Armein Kirkland Quotations

My talent and work ethic will get me there.

It hurts because I won't be able to finish my last season. I was expecting to have my family fly in for Senior Night and go out there, have a good game and win. Now my Senior Night, I'll just be watching my team play. That's hard. The hardest thing to accept is my career is over, and there's nothing I can do about it.

I think the freshmen will respond better to AK's style,

The thing I'll remember the most is how tough those practices were when I first got here. With Coach (Bob) Huggins pushing me for three hours. It was different than what I was used to back home. It was the hardest thing, but it was also the most fun thing.

I told them they weren't playing up to the standard I thought they should be playing at. When I was playing, it's not like I did everything for the team. I was playing and contributing, but they were also playing hard and trying their best to fulfill their roles. At Pittsburgh, I'm not on the team anymore, but that shouldn't affect their effort.

It's almost like he's still here to me because of the simple fact that all of the other coaches are here and they kind of teach like he does. It's almost like he's still here and it's the same program.

I want to support them, let them know it's going to be OK. If they have to play 40 minutes, it's OK. It's going to be hard, but we can do it. That's not a question in my mind.

Anytime something happens in practice, I keep expecting to hear coach's voice correcting us, ... The older guys are almost trained to look over our shoulder. His presence will be missed.

He yelled at me the most. We clashed because he thought I could contribute the most. I appreciate everything he did. At the same time, Coach Kennedy is doing a great job. He has a lot to prove. He might not be here next year, so there's a lot of weight on his shoulders and me and the rest of the guys understand that. I've got a career after this -- and the same with coach Kennedy.

I feel better. I've come to realize that it's not the end of the world. It's a bump in the road; I'm still going to reach my goals.