Kyle Tucker

@KyleTucker_CJ

DES MOINES, Iowa – Even when one of them isn’t in the NCAA tournament, and the other is 600 miles away preparing to start its run, it’s always about Kentucky and Louisville’s bitter rivalry, apparently.

During a radio appearance on ESPN’s Mike and Mike Tuesday, Cardinals coach Rick Pitino roped the Wildcats into an answer about what he’ll tell NCAA investigators when they interview him about U of L’s scandal involving strippers and sex for players and recruits.

“If I could just get Andre McGee (his former assistant accused of arranging the parties) in a room for 10 minutes, I’d say, ‘Why? Why would you do this? What purpose did it serve? We didn’t need this to get recruits. You know we’re not Kentucky where we’re recruiting the one-and-dones,” Pitino said. “We’re recruiting the Russ Smiths of the world. He’s a two-star athlete who becomes a first-team college All-American.”

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Of course, incoming U of L freshman V.J. King is a five-star recruit, as was Antonio Blakeney, who eventually signed with LSU but was one of the prospects alleged to have been entertained by strippers at McGee’s request. So what did UK coach John Calipari make of Pitino’s comments?

“I would really rather not respond,” Calipari said Wednesday. “I don’t know exactly what you’re talking about. They run a terrific program. He’s a terrific coach. He is a Hall of Famer. We’re in the same state (so) sometimes you’ve got to rub elbows; sometimes you’ve got to throw elbows. But I respect him.”

Maybe so, but Calipari couldn’t resist taking a jab at Pitino earlier in the press conference. Asked to recount some of his early NCAA tournament memories, he noted a loss to Pitino’s Cats in 1992, which “led to Christian Laettner’s catch against Kentucky, when Rick should’ve had the guy on the ball and he took the guy off the ball and they throw it deep and he turns and scores.”

As deep a wound as that left on UK fans, Calipari is perhaps the only man on the planet who could bring it up – and only because he used it to dig at Pitino. Ah, rivalries.

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Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Email him atktucker@courier-journal.com.

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