America's number one fans pack Rupp
to welcome home national champions

Tubby Smith: All right. Now you know this young man's blood runs blue. When there's family involved -- and his dad played here, and that's the same kind of connection that I'm going to have at the University of Kentucky, that I have now that I have a son playing here also.

So I have that same type of feeling for this university now, and I always will. But this young man is an unbelievable clutch player for us You know, the three-point --really this year, probably didnt get the playing time that he deserved at times throughout the year.

But he remained committed and he remained loyal to the team as a captain, and as our spiritual leader on and off the basketball court. He did a remarkable job. To come back and hit those threes he hit last night, those were like daggers to the heart of the Utes I can tell you right now.

Right here from Lexington, Kentucky Your own Cameron Mills!! Cameron Mills!! Cameron Mills !! All right, Cameron.

I'm going to bring the seniors up here because I know they have something to say. They always have something to say. But I'm going to bring the three seniors up here and I want you guys to come on up here, Jeff, Cameron, Allen, because I know they want to tell you all how much they appreciate you as we all appreciate you. Here you go, fellows.

Jeff Sheppard: Thank you. First of all I want to thank Coach Smith and his staff. When they first got here, they really made themselves available for us to grow close to them. And their number one goal this year was to teach us how to be men. How to become men and how to grow, how to grow close to one another. His second goal was to teach us basketball. He's done a great job, and we appreciate that, Coach. Thank you.

Second of all, I want to thank our fans. You're the best fans in the country. I've never played game at Kentucky where there haven't been a lot of Kentucky fans there, and you're number one. Thank you. And finally, I want to thank my teammates. They've been really special to me, and I'll always remember the friendships that we have on and off the court. Thanks, guys.

Allen Edwards: Just to go along with what Shep said, I mean, everbody pretty much knows what I've been through in the last month or so with my Mom passing, but I think the coaching staff, their wives, my teammates, and the fans who wrote me all the letters that I still haven't finished reading, made it a lot easier to go out there and play as hard as I can and not have the death of my Mom on my mind.

So I'd like to really thank Coach Smith and Donna for all the love that you have shown me through my time of need. And I'd like to also give thanks to all our fans. It's been a wonderful four years for myself. I don't think my career could have went any better. I came here and won two national championships and I'm proud of that. Thank you all.

Cameron Mills: First of all, I want to thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of this team for four years.

(Erick's note: To me, and to all the Wildcat fans with whom I've spoken, the applause and cheers for Cameron's statement of testimony seemed to be the loudest for any remarks made that night. Make of it what you will. As a God-fearing man raised in the thick of the Bible Belt, I feel quite optomistic.)

Second of all, even though I don't think they're back from San Antonio yet, I want to thank my mother and father for supporting me in my decision to walk on, my dad for paying my tuition the first two years. I just want them to know that I love them and I don't think there are two better parents in the whole world. Third of all, even though he's not here, I want to thank Rick Pitino, not only for allowing me the chance to walk on, but also for teaching not only me, Allen and Shep, but all these guys that were under him how to play this game.

And second to last, I want to thank Coach Smith, and to you, I don't think you'll ever know how much our relationship means to me. And last of all, even though I know I had to bust y'alls tails a couple of times this year, we've got the best fans in the nation and I love you all very much. Thank you.

Tubby Smith: Men of character, men of value. That's the kind of people we have in our program, and that's the kind of people we're going to continue to recruit for this program. Outstanding people, outstanding men of character that are willing to stand up and persevere

I want to thank you fans, because they've given us a new name now: The Comeback Cats and I want to tell you it's the greatest feeling in the world to come back home to our fans...you're the Comeback Fans. Thank you.

C. M. Newton: As part of this celebration, we've got an award and a special presentation that to my knowledge has never been given anywhere else. So this is going to be a precedent-setter; this is a first. But it's an award that is greatly deserved, and it's for the National Coach's Wife of the Year, presented to Donna Smith...Donna.

You know, I heard very early as a basketball coach, if you want to recruit a player, you first recruit the mother. In this case, in recruiting Tubby, I recruited Donna right off the bat. This award is from all of us at the University of Kentucky and Donna, why don't you just take a minute to say what's on your mind and heart?

Donna Smith: Well, first giving honor to God, I would like to thank these wonderful players for giving us the opportunity to be here. And I'd like to thank all these fans. You all are awesome.

C. M. Newton: And now, just to again thank you and to conclude this celebration, you know, what we decided to do a few years ago, because of the demands to play through in the SEC tournament, and through this championship, we decided to have one big celebration and get these guys back into the classroom, where they belong because you've got finals coming up pretty quickly, and not carry the celebration out forever. But I will tell you this. we're going to the legislature Thursday and meet with both the House and Senate in Frankfort. And then sometime after graduation in May, we're going to the White House again.

To close this celebration, we have two things that we wanted to do I asked Bill Kerns, who's the district general manager of Sears, who made this presentation to the team last night in San Antonio, to come and unveil the national championship trophy. And then we're got a very special presentation and unveiling that we're goin to do and we're going to ask the players to take care of that when we unveil that seventh national championship banner. Bill Kerns.

Bill Kerns: Thank you. Wow. What a wonderful homecoming for these Comeback Cats. You know, you guys have played wonderful basketball all year long, and the celebration that we have tonight for you from your loyal fans is capping off a wonderful season. A season where the journey to the Final Four was probably as memorable as the last dance. And what a last dance it was.

It gives me great honor to be able to congratulate you on behalf of the 300,000 associates of the Sears-Roebuck Company. The 1998 NCAA Mens' Collegiate Champions, the University of Kentucky. Tubby, what I'd like for you to do is unveil the national collegiate Sears champions trophy.

C. M. Newton: And now, thank you very much, Bill. We'll show you one other national championship trophy: the one the NCAA presented to us last night.

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Quotes from the 1998 Season

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