Donovan, Pitino meet with a lot on line

PHOENIX -- Billy Donovan knew a bad idea when he heard one.

Put on this cowboy hat and these spurs and we'll take a picture of you, his coach told him. Maybe we'll even put it on the front of the team program.

"I was not happy about doing that," Donovan said.

Rick Pitino rarely steered him wrong, though. A quarter-century since that fateful photo, "Billy the Kid" has become a championship coach with a legacy, and the guy who made him dress up that day isn't doing so bad himself.

On Saturday, they meet on opposite sides of the court -- Pitino trying to make his sixth trip to the Final Four and second at Louisville and Donovan going for a fourth Final Four with the Florida Gators.

Pitino is 6-0 in the head-to-head matchups, almost all those results explained because he had the better talent when the two met. None, however, have come with the stakes this high or the emotions so mixed.

"Not only did we have success together, but we really, truly love each other," Pitino said. "Billy is like a son to me."

So much of the relationship between coach and pupil has been documented -- every time there's an anniversary and, especially, as Donovan's stature rose with his two national titles. After the first one, Donovan celebrated by waving Pitino down onto the court.

"I started crying," Pitino said. "I felt better about him winning it than when I won it."

Nearly two decades before that, Donovan was a marginal Big East player, and Pitino was fresh on the scene at Providence -- a school that had been last or next-to-last in the conference in every season since its inception in 1979.

Having trouble getting off the bench before Pitino arrived, Donovan told his new coach he was considering transferring. As luck had it, the three-point line was being introduced. -- AP