In the days leading up to the matchup Friday between Richard Pitino and his father, Rick, the comparisons have been endless.
The younger Pitino is in his second year as the head coach at Minnesota. He's trying to emerge from the shadow of his father, a Hall of Fame coach at Louisville. At a joint press conference earlier this week, they were asked about how the similarities and differences between the two. Gophers center Elliott Eliason opined that both Pitinos have "great hairstyles."
It's understandable that the focus is on this father-son coaching duo as their teams open the college basketball season Friday. But when the opening tip takes place in Puerto Rico on Friday night, both Pitinos hope fans and those watching the game will turn their focus to the action on the court -- not the father and son who happening to be coaching against each other.
"I look down at the other end of the bench and I see him and I just have great pride in the fact that he's a Big Ten coach," Rick Pitino said earlier this week. "But we both know that this is Minnesota vs. Louisville. It's not a father-son matchup."
The significance of sharing a last name with his famous father has followed Richard Pitino around since he first got into assistant coaching. He got his first head coaching job before he turned 30 when he took over a Florida International program in shambles. After just one season at FIU, Pitino left for Minnesota and guided the Gophers to an NIT Championship in his first year.
No matter where he's gone, Richard Pitino has always been Rick's son. As the younger Pitino's team prepares to open the 2014-15 season against a top 10 opponent -- and against his dad -- Richard has a chance to establish his own identity. The game will be broadcast on national television and is the first college basketball game of the year.
Yes, the cameras will surely be locked into both Pitinos throughout the game. In Richard and Rick's mind, they're not the focal point.
"I don't look at it like I'm playing against my dad. Golf, I play against my dad," Richard said. "Great exposure for our program. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to play the game was to get people talking about the University of Minnesota and our basketball program. We've just got to relish this opportunity."
It's not the first time the two Pitinos have coached against each other. When Richard was at FIU, his Panthers went to Louisville for a nonconference game against Rick and the Cardinals. The elder Pitino as his fifth-ranked team topped Richard's FIU squad, 79-55.
This matchup is a bit different. At FIU, Richard said, it was necessary to play Louisville to collect the game check just to keep the program afloat. At Minnesota, that's not at all the reasoning behind playing his father.
"Now we're going there expecting to win, just like they're expecting to beat us," Richard Pitino said. "It's definitely a different experience."
The game is being played on the United States Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen in Puerto Rico and is being billed as the 2014 Armed Forces Classic. Temperatures are expected to be in the 90s during the day, so both Pitinos say they've cranked up the heat in their respective gyms to prepare for the warmer climate.
What Richard Pitino and Minnesota haven't really been able to prepare for, though, is Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell, a double-double machine who is one of the best players in all of college basketball. The 6-foot-8 Harrell will be a matchup nightmare for the Gophers, who figure to use a collective effort defensively to try and stop -- or at least limit -- Harrell.
"You can't simulate Montrezl Harrell," Richard Pitino said. "I tried to go over to the Vikings locker room to get one of those players to come over. But you can't do it. That's going to have to be an adjustment for our guys. He plays so hard. It doesn't matter who he's going against. Certainly our guys can learn from that."
Rick Pitino hung around his son's program late last year after Louisville was knocked out of the NCAA tournament. He sat behind Richard Pitino and the Gophers bench during their NIT run. A few times during the regular season, Rick Pitino even showed up at Williams Arena -- and in maroon and gold Gophers attire.
There's no doubt a sense of pride that Rick has in seeing his son ascend to the Big Ten coaching ranks so quickly. As for the rest of the Pitino family, their rooting interests will be split Friday night. Richard's sister, Jacqueline, and brother Ryan won't be able to make it, but the rest of the Pitinos will be there. Richard expects his mother, Joanne, to sit behind his bench. As for his brothers Chris and Michael, their allegiances might still be for sale.
"I don't think my brothers care. I don't think they care, I really don't. . . . 'Give me a free T-shirt and I'll root for you,'" Richard said. "II think they care more about who they're going to celebrate with after the game."
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