University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino says the Cards have their work cut out for them in the opening round of the NCAA basketball tournament. U of L takes on Davidson Thursday afternoon in Portland, Oregon. The Wildcats, based in North Carolina, are 25-7 overall and won the Southern Conference Tournament last week. Pitino says they’ll be a tough opponent. "They’re not going to beat themselves. It will be a very close, hard-fought ballgame. I know that it will be a very close game. Because they shoot it so well, they execute so well and you can’t put them to the line because they shoot free throws great," he said. Tipoff is about 1:40pm Three other Kentucky teams are in the NCAA Division One field: Western Kentucky opens play tomorrow against Mississippi Valley State, with the winner meeting top-seeded Kentucky Thursday at the KFC Yum Center. Murray State also begins tournament play Thursday in Louisville. In the men’s Division Two tournament, the Bellarmine Knights take on Kentucky Wesleyan tomorrow evening at Bellarmine, with the winner advancing to the Elite Eight next week in northern Kentucky. Bellarmine is the defending national champion.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.
