Three notes from today's media availability:
1. PITINO PLEASED: The score was certainly not what Minnesota coach Richard Pitino hoped when he flew his team to Puerto Rico to play a national top-10 opponent in their first game of the year, but after analyzing the film of the 81-68 loss, he doesn't regret too much, he said at media availability on Monday.
"I'm very happy we played it," he said. "We got great exposure. Certainly we learned a lot from that opportunity and that experience. I would do it again if I could."
Pitino was critical of the team's foul trouble -- "it just gave us no chance," he said -- but said overall he was encouraged by the performance, noting that the outcome could have been different if not for one player.
"I told my dad if LeBron James didn't show up wearing a Montrezl Harrell jersey, it might have been a different game," he said. "Because he was ridiculous. He was hitting step-back NBA threes. He made two threes like all last year, he hit three threes. He shot like 60 percent from the foul line ... so I'm proud of him because he worked really hard and he's going to be a great player, but I don't think it was as unbalanced a game as some people may think except for Montrezl.
"We didn't have a whole lot to stop him."
2. NO IMMEDIATE REMATCH: Pitino said he doesn't expect to play Louisville next year, but acknowledged that "anything can happen."
He cast doubt on the idea of a home-and-home with the Cardinals, which folks surrounding the program have already been calling for.
