams met at the National Championship game.
When the 2010 NCAA national title game rolls on Monday night, the Duke Blue Devils will be making its first NCAA tournament title appearance since 2001 which is also the last time this prolific program won the championship. Standing in their way will be a team from a no named conference that nobody has cared to believe is a true basketball beast.
Whether the Butler Bulldogs win or lose when they meet the Duke Blue Devils as significant underdogs, they have proven their point. The Butler Bulldogs can attain that dream when they face, what everyone believes has been the best team in this year’s 2010 tournament thus far. If there is one sure bet that we know about Monday night, the Bulldogs will give it their all and even a moneyline bet on these guys wouldn’t be the worst bet you could make.
Now on to the important stuff: The final March Madness Betting Preview
First off let’s look at how good the Butler Bulldogs are they have 25 straight victories and are 33 - 4, 17 - 20 against the spread.
The Butler Bulldogs are 8 - 3 in their last 11 NCAA Tourney games and 5 - 1 against the spread in their last six.
The Blue Devils are 5 - 0 against the spread during this 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Both the Butler Bulldogs (15 - 20 over / under) and the Duke Blue Devils (16 - 22 over / under) have been good under plays this season. The under is 9 - 1 in Butler’s last 10 overall and 2 - 4 in Duke’s last six overall.
Bulldogs’ defense has made a fool of the over/under lines during the tournament. Bulldogs’ games have finished below the total by an average of 15 points in the last four games.
Butler’s tight defense against Duke’s on-point offense will be the tale of Monday night’s National Championship game. Of their last five games the Butler Bulldogs have not let their opponents score more than 60 points on them, a testament to their coach and their will to play. Add to that, the Bulldogs have limited 12 of their last 13 teams they’ve played against to less than 60 points. Even though the Bulldogs shot 30.6 percent from the floor they were still able to frustrate the Michigan State Spartans.
The Blue Devils have unsuccessful reached the 60 point mark only once this whole season, that is only once in 38 games. The Duke Blue Devils put in 78 points in each of their past two games, which were wins over the Baylor Bears in the South Region final and over the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Go to www.sportsbook.com to make your bet on the Duke Blue Devils at -7.5 point favorites, sorry Bulldogs, at least you made it this far.