Smith's shot selection can give a coach nightmares

His second-leading scorer is a wild, burberry handbags crazy gunner whose shot selection is straight off a New York playground.

His center is a soft-spoken African still learning how to play the game.

His team finished seventh in the Big East in the regular season, including a 31-point loss to Providence.
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But he says this might be the most enjoyable ride he's had in his long coaching career, that he's never coached a group like this one.
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And Saturday, when his Louisville team advanced to the NCAA men's Final Four, Pitino smiled bigger than we've seen him smile in a long time and gushed into a microphone, "Aside from the birth of my six children, this is the happiest day of my life."

His team's next game — Louisville vs. Kentucky in the Final Four in New Orleans on Saturday — is all about the state of Kentucky, not Indiana. But it would certainly be fitting, and accurate, for Pitino to channel Norman Dale of the movie Hoosiers and, before they head onto the floor of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, softly tell his players, "I love you guys."

Theirs is a moving drama worthy of screenwriters and a musical score.

Like Dale, Pitino has endured scandal and embarrassment, most famously as a result of a woman being tried and convicted in 2010 for trying to extort money from Pitino, who is married, to keep secret a one-night stand in 2003.

The more the once-haughty Pitino talks about embracing humility, both in regard to that incident and because of his failure as coach of the Boston Celtics, the more sincere he sounds.Ray ban sunglasses, cheap gucci sunglasses, burberry sunglasses sale.

Like the Hickory team in Hoosiers, the Louisville Cardinals (30-9) were pounded from time to time early in the season. Their weaknesses were exposed. Their resolve was tested.

But they believed in their coach and themselves, they worked extremely hard and, when the stage got bigger and the games more important, they played their hearts out.

"These guys are complete warriors," Pitino says.

The whole thing reminds Pitino of 25 years ago, when he took Big East doormat Providence to the Final Four in 1987 while grieving the death because of heart failure of his 6-month-old son, Daniel.

That's a memory that is bittersweet and a connection that is eerie, because while Pitino has been coaching this team to the Final Four, he's been talking and texting with members of the 1987 Providence team about plans for their 25-year reunion celebration in May. And, in the West Regional final Saturday in Phoenix, his team beat Florida, coached by the star of the '87 Providence team and probably Pitino's favorite all-time player, Billy Donovan.

As they say in the infotainment business, this is a story with multiple entry points.

However you approach it, the tale of the 2011-12 Louisville Cardinals ends up being about a great bond that has been formed. "I've been proud of a lot of teams, and I've said this team reminds me of the '87 team," Pitino says. "I've never wanted a Final Four more in my life than in '87. Just to ease the pain that we were going through at the time of losing a son and to distract my wife and family from that.

"And I've never wanted a Final Four more than for these guys. They give me every single thing they have in their bodies. They're the burberry ties most incredible group to coach. And now they're going to get this experience. And the only thing I've asked them to do is not be satisfied by going."

Oh, there will be more things he'll ask, and demand.

Just ask Peyton Siva and Gorgui Dieng and Russ Smith. Their coach might be smiling more and bigger than usual, but embracing humility doesn't mean abandoning his drive and intensity.

Siva is the 6-0 junior point guard whom Pitino was screaming at Saturday for ill-advised fouls. He has had an up-and-down season but has shown some brilliance in the tournament and credits his coach for staying on him and helping him through tough times.

"Of course, he gets a little out of control at practice," Siva says. "He gets on us. … He's a great coach to play for. … Everybody grasps the fact that he has been there and knows what it takes to be successful."

Dieng is the 6-11 sophomore center from Senegal who is trying to be a sponge and soak up everything the wise, old sage can offer.

"This guy, he's always thinking like how he can get this kid better," Dieng says. "My freshman year, I was complaining a lot. I'm tired, my legs hurt. He changed my whole mentality. He made me tougher, and he burberry hats for women teaches me how this game can change your life."

And Smith is the no-conscience, fearless 6-0 sophomore who, though sixth in minutes played, leads the Cardinals in shot attempts … and led them to victory Saturday with some clutch plays down the stretch.

Smith's shot selection can give a coach nightmares.

But Pitino has a soft spot in his heart for him. He even made up a word for some of Smith's shots: Russ-diculous.

Sometimes Pitino has seen enough and he'll yank Smith from the game. Then, when he needs offense a couple of minutes later, he'll put him back in.

Smith, like Pitino a New Yorker, listens to his coach patiently, then goes in and keeps firing up shots.

Some go in.

But whether they do or don't go in for Louisville in New Orleans, this will always be one of Pitino's favorite teams, a reminder of 1987.

And it's not, he says, just burberry sunglasses because this team, like the one in '87, overachieved. It's because these guys worked hard in the classroom, have a Bible study, have each other's backs and always find something to laugh about.

"And," Pitino says, "because of their humility and the way they carry themselves."

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