Thirteen years ago, Rick Pitino faced much the same choice that Tom Izzo is facing right now. Pitino was 44 years old, he had just taken Kentucky to two straight NCAA championship games (winning once, in 1996), and the Boston Celtics were dangling $50 million in hopes Pitino would take over their franchise. What's more, the Celtics were coming off a 15-67 record and had a good chance to land Tim Duncan with the the top pick in the upcoming NBA draft.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.