Better him than me.
That was the initial thought Kevin Willard had for friend and former fellow Louisville assistant coach Steve Masiello and Manhattan when the NCAA Tournament brackets were released Sunday night and defending national champion Louisville and Rick Pitino were the other half of the Jaspers’ second-round pairing in Orlando, Fla.
“It’s tough because Coach Pitino’s teams are always playing great this time of year,” the Seton Hall coach said. “When you’re playing Rick Pitino teams in the tournament, you’re playing his team at its best, and that’s always tough.”
Willard worked under Pitino for 10 years, six at Louisville and four with the Boston Celtics. In Pitino’s final two seasons in Kentucky, before leaving to take a head-coaching position at Iona College in 2007, Masiello was on the staff. Willard felt Masiello would be a head coach soon, and sure enough, he got the job at Manhattan four years after Willard left Louisville, and has the Riverdale school in the tournament for the first time in a decade.
Willard said Masiello impressed him with his relentless work ethic, his desire to learn more each day and his nonstop recruiting methods. He was as intense as an assistant as he is as a head coach. His goal was to help Louisville win a national championship, not set himself up for a coaching position, Willard said. Though Lousivlle didn’t win it all while Masiello was there, he had a hand in recruiting many of the players who contributed to last year’s title run, specifically star guard Russ Smith of Brooklyn.
“Steve was a guy constantly trying to improve himself and improve his trade,” Willard said. “That’s what I was blown away by.”
Pitino, who coached Masiello as a walk-on at Kentucky, was extra hard on his former player, Willard said. Masiello used the needling as motivation.
“It was like working for a second father,” Willard said. “Stevie would run through a wall for Coach.”
Manhattan has impressed Willard, who watched a few of the Jaspers’ games. To have a chance against Louisville, Willard said the Jaspers will have to replicate their performance against Iona in the MAAC title game, when they held the high-scoring Gaels to 15 points below their average by limiting possessions and slowing down the pace. Of course, Iona doesn’t have the athletes Louisville possesses.
“It’s a long shot, but everybody’s got a chance in the NCAA Tournament,” Willard said. “The way Russ Smith is playing, the way everybody [at Louisville] is playing, I think they’re playing at a different level from everybody else in the country.”
Willard plans to enjoy the game, but he won’t be rooting for the local underdog Thursday night.
“I love Stevie, he’s a good friend, but I worked for Coach Pitino for 10 years,” Willard said. “My heart is always with Louisville.”