Louisville coach Rick Pitino will meet with Puerto Rico basketball officials on Sunday in Miami to discuss coaching the national team in next summer's pre-Olympic qualifying tournament.
Pitino said Friday he considers it ''an honor'' to be among the candidates for the position. He plans to meet with Dallas Mavericks point guard JJ Berea — a Puerto Rico native — to talk about the challenges facing the team.
Puerto Rico must finish in the top two for a berth in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Pitino says to step into the situation the national team faces, there must be ''a tremendous desire to win.''
Pitino believes if he took the job it would help promote the university and lay the groundwork for potential trips to Puerto Rico in the future.
