The making of the matchup in Puerto Rico: Minnesota vs. Louisville

Tonight's Louisville- Minnesota game tips off at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.

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The buildup has been a lifetime in the making.

It was going to happen, from the moment Richard Pitino took his first job as an assistant coach, at X. He would rise through the ranks, quickly, working as an assistant for his father, Hall of Famer Rick Pitino at Louisville, then under another living legend, Billy Donovan, at Florida, then back to Louisville as an associate head coach.

His first head coaching job was at Florida International, and then, it was a business decision. Small schools need to play a certain number of guarantee games to support the basic needs of their athletic programs. Calling on Louisville only made sense.

"I was collecting a check and moving on," Richard Pitino joked at Tuesday evening at a press conference with his dad in Louisville leading up to Friday's game.

But just over a year later, after the younger Pitino had moved on to the lofty Big Ten and a high-major program in Minnesota, everything changed.

ESPN immediately tried to tempt the father-son coaching duo otherwise. The media giant reached out to Rick about a 2014 season opener in a tropical location, and he relayed the request to his son. The father didn't want this game, or to be forced to compete against a son -- in the early stages of building a program -- who he rather likes helping and rooting for.

But Richard, thinking it over, persuaded his dad that playing the game would indeed be a way to help.

As an annual middling in the Big Ten for the last 15 years, Minnesota doesn't receive a lot of national attention on a regular basis -- the hype necessary for building a program's brand and luring better recruits.

"You look at [Michigan State's] Tom Izzo," Pitino said. "He plys those unique games. We've got to be willing to do those things."

A marquee game in Puerto Rico, pitting the Gophers against the 2013 national champion and the country's No. 8 team in the preseason poll would certainly start the conversation, particularly if Minnesota performs well.

The preparation for Louisville, which ramped up in the last week and a half, is a different one for Pitino, who helped recruit many of the current players, and even coached one of them, wing Wayne Blackshear. With this team, which he follows religiously because of his dad, its not about watching film and breaking it down. He knows what his father has done for practice this week. He knows what he'll say to the team. And the players? He knows these guys too -- their mindsets, their tendencies, their weaknesses, their strengths -- as well as anyone outside of the program.

Getting ready for Louisville has to take on a distinctively personal tone, like preparing for an old friend, even if Pitino hadn't mentioned his father's name once in practice last week.

"I'm sure they're still on speaking terms," center Elliott Eliason joked, "but no [he hasn't]."

Even so, pregame coverage -- understandably so -- has revolved around the father-son relationship, not Minnesota as a team. Pitino has motivated his team with that truth.

"Nobody talks about our program unless it has something to do with me and my dad," Pitino tells his squad. "Does that bother our players? That's what I'm trying to get them to understand. It certainly bothers me. Because I think we've got a good team and my expectations are much higher this year. I expect to do really good things."

This isn't Florida International. It's no guarantee game, and this time, Richard has his eyes set firmly ahead.

"Here, we're preparing to win a game," he said in Tuesday's presser."

When the pregame circus gives way to tipoff, both coaches know, it will be another game, and for Minnesota, another opportunity to boost its recognizability nationwide.

"I'll look down at the other end of the bench and I just have great pride in the fact that he's a Big Ten coach," Rick said. "But we both know that this is Minnesota vs. Louisville. It's not a father-son matchup. It's Minnesota - Louisville."

Rick didn't want to play this game at first, but now he's hopped on board enthusiastically. He sees the opportunity for his son, and now, for his team as well -- playing in the unique environment of an offshore Coast Guard base.