Gregg Doyel

Not sure what that says about me -- not sure I want to know -- but in the last few days I've started to sympathize with, and empathize for, and now flat out like, Rick Pitino.

His struggles in recent weeks humanized him. Didn't make him likeable, but made him human. And I like human.

But for me the tipping point was today's press conference where he BLASTED the woman who tried to extort him, and then blasted the media, against the advice of his lawyers. They told him not to speak to the media, a sound legal strategy with a court date looming. He said he tried to follow that strategy, "But enough is enough."

I love it.

This is how we want people to react to such drama. We don't want them hiding behind publicists or lawyers, or issuing non-denial denials or "no comments." We want them to come out swinging, and Pitino just launched a series of haymakers at damn near everyone.

Good for him.

Good for you, Rick Pitino. All that stuff I've ever written about you or your program? Forgive me. Dead serious. Forgive me. Now win this court case and then go win 25 games this season. Just to show everyone you can.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino broke some news Saturday -- or spread a bad rumor -- when he made the following statement about 7-foot Ohio State freshman center B.J. Mullens:

"I heard last night that B.J. Mullens was going to go pro," Pitino said.

Wow. Really? Mullens had a decent freshman season -- 8.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 63.4 percent shooting from the floor -- and would figure to have a monster sophomore season. But at 7-0, 275 pounds, he has the size the NBA craves right now. His feet are good, too. If he turns pro, he's definitely a first-round pick. That's just a guess, but I'm right.

Would Pitino really know Mullens' plan? Maybe. Ohio State was in the same building as Pitino's Louisville team on Friday, and they would have played Sunday had the Buckeyes beaten Siena. So maybe Pitino talked to an OSU staff member.

Or maybe he reads one of those OSU message boards. 

Pitino then tried to discourage Mullens from actually leaving school so soon.

"Be the worst move the kid could ever make," Pitino said. "He's going to be a terrific pro, but sitting on the bench during the course of the season, you're trying to get ready. If you're an NBA coach you're not worried about that 10th, 11th or 12th man, developing him. You're worried about winning and surviving as a coach. That young man doesn't improve -- like Donte Green of Syracuse."

And I like Mark Cuban, most of the time anyway.

But firing Avery Johnson was a stupid knee-jerk reaction to a problem that wasn't of Johnson's creation. Unless it turns out that Johnson was the primary force behind the season-killing trade of Devin Harris for Jason Kidd, he just took the fall for the Dallas front office, which thought older-and-slower was the best way to win the wicked West. New Orleans' Chris Paul blew a hole in that theory, running circles around decrepit Kidd, and Avery Johnson is the one who pays with a pink slip?

Unacceptable. Avery Johnson didn't go from coaching savant to idiot overnight. But if there's any karma in the NBA, the Mavericks will go from the playoffs to the lottery as quickly as Johnson went from coach of the year to unemployment.

Who's next in Dallas? No clue, but I hear Louisville's Rick Pitino has had his eye on an NBA return for some time. Neither side will confirm this -- in fact Pitino's spokesman flatly denies it -- but I've been told by multiple sources on the periphery that a representative of Pitino spoke with the Miami Heat about their recent opening. Don't be surprised if Pitino speaks with Cuban about this one.

After its horrible, season-crushing loss to Alabama in the SEC tournament, Florida coach Billy Donovan threw his team completely under the bus. Money quote: "I'm not excited about these freshmen becoming sophomores."

Louisville coach Rick Pitino went the other way when asked about his team's bad loss in its conference tournament opener. He threw the reporter under the bus.

UConn coach Jim Calhoun, meanwhile, put the loss for his team's atrocious Big East tournament loss right where it belongs: on the players. Because that abomination sure wasn't his fault.

It's a great question: When the Brett Favre movie comes out -- and you know a Brett Favre movie will come out -- who plays the starring role? Twenty years ago it would have been Dennis Kevin Costner.

Marcus Stroud got busted for steroid use -- he blames a supplement (har har) -- and nobody in Buffalo seems to be angry about it. Nobody but this guy.

A "funk" has cost Chris Duhon his place in Chicago, and given the way his career has gone, maybe his place in the NBA. It's not like this guy was very good.

The Nets hired Kiki Vandeweghe to be a telemarketer. Apparently he's not bad at it.

Channing Frye says Sacramento is a rat-infested town full of homeless people. Frye being the softy that he is, he determined one sleeping citizen was homeless by opening his fancy flip phone and letting the illumination shine on the homeless guy. Nice.

It's been awhile since Scott Boras has screwed up, so here's the latest chapter: This pitcher wanted four years and $40 million. He got a whole lot less.

Daniel Cabrera is tired of being asked about his control problems? Yo, Danny boy. Orioles fans are tired of watching it.

This seems to be a first: An MMA belt holder is pulling out of a title bout to enter himself into a substance abuse program.