National criticism on Pitino not completely fair

Nick Curran of ESPN 680 weighs in on the whole Rick Pitino and players transferring out to make room for others situation. Here’s an excerpt, but to read the whole thing, click here.

Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino is taking a little bit of heat nationally for the most recent transfer from his program. Senior-to-be Stephan Van Treese became the latest player to leave UofL to make room for what is expected to be a younger, better player. In this case, Van Treese’s departure frees a scholarship for Hargrave Military Academy (Cardinal assistant coach Kevin Keatts is the former head coach of that program) product Montrezl Harrell.

The reason for some of the national criticism of Pitino is that Van Treese is the third Louisville player to transfer away in the last two offseasons to seemingly open a scholarship for incoming freshmen. Jared Swopshire transferred to Northwestern earlier this offseason. Following the 2010-2011 season, it was George Goode leaving the program and eventually landing at Farleigh Dickinson. On the surface, it could be easy to call Pitino’s ethics into question. While scholarships are not four-year agreements and Pitino is doing nothing against the rules, I could see some questions over three players conveniently making room for new guys multiple times over two offseasons. That’s the way some are spinning the story.

Click here to continue reading (Courtesy of ESPNLouisville.com)