When Kentucky and Louisville tip off at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the KFC Yum Center, the man who was the focal point of this basketball series for so long will be nearly 6,000 miles away. Rick Pitino will be preaching his hoops gospel to a professional team on the islands of Greece.
Yes, there’s a new spin to this dramatic series. Long gone, finally, is the lightning rod who played both sides of the street all the way back to 1989, first as Kentucky coach, then as Louisville coach, managing to get under opposition’s skin all along the way.