U-M Men's Basketball Player Comments Regarding Self-Imposed Sanctions
11/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Statement by President Mary Sue Coleman (11/7/02)
Statement by Athletics Director Bill Martin (11/7/02)
Press Conference Comments from U-M Officials (11/7/02)
The University of Michigan announced Thursday (Nov. 7) the conclusion of its investigation into the men's basketball program and improper monetary loans made by retired autoworker Ed Martin to four U-M players. Following are comments from several U-M men's basketball players:
Bernard Robinson Jr. | Daniel Horton | Graham Brown
Senior Forward LaVell Blanchard
On his reaction ... "Things happen for a reason. I think this has brought us together as a team. A lot of our goals can still be met. One of our biggest things right now is to go out there and just try to meet the goals that we can meet. We will see what happens from there."
On the team's goals now ... "We are going to keep that amongst the team. We have our goals set and in our mind. We are not going to vocalize those until later on down the line."
On having this as a constant presence throughout his career ... "Even though it might have been a constant presence, there have been a lot of great guys in this program. If I had not come here, I would not have met some of the great guys that I have met. I would not have played with Josh Asselin or Kevin Gaines, guys who might not have had the greatest outcomes, but they were great people. Every team has its ups and downs and I think we have had our ups and downs. The good outweighs the bad in this program because the tradition of the program has held."
On if he regrets coming to Michigan ... "I am a 'Michigan man.' I have been here my whole life. You cannot run away from your home and this is the home that I have been raised in, the home I have been nurtured in and the home that has really embraced me. All I can do is smile because even though this may be a hard time, I think back to the tradition and the fun that I have had in this program and I would not trade it for anything else."
On how he feels about the players who took the loans ... "I have met a lot of the guys and know them personally and they are great people. They have always been nice to me and they have always looked out after me. Playing with guys like Robert Traylor and Chris Webber in the gym is a very special feeling. There is a lot of tradition there, especially when you think about all the banners that have been taken down. Four banners, how many wins, how many celebrations and how many great feelings have they shown us Just because of an incident like this, you cannot turn your back on them because they are great people. That is all I can say about them. I have met them and I have talked to them. I have nothing but positive things to say about them."
On if his memory of those teams is clouded ... "Definitely not. I remember the positive things that they did and the positive things that they brought to this program. You guys are reporters. You know what the Fab Five was like. You probably sat right here and asked them the same questions that you are asking today. I just smile because I know the rollercoaster was fun when I watched them play and that was because they are great players."
On if the entire team feels the same way ... "I think that we feel strongly as a team. When you go through rough times, it brings teams closer together. All you have right now is your teammates and your coaches and the people that surround our program that we see every day. I think this has brought us closer together because we are all going through this together."
On head coach Tommy Amaker's feelings being involved in the sanctions process ... "I cannot say what his perspective was but I think they were focused on trying to teach for freshmen the ideas that he wants to install in the program. I think that we are trying to make the freshmen feel comfortable in the situation that they might not understand about right now. They have not been in the program as long as we have. We are trying to make it as comfortable and easy for them as possible. It is tough for seniors but it is also very difficult for freshmen because coming into your first year and to have this on top of it, it is hard. We are trying to make it easy for everyone on the program."
On if it is a relief to have it over with ... "The main thing to do right now is to pass the legacy down as seniors to the underclassmen so that our struggles are not gone without being heard and understood. I think that will make the program that much stronger in the future and hopefully the program will continue to succeed. That is the main thing that we are trying to do here is build a strong program. We are trying to stay on the positive side right now."
On his personal feelings about the incident ... "It was shocking, but everything happens for a reason. That's what my mom told me when I went home. You never know the reason until you get older when you can look back and reflect on it. Who knows, this may be a positive thing for everyone in the program. It might bring us closer together and lead us in the right direction. You never know if it's a negative or positive step until farther down the line."
On how the team will show unity on the court ... "Come and see us play."
Senior Guard Gavin Groninger
On his reaction ... "Obviously it is not an easy situation. We have to look at it like there is nothing that we have to do about it. What happened was over with now. Now we focus on the season and the things that we can still accomplish."
On the initial reaction ... "We knew it was definitely a possibility. Obviously there was the initial shock but that lasted for only a minute or two. Then it got down to business. How we are going to handle it, how we are going to conduct ourselves as a team and as a program That is the most important thing. We have to put all of this behind us now. It is a chance for our program to move forward in a way that we have not been able to do with all of this hanging over us."
On if he knew this might happen ... "We try to just focus on practice and what we can control. We will worry about what happens when it happens. We were not exactly sure about when it would happen, or even if it was going to happen this year. We just focused on the things that we have control over."
On his memory of the Fab Five ... "I think everybody remembers them, and they are always going to remember those guys. They really set a lot of trends. I remember thinking that was the cool team in the Big Ten. All the young kids on the AAU team wanted to emulate them. That is what I remember and that is how I am going to keep them in my head."
On how the team will show unity on the court ... "The good thing about this team is that we have a lot of young, impressionable people. When you have that the attitudes trickle down from the top. The coaching staff is the most important with the way they look at the season and their attitudes. Then it trickles down to the senior captains and how we handle the situation. Those young kids are going to follow us and they are going to have to contribute and they are going to do the things that they see us doing. That is important to remember and to bring it every day. We have to know what our focus is and know what our goals are. We have to constantly remind each other of those goals."
On if he thinks the sanctions are fair ... "It does not really matter if we think it is fair or if it is fair or not. It just is. We have to deal with that. If there is a time that we can voice an opinion on what we really think we will take that opportunity. Right now we have to prove that we are contenders and that we are a program that is on the way up."
On the best thing the program can accomplish this year ... "The best thing is to move this program in the right direction now that the cloud is gone from over the program's head. Moving in the right direction is going to be the most important thing, that these young kids learn to deal with adversity. This is old hat for LaVell (Blanchard) and I. We have dealt with something like this every year we have been here. I think that is going to help out a lot as far as our leadership goes. The most important thing for our program right now is to keep going in the right direction."
On if it is a relief to have it over with ... "Obviously as seniors we wish it would have come earlier than this, but it is a relief. We are happy for the younger guys that are not going to have to worry about this anymore. They are going to have some opportunities that some of us older guys did not have but it is great for our program and the direction that we are heading. The people that we have in place with our athletic director and our coach are great people and they know what needs to be done to get back to where we used to be as a basketball program and to do it the right way."
On whether the younger players can keep their composure during these difficult times ... "Definitely. One of the great things about Coach Amaker is that he has the ability to recruit great basketball players who are also great kids. That's what he's done with his first recruiting class here. We feel really good about the tradition that we want to leave here as seniors and that it will be carried on through those young kids."
Senior Tri-Captain Rotolu Adebiyi
On his thoughts on what happened yesterday ... "I knew that it was going to be tough, but I felt mostly for Gavin (Groninger), LaVell (Blanchard) and all the younger guys. It is my fifth year, so I have the chance to experience a lot of the things that we won't be able to this year. There will be a lot of emotions as we go through this year, but we should have a lot of good games as we go through this year."
On being relieved to have this over ... "It was always looming, but no one ever really knew what was going on. Now we know what is going on, and it was dealt with so now we can move on. We have had closing on it, so now it is time to move on."
On being around for the majority of this case ... "This is something that has been around, but you never wanted it to happen. It did happen and you just have to learn from what has taken place. There is not much we can do about it now, except to go out there and play hard and win games."
Junior Wing Bernard Robinson Jr.
On his thoughts about yesterday's announcement ... "I was kind of surprised that they did that much to our program."
On the penalties being so severe ... "Well, I think that the University dealt with it the best way that they thought, and now we just have to play ball and try to stay out of this."
On feeling that he is paying for somebody else's mistakes ... "I don't know. It is up to the University to decide those kinds of things and let them take care of that."
On how to stay positive for this year ... "We have the whole season ahead of us, that is how we stay positive. We a lot of winning to do, and that's how we'll stay positive. Staying positive is not going to be an issue at all because we came here to win games, not just make the NCAA Tournament. We felt that if we won every game that it would take care of itself. We still can win every game, and you have to look at it like that."
On what will motivate the team for this season ... "The same things that I said before, by going out and showing that we are a good team and that we play for pride. None of those things have changed because of things that they have taken away from us."
On having bad feelings toward the mentioned former Wolverines that caused these things to happen ... "The stuff they did was back then and I wasn't here. So I couldn't have any judgments about them. I know that they did a lot for the University of Michigan and you can't take that kind of stuff away. So I don't have any bad feelings towards them at all."
On there being a void left now that the banners are down ... "Yeah, there is a void left, but like I said, it is up to us to put more up."
Freshman Guard Daniel Horton
On his reaction to yesterday ... "Everybody was down and sad at first, but once we thought about it, there is nothing that we could do. We have to think about what we can do, which is still win games and possibly the Big Ten Tournament."
On the possibility of more year's of postseason banning occurring ... "I think all of us young guys feel that because right now it hurts the older guys with it only being one year. As far as the NCAA possibly making that more years, we are kind of worried about that. We just have to concentrate on what is going on right now and that is practice."
On coming in and being punished for something he wasn't around for ... "The NCAA is kind of unfair, but life is unfair. There are a lot of things that go on during life that you think are not fair, but you have to roll with it, which is what we are going to have to do now. We need to make it through this year and win some games to show people that we are back, which is one of the goals we want to accomplish."
On the games being more important now ... "I think that every game is of significant importance anyway. You have to win the big games and all the games are still going to be just as important because everybody on this team is a winner. So we aren't going to approach the games any differently."
Freshman Forward Graham Brown
On what happened yesterday ... "All we can do is to try and go out there and see how many games that we can win this year and see how things come out after that."
On how he is approaching the season ... "We are approaching the season just like everyone else. We are going out there playing as hard as we can and play our game. Then we will see what happens when those games are over."
On being a freshman and not being eligible for the NCAA Tournament ... "You come here to look forward to being in the NCAA Tournament as a little kid, but you just come out here and try to win some games. You just have to play your heart out every day."
On paying the price for other's mistakes ... "Everything is pretty much all over, and we are coming in here as freshmen and even though we are not involved we still have to pay. We are just here to play because we are proud to be here at Michigan and are looking forward to playing winning Michigan Basketball."
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
