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Memorable quotes from the
1998 championship season

Here are some of my favorite comments from the 1997-98 Kentucky basketball season. Some are exciting; some are funny; some are poignant, some are just interesting. But they all reflect the unique character of Kentucky basketball. If you have a favorite quote from the past year, submit it here
I hope you enjoy this look back through an incredible season.

"To me, it's important we move quickly (to hire a coach.) I don't want anybody to go on a billboard and have him sit for a month."
C.M. Newton, referring to WVLK's Robert Lindsey, who camped out on a billboard in 1989 until Rick Pitino was hired
"It was my dream to always play at Georgia. And Coach Smith told me when he was recruiting me not to turn down my dream. And this is how I see what he's doing. This is a dream."
Georgia's Adrian Jones, on Tubby Smith leaving the Bulldogs for Kentucky
"Tubby Smith will suceed at Kentucky not because he is black, not in spite of being black, but because the best basketball program in the country hired the best available coach in the country."
Dave Kindred of The Sporting News

"4.4 seconds to go... Kentucky getting it in... it's to Sheppard at :03, midcourt right side to Nazr; Nazr drives, throws it up... Ohhh it went in! It goes in! It goes in! It counts! Nazr Mohammed on a running throw-up shot hits off the backboard, it goes down and the Wildcats win on one of the wildest shots you have ever seen!"
Ralph Hacker's radio call of the final seconds of the Vanderbilt game.
"He wanted to go out (on the ocean) on one of these ski things...what do you call them, 'waverunners?' I wouldn't let him because we thought he'd get lost."
Tubby Smith in Maui, on Wayne Turner, who did get lost while snowmobiling during last season's Alaska trip
"That's my assistant coach, and I recruited all those ballplayers. So I'm very proud of their accomplishments. If they didn't go out and have a typical Kentucky run in the NCAA Tournament, then I'd have built myself a pretty poor foundation, a pretty bad house. And I'd like to think if someone's going to move into my house, it's built pretty strong."
Rick Pitino, on his pride in his former team

"We were outplayed in some areas, and I think we were outcoached in some areas, I hate to say."
Tubby Smith, after losing to Louisville at Rupp Arena

"Do you really think Tubby's the guy who's going to bring us that seventh national championship? ... I just hope this turns out to be a stupid question three years from now."
"Tim from Hazard", a caller to the postgame Wildcat Sportsline show after the Ohio U. game (Erick's note:The timing of this call is eerie. Tim's comments were made a little after 11pm on December 30. Exactly three months {not years} later, almost to the exact second, C. M. Newton was handing "the guy" UK's seventh championship trophy)

"They (fans who complain) are trying to live their lives through 19 and 20-year-olds. They go to work and shoot off their mouths or tell their friends that they're big shots, and when the team doesn't come through, instead of standing up for themselves, they want to blame it on everyone else. (UK football color analyst) Jeff Van Note has a perfect name for guys like that. He calls them 'jocksniffers' because they're a bunch of wannabes."
"Steve from Macon, Georgia", another Wildcat Sportsline caller obviously tired of hearing the Tubby-bashing.

"That was the greatest exhibition of playing basketball I have ever seen in the SEC."
Nolan Richardson after UK scored 58 first-half points en route to a 99-74 win over Arkansas in the SEC Tournament.
"Every time he (Tubby) takes the court, I can see the ghost of Rick Pitino fade a little more."
"John from Kansas City", a caller to the postgame Wildcat Sportsline radio show after the win over Purdue

"I wanted to call in to my own show and say 'Hey, you bum.'"
Tubby Smith, after the loss to Mississippi
"This is embarrassing. We've had four years. How the blazes can we not be ready? How long do we need? Imagine hosting a dinner party that includes your boss, your priest, your fiancee and your IRS agent, and deciding not to pick up the underwear from your front room. That's sort of how this feels. We are 11 days from the opening of a baseball season. We are a year from the Final Four. And we respond by greeting the nation with the sounds of drills and saws and hammers. If you didn't know better, you'd swear the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team stayed here on vacation."
St. Petersburg Times columnist Gary Shelton, on the ongoing construction at Tropicana Field

"When you see Kentucky's fans you just wonder. You think how wonderful it would be to go to their school. You wish you could trade places for a day just so you could experience that feeling."
UCLA's Kris Johnson on the Wildcat fans in St. Petersburg
"And the Lord said a Sheppard will lead them."
Caption on a popular sign at the Final Four
"It still hits me sometimes when I'm in my room, or when I'm on the way listening to the headphones. I'm just over there by myself, in a daze, looking up at the clouds. It's like I'm trying to sing to her, or I'm trying to pray to her. Last week, a reporter asked me who was coming to St. Pete to see me play. The first thing that came out of my mouth was 'My mom.'"
Allen Edwards, on the death of his mother near the end of his college career

"I hope we kick their ass."
Rick Pitino, on the rematch with Duke

"So many times we get caught up in who wins and loses these ball games. Prior to this game, I saw Melvin Watson go over to Allen Edwards and talk to him in regards to his mother. During the first timeout, you had B.J. McKie going over, sending his condolences as well. A lot of times the fans don't realize how much sportsmanship is really involved in this game."
Sam Bowie of the UK Radio Network, on the character exhibited by the South Carolina players the day after the funeral of Edwards' mother

"The thing I'll always remember about that (1992) game is Richie Farmer's face, because that's the kid I saw, standing in front of me, when the shot went in. I immediately tried to feel what he was feeling. And that made me understand how big of a game it was. To me, that was the deepest emotion I saw on the court, the pain I saw on Richie Farmer's face."
Mike Krzyzewski, recalling the 1992 UK-Duke game, which UK lost 104-103

"Coach called a play. Cameron ignored the play, and Coach was like 'no, no... YES!'"
Jeff Sheppard, on Cameron Mills' three-pointer to tie the score against Utah

"He (Tubby) makes a lot of money, so if he pays me, I'll write some stuff for him."
Utah's Rick Majerus, on his reputation as the funniest of the Final Four coaches

"In '96 everyone knew we were going to win it. We had so much talent, it was more of a relief when we won it. This year it's pure joy."
Jeff Sheppard, on the difference between his two championships

"Coach Smith fits the mold of a Kentucky coach. He's down home, down to earth, not aloof, not flaunting his position. My father was the same way. You'd find my father at his grandson's little league game, or at a cattle show or at Brookings Restaurant eating chili. He was a part of the community because he wanted to be, not because it was part of some promotion. Coach Smith is the same way. He's not just passing through. He wants to be here, be the Kentucky coach. He's the type of person you might run into down at the corner store, eating crackers and Vienna sausages. I'm not knocking Rick Pitino, because I've never met him and I don't know him, but it's going to be easier for the Kentucky fans to relate to Tubby Smith than to Rick Pitino."
Herky Rupp, son of Adolph, to Timothy W. Smith of the New York Times

"I told Tubby that hopefully, the next time Kentucky's in Rupp Arena, it'll be a nice celebration."
Oscar Combs of 'The Cats Pause', after Senior Day

"He really does a good job of teaching us the game of basketball, but even a better job of teaching us how to be men."
Jeff Sheppard, on Tubby Smith's priorities as a coach

"I believe God puts us in positions. He put me in two against Kentucky, one we won and one we lost, and I thank God for putting me in both of them."
Mike Krzyzewski, after the UK win over Duke

"Ever since the season started, we haven't really gotten respect. We haven't been seen as a great club with a marquee name. In the Southeastern Conference tournament and the NCAA tournament, we've been playing really good ball and basically blowing teams out. If they don't take it as a message, they might be next."
Allen Edwards, on the yearlong consensus belief that only Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, or Arizona could win the NCAA
"Stanford was probably the toughest game we had all season because they never folded. Most teams, even Duke, hit a wall against us sometime in the second half where they kind of give in. But Stanford never did. They kept fighting back the whole game."
Jeff Sheppard, on the matchups in the NCAA Tournament

"I am just in awe of the University of Kentucky"
Comedian and former Mississippi State football player Jerry Clower, to Porter Waggoner on TNN's "Opry Backstage" program

"Good evening, Joe. Thanks for having me on. And congratulations to Tubby Smith!"
The Rev. Jesse Jackson's first words as the guest on WHAS' "Joe Elliot Show" (Rev. Jackson and President Clinton watched the championship game together aboard Air Force One in Africa)

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Memorable quotes from the 1998 championship season

Memorable quotes from the
1998 championship season