Um, I just wanted to ask two things, what, um, what has Rick Pitino meant to your career? And secondly, what did you, uh, gain from your time in Louisville in that final four run that's helped you this year. Our coach has been everything. I mean, he is, um, obviously, um, I think he's the goat and you know what he's done in his career and you know, how many assistant coaches that he's had that went on to be successful? Um, head coaches, I think it means a lot and, you know, the things his preparation and how he prepares you for, uh, life when you get your own program. So I can't say enough about him and, you know, his, my time spent with him in those three years and those were, you know, um, final four going back to the final four that eventually won a national championship and sweet sixteens. Um, you know, I, I learned so much from him and, um, very grateful for the opportunity that he gave me in order for me to be a head coach. Um, going on to UN CW uh, great experience. I mean, you know, I was thinking last night, how blessed I was number one to be going to my third final four. But, um, it, it, it's even better knowing that you're leading the team today as the head coach, uh, assistant coaches were great, you know, great cutting the Nets, but, you know, getting the opportunity to lead your own program to the final four means a lot. Go ahead, Josh. Hey, Kevin, after winning in DC, some of the guys in the locker room jokingly started chanting 30 for 30. Now that you guys are in the final four. Some think this could be a movie one day if that happened, who plays Kevin Keats in that movie. Well, I know who I would love to play but he, but you know, by that time, by the time they make the movie, it's, it'll be too late as um hey man, Denzel Washington is the coolest dude ever. Um You know, so maybe I gotta pick somebody a little younger, but if he could play, if anybody could pull it off, it would be him. It would be definitely Denzel Washington. He'd be the great. Uh you could always go back to a guy like Jamie Foxx. And um you know, I, have you seen the things on the internet about him acting like a football coach? I think that was great, James Henderson. Go ahead. Hey, Kevin, I know you, uh you mentioned last week having to navigate a transfer portal while doing all of this and I know you can't mention specific players, but have you noticed a buzz that's been generated from some potential recruits based on what you guys are doing? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. Uh James, that's the hardest thing um that I've had to do, you know, obviously winning games is really hard. So I let me make sure I clarify that because people say, oh, the hardest thing is you had to do. Um, but trying to, you know, balance scouting and, you know, uh staying connected with my players and talking to them and trying to figure out, you know, the, um, transfer report. I wish it wasn't going on at this time where we got, you know, uh we're on a national stage. Um, but I, I have seen some excitement um, through some voices that I've talked to. Um, obviously, you know, I can't mention names, but I do think there is some, um, folks taking notice of what we're doing. Thanks, Kevin. Thank you, Mark Berman. Go ahead afternoon, Kevin. Congratulations. Hey, Mark. Um I wanted to ask you, I guess, uh, how, how did your years at Fairham College kind of, uh, guide you down to the coaching path you're on now? Well, I, I think I learned to, um, survive, um, you know, when you're, you're playing at a really small college and, you know, there's not a lot of national attention and you're really playing the game for the love of the game and your commitment. And I think, you know, when you think about f and you think about Hargrave, those were two foundations that I would never pass up. Um They really prepared me just to hard work and um you know, learning how to start at the grassroots level, learning how to start at the bottom and, you know, work your way up and the, you know, amount of hours you spend, you know, doing the, the run work and not really getting paid for it and it just humbles you and, and, and it, it teaches you that you got to continue to work and you put in the work that anything is completely possible. You know, I'm a small college kid. I was, um you know, played at, you know, f and um a small town and, you know, I had an opportunity to go to Hargrave in another small town and um I would never get that, you know, you know, the hard work that we had to put to put in and get where I'm at right now. And so, you know, working, uh working for a year under Bill Pullen and obviously coaching under him who's been at, you know, he was just at our sweet 16 and lead eight game means a lot. And um he was instrumental in um you know, uh directing my career, David Thiel. Go ahead, Kevin. Are, are there specific things from Louisville's 13 run. I think you guys won your last 16 games. That, that, that season, as you watch, Rick navigate, especially, you know, the three games at the garden and then the six game run through the NCAA tournament. There are things you learned about managing a team through a stretch like that, that you have applied to this group. Yeah, we, we had a incredible David, we had an incredible stretch there and I, I remember, um, Coach Pitino talking about, we were gonna go into the Big East and win the Big East and we sure did. The weird thing about it is this one is different than anything I've ever been around. Um, you know, we have, you know, nine elimination games once you think about that, you know, we got, you know, back then, obviously winning the Big East, you had to win three, which, which was really good. We had a tough stretch to, we had to go through, but winning five games starting on Tuesday as a number 10 seed and to go through the really good teams at the back end of it. If you lose any of those games, you don't go to the NCAA, including the championship probably. And then now, you know, after that, you go on and you got four games which we all know in the NCAA tournament, you lose a game, you go home. I don't know that I've ever seen a run. Um, that's similar to this and, and I have to give all the credit to our, you know, our players and how they stayed focused and, uh, I don't know, you know, it's hard to do when you know your backs against the wall and anytime you lose then, you know, you're, you're done with, especially in that AC C tournament. And so I think where there could be some similarities, um, I don't know that there are a lot of them because they're completely different. Um, you know, our, our team back in 2013 was completely different in how they were motivated compared to the guys that we have today. No, Flashman, go ahead, going off of that. You know, what's been the biggest thing you've learned just through the NCAA tournament portion of this run about your team and just, just these last two weeks that you've been on. Well, what I've learned is we are completely locked in and focused. Um, you know, with the, the moment has not bothered us and I know a lot of people was, was thinking, hey, you know, when they get to this stage, uh, there were a lot of folks that thought, you know, winning the AC C would be enough. Um, you know, and people would be satisfied but not in our locker room. Um, our locker room, you know, our guys, you know, when we got, you know, when we got into the tournament before they even selection Sunday, all we thought about is, you know, let's take one game at a time, but we wanted to come in and have a chance to compete for a national championship. And really, do you see that? I mean, you know, the way things, um, you know, us winning the tournament, our guys could have been, you know, relaxed a little bit. Um, you know, you play a great Texas tech team and then you get a team in Oakland who's hot, who just beat Kentucky and to stay focused to finish that game. And then you go on to play a good Marquette team who's really good, who can beat anybody on any given night. And then by the way, you, you face your opponent, um and Duke who's really good, it was a rivalry game and they were able to respond. So I think the biggest takeaways of that is our guys are locked in. Um They've responded to every different situation that we had and um not only have we, we responded, we've kind of got stronger each game. Be cats. Go ahead. Coach Ben Cats, the Lynchburg news in advance. Um I, I know that your hometown means a lot to you. Is there. Can you think of some experiences about growing up here that kind of shaped your life and, and shaped your coaching career? Oh, you know, I love Lynchburg. Um It's um home for me. My parents still live there and my aunts, my cousins um, I just look, I grew up on outdoor basketball courts and I grew up when there were Chain Nets and I grew up when on, on a Saturday or Sunday, you know, you would play, you know, the, the courts would be so packed that if you lost the game you'd have to get in the car and try to go to another court to be able to get on there and play. So I really got my toughness and foundation, um, you know, from Lynchburg and um it's, it's, you know, that place means a lot to me and, you know, I try to get back as much as I can. It's a little bit tougher even though it's closer to me. But, you know, playing, being a two sport, um guy in Lynchburg and um playing football and basketball and juggling that and um just the, the great folks that live there, it means a lot to me. But I wanna say, you know, I, if you look at one thing, I think the toughness came from Lynchburg, Virginia and that's where, you know, that's where it all started for me, Dan Walk and go ahead. Yeah, Kevin, I was, I was curious why you went back to Hargrave after you were at Marshall and at that point in your career, did you have aspirations of, you know, coaching at the, you know, big time colleges or were you content, you know, at that, at that level? Do doing, you know, dealing with that side of the, of the business. Yeah, great question. Um, I, you know, so I, I took, when I got the hardgrave job, I was there for two years and worked for a guy named Scott Shepherd who went on to be Pete Gilens assistant at U VA. And I actually went to the uh headmaster at the time, the colonel and, and told him I wanted a job when Scott left, he didn't believe that he was like, really? And so I said, yeah, and so he gave me the job and I was there for two years and I looked at the path that Scott had taken and I said, you know what, if an opportunity came across, I would, I would take it. And of course, I got a chance to uh work for a great guy in Greg White who has also been a mentor to me in my life and went to Marshall. And when I got to Marshall, you know, towards the end of the second year, Greg and I talked and I know it was an opportunity that he probably was gonna leave. And it was weird because it came up at the same time, he talked about leaving. And I, you know, I was thinking, hey, you know what, I kinda miss working with the guys at the grassroot level. And so I decided um talking to Greg and he, he blessed it because I think he was gonna leave. Anyway, I decided to come back to Hargrave. I got a great opportunity to come back and I was there for eight years and uh I was content with not taking another job. My parents were 45 minutes up the road, um, for you guys who, you know Fletcher was um at Fork Union and I was like, Man Fletcher has been at Fork Union for 40 some years and I'm gonna be the next Fletcher and, and then, you know, fortunately I got a call eight years after that and it changed everything and that was to go to Louisville to be assistant coach and kind of the rest becomes history, but I had no intent on getting back into college until I got a call from uh Rick Pitino and, you know, believe it or not, he sold me on the opportunity. Rachel Brandon. Go ahead. Hi, coach. Thanks for doing this um with ABC 13 and Lynchburg as well. Wanted to ask you, what's your message to kids watching you right now in the tournament coming from Lynchburg showing that somebody from this small area can do this. Yeah, I would say trade. I mean to stay true to your dreams, you know, I was that young kid running around in Lynchburg that didn't know exactly what I wanted to do had no clue what path I was gonna take. Um But I had, you know, parents who love me and I would say, listen to your parents, um, listen to the folks that's around you that are really positive influence. Try to keep a great reputation, um, and stay, stay to your academics. Uh, if you can get involved with some type of activity, uh, after school, whether it's sports or anything else, stay locked, locked into that and, and try to make the best of, um, everything you can and, you know, dreams do come true and mine came true and I think any young person um in Lynchburg can achieve and do even better than I'm doing right now. So that would be my message. Cl Brown, go ahead. Hey, Kevin, kind of going back to, uh to coach Pitino. Wh why do you say, what is the formula that so many of his former assistants or players have been able to be successful as head coaches? Well, first of all, cl you've been around, man, he challenged you every day. Um You know, there wasn't a day that I wasn't challenged and I was challenged and not only me, everybody in the office to be not good to be great. You know, I think one of the, the main things that stood out to me was, um, you know, when he hired me, he said I don't hire assistant coaches, I hire future head coaches. Um And so I think the preparation, you know, see how we were in the office from 6 a.m. all the way to night time at all time, but we were prepared and, you know, uh, what I learned is how to be organized, how to be prepared, um, how to run a program. And I will say this about, um, Coach Pitino, he doesn't put you in a box. Um, you know, he doesn't bring you there just as a recruiter. He doesn't bring you there as just a scout guy. You got, you have to do everything. And I think that's one of the biggest things that some coaches at his level who are Hall of Famers don't allow their staff to grow and, um, he allows you to grow. Dash, tie her. Go ahead. Hi, coach. Um I wanted to ask you about DJ Burns. He's obviously become a fan favorite. I believe you recruited him when he was transferring from Tennessee. Correct me if I'm wrong. Um What about him? Now? Can you tell me a bit about that recruiting process? And is there any funny story that you can give us that was maybe, uh, a foreshadowing of what we're seeing now on the national stage? Well, when DJ Burns went to Tennessee and I may, I think I'm right when I say this, I think he was a really young kid and may even graduated a little earlier. So he was a little immature. Uh I can't remember if I recruited him before he went to Tennessee or when he was leaving Tennessee. I think it was before. Um, I think what we're getting is the more mature version of DJ burns than when he was five or six years ago. But the one thing that has stayed consistent about him is he's a tremendous personality. I think he's always been that, um, his mom and dad have done a great job of building a great foundation and surrounding him with great folks. Um, but I don't have a funny story but the guy is a great personality. He really is. And, you know, um it's, it's really helped our team. Uh I think people in Raleigh people in South Carolina where he's from, they know DJ burns, but it's so great to see people on a national level, be able to interact with him and really see his true personality just a quick follow up. Have you seen the walkout videos that have gone viral? And, and what are your thoughts on that? I just, I mean, I, I don't have thoughts on it. I mean, they just, it's, he is what he is, man. He is. Uh, you know, he walks out there and um he looks good doing it. So I don't, I don't think he should ever stop it. But, you know, now, now we've got the boom boxes and everything else going on. So it's pretty, it's a pretty cool thing. Thank you, Rod Baxley. Go ahead. Kevin. What stood out to you the most, man since you guys got back from uh Dallas and, and have been in Raleigh these last few days. Well, I, I think what stood out is the, what makes me really happy is that we have students on our campus that have never experienced this. And, you know, I, I was walking around campus um, yesterday and, um, they were so excited about what our team is doing, so excited about what our ladies are doing and they just never experienced that. Most of our students can only experience that through what their parents may have told them, or maybe even their grandparents. And I think that's the biggest thing that makes me happy. I mean, this is a, this is a proud university with a great alumni. But when you see our current students and our players feeling and excited about what's going on, I think that's a great thing. Thanks Kevin. Go ahead Corman. Hey Kevin, I wanted to ask you, I wanted to ask you really quickly about the impact of a guy like Casey Morsel. Obviously, you know what he's done with this program. I remember back to that Clemson game, him lifting you up and, and carrying you after that Clemson win. And then, you know, to say that he wanted to get a banner for this program and everything along those lines. Now, seeing all that come to fruition. But what does he meant to you from a relationship standpoint? And what does he meant to this team being the most experienced player on this roster. Well, first of all, I love Casey Marcel. I mean, he is, uh, he's a first class person and, you know, I'm so grateful that, you know, he came the, um, NC State to play for me. I think I've started him more than anybody. I've started in my career. So, you know how I feel about him as a basketball player. Um, he's what, you know, a student athlete should be about, you know, just a great person, great ambassador, both on and off the court. Um He does a good job within our program and he's kinda, you know, every team has a glue guy and we can make an argument that case. He's one of our glue guys. Um maybe not getting the national attention that, you know, maybe a DJ burns or a DJ horns getting, but the things that he's quietly doing on the court has been so important uh to our program, you know, I keep him a lot. I talked to him about, you know, JKJ coming in and being a better defender than him and also J Taylor. But I'm telling you the last, you know, 678 games, he's been one of our best defenders. Uh He has done whatever his team needed to help us win. Chasey Zimble, go ahead. Uh kind of building off of what you said with Casey with the three seniors, you know, this is their COVID year basically, you know, how much of a huge advantage has it been to see players who have been in co for five years and in DJ Burns's case, six years, it's been great, you know, just the, the experience that these guys have had and they brought to the table and, you know, for example, you know, all of those guys have found their voice, you know, and that, that's a great thing and I think it's great for our locker room to have some older guys that kind of been through different programs, but have come together to make this program successful. And so it's been a, it's been a blessing. You know, we've only got really one freshman on our team basically and Dennis Parker junior and to have those three seniors and then you add guys like Michael o'connor to the, uh, mix of it. Um, and even Ben, those guys have been great and everybody now is talking, everybody now has found a voice to help our team and help everyone along James Anderson. Go ahead, Kevin. I do want to ask you about Michael as well. Uh Just what does he add as a connective piece for you guys? I mean, it seems like every game, whether it's assists rebounds points on nights, he's given you something different. Yeah. You know what he is, he's one of those guys, James that probably people doubted and didn't give credit because he's not one of those guys that score, the basketball. And so in college basketball, everything is about how much you score. Um, but when you really look at what he's done for a team, he's allowed other guys to be great. Um, he's allowed, you know, he's a willing passer. Um, he's also been a really good defender for us. Um, but he's the guy that kind of runs the show and gets everybody involved. And, uh, and the one thing that he's done better now is that, you know, I, when I walk in at halftime early in the year, you wouldn't hear anything from Michael. Now he's talking now he's got a voice. Um He is coaching as a player, which is always good when your point guards on the floor. So he's become an extension of our coaching staff opposed to just the point guard that's out there. Go ahead. No, but I know you're a coach that likes, you know, nil and the positive things that can come out of it, you know, what has it been like for you the past couple of weeks to see, you know, the two DJ s especially kind of take advantage and, and be able to, you know, get some nil deals through the success of the tournament. I think it's great. I think this is exactly what nil is about. I think it's a wonderful thing. Um, you know, and, and these guys are fully taking advantage of it, but I will say this, they haven't let it get, get in the middle of them being really good teammates and, you know, giving everything to their team. But I think when you think about what's going on now, this is the time that, you know, your kids get an opportunity to showcase yourself and obviously take advantage of their name image and likeness. Go ahead, David Kevin. I think with the possible exception of Marquette, you have outscored every team you've played during this run after half time. Is it just great adjustments from the head coach or what's going on there in the locker room? I just think we're in great shape and, you know, we've always prided ourselves for being in great shape and it's, it's even more impressive because we, our rotation has been like seven and maybe eight guys. Um, but, you know, at halftime, it, it seems like that, you know, these guys are coming in, you know, coming back and locked in and, um, our, our conditioning is really playing, paying off. Go ahead, Mark Urman. Uh Yeah, Kevin, I wanted to ask you looking back at your game back when you were a player. What was it about your game that you wound up at, at far in the division, division three school instead of a higher level? Well, I was playing for the love of the game. Uh, Mark, I didn't, didn't know if I was gonna be a football player or a basketball player but I decided to go basketball because I got tired of taking free hits. Um, and, and Bill did a great job recruiting me. Margo. Want you go back and look this up because you can. My best game at firm was when Bill Bill pulling got kicked out of the game. I told him the other day, uh, he got kicked out of the game and I think I had 30 against Maryville and I told him I was like, you're the only guy that really ever held me under 20 points was my coach. So we joked about that a little bit. But, um, I have tremendous respect for anyone who plays really small college basketball because really you're doing it for the love of the game. And that's what I did. How, so how good a high school quarterback were you? I thought I was good. I mean, the only problem is I had, you know, two guys in my backfield that rushed for 1000 yards. So I didn't get a chance to pass it a lot. I was a, I was an option quarterback and my option was either hand it off or I was gonna go sit on the bench. All right. Last question, Rick, go ahead. Yeah, Kevin. I just wanted to ask you, II, I watched when Louisville played you in the AC C tournament, what was going through your mind at halftime when they were up by one? And then the game was really tied with five minutes to go. How, how was your team able to, uh, not flinch at that point? Well, we just want to stay the course. Um, if, if you, if you're a coach, uh, most coaches will tell you that the toughest game of any tournament is typically the first one. Everybody's nervous, you know, everybody's trying to figure it out. And so we wanted to stay the course. I thought Louisville came out and played extremely hard. Scott Clark had a tremendous game against us, but I thought we would just stay the course and focus. Um I was a little bit nervous uh because we didn't have DJ Horn and who would step up um in his absence. And we had some guys that played well. All right, everybody. Thanks for joining us. Coach Keats. Thanks guys. Go.