You made a fine mess of this, Pitino
It took all of 24 hours for Richard Pitino to go from finalist for national coach of the year to overlord of one of the most demoralizing losses in years for the New Mexico men’s basketball program.
Good thing for him and Lobos fans everywhere, all is not lost. As dark as it seemed after lowly Air Force hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 7.5 seconds left to hand UNM its third loss in four games in The Pit, there was still a ray of hope trying to burn a hole through all that existential dread.
Lying ahead are two quad-1 road opportunities against Boise State and Utah State, potential wins that can (and will) catapult the Lobos back into NCAA Tournament “lock” status. Further down the road is the automatic bid that goes to the Mountain West Conference Tournament champion; cut down the nets in Vegas and you’re going dancing.
As bad as the Air Force loss was — and it was really bad — it ain’t over. The fat lady’s not singing, but she’s warming up. In some ways, the damage is irreversible. Pitino single-handedly took a big marker and scratched his name off the Naismith watch list. He’ll be the first one to tell you he should have found a way to X and O his club into a win against a team that is so bad that UNM almost had to try to lose the game. The Lobos were 19-point favorites against a Falcons squad that had no business being there.
Additionally, it took just a few days for his program to go from NCAA darling and a potential 6- or 7-seed to having a handful of fans chanting, “NIT, NIT,” as Air Force celebrated at midcourt.