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As he promised he would, Rick Pitino is spending a portion of his offseason playing in a 55 and over men’s basketball league in South Florida.
Pitino’s team, the Red Birds -- which also features former U of L assistant Reggie Theus — made their debut Tuesday afternoon. Thankfully, local reporter Chris Fischer was in the house to document.
Crowd erupts as Pitino hits his first bucket, a triple as the shock clock expires. Coach and crowd got a good chuckle from it #Louisville pic.twitter.com/WcZbcUtCqk
— Chris Fischer NBC6 (@FischerNBC6) May 9, 2017
Pitino from downtown... just off the mark #Louisville. His Red Birds team trailing by 14 pic.twitter.com/aqFg7Cg0hr
— Chris Fischer NBC6 (@FischerNBC6) May 9, 2017
Pitino back-to-back from 3 point land. #OnFire then promptly checks out #Louisville 9 points pic.twitter.com/9cAvRpj5ES
— Chris Fischer NBC6 (@FischerNBC6) May 9, 2017
Pitino finished the game with a very Ryan McMahon-esque stat line: nine points on a trio of three-pointers.
Pitino said this is the 1st time he's played organized basketball in 16 years. Finished w/ 9pts (All 3's). #GoCards #Louisville pic.twitter.com/tnk8iXwknQ
— Chris Fischer NBC6 (@FischerNBC6) May 9, 2017
Keep getting asked about Pitino's defense. It was solid, even dove for a ball w/ just over minute to play down 14 #Louisville #GoCards pic.twitter.com/PoGNjry33y
— Chris Fischer NBC6 (@FischerNBC6) May 9, 2017
Several of Pitino’s former Louisville players took notice of the tweets, and weighed in with their own critiques of their former coach’s game.
Oh he still has jumper don't let the age fool you lol https://t.co/JD72KtQCCK
— Peyton Siva Jr (@PeypeySiva3) May 8, 2017
Where's Ray at.. @Specter_Smit @lukeskywalka11 @stephanvt44 @GorguiDieng @Mikemarra33 that man looks tired out there.. we don't get tired https://t.co/6KdraBU4qw
— Peyton Siva Jr (@PeypeySiva3) May 9, 2017
@PeypeySiva3 Hahahaha P running the show. Dude must of had the BBB shoes on. Coach went right at him clear out lol
— Alhaji Mohammed (@AlhajiMohammed) May 9, 2017
Ima sub his ass out he take a contested shot https://t.co/zqylnEqyp3
— Russdiculous® (@Specter_Smit) May 9, 2017
A fitting contribution from Russ.