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Message: [QUOTE="Kemba Time, post: 5054085, member: 2962"] Since I was corralling a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old at Gampel, I’ll keep my takeaways to the post-practice autograph session and let others vouch for the fact that we are deeeeep and going to be a problem for the rest of the country again on the court. They were clearly overwhelmed by the turnout. Tom Moore running around trying to appease everyone, they brought out the championship trophy for pictures for everyone waiting. The line was still halfway around the concourse when I left at 2:15, but I think everyone who stayed got down. That said, once we got to the court it was AWESOME. Everyone who attended got an autograph, photo and meaningful conversation with every single player. We’ve won two straight national championships but I continue to be blown away by the culture and people on our roster. Every single player was genuine, engaged, excited, respectful and finished every interaction with a sincere “Thanks for coming today.” Not one of them was too cool or acting like they had somewhere else to be even hours into this event coming directly off of a practice. Some highlights: + Alex. He’s family by now. We printed out a picture of Alex and my toddler together from a year ago to sign and he was so genuinely appreciative of us doing that. Saw it and immediately said “Was that Red Fox? Fun night” My wife said something about being glad he’s back and I added “Mostly for the podcast” he loved that and responded “I know, right? Season 3!” My two-year-old was so comfortable with him, that he took Alex’s seat and sat in it, and Alex was like sure, he can just stay with me for the day. + Aidan. For 3 hours, he asked every fan who came to the table with him and Abraham if they enjoyed practice and what their favorite part was with a huge smile. + Solo. Just an awesome guy. Bright personality, big smile. Signed our ball in silver when everyone else had in black and you could just immediately tell it was a very Solo thing to do as he laughed at himself and apologized + Youssouf. Seeing him bend his 6’10” frame down to pose with my toddler was hilarious. + Liam. My wife said afterward there was something about his calm presence that she really liked. Just a guy you instantly feel like you connected with. + Jayden, Samson. Both went out of their way to get down and give high fives and fist bumps on the ground while starting convos with tiny human beings. + Ahmad. Not gonna lie, my kids are ridiculously cute. They get all the attention. Nowell was the one player who went out of his way to shake my hand, look me in the eye and say “Nice to meet you.” I interacted with each of these guys for like 30-45 seconds and automatically went to a first name like I know them well typing this. That says it all. Anyone who walked out of the open practice saw a team with a damn good chance at 3 in a row, but everyone who stuck around for the next couple hours left Gampel even more impressed. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach