St. John's rallies to give Rick Pitino 900th on-court win - ESPN

CINCINNATI — Rick Pitino has rarely considered number of victories when it comes to milestones. For him, it has always been about championships.

The Hall of Fame coach though did admit becoming the fourth Division I men's basketball coach to reach 900 on-court victories was one to savor.

St. John's rallied from a 16-point deficit in the second half to defeat Xavier 88-83 on Saturday. The milestone victory came at the expense of his son, Richard, who is in his first season coaching the Musketeers.

«My son it doesn't matter,» said Pitino about the win coming against his son. «The great thing is I could spend time with him and the grand kids.»

The 73-year-old Pitino has a 900-316 on-court record in 38 seasons as a head coach in college. It began with six games as an interim at Hawaii in 1976.

He is the only coach to win an NCAA title at two schools (Kentucky and Louisville) and the first to take three schools to the Final Four (Providence, Kentucky and Louisville).

He's also the only coach to direct six schools to the NCAA Tournament, including Boston University, Iona and St. John's.

Pitino also coached at Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona. He also has 10 years in the pros, including with the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, along with Greek team Panathinaikos.

«But 900 means that I've had longevity. I spent 10 years in the pros. And so 900 with 10 years in the pros is really something I'm very thankful to all my players and assistant coaches for helping me get there,» he said.

One of those assistants was Richard, who was on his dad's staff for three seasons at Louisville.

«I'm happy for him that he won 900. I think he's the best coach to ever coach college basketball. He'd have a lot more if