Stephan Savoia/AP
Steve Masiello and Manhattan are a 13-seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning the MAAC.
Manhattan College head coach Steve Masiello was in shock Sunday evening in Café 1853 on the Riverdale campus when he saw Louisville pop up on the television as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Region. Moments later, when his MAAC champion Jaspers came up as the Cardinals’ opponent as a No. 13 seed, the stunned look on Masiello’s face that took several minutes to wear off spoke volumes as the thought of facing his mentor sunk in.
“I don’t know who (the selection committee is) having fun with, but it’s not fun for me,” Masiello said
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It will be student vs. teacher in Orlando Thursday as Masiello will square off against Rick Pitino, whom Masiello played for during his freshman year at Kentucky in 1996-97 and was an assistant to for six seasons at Louisville before taking the head job at Manhattan in April 2011.
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Masiello must face his mentor, Rick Pitino, who coached Louisville to the national championship last year.
Masiello, who felt Manhattan should be a No. 12 seed, tried to downplay the effect of facing Pitino on his mind-set, insisting he was “as shocked as I’ve ever been” that a top-five team like Louisville is a No. 4 seed after it won the AAC title. But there’s no doubting the impact Pitino has had on Masiello’s career.
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“It’s an honor any time I can be on the opposing bench opposite someone like Rick Pitino,” he said. “I look up to him so much. He means so much to me, but besides that, there’s really not much story line in it. I’ve already been down this road and lost by (28 in Louisville last season.) I didn’t want to do it again, so it’s a very tough matchup.”
Louisville is the “strongest No. 4 seed I bet in the last 15 years,” Masiello said. He called Louisville a “bigger, better version of us,” and said he’d likely know what was coming on Thursday, but it didn’t mean he could stop it, calling the Cardinals a national title contender.
“I’m gonna call (Pitino) right now and see if we can get this game postponed a couple weeks,” Masiello joked. “I spoke to him the night after the (MAAC) championship game. We spoke and went back and forth. I texted him (Saturday) night after they won their conference tournament, which I watched. I was very happy for him. But it’s one of those things where we’ll probably talk once, he’s gonna get his team ready, I’m gonna get my team ready and then we’re gonna go down to Orlando and see what happens.”
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