Coach Rick Pitino has had the year of his life. First as a father he got to watch his son have great success at his first coaching stop and then got to watch Richard parlay that into landing a Big Ten coaching job at Minnesota. Then he and the Louisville basketball team have a magical season winning the final Big East Tournament and a National Championship. While in Atlanta for the Final Four Rick got his name added among the greats and was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

The road of the college basketball season ends at the Final Four but not Rick Pitino’s good fortune. After he got back from Atlanta he was able to enjoy the Kentucky Derby as a 5% owner of one of the Derby favorites. That horse wouldn’t win but it had to be a huge honor nonetheless. Then this week on a trip in the Bahamas with some buddies coach Pitino goes Marlin fishing and catches an 80 pounder.

So how do you put a bow on a run like that? Well around these parts you get your face on a Makers Mark bottle. That’s right Cards fans its time to add to the bourbon bottle collection as Makers Mark announced today that an upcoming bottle will feature Coach Rick Pitino. The bottle is the second of a three-year commitment by Maker’s Mark, that has pledged over $500,000 in support of the Academic Center of Excellence. 12,600 bottles will be available to the public, and details on how to purchase the bottle will be announced at a later date.

This Makers Mark series started last year with a bottle featuring Coach Charlie Strong. That bottle was a hot item last year and flew out of every Liquor Store store in the state of Kentucky. They sold over 8400 of the Strong bottles and will have 12,600 of the Pitino bottles available when released.

Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino had not had a break for months and decided to step away from basketball and Louisville after the Kentucky Derby celebrations had ended. Pitino and a group of friends headed to a remote island in the Bahamas for a little rest and relaxation. On this trip, Pitino and his group decided to do a little deep-water white marlin fishing. This was the first time Coach Pitino had tried his luck at the elusive fish. So what happens when coach sinks his lure for the first time? He lands an 80 pounder that’s what. How about the luck of this guy? According to the information I was able to look up the average size of the white marlin is 45 to 65 pounds and it is not a common thing to catch one bigger. I’m glad to see Coach P’s lucky streak is still intact and I hope it stays that way until around this time next year. Hat Tip to Jody Demling for tweeting out these pictures tonight. Great stuff!

The College Baseball season is nearing the time of year when post season play will get under way. Today Baseball America broke down their scenarios on who will host regional sites and who is in and out of the college baseball playoff picture. Our Louisville Cardinals have had a very good season and made history with their 8th shutout victory of the year beating EKU today and are 38-10 heading into a big game hosting No.15 Indiana at Jim Patterson Stadium tomorrow evening at 6pm for Cancer Awareness Night. The Cards are currently ranked #10 in NCBWA poll, #12 in Baseball America Poll, #10 in Collegiate Baseball Poll and #11 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Below is what the folks at Baseball America had to say about Louisville’s post season chances.

“BASEBALL AMERICA:

Regional Hosts

SECURE TEAMS: The eight national seeds listed above; Indiana, Florida State

ON THE BUBBLE (IN): UCLA, Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Clemson, Louisville

“We’re sticking with Louisville as a second host in the Midwest (along with Indiana). The Cardinals remain in third place in the Big East (a game behind South Florida and Pittsburgh), but we expect them to finish strong (at UConn, vs. Pitt) and win the Big East regular-season title. They probably need to do that in order to beat out the likes of South Alabama and Kansas State for a hosting spot. Right now, the Jaguars are higher in the RPI (No. 16) than Louisville (No. 23), and they sit in first place in the No. 5 RPI conference. But Louisville has better records against the top 50 (7-4 vs. 4-4) and top 100 (15-5 vs. 10-10), and South Alabama has the more challenging schedule remaining (at Louisiana-Lafayette, vs. Troy). If one of those three Sun Belt teams emerges as the clear-cut top team in the conference during the next two weeks and the conference tournament, it could beat out Louisville (or a fifth ACC or SEC team) for a hosting spot. But right now, we still have more faith in Louisville’s talent, so we’re sticking with the Cardinals.”

PROJECTED BIDS FOR NCAA

Big East (4 bids)

SAFELY IN: Louisville

ON THE BUBBLE (IN): Pittsburgh, South Florida, Notre Dame

ON THE BUBBLE (OUT): Seton Hall”

The folks at Baseball America do have Louisville as a current lock to make the post season NCAA. The only question seems to be if Louisville will play host to a regional site. The Cards still have some big games to make their case. If you haven’t done so yet try to get out and support these guys over the next couple of weeks. They have 4 home games left in the regular season including tomorrow night at 6pm against Indiana and then will have a 3 game home stand against Pittsburgh to end the regular season that starts on May 16th. The weather will be getting better and admission is free to all of the home games.

To read more from Baseball America’s article College Stock Report: Week 12 click this link.

Future Cardinal point guard sweeps the National Juco Player of the Year honors today as he was named NJCAA POY. Last week the future Card was named the NABC POY as well. The NJCAA Men’s Basketball Coaches Association announced their selections for the 2012-13 Player of the Year awards today and here’s what they had to say.

It’s very impressive to win one player of the year award but to win two is really a big deal. Jones was the most dominate Juco player in the nation for the last two seasons and now he is getting that validation. I can’t wait to see how that Juco domination transitions to the D1 level. Coach Pitino said in an interview last week that Jones will start in the back court with Smith next season.

This has been the year of the Louisville Cardinals and Cardinal Nation has enjoyed living in the spotlight of the college sports world this past season. Today all eyes will be on Churchill Downs and the annual “Run For The Roses.” And the 2013 Kentucky Derby will have a lot of Cardinal Flavor as well. Coach Charlie Strong will deliver the “Riders up!” call to jockeys in the paddock, Gorgui Dieng, Peyton Siva and Mike Marra, will walk the garland from the paddock to the winner’s circle 69 minutes before post time, and the U of L marching band, with 16 U of L choir students, will perform “My Old Kentucky Home.” Oh yea, and Coach Rick Pitino is a 5% owner of one of the Derby favorites Goldencents and it would be icing on the cake to see that horse in the winners circle.

Today will end Peyton and Gorgui’s whirlwind of appearances and celebrations and the two will head on to their future ventures after this weekend. Both are expected to start working out and they hope to continue their basketball careers in the NBA. Gorgui is predicted by most sources to be around the 22nd pick in the 2013 NBA draft while some expect Peyton to go somewhere late in the second round. Coach Pitino will also head out of town on a little hiatus with a group of friends to a remote Island in the Bahamas after the Derby weekend.

The Derby will be a grand finale to a wonderful year of sports in Louisville and what a way to put a bow on it by seeing the University of Louisville play such a big part in such a meaningful and historic event. Go Cards and Go Goldencents!