The Naismith Hall of Fame coach, who was dismissed by Louisville
last fall after the school was named in an FBI s probe into college basketball
and signed on last December to coach Panathinaikos of Athens until the end of
the season, led his new team to the Greek Cup Championship by defeating PAOK in
the final, 79-73, Sunday.
Panathinaikos competes in the continent’s top-tier
EuroLeague. The club’s roster includes former Florida star and Memphis Grizzlies
point guard Nick Calathes, former Ohio State forward Deshaun Thomas and Kansas guard
Keith Langford. Calathes was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player after
scoring 19 points and nine assists.
Panathinaikos reached the final after their semi-final
opponent, Olympiakos, forfeited the game when their coach David Blatt and his team
refused to come out in the second half in protest of the game’s officiating.
Pitino, who coached both the NBA New York Knicks and the
Boston Celtics, won two NCAA championships at Kentucky and Louisville in 1996
and 2013. He reached a total of seven Final Fours at three different schools—Providence
in 1987, Kentucky in 1993, 1996 and 1996 and Louisville in 2005, 2012 and 2013.
His European adventure has been an attempt to sanitize his reputation
as he attempts to get back into coaching in either the NBA or college
basketball.
Dick Weiss is a sportswriter and columnist who has covered college football and college and professional basketball for the Philadelphia Daily News and the New York Daily News. He has received the Curt Gowdy Award from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and is a member of the national Sportswriters Hall of Fame. He has also co-written several books with Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Dick Vitale and authored a tribute book on Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.