What they were saying in Seattle

What they were saying in Seattle

By Randy Satterburg

Daily Bruin Staff

Sights and sounds from the 1995 Final Four …

After Oklahoma State center Bryant "Big Country" Reeves’ dunk
sent shattered glass flying during the team’s shoot-around at the
Kingdome, a reporter asked George Zidek if he would ever want to
break a backboard.

Said Zidek, "It is my dream."

* * *

Arkansas would have been well served to obtain a written
manuscript of the UCLA press conference prior to the start of the
championship game. Toby Bailey, for one, all but told the
Razorbacks what to expect out of the talented freshman, who they
admitted to knowing little about, but who lit them up for 26 points
by game’s end.

Said Bailey before the game, "If my shot is falling, I’m going
to keep shooting. They better not leave me open too often."

* * *

The Razorbacks might have benefitted from listening to the words
of Cameron Dollar as well. With his predictive ability, Dollar
might be able to benefit handsomely at the Las Vegas sports’
books.

Said Dollar, also before the title game, "I think what will
happen is that our conditioning will be so great that we’ll be able
to compete and play against the 10-man rotation, and it won’t
really be a factor in the game tomorrow."

* * *

Kris Johnson, on what winning the national championship this
year means for next year’s UCLA team, "It means that we’re going
into next year rolling."

* * *

omm’A Givens, on winning the championship, "It’s going to boost
up everybody’s morale at UCLA and maybe we’ll finally get some
respect."

No word yet from Dick Vitale if omm’A is correct.

* * *

George Zidek, on the emotion of winning it all, "I was crying my
eyes out after the game."

George Zidek, on Arkansas’ trash-talking, "All the talk they
were talking, it was the most fulfilling thing of my life to shove
it back in their faces."

George Zidek, on teammate Ed O’Bannon, "He was playing like the
player of the year, like every game he played his senior year at
UCLA. He’s the man."

George Zidek, on partying, "You’re not national champions every
year. This is my year, so I want a big celebration. Nothing
less."

* * *

Kris Johnson, on partying, "We were having fun, that’s what you
gotta do. You can’t just kick it, because you never know when
you’ll be back, if you’ll be back."

* * *

The crowd, on the way Dick Vitale drinks his milk, "Dickie-V
sucks!"

* * *

Ed O’Bannon, as he accepted the Final Four’s Most Outstanding
Player award, on teammate Tyus Edney, "This is the real M.V.P.
right here." Later adding, "If he didn’t get the finger roll when
we played Missouri, we’d be at home watching Arkansas."

* * *

Tyus Edney, on Cameron Dollar, "When I knew I had to sit down,
and Cam was in there, I was confident that we definitely were going
to win the game."

* * *

Jim Harrick, on his initial reaction to hearing that Tyus Edney
could not go against Arkansas, "My heart dropped, because I was
really depressed. I asked myself, ‘Why do you get to this point and
have to go without your best player?’ My assistants kept yelling at
me with all this motivational crap, and I said, ‘Hey fellas, this
is real. This is reality. We’re playing the Arkansas Razorbacks
­ the defending national champs ­ in the championship
game, and our most valuable player is not playing. That’s real.’
That’s why I was so depressed when the game started. And then I
forgot about it and said, ‘Hey, we’ll just do the best we can with
what we got.’ Boy, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys."