And it wasn't just that coach John Beilein's team made 11 of its first 16 field-goal attempts, or that it shot 10-for-14 from 3-point range in the first half, or that it made a total of 18 from long range, second to only the 1990 Loyola Marymount team in the history of the tournament.
It was also the way some of the shots fell.
Beilein's son, Patrick, banked one in from an awkward angle in front of the Louisville bench. He made another from the "B" in the New Mexico "Lobos" logo set about 10m from the basket.
"They were falling out of bounds, shooting from half-court and banking them in," Pitino said. "You've got to give them all the credit in the world."
Pitino spent much of the first half in an unfamiliar pose -- sitting on the bench, watching shot after shot fall and hoping that when the wave ended, his team would still have a chance.
Turns out, the Cardinals did.
"That's the beauty of this game -- expect the unexpected," John Beilein said.
Louisville pulled within arm's distance many times in the second half, but on every occasion, Johannes Herber or Kevin Pittsnogle (six 3-pointers, 25 points) made 3s to keep the Mountaineers ahead.
Not until O'Bannon, the region's most valuable player, slithered through the defense and made a layup with 38 seconds left did Louisville tie it at 77 -- the first tie since 3-all. And not until overtime began did West Virginia finally start missing.
"I wouldn't say we were worn out," Pittsnogle said. "We still had a lot of gas left. We just couldn't make the key plays when we had to make them."
Led by Dean's seventh 3-pointer and four free throws by O'Bannon, the Cardinals opened it up in overtime.
When the buzzer sounded, Pitino started hugging players, and O'Bannon chucked the ball toward the ceiling at The Pit, which hosted a game almost as exciting as the 1983 final when Jim Valvano and North Carolina State won their improbable championship.
"Just to come out and accomplish something ... of this magnitude just makes it that much sweeter," O'Bannon said.
Louisville made its eighth Final Four despite playing the final 4:02 of regulation and overtime without arguably its best player, Francisco Garcia, who couldn't avoid the fouls as the Cardinals started trapping, pressing, doing whatever they could to disrupt the torrid Mountaineers.
The Cardinals made it back to the Final Four for the first time since 1986, when Denny Crum and Pervis Ellison led them to their second national title.
Now, it's Pitino trying to bring his second national championship back to the Bluegrass -- but this time to Louisville, not Kentucky.
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