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Rick Pitino pulled a trick I haven’t seen since the 1996 release of ìD2: The Mighty Ducksî.

The wardrobe change at intermission was right out of the Gordon Bombay playbook.

Pitino blatantly lied to ESPN’s Erin Andrew’s and said that he spilled Diet Pepsi on his white suit.

First off, Andrews is like a Siren from the classic Greek tale, ‘The Odyssey’. Pitino’s ability to not be affected by her, and even greater yet, to be able to lie to her, shows that he might be the most powerful man in the country.

Second, I think the fictional plugging of Diet Pepsi was no coincidence. I have had three Diet Pepsis already this morning and I don’t even drink diet soda. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see the new downtown arena named by Pepsi Co. Pitino always has a plan.

The Cardinals performed best after a change of clothing, and just like Team USA, or should I say the Mighty Ducks, Louisville took down the almighty beast with a strong finish to the game.

After having more turnovers (10) than field goals (7) in the first half, the Cardinals outscored the Hoyas 36-20 in the second half including an 11-0 run. U of L held Georgetown to 35 percent shooting in the second half after they shot 52 percent in the first half.

When I visited Rupp Arena to watch the Cardinals take on the UK this past January I told myself that I would never again see a basketball game in front of such a raucous fan base. Saturday’s game proved me wrong.

Like the Rutgers game the week before, the 20,083 fans that filled Freedom Hall Saturday night played a major role in the Cardinals victory. The difference this time was everyone, not just the students like at the ’80s game, embraced the theme, and cheered loudly.

I’m pretty sure that there were 20,000 fans who wore white and the other 83 fans all seemed to be men in their 60’s dressed in a suit with a beer in their hand. I suppose they decided to drink away the shame of forgetting the ‘white-out’ theme.

No moment was more majestic than Pitino walking out in his white suit. His acceptance of the theme and the crowd’s acceptance of him set the tone for what was to be a special night.

The white suit played just as large a role in getting the crowd into the game as the black suit did in altering the outcome of the game.

In the end Pitino reminds us of the classic Michael Jackson song telling us that it doesn’t matter if your (suit is) black or white.