1989 Meeting No Longer a Sore Spot Between Roy Williams and Rick Pitino

One of the underlying stories of the Louisville-UNC game today is a beef between coaches Rick Pitino and Roy Williams. The two are among the greatest coaches in basketball and have taken multiple programs to the Final Four.

However, a game in 1989 became a sore spot between the two.

That's when Williams was in his second year at Kansas and Pitino was in his first year at Kentucky. They met in Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse and it wasn't pretty. Kansas won 150-95.

Jeff Gueldner, who played guard for Kansas, said multiple people told him Pitino flashed his middle finger when Williams asked about backing off.

Chris Cameron, who was Pitino's sports information director at the time, remembers Pitino throwing a towel. Cameron said Pitino vowed during his postgame news conference that he would never schedule Kansas again.

Understand that Pitino took over a program that was under NCAA sanctions and really wasn't that good. Kansas was two years removed from a National Championship. Pitino was trying to establish his patented press defense which Kansas just exposed and demolished.

It may have been an issue nearly 20 years ago, but it isn't one now. The two met again in the next season with Kentucky winning by 17. They haven't met on a court until the do in tonight's East Regional Final in Charlotte.

"I try to forget bad things and remember the positive," Pitino said. "I don't remember even coaching in Boston (for the Celtics). Roy is a good guy. There are no ill feelings. You lose, you lose. You walk out."

"(The 1989 game) was an unfortunate thing and probably my fault more than anybody's," Williams said. "But we've had some discussions many years ago about that and put it behind us."