By Russ Brown
NKyTribune correspondent
LOUISVILLE — Rick Pitino vowed that his Louisville basketball team’s rematch with Virginia would be different. Not so much.
Instead, it was a not-so-instant replay of the Cavaliers’ 63-47 demolition of the Cardinals just over a month ago when they handed their hosts their worst defeat ever in the KFC Yum! Center.
This time, the site changed, but the outcome was the same as No. 4 Virginia (24-6, 13-5) started fast, led from tipoff to buzzer and ended No. 11 UofL’s season with an embarrassing 68-46 thumping Saturday night in John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.
It was a disappointing ending — to say the least — to a season that started with promise but was cut short by the school’s self-imposed postseason ban in response to allegations of sex parties for recruits and players hosted by a UofL assistant coach in the players’ dorm over a four-year period.
Still, the season wasn’t a total loss. The Cards (23-8, 12-6 ACC), with 11 freshmen and sophomores on the roster, started the year unranked and were picked to finish seventh in the ACC. They will be in the top 20 in the final AP poll and they wound up fourth in the conference, just two games behind regular season champion North Carolina.
“We had a brilliant season, as good as you could ever ask for with so much inexperience,” Pitino said after UofL’s second loss in its last three games. “They gave such great effort. They played as if they were playing for a number one seed.”
But before we get to a few gory details of the ugly blowout, the biggest news of the evening — if he’s right — is longtime Pitino friend Dick Vitale’s forceful on-air assertion that Pitino will return as UofL’s coach next season.
The ESPN commentator, who was one of Pitino’s presenters in his 2013 Naismith Hall of Fame induction, said Pitino has already decided he will be back.
“He’s not waiting,” Vitale said. “He’s coming back. He’s already thought about it. He’s decided. He loves Louisville and he thinks he’s going to have a really good team next season. He’s excited.”
Pitino had earlier said it was “highly likely” he would return, but added that he would wait several weeks before deciding on his future, and athletic director Tom Jurich hasn’t commented on the situation in several weeks.
Meanwhile, prior to the game two members of the Board of Trustees issued statements — one supporting Pitino and the other apologizing for critical remarks during a board meeting this past week.
Friday night, board chairman Larry Benz said of the trustees in a statement that, “Our genuine hope is that Coach Pitino is our coach for as many years as he wants. I am deeply convinced that the NCAA findings will clear Rick Pitino of any knowledge of the alleged scandal. We join our Athletic Director, Tom Jurich, in our complete support of him.”
And The Courier-Journal, citing “multiple sources,” wrote that trustee Emily Bingham, who had referred to Pitino’s “sexual misconduct,” had apologized to the coach Saturday.
After the game, Pitino, 63, told ESPN.com that support from the trustees made him feel optimistic about his future heading into the offseason.
“It made me feel a lot better, 80 percent better,” Pitino said. “He (Benz) said he not only wants me to be the coach, but he wants me to be the coach for a long time. Those words make you feel good.
“I intend to come back every year. But I’ll take the time and ask myself, ‘Did I have fun? Can I do it again? How’s my health? Questions all coaches my age should ask themselves at the end of the year. Personally, I’d love to coach until I’m 83.”
However, it’s safe to say that if Pitino faced too many nights like he and his team endured against Virginia, he would quickly change his mind.
It was a rout from the start. UofL missed its first 11 shots, didn’t manage a field goal until the first 9:18, fell behind 10-0 and 13-1 and trailed by double digits the entire second half.
The Cards’ offense and defense were both even worse than they were in the first game in Louisville. UofL had little penetration, took long-range 3-pointers and had poor ball movement much of the time.
The Cards shot a season-low 27.6 percent (16-58), including 4-of-22 (18.7) from behind the arc. Leading scorers Damion Lee and Trey Lewis combined to score just 16 points on 5-of-22 shooting.
And center Chinanu Onuaku fouled out with 7:58 left, having totaled a mere eight points and four rebounds in the two games against the Cavs.
Seven-foot senior center Mike Tobey was a one-man gang for Virginia on the boards, pulling down a career-high 20 rebounds and adding 15 points. Malcolm Brogdon scored 17 and Antony Gill 15 for the Cavs, who shot 51.3 percent (20-39), including 12-of-17 in the second half.
“Virginia is an experienced, well-oiled machine,” Pitino said. “They move the ball so well offensively and they’re so good defensively that the best you can hope for is an open three for a quick second.”
So now, due to the ban, Louisville will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the last 10 years and only the third time during Pitino’s tenure. He said he addressed that discouraging prospect in the locker room afterwards.
“I told them, ‘Look, I don’t coach players for one year,'” Pitino said on his post-game radio show. “‘I’ve got a 20-year reunion coming up with the (UK) championship team and we are going to have a five-year reunion with this basketball team.’ It was a very emotional locker room.
“It’s going to hit this team tonight on the way home that it’s over for them. We talked so much about a great journey this year, starting with Puerto Rico (for exhibition games) and we had grand dreams. But sometimes it comes to an end. It’s the start of a new journey for our three seniors and a little time off for the rest of the guys to get rested, take a spring break, then get back to work.”
As for Pitino, he said he will conduct indiviual workouts for the Cards Monday and Tuesday, attend the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis to cheer on son Richard Pitino’s Minnesota team, then head to his home in Miami to fish, golf and relax.
He bought a boat last year, named it “The Floating Cardinal” and says he intends to spend time on the boat, “read, drink a beer, relax for two or three days and then play a little golf. I’m just going to unwind.”