Quotes

(SCSD now has multiple daily posts. Don't miss the others below.)

Here are a few quotes worthy of comment:

1. From the Glens Falls Post-Star, in the midst of an article about hometown hero and current BYU star Jimmer Fredette. Part of the story focused on how Jimmer's older brother would take him to the local prison when he was in high school in order to toughen him up. The reporter asked Kansas State's Curtis Kelly what he thought about that:

“I haven’t heard that story. That’s an interesting story,” K-State forward Curtis Kelly said. “It’s hard to respond to that, but the thing about our team is that we probably won’t back down to him because we’re all from tough backgrounds. I’m a former inner-city kid and I played against guys that got in jail or are going to jail.”

I absolutely love it. That's the ultimate response from a dude who is just not impressed. Oh, you're a suburban kid who thinks he has chops because he played with a few caged humans? Well guess what: I WAS PLAYING WITH THEM WHEN THEY WERE STILL WILD. I bet Jimmer started crying when he read that.


2. Lance Thomas on Nolan Smith's defense, from this ESPN article:

"Nolan, he just dominated that matchup," Blue Devils forward Lance Thomas said. "Randle had nothing for him. He took the initiative and picked him up from three-quarters of the court and let him know it was going to be a fight all game. And Nolan knocked him out."

Well fucking put, LT.


3. Coach K, from that same article:

"I don't know if we'll go any further, but this is a better team because it can play total defense," Krzyzewski said. "I mean, someone will say in the past, they relied on the 3-point shot. Well, what else were we going to rely on?

I would respond to this quote, but I am just bowled over by Coach K's outrageous confidence in his own team.


4. ESPN writer Andy Katz, from this article:

I'm not sure whether I'm alone here, but don't you get the sense that everyone is waiting for Duke to fall?

100% true. People are judging Duke based on past years, and willfully ignoring the makeup of the current team. Guess what, world? We can rebound now. And we're tougher. And nobody can push us around on D. Basketball fans need to come to terms with the fact that Duke is an elite team, and we're going to make the Final 4.

Insightful stuff from Andy. Of course, he went on to say that Purdue is a cinderella team by some new definition whereby you can beat lower seeded teams and still be considered a fun upstart, but you can't win 'em all.