NCAA basketball resumes this week across the country. The Louisville Cards, Kentucky Wildcats and Indiana Hoosiers have reached the Sweet Sixteen round of the men’s Division I tournament.Kentucky gets a rematch Friday with Indiana, the team that handed the Wildcats the first of their two losses with a buzzer-beater back in December.UK Coach John Calipari says he’s glad to see the two storied programs face off in a big tournament game but he doesn’t want to go up against his old friend, Indiana Coach Tom Crean."I cannot stand playing friends, because if they win, I’m sick after the game. And if I win I enjoy it, but I don’t enjoy it. I know what they’re going through because I know how it is," he said.UK and IU will play Friday in Atlanta at 9:45pm.The Louisville Cards resume tournament play Thursday against top-seeded Michigan State. Tipoff is 7:47pm.U of L coach Rick Pitino says he was relieved for his players that they got through the first two rounds, with wins over Davidson and Iowa State."I’ve never had a group like this in my life. I have to drive them beyond your wildest imagination. But there’s twelve unbelievable guys that just really pulled together. We’ve had three major knee injuries and I wanted it for them because they’ve worked so hard, they’ve had so much adversity and I wanted them to have the experience that I’ve been through," Pitino said. In the Division II tournament, the defending champion Bellarmine Knights play Alabama-Huntsville Wednesday for a Final Four berth.And in the women’s NCAA tournament, Louisville takes on Maryland tonight, while Kentucky meets Wisconsin-Green Bay in second round play.
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.
