Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals got bounced out of the ACC Tournament by North Carolina yesterday, and Rick was very cranky about it during his post-game presser.

The first question of the press conference came from Louisville Cardinal student reporter Derek Brightwell, who had a very reasonable inquiry for Pitino. Unfortunately for Derek, he forgot that Pitino can be a real jerk sometimes.

Q. You said you went cold when they switched to zone. That’s been giving you trouble all year. What is it about zone that gives your offense so much trouble?

COACH PITINO: Well, you obviously see, if you’re from the Louisville Cardinal, that we’re not a great shooting team so that’s a pretty silly question to ask. You watched the game, didn’t you? So you don’t have to be an X and O genius to figure that one out, do you?

Q. No.

COACH PITINO: Okay.

Rough break for the young reporter – to his credit, he handled it pretty well – but he shouldn’t feel too bad. He still got a response that lasted longer than most of Pitino’s love-making sessions.

[The Big Lead]