The media had an opportunity to speak with members of the 1987 Championship team before the game today. I only had enough time to transcribe guard Keith Smart's interview and will hopefully have the rest of the team done before today is done.
[the reunion]
"It's a different feeling when you come back and you see some of the guys that you played with and spent a lot of time with, you spend more time with them than you spend with anyone else when you went to school here. And some of the stories that we have from last night and today -it's a great, great opportunity to reminisce about some things not just basketball, just life issues that we've dealt with, how are kids are doing. Things that you never thought would be possible 25 years later, but here we are. So we get together as a group that let us come back for this day."
[that '87 team]
"I think more than anything, and we all say this, we were a group that was very, very unselfish, we got along with each other very well. We had fun with each other both on and off the floor and so we knew what we did as a team -won the championship- but I think it was the friendships that we formed over time that have kept the bond that we have with each other burn real bright. So I think more than anything else, that friendship that we have. From time to time, with my schedule, I would get a chance to see some of these guys who come to the games -Chicago, Milwaukee- but this is the first time having at least 12 of us guys being back together."
[Cook Hall]
"I wish we would have had something like that at that time. It's great, I think ever college team, every pro team as well, you have to have a practice facility because that's the tool you use to recruit. For us in the NBA, it's free agents as well. It's a fabulous environment for a young player to walk through those doors, see all the history, see that they can come into this building anytime and go play basketball, work on their games any time of the day. So it's a great situation to have and they've done a great job having it here for these players."
[Assembly Hall]
"You probably could never get rid of Assembly Hall because it's part of what has made Hoosier basketball big in the state. Hopefully they don't ever make a decision to change that place, but we know sometimes things will happen. But overall, it's a great place and I have not been inside Assembly Hall in a long, long, long time. This is my first time being time being back in there since a couple years ago."
[talking to Crean]
We had a chance to watch some of the practice this morning and coach Crean talked to our '87 team and he fired us up. I think we all wanted to play today rather than the team today. But it's good to see the fans, as we walked over here, some of the fans were lined up for the game today and they started shouting our names and things like that.
[the current IU team]
"As a pro coach I can't [talk to current team]. I can't do any of that, just watch. But some of our other players went out, talked to them and spoke to them and they know that we're supporting a team. They know myself and Alford have rules that we can't communicate with them and they know that. They know we're supporting them 100 percent because we said we want to be like those other guys and we want to be able to go to a Final Four or championship game and be in the stands and have our IU clothing that fits us now, at a game and give our support to them while we're in the stands. We see other teams and other players that played at those schools are at the games and at Final Fours and we want to be there, we want to be part of that as well"
