Can Rick Pitino become the Coach K of Puerto Rico?
Pitino is following in Coach K’s footsteps on the international stage after announcing Monday that he will coach the Puerto Rico national basketball team in preparation for a 2011 pre-Olympic qualifying tournament.
Pitino will coach the national team in the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship basketball tournament to be played in Mar del Plata, Argentina on Aug. 25-Sept. 8, 2011, at the 8,000-seat Polideportivo Islas Malvinas. Puerto Rico must finish among the top two teams to advance to the 2012 Olympics in London.
“I’m deeply honored to be coaching the Puerto Rico national team,” said Pitino. “I know their backs are against the wall in needing to finish among the top two in a 10-team tournament to qualify for the Olympics, and that’s probably what attracted me the most. That’s when competitive people rise to the occasion. The more they talked about the pride and passion among their players and country, the more I became interested. I wanted the experience to benefit the University of Louisville as well. The timing works out perfectly so as not to conflict with our responsibilities at U of L.”
Ten teams will participate in the FIBA Americas Championship including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Since the USA has already qualified for the 2012 Olympics by winning the 2010 FIBA World Championship, it could withdraw from the tournament and open a wildcard spot.
Three current NBA players are members of the Puerto Rico team, including Dallas Mavericks guard JJ Barea, Miami Heat guard Carlos Arroyo and Denver Nuggets forward Renaldo Balkman.
Puerto Rico last qualified for the Olympics in 2004, beating the United States on its way to a sixth-place finish. It did not qualify for the 2000 or 2008 Olympics.
(Louisville Athletics contributed story and photo)
fearthephog25 / December 21, 2010
A post by Kaizer Sosay via catspause.cum
“If the NCAA rules that Kanter is ineligible then we are proposing that the BBN as a whole send out a bevy of e-mails to the NCAA HQ at 3:00pm on the first monday following the unfavorable decision by the NCAA. I will edit this post later to include the exact e-mail address to send to. My understanding is that the following is all that needs to be in your e-mail: “Free Enes!” Obviously, if the NCAA rules in favor of Enes playing…then the “mass e-mail” deal is off. Although I will probably include them on my Christmas card list.”
LOL What fools, just give it up please. The problem is when he went from playing on junior turk team to playing on senior pro turk team. Paid to play = non-amateur. Almost 8 weeks til March, kanter should just be getting ready for the NBA. And quit comparing it to the Newton and Selby cases, neither of them played pro ball.
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MilesCat / December 22, 2010
There is no high school ball in Turkey. What kind of ball would you like a 15 year old to play? At least Kanter’s family asked to pay the money back themselves (33,000) and not have the university pay it back for him (Selby). His family turned down millions to play and have went over board trying to make him eligible. Just let him play this year or next, he wants to play college ball. If I seem passionate… I am. I had moved on, but as soon as the Newton case was done… I was pissed. Quit comparing, I will not because the Newton case is worse and you know it!
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fearthephog25 / December 22, 2010
Anytime money is exchanged for playing, then that player is no longer an amateur. It is real simple, and plain as day.
uk will be just fine with their number one recruiting class, according to what I was hearing all summer anyway. And cal is the best coach in college basketball to never make it to a Final Four.
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BostonCat / December 24, 2010
how much did darnell jackson get from a booster? so according to you jackson then is no longer an amateur and should have never played….correct?
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fearthephog25 / December 25, 2010
Seriously, is that what you counter with? What pro team did Darnell play for before entering Kansas? LOL
kanter went from junior to senior pro team, so don’t try to convince anyone he is amateur status. Nobody is really listening to kanter issues, when it is plain as day.
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