I would say, obviously, my favorite memory would be going to March Madness. That's the most accomplished thing that I've done here at the program. I would also say another thing was just seeing a lot of guys go to the NBA for your majesty to continue their journey and being a part of that. So this is something that a lot of my happy moments are, just my brothers accomplishing their dream.
Yeah, most definitely, I can name three or four coaches right off the top of my head, starting with coach Amber Rainy at the Lester Community Center and Ms. Janeeta. Those are my first coaches around five and six years old, then move it all to around fourth or fifth grade coach or Rico Gibson was my first AOU coach, my first coach for me to travel out of out of town and things like that. Once I started to get very good, real serious of we playing for Team Penny, I would say coach LaMarcus Golding, he actually played UT Knox back in the day and that was my youth coach like most of my entire life. And I would say he had a big influence on like the game of basketball with me today. And obviously Coach Penny and he coached me in middle school in the sixth grade. So during the school year I'll be able to Coach Penny and knowing that somehow I'll be able to coach LaMarcus Gold. And so I was pretty close with both of my favorite coaches all year round. I've seen both experiences, so that would be probably like the best influences for basketball. Also my dad, he put the ball in my hand when I was five years old. So, you know, that can never go unnoticed.
My favorite place to eat in Memphis would be a Brain Food. Brain Food restaurant has a great variety of foods, great fish, great chicken, great burgers, great quesadillas.There's most definitely number one in my book right now, Brain Food Memphis. You would have thought it was, the way I do this, this just has to be my favorite spot.No, we're not doing NIL deals or anything but their food is just up top tier right now.
I would say for game day it actually starts with me that night. You know, make a group that with my mom, dad and brother communicate with them. We all say prayers with each other and just do a kind of a mind cleansing thing, not try to talk, not communicate with too many people, not be on social media much, maybe watch my show or watch, Game of Thrones, House of Dragons. That just keeps me in a different world to where I don't overthink situations on the basketball court. Listen to music so I get into the music or try to get in my own world, just talk to my loved ones, just try to stay around a pure people as possible.
My favorite NBA player is Giannis Antetokounmpo. Yeah, that's my favorite player right now.And it's mainly because the mindset of he kind of takes on a Kobe Bryant mindset in in today's era where a lot of guys kind of, have other things that they could do with their life. But he likes to work hard, he likes to stay humble, and he likes to be a beast. Not really too much settling for him, it's just a mindset he has. You know, that makes me really like his game, like the way he, you know, he is on the court.
Top three movies. Obviously, number one would probably be Avatar if it's the number one grossing film of all time. And I actually love the movie, so I would have to probably go Avatar number one. I am going to be biased and sentimental on this one and choose this one for the ladies are probably choose Titanic number two. That's a good movie to watch whatever it is a great movie Titanic number two. Number three this is a that's a tough choice I'm going to biased by is I like basketball so I'm just put the Michael Jordan documentary is number three for me because if I could watch those three for the rest of my life, I would, those are just three different varieties of movies and I feel like it's a great option for me.
I most definitely play video games. Right now 2K is my favorite game. You could ask all my friends, all my brothers. I'm not biased, I'm probably the best player in 2K around everyone I play against. I also play Madden, I play FIFA, I play UFC, and Call of Duty. I kind of switch my follow up a lot, a lot of out of sports games, but I'm probably only the best at 2K. All the other games I can get, I could get beat at. Yeah, it's pretty tough but to okay this is whereI hang my hat at.
Okay for sure. I'm number one and that’s a fact. I haven't seen everybody play, but I will probably put Jonathan Lawson as number two, he's pretty good. He plays the game on a computer with his PlayStation controller. I want to say mid practice but inside the facility, no game, no PlayStation five or X-Box around but he found a way to hook up his controller to a computer just like that one and play the game, he's most definitely getting his hours up. I would say Jahmar Young as number three, he gets his hours up, they get their work in.
On 2K, obviously the Bucks , that’s where Yannis resides so I’m going to ride that wave. On Madden I love the Chiefs but I also love the Bills and the Packers too. I just love great quarterbacks on the game. On FIFA I would say of people probably Barcelona. Yeah, it's a very exciting team to play with, a fast-paced team. So those are my teams right there.
I try to model my game after like a guy like Jrue Holiday, that's a guy who's, you know, he's dominant and night in and night out at a high level. I honestly feel like he might not get the praise that he deserves from the media outlets, but the guys are competing with him night in and night out. The other guys, in the NBA, I'm pretty sure he has their respect and I kind of resemble the same typeof thing where, you might not get the respect so much from the media, but the guy that you're playing against night in and night out and the guys are a team, you got their utmost respect. I feel like it's probably one of the most important things you've got your peers respect and other opponents coach’s respect. So, it's way more important to have in the media outlet is respect than somebody who was born so hard every night like Jrue Holiday. There's just something thatI really admire from him.
I would say as a hobby, I come to watch anime shows like Naruto or Demon Slayer or, there are so many. I could go all day with the Black Clover or my Hero Hunter. There's just so many different animes and I kind of over the past two or three years, my peers always kind of wanted me to get into it and watch it.I was always kind of brushing it off and things like that. And I finally watched it and it was interesting. So I kind of started to watch anime a lot, a lot of different type of shows and things like that. But other than that, sometimes I just sit in my room and probably just read a book or just write down my thoughts of everything that's been going on over the past week or two. Just put it on paper or make sure I put the date and time so I can remember what I was doing at that exact moment and just keep my thoughts on paper. This is something I would do for like for a hobby or issues of mine. Just if I'm not watching anyway, I might just sit down and just write, you know, just read a book or something because, you know, I just like to think and I'm a very deep person.
A day off for me would probably be getting up at 10 o’clock, try to get as many hours asI can because I'd probably getting up at 7:00 all week. So start off, getting some breakfast, kind of refresh my mind, things like that. I also check out my family and my peers, just see what they got for the day. And once I get back to my role from the early morning just to clear my mind, that's when I start writing about just everything that's been going on, like put it past the two weeks, especially building up into the season, just trying to clear my mind and just have a great day and not too many negative thoughts and things like that. So just get back home, right, for like 30 minutes or 45 minutes, just freestyle writing. Like I said get some breakfast and they just check in with my teammates or try to hang out with some of my peers. Go get something to eat. Not really too much. Might try to play the game all day. But I really just like to stay chill in my own circle things. And just because it's a day off, I still miss a day off to myself. I try to, you know, get as much time to myself as I can.
I would say some things that I wrote about myself is always, you know, staying pure no matter what. Don't let the hate, take out the love for me or don't let the love turn into hate. It's just always about being pure at the end of the day, being that man, it goes pretty. Coach Penny and my dad, all raised to be because at the end of the day, it's about growing up and becoming a young man. So I kind of just put everything into perspective all the time, just try to, just try to be as loving and as pure as possible all around everybody around me. And no matter what's being said or no matter what has been said, I've been through worse, like just growing up in general. So I don't feel like anything that has happened over my last five years at Memphis has been worse than anything that happened in my first 5 to 10 years growing up in Memphis. I kind of just like I say it, just put everything into perspective and also just be aware that everyone has their own opinion. So it’s respected, every opinion is respected, so it's no problem with anything that has ever been said because, you know, you can have your own opinion. It really is biased or not, but I just keep hearing about it. Coach Dez, Coach Penny, my granny and my family just did a great job of, just being pure and just growing up the right way and being respectful. So most likely none of that, none of the things bother me or get to me because regardless, good or bad, I'm just going to be pure, just try to grow to be the best man I can be.
Just the year in general, it was it was a pretty tough year for me just because it was it was tough for me to even get through some practices some days because everyone in the program knows when I step on the court or others practice or a game, I'm going to give it my all. Battling through an ankle injury for, almost two years, it was pretty tough because it weighs in a lot physically and mentally for you. But it doesn't matter because as long as, Iget a chance to go out there and play and I can stand and I can run when we getout there and do what I can for the program. So just battling in the net for like the last two years, it made each moment sweeter for me because I could have easily just said, I'm going to sit down and rest my ankle and just let you guys have it. But you know, like growing up in Memphis, being aware of everything that's happened and like just seeing how close we were to achieving something that hasn't been done in like 8 to 10 years. And I knew I could help. It just it was eating me alive if I wouldn't have got out there and just gave my all. So any little moment that I could have done to help the team most definitely meant a lot to me. I will say my favorite moment was probably in the Boise State game. Everybody know I re-injured my ankle in that game. I actually went to the back for like 5 to 10 minutes and I was right in this same situation I was always thinking like, do Is it out and just let the guys handle it or do I dig deep and put the Memphis in me go back out there and give them my all and I would always do I'll always go out there and give it my all if I can. I was able to walk and put pressure on and so to come back in that game and still help make plays, still be able to play defense and win their game. That first March Madness tournament game, probably one of my favorite moments just in my college history, just based off the history of the game so this is probably one of my favorite moments.
I will say after the season I had to have a surgery for my ankle to finally try to get things cleaned up. Ultimately, I guess everyone's college dream was to be go play professional basketball, go to the NBA, and I was not able to pursue those outcomes due to having surgery during the process of the draft process of working out for team and things like that. So it was just a mental battle for me that entire summer or rather do to still try to make the team regardless of not being able to playoffs or work out or do come back be able to get a lot of reps in, and be able to be in a team, in a family atmosphere again, just a lot of different options. Also having a chance to get paid more money than I ever got paid without coming to college, going to try to play professional or got it in I thank God for NIL to where we can still get paid coming back to college. I kind of just did a lot of pros and cons and most of my pro was probably lean back towards coming to college. Also, just kind of where my heart is in in Memphis and is where my family is in Memphis. It was probably just the best choice to make at the time. It was probably an easy choice to just based off my health at the time, what a family was set on, in their hometown, like just being close to my family. That's probably one of the closest important things that you can do to be close to your family and as long as you care.
Yeah, with Kendric, man, he's always been one of the best guards in the conference. And every time we about the play is SMU is one of the games circled on the calendar because there's somebody who's going to make me better night in and night out. He's going to compete on a level ten night in and out just like me and, just battling with that over the years, get very competitive, maybe talk smack here and there and it was fun because I know he's going to go to war at all times. He want to do whatever it takes to win. So we kind of got the same mindset when it comes to that. Finally getting around him every day, practicing with him every day, playing with him, playing against him just to see that he's the same animal. They're saying beast on the court and off the court because most definitely he's getting me better and I feel like we get each other better where they say, iron sharpens iron, that’s most definitely us every day. And just to just to see it in the flesh man is a great it's a great feeling, great experience because like you said, there's only one player of the year every year. So, to have him around, you can see why he was the player of the year to come because he can do everything or he's a great talent and he's a dog. He's not soft at all. So that's another thing to separate them from a lot. Just like you said, like we going out, we haven't been out a couple places yet, but I feel like we both probably get this same amount of love once they realize we both together who we are because his name holds a lot of weight. It is going to be even a lot more weight in a city knowing how Memphis is.
If I could talk to any young Memphian on this, one of them could be the point guard for Memphis, I pray we can get one every four years or every two to four years so we can be consistent. I would just tell them it's a marathon, not a sprint. There's going to be a lot of things going on, but just focus on the important things. Always stay in the gym 24/7, nobody can tell you, you can’t do anything because, you get to the age and you get to a point in your life where you control your destiny. You have the freedom to be in a gym 24/7 so most definitely take advantage of that. Also, just always make sure you are an extension of the coach and be the leader, being vocal. That’s most definitely more than your skill. Skill can only get you so far and talent can only get you so far because all the other small things that can take you over the age which skill such as communicating, such as being a leader, such as being an extension of a coach is just it's a lot of things to go into. If I could tell you something, just don't come here thinking you just got to do one or two things.You got to prepare yourself to be everywhere at once. And I feel like once you attack that, the sky's the limit.
Tiger fans, I want you to expect a team that’s going to go out there and play extra extra hard for you defensively. We're not going to back down to any program in the country. We’re giving it full steam ahead. Offensively, a very confident team, a very fast paced team and a team. A team that loves to share the ball. I feel like those are some things that you're going to see a lot from Tiger Nation this year. A lot of discipline too, we are older, I feel like we're going to be a lot more disciplined than usual so it's going to be exciting.