that Brown would think to offer Popovich a spot as an assistant coach at UK. If I had been alive at the time, I would have indubitably questioned Brown’s decision to bring in a coach who had lost to the worst freakin’ college basketball program ever. Popovich took up Brown’s offer and worked for UK during the 1985-86 season. However, for whatever reasons (maybe Brown realized that a coach who fails with a D3 program won’t be that helpful at the D1 level), Popovich returned to Claremont for the following two seasons. Pop, however, miraculously caught another break–he was once again able to team up with Brown. This time, however, was with the San Antonio Spurs.

The rest, as they say, is history, and the bizarre story pretty muchends here. Popovich was the best man at Larry Brown’s 1990 wedding, and Popovich more or less remained with the Spurs organization ever since teaming up with LB in San Antonio. (Pop had a weird and brief stint with the Warriors in 1992 as an assistant coach, after which he briefly retired.) Since his return with the Spurs in 1994, the unique fellow has given us a more than a few championships and more than a few laughs, including the one that gave us the picture above. And for now, we can laugh at the fact that on the dawn of the NCAA championship game, one of the best NBA coaches ever (and a certain 2010-2011 COY candidate) is the protagonist of one of the most embarrassing college