NEW YORK — After No. 1 Virginia knocked off ninth-seeded Louisville in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals Thursday, David Padgett was asked if his team’s resume was strong enough to make the NCAA Tournament.
He didn’t equivocate in his response.
“We played a very, very difficult schedule under very difficult circumstances this year and my guys have 120 percent earned an opportunity to have their name called on Sunday,” Padgett said. “Like I said, it’s not up to us, but they without a doubt earned it and you can’t possibly sit here and tell me that we’re not one of the best 68 teams in the country.”
He later referred to “everything that (the players) have been through” and was asked to clarify what he meant by that. Padgett alluded to NCAA sanctions placed on his program and the firing of head coach Rick Pitino before the season, implying the NCAA Tournament selection committee should factor that into their decision whether to invite Louisville to this year’s dance.
“I think it’s pretty obvious. Their head coach that they came here to play for got relieved of his duties three days before practice starts,” he said. “I’m coaching the team by myself for three weeks, I’m not able to hire assistant coaches for the first month of the season, we have to deal with the distractions of a scandal that happened before most of them were even here. The list kinda goes on and on.”
Pitino’s contract was terminated in October after federal prosecutors revealed that an Adidas executive paid a high school recruit $100,000 to sign with Louisville and wear Adidas gear when he went pro.
Padgett said his players “deserve a ton of credit” for handling the distractions in stride.
“So many times this year, they could’ve just folded up and said, ’This is not why we came here,’” Padgett said. “They could’ve felt sorry for themselves and not one single time throughout the last four or five months did they do that, and I mean that with all sincerity. It’s been the most remarkable thing I’ve ever seen. Just getting the opportunity to coach these guys day in and day out has been the best experience of my basketball career, both as a player and a coach.”
Louisville finished the regular season 20-13. Entering Thursday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected the Cardinals as the “last team” in the NCAA Tournament.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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