Louisville basketball coach and Hall of Famer Rick Pitino scored nine points on three 3-pointers in his 55-and-over men's league game loss at Coral Springs Gymnasium in Coral Springs, Florida, on Tuesday afternoon.
That's a sentence that is based off real events that actually took place. I still can't believe I wrote it.
The 64-year-old Pitino is hooping with the whitehairs, and this might be one of the best things we witness this offseason. I can only presume Coral Springs is the feeder system to the Del Boca Vista circuit.
Anyway, I can't stop watching these videos, and I need more. Thankfully, more is coming because Pitino is going to be balling all week. Via Cardinal Connect, Pitino announced in January that he would be doing this ... just because someone asked him to, I believe: "Not only do I have the pressure of the toughest conference of all time and the toughest schedule we've ever faced, but come May eighth through twelfth, I've got to be in a 55-year-old's basketball tournament and bring my game back," he said at the time.
Pitino, who played at UMass in the early 1970s, had a solid college career (329 assists in three seasons). He wasn't the only celeb on the court in Florida. Cal State-Northridge coach Reggie Theus, a friend of Pitino's and once an assistant of his at Louisville and, you know -- PLAYED IN THE NBA -- was also playing for the Red Birds team.
Here's the book. The Red Birds lost by double digits, but still, a lot of balance on this roster.
You'll also notice there is a "Scott Pippen" in that box score, but from all I can gather, it's just a guy named Scott Pippen and not in fact former Chicago Bulls great Scottie Pippen (who is 51 and therefore would not be eligible to play in this 55-and-over league).
The best part of all of this was former Louisville player Russ Smith, beloved and known for his at-times ridiculous shot selection, tweeting this: