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On top of his team's ugly 74-55 loss to St. John's at Madison Square Garden, Pitino tried to quell questions about his coaching future.

"I've been at Louisville nine years, and I'm hoping to go to [age] 65, and I hope it's at Louisville, and I hope they want to have me. Maybe after tonight they want me to coach a pro team," Pitino, 57, joked.

SNY's "Loud Mouths" first reported Monday that Pitino had made backchannel inquiries about coaching the New Jersey Nets next season.

"There's just no truth to it. Just zero truth," Pitino said. "Why do people print it?"

Later Thursday, the Bergen Record cited an NBA source saying the Nets had made another high-profile college coach, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, their "first choice" to replace interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe.

"He would be a great choice, great choice. Matter of fact, I'm gonna call his recruits tonight," Pitino joked.

Pitino added that he would have to call every single one of his own recruits and say that the rumors about his departure are "total nonsense."

You have to wonder if the Nets story distracted the current players. Samardo Samuels, who scored 18 points in the loss, said he first heard the rumors Thursday morning and that Pitino hadn't addressed the team about it.

"I just got up and brushed my teeth and went on with my day," Samuels said. "It ain't got nothing to do with me."

Despite Pitino's stated claims to remain at Louisville "until I die," where there's smoke, there's often fire. Pitino has taken enough heat from the Karen Sypher sex scandal that engulfed him last summer and understands that Louisville will always be second fiddle to John Calipari's rising Kentucky's team in the Bluegrass State.

"I'd be shocked if he's coaching Louisville next year," one source told Ian O'Connor of the Bergen Record and ESPN.

Of course, a Louisville assistant also told me, "That's all B-S."

O'Connor reported that Pitino wants out, with a warm-weather destination being his ideal choice. But assuming Pitino doesn't end up in a warm-weather spot like Los Angeles with the Clippers, would he be interested in the St. John's job should Norm Roberts be let go?

He's a New York guy who still maintains an apartment in midtown Manhattan, and you have to think that he could attract the big-name recruits that St. John's has struck out on in recent years -- Sylven Landesberg, Lance Stephenson and Tobias Harris, to name a few. His current roster already features former Rice High School star Edgar Sosa and Samuels, a standout at St. Benedict's Prep.

"One of the problems for all three [Big East] schools [in the New York area] has been a lot of terrific New York-based players have been going away to prep schools," Pitino said. "They get out of the New York area. It's all about talent."

Pitino pointed out that all the New York-area Big East schools need to improve their facilities to attract star recruits. And in fact, Louisville is unveiling a brand new $350 million arena in downtown next year.

"Rutgers, their facilities are nowhere near what the rest of us have," Pitino said. "Why would a recruit on a 36-hour visit do that [commit]? It's tough for St. John's and tough for Rutgers to attract those kids who are on a 36-hour visit.

"They're not on the same-level playing field from a facilities standpoint. Now it didn't matter tonight because they kicked our butt."

But would a Catholic school even hire Pitino given the sex scandal he managed to get himself into last summer? It seems unlikely, unless former St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca wields his considerable influence in Pitino's favor.

"Maybe one guy can turn it around," Carnesecca said before the game. "One guy to ignite this thing and turn it around."

Carnesecca was referring to a recruit, but he could well have been talking about a big-name coach. St. John's, and Rutgers if they make a change, both need a big-name coach to pull in the stud recruits it takes to compete, and win, in the Big East.

"You gotta get players," said former St. John's great Chris Mullin, honored before the game, along with Carnesecca, for the Silver Anniversary of the 1985 Final Four team. "It's key to find one of these kids to be the key guy to turn it around, that says 'I'm good enough to do this, I have opportunities to go other places, but I am going to do it right here.' That's more important than what anybody thinks."

One thing's for sure: There's going to be a game of coaching musical chairs in the New York area given all the potential pro and college openings on the horizon.

Still, as Pitino said, "Sometimes it's like musical chairs and you're still left with the same problems."