David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

“I have so many coaches come in
every year to learn the press,” Pitino
said. He is now the head basketball
coach at the University of Louisville,
and Louisville has become the Mecca
for all those Davids trying to learn how
to beat Goliaths. “Then they e-mail me.
They tell me they can’t do it. They don’t
know if their players can last.” Pitino
shook his head. “We practice every day
for two hours,” he went on. “The players
are moving almost ninety-eight percent
of the practice. We spend very little time
talking. When we make our
corrections”—that is, when Pitino and
his coaches stop play to give instructions
—“they are seven-second corrections,