March 28: A day to forget for Rick Pitino
AGONAsport’s Peter Katsiris reviews how Rudy Fernandez joined Christian Laettner in compounding Rick Pitino’s hate for March 28…
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A miraculous shot at the buzzer helped Real Madrid steal a 74-73 victory over Panathinaikos in the EuroLeague on Thursday night, though it wasn’t the first time Rick Pitino had suffered a loss in such a fashion on 28 March.
Trailing 73-71 with the clock winding down at the OAKA Olympic Indoor Hall, Fernandez rescued Real Madrid from the jaws of defeat with a miraculous heave from well-beyond the arc as the reigning EuroLeague champions silenced the home crowd at the final buzzer.
The defeat meant that Panathinaikos failed to clinch a berth in the EuroLeague playoffs heading into the final round of fixtures next week with a visit from minnows Budocnost VOLI Podgorica looming.
But perhaps the most interesting note from Thursday’s defeat was how eerily similar the fashion of the defeat was to the loss Rick Pitino suffered while at the helm of the University of Kentucky basketball team 27 years prior.
In 1992, Pitino’s Kentucky Wildcats held a 103-102 lead over rivals Duke with just 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime of the East Regional Final.
In what is known to NCAA fans as The Shot, Duke’s Grant Hill inbounded the ball some 79 feet to teammate Christian Laettner, who faked right, dribbled once, turned, and hit a jumper as time expired to clinch a 104-103 win for the Blue Devils.
Deemed by Sports Illustrated as the greatest college basketball game of all time, defending champions Duke booked their spot in the Final Four that year at the expense of Pitino’s Wildcats.
Pitino would come under heavy criticism for his tactics on the inbound as all five Kentucky players were in their own half by the time Hill heaved the ball to Laettner – a strange tactic considering the proven success of challenging the player inbounding the ball.
Duke would go on to defeat Indiana and Michigan in the Final Four in Minneapolis, Minnesota to become the first team to win back-to-back national titles since 1973.
Pitino, meanwhile, would eventually win a national championship when he steered the Wildcats to their sixth title in 1996, though the loss to Duke nearly three decades ago seemingly still stings for Pitino.
Fortunately for the Panathinaikos head coach, his side will have a shot at redemption in the EuroLeague next week as Pitino looks to lead the Trifylli to the EuroLeague postseason in an unexpected turnaround for the Athenian outfit.
