On Friday former LSU Men’s basketball head coach John Brady addressed the media along with former LSU player and the number two pick in the 2000 NBA draft Stromile Swift celebrating 25 years of the sweet 16 appearance made by the 2000 men’s basketball team in the NCAA March Madness tournament.
Brady started out the press conference by saying that LSU signing Stromile Swift changed the LSU men’s basketball program forever.
“It got it in a situation where Louisiana players knew that if they came here and played together you could do something very significant and special,” John Brady said.
Swift talked about what it was like to play for the coaches at LSU and how he felt when he first arrived at LSU.
“When I got here I didn’t know what to expect but just being Coach Brady, Coach Pierre, Coach Tyndle, Coach Davis those guys pushed me to a level that I didn’t know I could reach,” Stromile Swift said.
When asked if he knew that the team could do something special, Brady would go on to say that there were indicators with how the players interacted with each other and they knew they had talent in the locker room. But, after a tournament in Hawaii, Brady what the team could be.
“When we went to Hawaii to play in the tournament over there were we beat fresno and won the championship over there in a tournament In Hawaii then coming back we sat on that plane Kermit and I, Donnie, Tyndle, Butch we all thought we got something special here..,” Brady said.
The turning point for the players was not just the Hawaii trip, but also a game in New Orleans that made the locker room feel confident in themselves against anybody.
“When we came back to play Oklahoma State in New Orleans, I think that was the turning point for like the guys within like we really felt like we had something special,” Swift said.
When asked if there are any similar comparisons to the team today compared to the 2000’s team Swift said that there weren’t many due to the change of the game of basketball and the physicality and speed of the game being different.
“ I think basketball in general has become of a perimeter game then inside game you know… shooting 30, 35 threes a night… that’s why i say it’s more of a perimeter game,” Brady said.
