I want to thank all the assistants and staff who have worked for us over the years, as well as the people in the community who have added value to our lives.
My vision is one of celebrations and banquets, diplomas and banners, rings and parades.
If you react to every barking dog, if you stop for every barking dog, you're never getting home.
I gotta be able to sleep at night knowing that I'm being honest.
I'm not a big proponent of the league tournament.
I have bobby pins everywhere.
People, on their bucket lists, are saying, 'I want to see a game at Rupp Arena.' Magic Johnson will call and say, 'I want to come to the game tonight. I want to see John Wall or Anthony Davis or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.' It's become fashionable to be seen here, because people want to be seen and associated with success.
I think part of the reason some coaches don't want to be involved with social media is that they expect to be able to do it at a certain level. A lot of them are like, 'I'm not going to do it if we can't hit 100,000 or 200,000 followers.' Well, you're not going to right away.
My life, even as a college student, has all been through the NCAA, and I'm telling you there's so much good that comes out of it.
I want to thank the Big Blue nation for your warming and hospitality. You all have made us feel like we've been in the Commonwealth forever.
I call it, 'The Kentucky Effect.' Guys from Kentucky are usually drafted higher, and their shoe contracts are worth more. They're in more demand overall because they played here.
If they're out of high school, and they can go directly to the NBA and get drafted and get millions of dollars, I'm for it 100 percent. Just let's not devalue education. Let's just not devalue it.
If the NBA is worried about the NBA, if the NCAA is worried about the NCAA, if each individual institution is just worried about themselves, and the last thing we think about is these kids, then we're going to make wrong decisions. There are a lot of players of different levels, of different abilities. Let's be fair with them.
I want to thank the people at UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky for giving Ellen and I an opportunity to coach at three great institutions.
I'm not the grand poobah. I'm not the emperor. That's not what I want to be.
Don't encourage 8th-, 9th- and 10th-graders to forgo education just to go to the G League.
Let the D-League be for players who have been in the NBA, who are on the fringe, and that want to fight like heck to get in the NBA. They should have a living wage, not $17,000 to $25,000. A living wage.
When your best players are really good guys, it's the best.
All my best players have been really good guys, which means I can coach them.
At times, we, as coaches, try to shove guys as square pegs into round holes and keep hammering away.
