Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford remembers Richard Pitino as a bright kid who hung around Kentucky basketball practices when Ford played for his father, Rick, in the early 1990s.
"You always could tell his love for the game of basketball," Ford said.
Now more than 20 years later, Ford will be coaching against the younger Pitino when the Gophers (5-4) play the Cowboys (5-3) on Saturday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Both teams have lost their past two games at home. Both are struggling to find their identities. Both have frustrated fan bases.