Sorry, Guys, but Someone Has to Lose

They are former pipsqueak point guards driven by blind ambition and Type-A personalities.

Neither was going to make the NBA as a player, or end up pushing a broom, either.

They look alike, talk alike--in machine-gun flurries--and share similar tastes in wardrobe and hair gels.

Rick Pitino and John Calipari were born to coach. And pontificate.

The end game was always to get here, the Final Four, yet it wasn’t supposed to end up like this.

“I would rather not play Rick Pitino unless it was the very last game for both of us,” Calipari said Friday. “We have to do this, so we’ll play.”

Tonight at the Meadowlands Arena, No. 1 Massachusetts (35-1) faces No. 2 Kentucky (32-2) in the marquee game of the NCAA tournament semifinals.

The winning coach advances to Monday’s national championship game at the expense of a friend.

Calipari, 37, would not be the head coach at UMass if not for Pitino, a UMass graduate and member of the search committee eight years ago when the school was looking for a coach.

Pitino, 43, saw a bit of himself in Calipari, then a 28-year-old assistant at Pittsburgh. Pitino lobbied hard for Calipari, over the objections of some, and even plunked down $5,000 of his own to put toward Calipari’s salary.

“I knew from Day 1 that John Calipari was going to be a great coach,” Pitino said this week.

Their quest for a national championship is equally insatiable. Calipari’s team is 11 points removed from an undefeated season, the Minutemen’s only defeat coming in a 10-point loss to George Washington. Calipari’s motto is “Refuse to Lose,” and his team is one of heart and resolve.

Pitino’s Wildcats are perhaps the deepest college squad ever assembled, an embarrassment of riches and one that is expected in Kentucky to deliver the team’s first national championship since 1978.

“I just don’t think you can hide from that,” Pitino said of the pressure.

Because Pitino and Calipari ended up with the best two teams in the country, they have had to put aside personal feelings and let professional motives dictate.

Somebody’s going to lose.

“When the game ends, I’ll hug him, win or lose, and tell him how much I appreciate what he’s done for me and my family,” Calipari said. “But until then, we’re both going after the jugular.”

The game is a classic matchup of collegiate powers. Calipari prefers to point out the differences between himself and Pitino, and one of those is in style of play.

The Minutemen are a center-dominated team, led by Marcus Camby, and rarely substitute. UMass is deliberate and savvy, a team that is at its best in a tight game decided in the final minutes. The Minutemen won four games in overtime.

The Wildcats are an amorphous group of athletes of similar abilities. Pitino’s bench goes 10 deep and his team won 32 games by an average of 23 points. Thirty of Kentucky’s 32 victories were by 10 points or more.

One of the biggest arguments this week was over which team should be favored. Last Nov. 28, UMass defeated Kentucky, 92-82, in the Great Eight, yet the Wildcats are considerable favorites tonight.

Despite his team’s 35 victories, Calipari has always managed to portray his team as underdogs.

This time the oddsmakers made it easy.

“It doesn’t matter what’s printed,” Calipari said. “It doesn’t matter what the line is. All that stuff does not matter when that ball is thrown up. If we don’t do the things we need to do, we’re going to get buried.”

The Wildcats aren’t buying the sob stories.

“They beat us, they’re No. 1 and so therefore they should be the favorites,” Kentucky guard Tony Delk said.

The Wildcats’ game plan will center on stopping Camby, who had 32 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in the November game.

Kentucky passed a significant test in holding Wake Forest All-American Tim Duncan to two field goals in last weekend’s Midwest Regional final, but Camby poses additional problems.

“He and Duncan are similar,” Kentucky center Walter McCarty said, “but Camby can put the ball on the floor and get the ball to the rim. It’s going to be interesting to see how well we can contain him.”

Camby also has a better supporting cast than Duncan, as he is flanked by guards Edgar Padilla and Carmelo Travieso and underrated forwards Donta Bright and Dana Dingle.

“If you concentrate so much on Camby, they’ll cut you to pieces with the other players,” Pitino said.

Of course, Pitino has only himself to blame for recommending Calipari in the first place.

“I wish he wasn’t as terrific as he’s been,” Pitino said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

SCOUTING REPORT

GAME 2: MASSACHUSETTS vs. KENTUCKY

THE STARTERS

12 Edgar Padilla

24 Carmelo Travioso

3 Dana Dingle

21 Marcus Camby

4 Donta Bright

MASSACHUSETTS ROSTERS / STATISTICS

*--*

No., Player Pts. FG% FT% Reb Ast. 3 Dana Dingle 10.2 .461 .608 7.5 1.5 4 Donta Bright 14.5 .478 .797 5.7 1.8 5 Charlton Clarke 1.3 .313 .421 0.5 0.7 10 Ross Burns 0.4 .500 .500 0.1 0.2 11 Giddel Padilla 0.6 .308 .750 0.5 0.5 12 Edgar Padilla 9.0 .426 .712 3.6 6.5 21 Marcus Camby 20.3 .476 .696 8.2 1.7 24 Carmelo Travieso 12.6 .426 .627 3.2 2.2 34 Tyrone Weeks 6.0 .470 .705 5.3 1.2 40 Ted Cottrell 0.9 .400 100 0.9 0.1 44 Rigoberto Nunez 0.5 .238 .417 1.1 0.3 50 Inus Norville 2.4 .500 .564 2.2 0.1

*--*

KENTUCKY / THE STARTERS

00 Tony Delk

3 Anthony Epps

24 Antoine Walker

40 Walter McCarty

23 Derek Anderson

KENTUCKY ROSTERS / STATISTICS

*--*

No., Player Pts. FG% FT% Reb Ast. 00 Tony Delk 17.5 .500 .828 4.1 1.8 3 Allen Edwards 3.5 .468 .739 1.2 1.2 5 Wayne Turner 4.5 .533 .625 1.5 1.6 13 Nazr Mohammed 2.3 .448 .458 1.5 0.2 15 Jeff Sheppard 5.6 .512 .623 2.1 2.0 21 Cameron Mills 0.9 .400 100 0.3 0.1 23 Derek Anderson 9.4 .511 .781 3.3 2.4 24 Antoine Walker 15.4 .466 .630 8.4 2.8 25 Anthony Epps 6.9 .444 .817 3.0 4.8 33 Ron Mercer 7.6 .440 .794 3.0 1.4 40 Walter McCarty 11.6 .549 .721 5.6 2.5 41 Mark Pope 7.7 .492 .656 5.3 1.0 51 Oliver Simmons 1.8 .481 .556 1.1 0.1

*--*

MASSACHUSETTS vs. KENTUCKY

STATISTICAL COMPARISON

*--*

Mass Ky Record 35-1 32-2 Home 12-1 14-0 Away 10-0 7-0 Neutral 13-0 11-2 Margin under 5 6-0 0-0 Margin 10 plus 21-1 30-2 Overtime 4-0 0-0 *Starters scoring 64.4 60.8 *Bench scoring 10.4 31.4 Avg. Pts. 74.8 92.2 Opp. Avg. Pts. 61.8 69.3 FG Pct. .454 .489 Opp. FG Pct. .384 .411 FT Pct. .680 .714 Total Reb.-Game 36.7 39.2 Assists-Game 15.0 21.8 Turnovers-Game 13.1 15.4 Steals-Game 8.4 12.1 Blocks-Game 6.2 5.0

*--*

* based on usual starting five

* ABOUT KENTUCKY: The Wildcats have an equivalent of an All-American on their bench. As a group, Kentucky’s substitutes have averaged 32 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists a game. Massachusetts’ bench averages only 12 points, 5.6 rebounds and one assist. The Wildcats don’t have a great center or point guard, but use 10 players to wear down opponents with paralyzing defensive pressure. Kentucky forced 23 turnovers in its loss to UMass in November, but had no solution for center Marcus Camby. “I thought we didn’t do a good job on him,” Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino said. “But I watched the film three times. We did a pretty good job. He’s just a great basketball player.” Unlike last season, Kentucky is not merely a three-point shooting team. The inside trio of Walter McCarty, Mark Pope and Antoine Walker average 24.7 points a game.

* ABOUT MASSACHUSETTS: The Minutemen continue their amazing run with a short bench. The starters average 30 minutes or more a game, led by guards Edgar Padilla (36.4) and Carmelo Travieso (36.1). Teams that have counted on UMass wearing down have been greatly disappointed. “You can sustain it if you take care of your body, if you’re in good physical condition,” Coach John Calipari said. Often overlooked in the team’s success is the play of forwards Donta Bright and Dana Dingle. Dingle leads the team with 116 offensive rebounds.

* KEYS TO THE GAME: Kentucky must find a way to stop Camby without giving up too much defense on the perimeter. UMass must be able to withstand 40 minutes of Kentucky’s press. Kentucky must get another big game from senior guard Tony Delk, coming off a 25-point performance against Wake Forest. UMass must stay out of foul trouble because of a lack of bench strength.