Rick Pitino, the father, rooted for his son Saturday night without worrying about how a victory might hurt Rick Pitino, the basketball coach, on Selection Sunday.
While it could have made for the March Madness version of basketball patricide, Richard Pitino-coached New Mexico winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament final against San Diego State to climb off of the NCAA Tournament bubble wound up having little effect on bursting the bubble of his father’s St. John’s program.
The Red Storm were not among the first four teams left out of the 68-team field when the bracket was revealed Sunday.
“What made it a little bit easier — this is going to sound a little bit crazy — was that we weren’t one of the first four,” the elder Pitino said. “Because you play things in your mind. What if?”
Father and son were thought to be coaching bubble teams when last week began, and only New Mexico left nothing to chance by winning four games in four days.
Rick thinks NC State and Oregon coming out of nowhere to steal automatic bids cost St. John’s more than New Mexico.
“I’m so proud of my son. He did a fabulous job,” Rick said. “As a father, and as an ex-assistant under me, I couldn’t be any prouder. He is one of the bright young minds in the game. We’ll just be rooting as a family for him, and we’ll move on.”
The Lobos are back in the Big Dance for the first time since 2014, as the No. 11 seed facing No. 6 Clemson in West Region action on Friday.
The Red Storm, who were last part of the field in 2019, will have to wait until at least next year to win a game in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.
It might seem unthinkable, but the Mountain West (six) doubled the amount of bids awarded to the Big East (three).
Rick basked in Richard’s moment of glory with fatherly pride Saturday on X, previously Twitter.
The younger Pitino — who previously coached Minnesota in the NCAA Tournament twice during an eight-year tenure — got a two-year jump on building a program at New Mexico over his father’s latest rebuild.
Rick is trying to make St. John’s the sixth school that he brings to the NCAA Tournament.
“I think we reached our potential,” Rick said. “We didn’t reach the NCAA [Tournament], but the team that played down the stretch looked like a really good basketball team that was going to be dangerous if we made the NCAA Tournament.”