Rick Pitino: NCAA investigation is 'almost pretty much over'

Rick Pitino wouldn't reveal if he's met with the NCAA yet, but the Louisville head coach says the investigation surrounding his program won't linger much longer.

"It's almost pretty much over," Pitino told a local radio station Tuesday, according to Eric Crawford of WDRB.com. "I think everything's behind us right now."

The conviction of Pitino's comments come as a surprise, given that sources told Crawford the 63-year-old has not yet met with NCAA investigators. The NCAA has spent the last several months looking into allegations that a Louisville ex-staffer paid escorts to sleep with recruits.

For his part, Pitino said he couldn't publicly reveal whether or not he's spoken with the NCAA.

"They can hit you with extra violations if you even talk about certain things, so I've learned a lot about the NCAA that I didn't know about for 30 years through this process," he said. "You just let them do their job, and certainly the university has done everything that they can to justify the mistakes that were made, and then you move forward. And certainly we will. We'll have a great team coming back next year."

Louisville self-imposed more sanctions last week as the school continues to conduct its own study into the potential violations.