Rick Pitino would 'love' a St. John's-Kentucky series so he can get his 'ass kicked once again.'

Rick Pitino seemingly said all the right things this weekend. A return to Kentucky Basketball through his relationship with Mark Pope was incredibly well-received at Big Blue Madness on Friday night. The shock value of his appearance near the end of the event still sits with me. Pitino nearly shed some tears when addressing the Big Blue Nation from the Rupp Arena floor, referring to the program as “Camelot” in what he says was one of the more emotional nights of his life.

He continued to make his rounds on Saturday, visiting his old house in Lexington (now owned by former women’s basketball head coach Matthew Mitchell), soaking in the night game atmosphere at Kroger Field (let’s forget how that ended), and even hopping on the KSR Pregame Show for a chat with our own Matt Jones. A part of me still feels like this is all a dream.

But no amount of pinching has woken me up. This is real life. Pitino is going to be a familiar figure around the Kentucky basketball program once again from this point moving forward. He might just coach against the Wildcats one more time too. It’s easy to forget that Pitino is still the head coach at St. John’s. You wouldn’t have been able to tell from the last 48 hours.

“I hope so. I’d love to come back again,” Pitino told UK Sports Network’s Michelle Knezovic when asked if we’ll see a Kentucky-St. John’s series down the road. “I don’t get this opportunity very often. Love to come back and play them and get my ass kicked once again.”

Whether that series happens in Lexington or somewhere in New York City (Madison Square Garden, anyone?) doesn’t matter to Pitino. This isn’t the first time he’s mentioned it since Pope was hired by UK, either. He just wants another opportunity to go up against the program he once coached to a national title.

“I want to play Kentucky. We’re trying to work it out,” Pitino said on the KSR Pregame Show. “But Mark can’t come back to Madison Square Garden the following year because of commitments. But we’re trying to work it out. I would actually love — I’m sure Mark wants to go to the Garden, but I would love to play a game in Arthur Ashe Stadium (located in Queens, NY) in front of 23,000 people. I can get that done but it’s up to Mark.”

During his time as Louisville’s head coach, Pitino didn’t have much success against his old team. He went just 6-12 against Kentucky from 2001 until 2016, including a 2-8 mark against John Calipari. Pitino would love to make it 6-13.