Men's coaches hooping it up for women's teams

By Christine Brennan

With college basketball meaning what it does in the state of Kentucky, especially in this newsworthy week, it should come as no great shock that there are people in Louisville, perhaps a lot of them, who think the wrong Cardinals team made it to the Final Four.

The beloved Louisville men, the overall No. 1 seed, are out, bounced quite decisively the other day by Michigan State. The barely known Louisville women, a No. 3 seed, are in, with a dominating upset of a No. 1 seed, Maryland.

In the uneasy coexistence that persists between men's and women's college sports in some communities across the country, a development such as this could leave a devoted men's basketball fan a bit unnerved. You know the kind of guys we're talking about. They're the ones who all but refuse to acknowledge that there even is a women's tournament, usually make fun of it when they are forced to talk about it and tell you that if the women's Final Four were being played in their backyard, they would rather close the drapes than watch.

Thankfully, Rick Pitino is not one of those men.