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Rick Pitino, Bill Self meet in March Madness after Hall of Fame coaches stood test of time
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- Rick Pitino, Bill Self meet in March Madness after Hall of Fame coaches stood test of time
SAN DIEGO – St. John's men's basketball coach Rick Pitino wasn't ready to announce his retirement yet or anything. But a day before his team played a first-round game here in the NCAA tournament, the Hall of Fame coach did look into a future where nothing is certain, especially at age 73.
"I could be out of coaching next year," Pitino said Thursday, March 19. "I really can be. You're 73. And I want to have the greatest time of my life."
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Judging by what's happened so far in San Diego , he might be doing that right now. No. 5 seed St. John's defeated No. 12-seed Northern Iowa 79-53 in the first round Friday.
And now comes the main event on Sunday:
Pitino and St. John's vs. fellow Hall of Fame coach Bill Self and No. 4 seed Kansas .
Rick Pitino, Bill Self are 'standing the test of time'
Pitino has won more than 900 games in his career. Self, 63, has won more than 800.
Each has won two national championships.
But they've only faced each other once . And this time there are huge stakes as both keep battling two larger forces – time and change. Almost nobody has survived them quite like these two.
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"There's so many great coaches out there, but they have a tough time standing the test of time," Pitino said Saturday. "Bill has stood the test of time every single year."
Self took it a step further when asked about Pitino Saturday. Consider the fact that Pitino is the answer to a certain trivia question.
Who's the oldest head coach in Division I men's basketball?
That would be Pitino, but then consider this: Pitino has thrived despite massive change to the game since he started his head coaching career at Boston University in 1978. A 45-second shot clock was introduced in 1985. Then the 3-point shot came in 1986. Pitino led Providence to the Final Four in 1987.
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"The coaches that are so impressive to me are the coaches that coached without a 3-point line and then became efficient with the 3-point line, without a shot clock, then became one of the best with the shot clock, always evolving with the game," Self said Saturday. "And I think that he's done that as well as anybody maybe ever has."
In recent years, more change has roiled the game, leading some top coaches to quit. Since 2024, players have been allowed to transfer without restriction after previously being required to first sit out a year before playing with their new team. Since 2021, players were allowed to earn money for the first time from their names, images and likenesses.
ADAPTING: How Rick Pitino experimented with transfer portal at St. John's — and won
Pitino then adapted to become the transfer portal king at St. John's in 2023, when he flipped the roster and revitalized the program by bringing in 10 transfer players.
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Likewise, Self has adjusted successfully, too, after starting his head coaching career at Oral Roberts in 1993. He's kept Kansas at a high level and successfully lured phenom freshman guard Darryn Peterson , who might be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft later this year.
Not everyone can do that or even wants to . Top coaches have quit amid the turmoil and changes to the sport, including Virginia 's Tony Bennett and Miami's Jim Larrañaga.
Then there's Pitino, who has evolved strategically, too.
"He's done it different ways," Self said. "He's done it by pressing and zone pressing. He's done it by just man-to-man pressure. He's done it by being one of the first to take advantage of the 3-point line. And now he's doing it by pummeling people inside and stuff, too. He's certainly adjusted to his roster, I think, probably as well as anybody in the game."
This is the second time Pitino and Self have faced off
Pitino and Self are among three active head coaches with two national championships, though Pitino's at Louisville in 2013 technically was vacated because of NCAA rules violations . Dan Hurley at Connecticut is the other.
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One of those three still could win a third national title this year, but the road to it goes through Sunday's game at 5:15 p.m. ET on CBS.
"We're going to play probably a little bit of a road game tomorrow," Pitino said Saturday. "They're going to have most of the fans. But that's OK. We've played a lot of road games this year where we've played well."
The two coaches faced each other previously, in November 2021, when Pitino was coach at Iona. His team lost against Kansas , 96-83, in the ESPN Events Invitational in Florida .
"He sent us home crying,' Pitino said. "So we're looking forward to this matchup."
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In Pitino's case, it could be a career capstone if he leads St. John's to its first Sweet 16 since 1999. He declined to reflect on that possible breakthrough for his program Saturday.
That's because he was up against an even larger adversary once again, even bigger than Self.
Time.
"I don't really look at the significance of it," Pitino said. "We just have to play for 40 minutes as hard as we can. If we win, we're going to be in the Sweet 16. I'm not looking ahead. I'm just looking at every possession."
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer . Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rick Pitino, Bill Self embrace March Madness clash after long history
