Rebels vs. Louisville series may be shelved

Steve Addy

Wednesday, April 18, 2001 | 9:57 a.m.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino said his team won't play UNLV until 2002-03, altering a schedule put in place before he interviewed at both schools and finally took over the Cardinals' program.

The schools have a contract to play at the Thomas & Mack Center next January or February, and at Louisville in 2002-03. But Pitino told Louisville students on Tuesday that the first game is being delayed a year, furthering doubts that the series with UNLV will be played at all.

Instead, the Cards have added a game against Indiana next season, beginning a two-year series.

"We had one game open on our (2001-02) schedule and we've booked Indiana at Bloomington," Pitino told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "We (had) UNLV on our schedule, which for a few reasons we postponed for one year."

Pitino didn't outline the reasons. But it has been speculated that Louisville would cancel the game since Pitino took the Cardinals coaching job March 21 after turning down UNLV two weeks earlier.

Pitino's decision to delay the game wasn't a surprise to UNLV senior associate AD Jerry Koloskie, who handles basketball scheduling. He said no decisions were made in his last conversation with Louisville associate AD Mike Pollio, but delaying the series was mentioned as a possibility.

"The last time we talked, they said they were working through their schedule and they would call me back," Koloskie said Tuesday. "There was a question of maybe putting it off for a year or playing it. We left it like that.

"Until we get word that there's been a change, the game is on our schedule. Obviously, we want to play it."

However, in his question-and-answer session with Louisville students, Pitino spoke a lot about beefing up the Cardinals' schedule. He has added Indiana and also wants to schedule Kentucky in 2002-03, so UNLV could get squeezed out. If the games aren't played, Louisville will owe UNLV a $50,000 buyout.

"We're going to try to schedule as many top teams as possible," Pitino said. "But our schedule is booked right now."