The last time Rick Pitino was in Rupp Arena, he flipped off a crowd of 24,000+ Kentucky fans after a 75-73 loss in 2015, which he later denied, saying, “My recollection, it was a, ‘We are #1.'”
A lot has changed since then. Louisville is now on their third coach since Pitino and John Calipari is now at Arkansas. With Mark Pope now the coach of the Wildcats, a captain under Rick Pitino’s 95 and 96 Kentucky teams, it felt like it was just a matter of time before Pitino was back on the schedule.
On Sunday, during his introductory press conference, Pope asked a packed Rupp Arena, “Anybody here down for the game versus St. John’s?” Which was answered with a loud roar. On Monday morning, Pitino verbally accepted the invite via social media.
“St John’s accepts,” Pitino said. “This year at UK, next year at the Mecca! Looking forward to saying goodbye to Kentucky”
Pitino is 6-12 in Rupp Arena. Let’s make that 6-13, but with a celebration of what he did for Kentucky Basketball in the ’90s.
More must-reads: