Steve Serby

Steve Serby

Sports

For Masiello, it’s time for the ultimate test — vs. his old teacher

He was a 12-year-old ballboy when Rick Pitino coached the Knicks.

He would go on to play his freshman year for Pitino at Kentucky, and coach six years alongside him at Louisville.

He grew up to be the head coach at Manhattan College, and he owes a charmed basketball life to Pitino.

Now all The Pupil has to do is beat The Teacher Thursday when the 13th-seeded Jaspers play the part of David against Louisville’s Goliath in Orlando, not exactly a Mickey Mouse matchup.

“They’re the bigger, better version of us,” Steve Masiello said, once the shock and disbelief had begun to wear off. “How they’re a four-seed I have no idea. … And they’re playing THE best basketball of anybody in the country.”

The Pupil, a child of our city, will be bringing with him a bunch of gritty, tough, prideful New Yorkers packing slingshots, and an intimate knowledge of his Hall of Fame mentor garnered across 24 of his 36 years, beginning with the 1989 Knicks.

“I remember vividly Mark Jackson and Charles Oakley at the end of my first year giving me their game jerseys from that year that I actually had framed and put up, and I still have them to this day,” Masiello recalled.

Masiello developed a friendship with Pitino’s son Michael, who was a fellow ballboy. Pitino invited Masiello to his summer camp at St. Dominic on Long Island and to stay at his mother’s house.

“My father started sending Rick a bottle of Dom Perignon after every home win at the beginning of the year,” Masiello said. “Rick always tells a funny story, that my dad had to go for like 35 bottles of Dom [smile] that year.”

So how come you had to walk on at Kentucky?

“Yeah right, I should have got the scholarship,” Masiello cracked.

“I’m going to Davidson — Bob McKillop, who I love — I’m getting ready to commit to them. … My SAT score’s about 80 points too low. Bob calls me up and says, ‘Steve, we can’t take you in.’ I was devastated.”

Until Pitino, then the coach of Kentucky, came calling.

“And he goes, ‘Why don’t you come down and walk on and learn coaching and just study your craft?’ ” Masiello said. “I’m so dumb! I didn’t want to do it because I knew I wasn’t going to play. My father goes, ‘Are you crazy, son? You got to go down there.’

“Coach Pitino gets on the phone, he goes, ‘Listen, your girlfriend just broke up with you, but Cindy Crawford’s waitin’ to date you. Get down here!’ ”

So it was off to Lexington, and a NCAA Tournament championship game loss to Arizona.

“No matter how bad things were, he would always say, ‘It’s not about what happens to you, it’s about how you handle what happens to you,’ ” Masiello said.

“He’s a perfectionist. … I’ve never seen a man of his stature ask for feedback on things. He’ll go play a game, they’ll win by 25, he’ll call the opposing coach and say, ‘Tell me three things you like about our team.’ His motto is, ‘If it’s not broke, break it, and now make it better.’ So many people get complacent about things. He doesn’t. And he doesn’t allow you to.”

The Pupil was a sponge.

“How you dress, how you walk, how do you conduct yourself? How you speak to people, how you are at a restaurant — all of those things, I learned that from Coach,” Masiello said. “This was branding before branding was even spoken about. And then the bond we had with one another and with him — it was like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

Masiello can’t forget the day Pitino broke the news to his Wildcats at a team meeting that he had received an offer from the Celtics.

“He said, ‘Listen guys, this is the opportunity of a lifetime for me,” Masiello said. “If you guys tell me not to go, I’m not going. But I want you to put yourselves in my shoes, give me an honest answer in 24 hours, and tell me what you think.’ ”

They had too much love and respect for Pitino to stand in his way. Masiello was devastated and considered transferring. And did not. And won the national championship the next season under Tubby Smith.

A little more than an hour before he would learn his cruel Selection Sunday fate, The Pupil revealed he had received a text from The Teacher Friday night.

“He just said, ‘Stay humble, work hard, it’s all about matchups. … Just keep doing what you’re doing, have fun with it, enjoy it,” Masiello said. “And when you find out who you’re playing, time to get back to business.’ Typical Rick.”

The Pupil describes his six years under Pitino this way: “Best six [basketball] years of my life.”

Now The Pupil gets to show The Teacher what he learned, and at the very least, Manhattan College will believe he learned enough to inspire hope the Jaspers that the worst 40 minutes of all their basketball lives won’t be waiting for them.