After a convincing win over fifth-seeded Temple, the men’s basketball team continued to clown around. Following up a purposely-flubbed question in a press conference Wednesday and a “phantom ball” layup line right before tip-off Friday, the jokes kept rolling in during a second press conference held on Saturday.
Sprinkled in amongst more serious questions about Sunday’s match-up with fourth-seeded Wisconsin, one reporter asked, “Could you guys elaborate on the term ‘Hatorade’?” It was revealed afterwards, that the question had been planted by assistant coach Nat Graham after a pre-press conference chat in the locker room about Kentucky coach John Calipari’s usage of the made-up term.
Even funnier than the question, however, was senior tri-captain Jon Jaques’ attempt at a serious answer.
“I believe ‘Hatorade’ is something you might either drink or absorb, I guess, that people outside your program might be, I guess, exposed to,” Jaques told the media. “I’m trying to give a scientific way of explaining this. I don’t know, it’s just something people who don’t respect your program, I guess [people] don’t think you belong at this spot. I think we have proven, though, that we do belong here in the tournament, and hopefully no one is drinking any ‘Hatorade’ against us.”
Although the attempt at a scientific answer may be typical of an Ivy League team, the Big Red has proved that their playing is anything but.
Let’s just hope that Wisconsin’s coach Bo Ryan’s uncanny resemblance to the team’s Badger mascot doesn’t prove to be too much of a distraction.
Original Author: Jasmine Marcus