I never saw the John Cusack vehicle, Serendipity. I know nothing of the movie's story line. I can only imagine the plot resembled the winding road I'm about to describe.
Once upon a time, Rick Pitino left the University of Kentucky in pursuit of one thing, and one thing only: The Tim Duncan lottery ball.
He didn't get it.
He still took the Celtics job and eventually meandered off into mediocrity and beyond. He eventually left Boston, went to coach at Louisville, and went to some Final Fours.
Today Pitino is the coach of the overall #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and most analysts favor Pitino's team to win it all.
But imagine if the ping-pong balls had floated in Pitino's favor. Had he won Tim Duncan, he'd still coach the Celtics today, and he'd have a few NBA Championships under his belt like that guy Popovich who lucked into a Hall of Fame caliber career as the result of the floating ping-pong balls.
A used car salesman could have coached Tim Duncan to a couple championships in the 1990's and 2000's. That's just the way the NBA works.
If Pitino had stayed in Boston, who'd have ended up coaching Louisville?
Probably Larry Eustachy. He was on the short-list of rumored coaching candidates at the time.
Tomorrow Pitino will coach Louisville against Eustachy's Colorado State Rams.
Is it serendipity? Will John Cusack play Rick Pitino in the ESPN movie about tomorrow's game? I don't know the answers to these questions, but we'll begin to learn them Saturday, after 5:15pm Eastern Time.
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