Interview with Tony Delk, October 21, 2016

DELK: Tony Delk, ninety-two to ninety-six.

MACY: Let's talk about your early years growing up in Tennessee and, um, who influenced you the most as far as getting involved in sports and basketball in particular.

DELK: Who involved me mostly was my brothers. I have five brothers, uh, three played, uh, high school, two went on to play NAIA. So they were the guys that really got me involved and taught me the game of basketball, fundamentally keeping me sound. Teach me how to shoot, pass, dribble. And just being older brothers just given me understanding and teaching me about the game from, uh, from their perspective of being older and telling me what I need to do as far as like becoming a really good player.

MACY: So were you the youngest of the five?

DELK: I'm the youngest of all my siblings, which there's ten of us. So I learned a lot from my brothers and sisters, but mostly my brothers who played NAI-- NAIA ball at Lambuth, Tennessee, which is right, 20 minutes from Brownsville.

MACY: Um, so I'm assuming you had some pretty good one-on-one games or pickup 00:01:00games in the park or in the backyard with your family?

DELK: Well, we had some good games, but my brothers were, they were about 15 years older than I was. So they were in their late twenties and I was a teenager just learning how, uh, how to play against men, but never let me win. So they really were competitive. They, um, worked together against me. So I would play three of them, and three of them every once in a while. And so they just really made the game tough for me. But it really made me a much better player by going up against them and just understanding that, you know, if you want to beat someone, you have to be all in and hard work pays off. So they taught me so much about the game.

MACY: Do you remember the first time you, you beat one of them?

DELK: Yes, yes, I do. Yes, I do. I'll never forget my oldest brother who lived in Atlanta at the time. He was kind of like the best brother of all, of all the guys, all my brothers. And I got a chance to go play him and I'll never forget winning and beating him was like winning a championship. So the other two brothers, I hadn't beaten them until I went back to Tennessee and I was 00:02:00able to beat all three of my brothers, uh, by my junior year.

MACY: So as far as high school basketball, when you started playing on the varsity as a junior or sophomore?

DELK: Well, my coach moved me up as a freshman. We won the freshman championship and he moved me up to varsity. But I knew I wasn't ready. I'll never forget, Coach came down to the sideline and asked me, did I want to go in and, you know, being a freshman, you've seen juniors and seniors on the court, I was kind of scared. I said, you know what? I'll wait until my sophomore year to play and had a really good sophomore year, but my freshman year we won a championship and like I said, getting the opportunity just to move up and put on a varsity uniform meant a lot to me.

MACY: And so obviously, then it progressed., and by your senior year-- how much success did the team, you say, won championship as a freshman?

DELK: No, we didn't. We won that, like a district championship. And I got a chance to go to one state finals. And actually, it was the semifinals because we had won the district, won the regional. And by time we got to the state, I think 00:03:00we had too much fun. You know, we were just happy and excited to get there my senior season. But I had played with a lot of really good, good players. And those guys really kind of patterned the game to certain guys that I played with. But their job was really to make sure they got me open. And, you know, we had a lot of success during my tenure in college--

MACY: Well it seemed--

DELK: High school, excuse me.

MACY: It seemed to work there that you were named Mr. Basketball in the state, Gatorade Player of the year in the state. And that's '92, right, when you were a senior?

DELK: Yeah.

MACY: So late in your, or anytime, I guess, your junior year is when recruiting usually starts. Talk a little bit about that process. All the schools that were involved, and any stories, maybe all the way.

DELK: Recruiting, that process started when I was a sophomore and just finishing my season. I remember receiving a few letters from some Tennessee teams and local teams and colleges that were close by and not really knowing a whole lot about the recruiting game. So after I started playing AAU [Amateur Athletic 00:04:00Union] my first year I ended up being an AAU All-American. I played with this Memphis team. And we were really good, we finished that year, we finished third out of all the teams in Nashville. So they started bringing me, started giving me more exposure. And once I started being recruited, I started getting some Division I teams, SEC [Southeastern Conference], ACC [Atlantic Coast Conference] and they start coming from all over. You know, so it was a testament to the team I played with, but a lot of hard work I put in and also just learning the game from my brothers. And when the opportunity presented itself, I took advantage of winning, winning tournaments. And also just going to the Nationals and our team fared well.

MACY: How would you describe your game at that time as a high school senior as compared to later on, we'll talk about?

DELK: I've always been a scorer. I've always had a knack for scoring even as a middle school kid. You know, I was the lead scorer on a team, but the with eighth graders and I was in the seventh grade, I only played three quarters. Because I knew how to score, even as a freshman. And going back to 00:05:00AAU, it was good because when I first started on that team, those guys from Memphis, they didn't know that I was just a little country boy that came down and they had been together for like three years. So I'll never forget my first game, only playing about two or three minutes; second game, probably about the same amount of minutes. And as the season progressed, that summer progressed, I ended up playing more and more minutes so by the end, I was a starter and I got a chance to be AAU All-American, which was you know, when you look at the situation and those players, not knowing me, they embraced me.

MACY: So, so every school in the country is pretty much after you. Who'd you narrow it down to, your final four or five?

DELK: What it came down to, um, Arkansas was one of the teams, Memphis close team, thirty miles from my hometown. Tennessee, the head coach, Wade Houston, that was there. Allen was there with Wade and another team in state. And then Kentucky, you know, was one of my favorites because Coach Donovan started 00:06:00recruiting me early in the process. Uh, my mom, it's funny, she really liked Arkansas, which Coach Richardson [Head Coach Nolan Richardson] was there and he was driving from, uh, Fayetteville to watch me play and practice, along with Mike Anderson, who was, uh, his lead assistant. And those guys, like it really came down to Arkansas and Kentucky. Both were hard. They came hard. They sent a lot of letters, both coaches: Coach Pitino [Head Coach Rick Pitino] as well as Coach Richardson. And they came to watch me. And just the assistant coaches, they do the job, you know, and the coach come in, the head coach, he's the closer. (Macy laughs) And Coach Pitino came in. He closed the deal.

MACY: Was there any one thing that was kind of the deciding factor to kind of push you over the edge, to make that decision?

DELK: I mean, both teams had similarity, they had the same kind of styles. You know, it was a lot of pressing, shooting a lot of threes. I know there's going to be a lot of, lot of opportunities score, but I think Coach said something that stood out to my brothers and that was saying, "I think he", I remember him saying "I can get him to the NBA." So that's when my brothers shifted from Arkansas to you know, Coach Pitino has something that none of these 00:07:00other coaches come in has said. But also, they've never coached on that level. So that also gave Coach, Coach Pitino an advantage by him being a New York Knicks head coach.

MACY: Right. Um, so you, you enter UK as a freshman with I guess Rodrick Rhodes and Jared Prickett, the two other freshmen in that freshman class?

DELK: Walter McCarty and Rodney Dent, uh, Juco [Junior College] Player of the Year.

MACY: That's right. Walter, though sat out in his first year, right?

DELK: Sat out, as a Prop 48 [NCAA Proposition 48].

MACY: Okay. So you come on campus. You describe yourself as a country boy, just a--

DELK: Yeah, you know, this, this was a, this was a big city when you come from a town of about 8,000 people. And, you know, at some point in time, you will have to play in front of 24,000. You know, it's definitely nerve wracking, but it was good coming in with Walter, who was my roommate that year, uh, Jared Prickett and Rodrick Rhodes. And you know, we had the best recruiting class in 1992 and we knew how good we were, we were at that time, but we didn't know how 00:08:00good we going to be by the time, you know, we ended as seniors, and at that time it was so funny that Walter and I, we, we really became really good friends and even to this day we are really good friends. But just seeing him sat out and not play as a freshman and then myself not really playing a lot of minutes as a freshman, and after about the third or fourth game I remember going to Coach Pitino and I told him, I said, I think I want to transfer. I want to go back and maybe be closer to home and I'll never forget, he said, "Well, you know, you're going to have to finish the season" and not to say he didn't want to give me my transcript, but it kind of felt that way. Uh, by the end of my freshman year, you know, I had, had some decisions to make, because you know, I had improved some. And then I had a really good player at my position, Dale Brown, who wasn't willing to give up his position. So I had to learn how to compete and compete against someone who was, you know, looking at once my colle-- once his college career ended he wanted to have a career playing 00:09:00somewhere professionally. So he taught me a lot about the game.

MACY: Yeah, I mean, the backcourt that was in place when you got here was, as you said, Dale Brown and Travis Ford--

DELK: Travis, Travis Ford.

MACY: --yeah.--

DELK: Yeah.

MACY: --but, you know, you still got some valuable experience--

DELK: Mm-hmm

MACY: --a little bit of, I guess, ninth in the team in scoring that freshman year.

DELK: Mm-hmm

MACY: But, uh, those guys move on as well, right?

DELK: Yes, which I was happy. (Macy laughs) You know, when you a scorer and you see a couple of guys leave, uh, leave the university and one of them being Mash [Jamal Mashburn] who was, was so good to play with. I mean, he had a great I.Q. and a great feel for the game. But, you know, I think when I came here, you know, I was looking at how could I possibly get to the next level? And, you know, when you think about team, especially winning, you have to be surrounded by good teammates and so as Mash leaves, you know, I knew it was a great opportunity for me. Like I said, being a ninth scorer, you know, my goal was to be the leading scorer and helped this team win games. And Coach Pitino really taught me, going from my freshman to my sophomore year, how to play both sides 00:10:00of the ball, even better. You know, how to read screens, how to take angles on defense, how to keep my man in front, in front of me. So there was so much that he taught me about the game and how to play on both sides of the ball. It made me a much better player.

MACY: It's not really that unusual, though, that a player, things aren't going like they thought they may, that he's thinking about transferring, is it?

DELK: That's what is funny. You said it because this generation, that's the easy way out. You know, to transfer and have another coach, be recruited all over again. You know, it's fun to be, be loved again, but it's a lot of hard work. I mean, yeah. And I was, you know, I look back and I was so glad that I stayed because we wouldn't be having this interview right now. (Macy laughs) But I just wouldn't be the player I was, I wouldn't be part of one of the greatest tradition in college basketball. And you look back, you know, one, one decision can change your whole life, and that, that decision was, was great for me to stay.

MACY: Do you remember the first time Coach Pitino got on you?

DELK: (laughs) The very first individual instruction, I'll never forget, Rod-- 00:11:00Rodrick Rhodes and I were playing one on one and we were, like, dead tired. I mean, it's a totally different level going from high school to college, especially playing on the Coach Pitino, but just the intensity level. You know, we had never played that hard before. And I remember us, both of us, just dead tired. You know, just laying on one and he done kicking both of us out. But I remember telling Rods, you know what? We got practice four hours from now. I don't think we're going to make it. You know, that was like forty-five minutes to 50 minutes. And we knew we were going to have a hard three hour practice and our legs were done. But he, he taught us how, you know, mentally, physically, to be in the best possible shape if you want to play this game. And that's something that's a testament to him. Also, you know, not only preaching it, but also he would you know, he did the same thing. He would be up at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, playing one on one, playing five-on-five with his coaches, running on the treadmill. So as a coach, he set the example where 00:12:00he stayed in excellent shape and it was, he demanded it from us.

MACY: It's funny you talked about being kicked out of practice. I was going to ask you how many times you got kicked out?

DELK: Only, it was only twice: that time and my senior year I got kicked out.

MACY: Who had the record on those teams?

DELK: Who did he kick out the most? I'm trying to think who was it?

MACY: Cameron [Mills] maybe? (laughs)

DELK: Oh, definitely, Cameron. Cameron, and maybe Nazr [Nazr Mohammed], uh, Oliver Simmons, I mean. Uh, those, you know, those guys, when you're freshmen, I mean, he, it's tough. I mean, so by the time you become that junior, senior, you build mental toughness and you believe you can. Of course you do it in the best shape of any college team in the country, but that you never want to lose because he has a, he has a winning attitude and he may lose and seem like it's, it's the worst possible thing that could happen to you. And that's how we felt, we never wanted to lose games.

MACY: He was kind of a trendsetter in the fact that style of play. I mean, there'd been a few years under him before you'd gotten here where they 00:13:00were firing a bunch of threes. But then also they started getting that talent. And teams really didn't know how to play against that, did they?

DELK: Well, what he, what he figured out is, he's a heck of a coach. Xs and Os. He knows personnel. Really good at just finding what his players do best. So when he started getting talent, now you put the talent with his coaching ability, he knew he had something special. And that's a separation when you look at great teams and even teams that are playing today, that Coach Pitino could put five guys on the court that can space the floor and five guys that can make the reads. So as we see it now in the two thousands, it's like it's brand new. No, Coach Pitino did that actually when he got here in the early nineties was that he had, he could put that many guys on the court that could make threes and what it caused is, it caused a lot of mismatches. And it was a style that a lot of teams would want to play. And he was one of the first guys who I look at when they talk about analytics is that, you know, threes are better than twos. That was a philosophy that he had even with the New York Knicks.

MACY: What is, what's, uh, what went through your mind the first time you walked into Rupp [Arena] in uniform, ready to play a game, or ran out against others, at the time?

DELK: Uh, I was scared to death. Uh, you know, like I said, my hometown, [population] 8,000. I had played in front of about 800 to a thousand people. Most, maybe two thousand. And I remember going to the state tournament and playing in front of about 9,000 people. So that was like a really big crowd, but to come and play in front of 24,000 screaming fans. You know, it's special, to be honest with you. And for a young player like myself, uh, you want to do well. You know, a lot of eyes are on you. And it's just a tradition. The expectation when you come, come to U-uh University of Kentucky, it's going to be at the highest level and you, you want to perform well, you know, so that's where you have to rely on your teammates. And what I did a great job was just blocking out what was in the arena. And just focus on the basket, and 00:15:00once the ball went up in air, you know, it's, we were playing basketball again. You're not really thinking about all the people, the cameras, what people are saying. You get locked in and you get focused.

MACY: Did you have to learn that or did it just came naturally?

DELK: I think it came naturally. You know, when you play in so many games and in high school, we've always played in front of a, uh, sold out high school gym. So I knew how my focus had to be and just not get distracted because it's so important for young players to understand that you're going to have people talking and people screaming at you, your coach screaming at you. And I had one of those coaches that he was fiery and I had to figure out how to tune him out as well. And, uh, you know, and sometimes just getting used, getting to enjoy the game. And when you're enjoying a game, you know, you're not worried about what's being said or what's happening around you.

MACY: I guess too part of Coach Pitino's theory was that he had the fear in you to where you don't want to screw up because you knew the wrath of him as opposed to worrying about screwing up in front of that many people (laughs}.

DELK: Yeah. That's what people don't -- they didn't understand that, too. To any, any magnitude is that, you know, to lose, to make mistakes, there was punishment, you know. So now I'd say it gives you focus. It teaches you. And we know this, you're not going to be perfect out there. But what I do like is that, you know, he holds all of us accountable. You know, we have responsibilities. We have jobs to do. And when we were in those positions, that's what we have to do and in order to win collectively, we all have to come together. We're doing it for the cause, for the fans, for ourselves, for coach, and just all the preparation that the assistant coaches put in from watching film to breaking down edits, I mean, a lot of what happens. And the head coach is going to get all the credit, but you have to hire good assistant coaches. And Billy Donovan was great for me, because of not playing as a freshman. Billy Donovan and I would go to the gym late nights. He would keep me in shape and we would shoot. So one of those coaches that kept me focused, 00:17:00loving the game when I wasn't playing.

MACY: Who else was on the staff? Was Jim O'Brien still there?

DELK: Jim O'Brien came later.

MACY: Okay.

DELK: We had Coach Bernadette Locke [Assistant Coach Bernadette Locke-Mattox], she was really good. [Assistant Coach] Herb Sendek was tough defensively. So we had a really good, he [Head Coach Rick Pitino] collectively he put a good group of guys together. They understood his philosophy (clears his throat) and his strategy. And they, uh, they all worked well together. You know, they wanted to, like the players, everyone wanted to impress Coach and make him feel, like I say, he know he's the best coach in college basketball.

MACY: (clears his throat) Well, obviously it worked. Your team goes thirty and four that year. Um, you win the first 13 games out of the gate. You got to be thinking, hey, this college basketball's not that tough. (Delk laughs) I mean, teams win and beaten everybody, but also and you lose down at Vandy, 101 to 86 and at Arkansas 101 to 84. So maybe not that close of games. Lose a tough one at Tennessee by one, 77 to 78, but then you turn right around when the next 00:18:0010 befo-- and make it all the way. You win the [SEC] conference championship, you make it all the way to the semifinals of the NCAA Final Four--

DELK: Um-hmm

MACY: --where you take on Michigan. What do you remember about the Michigan game, anything?

DELK: I just remember how big [University of Michigan player] Chris Webb--Chris Webber was. I mean he was a massive, big shoulders, athletic, uh, player. That Fab Five team, they talk a lot of trash, you know, I remember those guys. They were a confident, cocky bunch of guys. And just getting to that Final Four. Like you said, I mean, we put on, we won 11 consecutive games, uh, throughout that season. And, you know, we lost on the road, but it was tough. It was going to be tough to beat us at home because Mash [Jamal Mashburn] was so good. But getting to the Final Four. You know, it's something that I, uh, always want to go back to. You know, it was being a freshman, getting a chance to play. Dale [Brown] gets hurt. And Coach [Pitino] puts me out there and I play the last, um, probably twelve minutes. Third, maybe 11 to 12 minutes of the second half. And I 00:19:00play all of the overtime. But just being on the biggest stage and just seeing how it felt, you know, that was kind of the deciding factor for me to come back. I said, man, you know, I want to get back here again and, and see that, see what it feels like to bring a team and lead a team here. And it is really tough to do, you know, but any team that is going to win a championship, during the course of the season, you have to put a winning streak together. So I knew we could do that if our talent stayed.

MACY: That being in New, New Orleans to a lot of talk too about backgrounds and shooting in a big arena like that. Did that, did you ever have any problem with that?

DELK: It bothered me. It really did. I never, if you go back and look when we played the SEC tournament in the Georgia Dome, I never shot the ball well. And it's something that from a peripheral standpoint, you know, it does, like I said, it opens up a lot more than a gym, um, an arena. So unless you play in it throughout the season, you know, it's really hard for shooters to adapt to. And you know, as you see more and more teams do it, Coach Cal [UK basketball 00:20:00Head Coach John Calipari], he got really smart. You know, if you look at what was happening in today's game is that, you know, teams are playing those games in stadiums because if you're going to get to the Final Four, you have to be able to make shots in a stadium.

MACY: Yeah. Um, I remember that game, Mashburn got in some foul trouble, maybe picked up kind of a touch foul late, it was his fifth, didn't he?

DELK: (laughs) I think the year before that Mash got in foul trouble when they lost against Duke. So, yeah, he, he picked up to two really bad fouls and to be, you know, like, I say, our best player. You know, he's the guy that can't commit, you know, fouls like that because it really hurts the team. And he did that. But, you know, I think, uh, you know, that Michigan team was really good. And I'll never forget that Chris Webber was a really bad foul shooter, and he probably went seven for eight or eight for ten. And, you know, you only get one time to do it. You know, it's not a series that the best team win. It's who plays better that particular day or that particular night.

MACY: Well, I went back through the season, kind of looked at the box scores. And while your minutes were inconsistent early in the season, it seemed like late that you started getting more steady minutes and your production kind of increased, um, especially like seven of the last eight games you were playing double digit minutes, averaging over four and a half points a game. Your highlights, I guess, South Carolina had 18 points--

DELK: I don't remember that. Wow!

MACY: --yeah, 15 minutes. You had 15 points in 18 minutes against Tennessee. Um, so, so you had to, that had to make you feel good on this good team that you're playing on that, you know, you weren't just one of the guys. You were starting to play more and more of a role--

DELK: Right

MACY: --as the season progressed.

DELK: I think, it's more, more trust. And it's hard to trust freshmen when they first come in because, you know, most freshmen don't want to play defense because you're the best player in your city or in the state. You know, the coach is going to tell you got to stay out foul trouble. And I always considered my best defense is, is offense. But Coach Pitino, I'll never forget, 00:22:00saying, "Well, you know what? You're going to be a really good assistant coach because you're going to have a clipboard and you're going to be right next to me. You're not going to be playing on the court because you don't play defense." So I had to learn that part of it, so I think as the season progressed, uh, I started playing better one on one defense. And then I started to understand the concept and the philosophies of how to play switching defense and where I needed to be and also help my teammates. I could be really good, but then I would lose sight once the ball went to, to the, uh, weak side. You know, you always have to be a play strong side defense as well as weak side defense. So he taught me that part of, uh, being a really good player is to see the ball, but also don't so much, don't worry about my man so much. You know, your man, if he doesn't have the ball. You know, it's a basketball game. It's not about watching your man. So those are things he taught me that I became much better about by the end of my freshman season.

MACY: Well, not many freshmen get to play all the way to the Final Four--

DELK: Um-hmm.

MACY: --so you had a feel pretty good about the year. You talked about Mashburn then leaving, going early in the draft. Um, what was your mindset as far as offseason workouts, getting ready for your sophomore season?

DELK: Well, I didn't leave. Um, a lot of guys took, took a break and went home. I went to both sessions of, um, summer school and I was focused. I didn't want to go back home because I knew, uh, if I went back home, I'll be hanging out with friends, not working on my game. So I was, I was on a mission. I set a goal for myself. And I wanted to come back and be the player I was when I left high school. So I went back to the lab and I stay three or four hours a day just playing basketball like I fell back in love with basketball again. And that allowed me to go into my sophomore season. Um, um, kind of like where I left off in high school as one of the top players in the country.

MACY: Was the goal--did you ever really waver? I guess probably a better way to say it: from your goal of being an NBA player like they recruited you?

DELK: I didn't think about it as much because players, uh, wasn't leaving early then. Um, so it was something that, you know, you watch NBA games, it's going to be your dream. You're playing at this university and you see one of your teammates drafted as a lottery pick. It started to kind of set in that, you know, thought about it. I knew I was probably a year or two away from, from actually being a NBA player, because, again, I had to come back and, you know, showcase what I like, what I could do. You know, you can't be a four point scorer thinking, you're going to make it in the NBA, not unless you're just this unbelievable big man at blocks like --------? size rebound, 15, 15 rebounds a game. It was going to be difficult to be a guard to go to the NBA only averaging four points. So, again, you know, I had to really work on my game.

MACY: Is that kind of help motivate you, to do summer workouts?

DELK: Always, always. And then just not, not being a starter. I've always started from my 8th grade year until my, my senior year of high school, it was 00:25:00the first year I did start. So I did take it personal. And, you know, when I came back, I figured, you know, no one's going to beat me out of this position. It didn't matter who we brought in. It didn't matter who remain. It was going to be a dogfight.

MACY: And speaking of who you brought in then, Anthony Epps joins the team, Jeff Sheppard joins the team, Walter [McCarty] becomes eligible--

DELK: Mm-hmm.

MACY: --your sophomore season. That season your numbers jumped. I mean, that--

DELK: Mm-hmm.

MACY: --those workouts really helped. You went sixteen and a half points a game--

DELK: Right.

MACY: --that season.

DELK: Right. It paid off. And I also think, you know, and I knew Coach knew what I could do from a scoring, scoring standpoint. It was teaching me how to play defense and to be a two way player. So that's where my game elevated. And then just coming back with all the talent that we had. And that year, you know, I really, it was a special year. I really thought that, you know, if you know, Rodney Dent doesn't get hurt, I thought we'd probably go right back to the Final Four. You know, he was a huge piece coming back and playing in the 00:26:00Final Four like myself. We had all the right ingredients to be a Final Four national championship team that season. And early on in that season, you know, he tears that ACL and that is that huge set back when you have a player like Rodney Dean who would have been a lottery pick and you lose them early. And we never got him back.

MACY: Well, the team still goes twenty-seven and seven. So, I mean, a very successful season. A couple games I want to talk about, in particular, the Maui Classic, (Delk laughs) the final game.--

DELK: Right.

MACY: --You get to the finals, take on Arizona, I believe, and it comes right down the wire. Is that the one where you got a tip in?

DELK: That's the [Jeff] Brassow tip in. It's funny cause I think Ro--, it was a substitution for Rod. Uh, Jeff Brassow came in the game and, you know, like it was a, I don't know who took the shot, but Jeff Brassow happened to be in the right place. Great tip in and, and, you know, it couldn't have happened to a better guy. You know, and it was a big time tournament plus it was so hot. 00:27:00I can remember cramping, you know, I probably was going in and out of the game, too, because you playing felt like temperatures about one hundred and thirty in the gym, had those fans, but those fans wasn't doing anything. But it was, it was a great time for us to win, you know, win another championship. And collectively as a team, we really came together.

MACY: During that celebration we see the highlights of where Coach Pitino is running out on the court (Delk laughs) and grabs Brassow. Where were you?

DELK: I, I don't remember, but I was just as happy as those guys, (clears throat) you know, to go to Hawaii and, you know, to have a great vacation. We thought it was, it was a lot of hard work watching family practice and games, though it wasn't as exciting as the fans. You know, just to be in the stadium, many in the stands and watching us play and being on the beach snorkeling, we really didn't get the chance to do any of that. You know, it was about business for us.

MACY: Um, during Ohio State game that year. Uh, I don't know if you remember now, but you had twenty-three points, but you hit seven threes.

DELK: Um-hmm.

MACY: Do you recall that game much?

DELK: No, I remember having a decent, decent tournament in Maui. It wasn't 00:28:00bad. I remember especially that Arizona game and I had to guard Damon Stoudamier and Khalid Reeves and those guys were scoring at will. So going back to Coach Pitino, you got to be able to guard your position. So that's what I was able to do when one of those guys got ha--hot, he put me on the best player just to try to slow him down.

MACY: Yeah, twenty-seven against Georgia, twenty-nine against Mississippi State, big games during the year. The SEC tournament comes around and it's in Memphis, which is just like your backyard.

DELK: Yes.

MACY: How special was that to win the championship in Memphis?

DELK: That was great. Um, my family probably had about two or three thousand of my fans from my hometown. They were able to come and watch me play. And just to be in a state of Tennessee, it was great just to be kind of like in my backyard, you know. And the school that I could have gone to at that time was Memphis State. And I still had a lot of support because people understood my decision 00:29:00and know when you were a good kid, they want to see you be successful. And it was just great to be back home and winning in front of my, my fans as well as my parents.

MACY: So you progressed then onto the NCAA tournament again. I'm sure your mindset was "We're going to the Final Four again, just like last year" right? (laughs)

DELK: Thinking that, thinking that.

MACY: But you ran up against the Marquette team and um, although you had twenty-four points in the game--

DELK: Um-hmm.

MACY: --Marquette was able to defeat you. Now this wasn't the Marquette team that had Dwayne Wade?

DELK: Right.

MACY: I remember the big center, Jim Mc, McIl--

DELK: Key?

MACY: -- McIlvaine

DELK: I think Key and

MACY: and --------?

DELK: Key was, was the one that was a center.

MACY: McIlvaine or McIlvaine?

DELK: McIlvaine, yeah, he ended up playing a few years in the league.

MACY: And I did notice in the stats that Kentucky shot nine free throws. They shot 32. (both laugh) But you lost that game. Seventy five. Sixty three.

DELK: You know, we trailed the whole game. I mean, we are. I'll never forget us coming out of the locker room. The first half, what, about six minutes 00:30:00to go on the clock. You know, to warm up and we didn't have our traditional one up where we was back to prepping for the game. And I'm not going to say we took them lightly. We didn't know a lot about them. You know, although, although we watch film, we knew some of the players. They didn't have a marquee player. So when a team doesn't have a marquee player, you know, you're looking at them saying, well, OK, they're a good team, but who was the one standout? So we didn't see a standout. And even as we came out, you know, we didn't you know, we didn't play the way our style we were capable of playing, but they had a really good point guard. And he when I say annihilated our press, he ran! The way he carved our press out. And we just really could never slow him down. And, you know, we just we didn't shoot the ball particularly well. And, you know, it was a game, I look back of all my losses, one of those questionable losses of, you know, that was a year, I think we look past Marquette because Duke was going to be the next round. So, you know, you never underestimate your opponent, especially in the NCAA tournament.

MACY: Now, going back, there was a game during that season that's kind of become legendary around Kentucky. You're on the road at LSU. (Delk laughs) Your team goes down 31 and somehow you came back and won that game.

DELK: That game, I'll never forget, Coach Pitino came down to, I remember him calling that time out. He was telling, I told myself I need to transfer back to Memphis, Walter, Indiana. Roger, you can go back to Seeton Hall, he was saying. Tomorrow's going to be the worst day of you guys life! And the only thing I'm thinking about is "Man! You know, we just lost two games. We lost to Arkansas, we had lost to Syracuse in the, in the dome. And I'm thinking, my gosh, is be our third loss, but we never lost three games in a row. I didn't know what practice is going to be like. And I just remember telling the guys and rally, rally the troops and like, listen, we at least got to get this thing down to ten, get a perspective, and he might not have practice tomorrow. I mean, it might not be as tough as we're thinking. If he see us fighting hard and we 00:32:00just kept playing. I mean, we got steals, we knocked down threes, we played as a team. And, you know, before we knew it, you know, we did get it to 10 and there was still a lot of time left. So once you get it under 10 points, to me, the pressure's on them to win. They're in their arena. They're making shots, you know, and you never think back to the point of like, you know, if we make this run a fifteen-O run. You know, we're just making lots of 6-O runs, 8-O runs, 10-1 runs. And, you know, we got back in a game and when it got to around four points, I knew at some point in time because of our work ethic, our mental toughness, that we were going to win that game if it got within, you know, the four, four to two point range.

MACY: That's one thing this team and future teams with Coach Pitino, they always had those big runs at some point during--

DELK: Mm-hmm

MACY: --the course of a game, didn't they?

DELK: Yes.

MACY: And I remember that I was doing actually the radio and if you remember that or not for those games. But I am one of my highlights maybe as a 00:33:00broadcaster was I said the game wasn't over, there was still a chance. And Ralph looked at me-- Ralph Hacker was doing the play by play.

DELK: Right.

MACY: You know, we're down 31 with not much time in the second half and he looks happy like what are you talking about? (laughs)

DELK: Right. I think it's, you probably, you might have been the only person that probably, other than maybe some, some diehard Kentucky fan that believed we're going to come back. But that particular style allowed us to do it. If you were playing any other way, you probably wouldn't have won because you had big men on the court. You had to put guys five, five guys on the court that can make threes, that could press, turn the ball over, and score quickly. So again, you go back to his style. His style allowed us to make runs, crazy runs, but also come back in games where, you know, you think it- the game- might be over. But the style is what everyone enjoyed watching. The numbers, say the eighty, ninety, one hundred points that we could put on the board. And I love it. I mean, I loved it. And the guys knew that, you know, if we played together, 00:34:00everybody's going to get shots. It wasn't going to be - we always wanted to get steals and lay ups. And so nobody during my time, we didn't worry about shots.

MACY: Well, the other thing, too, that I kind of noticed was LSU was helping. They were taking a lot of quick shots instead of using some clock and, you know, not making the game as many possessions. Instead, they were they were fit and they fell right in that trap.

DELK: They did.

MACY: They just kept shooting.

DELK: You know, it's for them was like a pickup game, you know? And I'm like, if y'all want to play a pickup game with us, I think we have more talent, you guys. And this, this is what we do every day. And they fell right into that trap, shooting threes, quick shots. And by the end, you have to have someone that can slow your team down and make good decisions. And, you know, that's where they just kept playing fast because you had two guys Ronnie Henderson and Clarence Ceasar. Those guys both had 30 points. I don't in my time playing at Kentucky. I don't think I remember two players getting 30 points on us but I do remember those two guys were extremely hot.

MACY: Well, from 31 down to win ninety nine ninety five. That's quite a 00:35:00comeback (laughs)

DELK: A miraculous comeback. Walter McCarty passed to Tony Delk to Walter McCarty in the three foot, hey!

MACY: Deep in the corner (laughs)

DELK: Yes, my my roommate.

MACY: So after the loss to Marquette, now you're going into your junior year. You're becoming one of the old men on the team.

DELK: Yes.

MACY: Anything you did different or just continue the same thing doing the summer workouts?

DELK: Just kind of like the same regiment, summer school both sessions, because I really wanted to work and get my degree and, you know, kind of relax. You know, if I stayed another year, but I knew we'd have some special players coming in.

MACY: And speaking of those, do you remember the new freshmen?

DELK: Oh, a new freshman? Oh, of course, Antoine Walker. You know, he he was he was a big piece that we picked up. You know, a versatile 6 [foot] 10 [inches]. Um, you know, offensively the skill, rebound, finish around the basket, had a great feel for the game. And, uh, you know, so that really helped us just get in 00:36:00another solid big man down low.

MACY: Uh, I won't tell Allen Edwards you said that Walker was the only new freshman out.

DELK: Well Al, you know, we knew Al coming in. Here, here's the reason why I didn't say Al, (Macy laughs) and Al's my guy, is that we knew with that position, we was stockpiled. So we knew a freshman wasn't going to come in and take our positions, don't no matter who he was, is that we had the experience. And Al was going to have to learn from us because Al came in, it's funny, Al came in as a point guard and I'm just like, oh, he's not going to be able to bring the ball down the court. How's he going to get the ball down the court? So we had to switch him over to a new position. But Al, Al, you know, he became important to the team later on, especially after we made a run in '96. But, you know, when you come in as a freshman, what I had to learn is when you have veterans at that position, you know, there's a separation between what you do in high school and what you do in college. If you've got the right guy in that position, it's going to be tough to beat him out. So I knew when Al came and I was like, you know what? He's a freshman and that's how I was treated. And I was going to treat him the same way.

MACY: Yeah (laughs) Scott Padgett joined the team. Cameron Mills, I guess, was a walk on as a freshman that year as well. So that's your ,your new players on the squad.

DELK: Um-hmm.

MACY: Um, the team goes twenty-eight and five, another outstanding season.

DELK: Right.

MACY: You're average, again, is right around a little over 6, 16 points a game, 16.7, I think. During the year you made seventy seven threes, which obviously uh, that three shot, three point shot is something you've always done well, continued--

DELK: Right.

MACY: --continued to drop. Did you ever wonder why teams didn't make you put it on the floor more and take away that three, or just?

DELK: Well, no, actually I was really good at putting the ball on the floor. And now going back to my brothers, you know, they taught me a mid-range. You know, one, two dribble pull up, out of catch and how to shoot mid-range, which I, you know, pretty much did throughout my, my career playing, playing on every level. And, you know, when I caught the ball, the three, you know, our style allowed me to get a lot of threes. You know, and Coach also, he posted me up because when were on his thumb up, it allowed me to get a back screen from my 4 5 and go into 00:38:00the paint. So I was able to use my athleticism and go down low and score. So what I really worked on every summer was being able to score on all three levels, go into the basket, mid range, shooting the three. So regardless if you chased me off the three point line, I was able to get in and still get my shot off. And if it opened up even more, I was able to go to the basket and finish at the basket.

MACY: Um, not to talk about the bad things, but I guess they say, and I'm probably the same way, I think the players remember losses maybe more than--

DELK: We do, we do.

MACY: (laughs) But, uh, you went out to the John Wooden Classic out in Anaheim--

DELK: Oh, god.

MACY: lost a tough one at UCLA.

DELK: That was by far my worst game as a collegiate player. I'll never forget that.

MACY: Any reason you think, just that?

DELK: You know what? I don't know if it was a trip, just going so far from home. I don't think the defense that like [UCLA player] Cameron Dollar, you know, those guys played, I don't think it was the defense. And I, and I picked up some early fouls and cheap fouls, I thought where if they got me out 00:39:00of the game, then, you know, you lose your leading scorer. And I don't know if they were picking on me and you know, cause I, two of my fouls. I don't think because we play so aggressive, I don't think those referees knew how we played defense.

MACY: Right.

DELK: And when they saw us pressing or maybe reaching, you know, they called a couple of bad fouls and that kind of mentally took, took me out because I had never been out of a game that early. Just playing our style. So they had a lot to do with it. And, you know, and just, just losing the game by one point, I mean, it really hurt because the only thing that you to do was inbound the ball and they foul us. We go now, make or miss, they have to take, take seconds off the shot clock and bring the ball down, and we would have won the game. And of course, you know, I think I was a bad inbounds and ball got deflected, they get it. A draw, a set, a half-court set, Walter --------?? (had to?) foul someone. He goes and makes, I think it was Henderson, he goes and makes two fouls. We lose the game. So I, I knew we were a good, a good team and a team that if, um, 00:40:00I had had been out there, I think we would have won the game and play, play, played the game I was capable of playing.

MACY: Another one, a tough one, in 88-86, you lose to Louisville. And that being the big rival, you know--

DELK: Yeah

MACY: --here in the state.

DELK: [Louisville player] Samaki Walker's triple double, I'll never forget that. You know, just to lose a little at any point in time. You know, I hated Louisville and not really I would say "hate them" because, you know, a couple those guys were our recruits that we were trying to get a couple of those players. But, you know, just to lose the in-state team and especially on the road, I think it was a CBS game. And Samaki Walker had the game of his life. We didn't play particularly well when you shoot the ball, but we, with our style, we knew we was going to be in every game. So we really wasn't concerned about who we played or where we played. You know, we figure our style went out.

MACY: You know, and then another one, I guess you had a career high. Arkansas, but you lose ninety-four to ninety-two. I think it's at Arkansas, wasn't it?

DELK: Yeah. Never forget I was on fire that game. And I remember the last second play went to [Jeff] Sheppard so I was I was not happy about that. You know, I was like, you know, when you're rolling, you make it smart. You know, you think in that last play the coach going to draw up. And I think I was a decoy. And especially, you know, losing to Arkansas It is a place that I could have gone. And I knew those players really well. Even going back to with [Arkansas player] Corliss Williamson. And we had known each other from our AAU times. And we became really good friends. And even the guards, I knew those guys well. But, you know, that was a loss I just, you know, I despise because, again, you know, we played the same style. I was recruited heavily by them and they beat us. They's always saying, well, you should've came here

MACY: Um, with Coach Pitino. And like I said, you had the hot hand. Did you ever think of saying, "Coach, I want the ball" or, I mean, was that something that he allowed or you didn't even think about that, knowing Coach?

DELK: I didn't even think about it. I'm not sure he, know he allowed 00:42:00it. But, you know, I could see Antoine Walker being in that position and telling Coach "Give me the ball." You know I, I can see him, but not my demeanor at that time. And, you know, just and just trust in him. You know, as for I'd like to draw the right play and just didn't work, you know, even if I would have got it, who knows what would happen. You know, you got to-- but I felt like, you know, with me being on and making signs that, you know, I thought it should've gone to me. And, you know, we all think that as, as players and we come out to the end, to the end of the game, you want the ball in your hand.

MACY: Well, from February 15th on, you don't suffer another loss. You get through the SEC tournament and all the way to North Carolina in that southeast regional final.

DELK: Mm-hmm.

MACY: Big game for you, 19 points and 36 minutes. They've got a pretty good team, though, with [Jerry] Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace on that squad.

DELK: McInnis, and Donald Williams. That team, that team was loaded, that team had they had pros like we had pros. But I think early on when we had the lead, 00:43:00Walter [McCarty] got, got his second foul. I think Dre [Andre] Riddick and Rasheed [Wallace], you know, exchanged elbows in some kind of way. Walter got a, got a technical which gave him his second foul. And of our, I think of our early points, 12 to 13, Walter had 8 or 9 of them. I mean, he was a mismatch nightmare because again, you know, that was like one of those stretch forwards, excuse me, one of those stretch forwards that they had. And, you know, he was going to be hard to guard because he could play inside out, put the ball on the floor, and knock down shots. And, um, you know, that team was good, that North Carolina team, a lot of respect to them.

MACY: And that was before replay. So they couldn't go back and see Walter wasn't really involved.

DELK: He wasn't involved. He was just standing there, really. He was telling on Stackhouse, to be honest with you. I had to tell my guy, "Walt, it seemed like you didn't want to get in" but you know, he was a guy that was telling and the referee ended up giving him his second foul and the game really changed when Walter went out.

MACY: And also in the stats, it looked like Antoine Walker had some foul trouble 00:44:00as well.

DELK: Yeah. Well, you know, like I said, you playing against Rasheed [Wallace] and Rasheed is, you know, he was a tough guard. You know, down-low, I mean, with that height. He was a really good scorer. And then [Jerry] Stackhouse, you know, Stackhouse was a big time player. You know, so they, they had two lottery picks. We had pros. And, you know, if we could go back and do it all over again, you know, I, I thought we were the better team. You know, we had just blown out Arizona State and we were on a roll. I mean, we were just one game from going to the Final Four and just watching, playing against a team that was there. And, you know, we would have been ready to play against UCLA, Arkansas, who we had just beat in the SEC tournament--

MACY: Yeah, I want to talk--

DELK: --championship.

MACY: --about that for a minute. That, that Arkansas game and the SEC tournament. Was the tournament in Atlanta that year?

DELK: Yeah.

MACY: Um, (Delk clears his throat), that, that game I remember, again, I was doing the radio being one of the most exciting because at that time, not only the Kentucky fans travel so well. But Arkansas.

DELK: Yes, they did.

MACY: I mean, they call them the pigs.

DELK: Right.

MACY: I mean, it was just a crazy atmosphere, but it was it was great for college basketball and it was a heck of a game. It seemed like you all were behind--

DELK: We were behind, we were behind like

MACY: --probably should have lost.

DELK: should have. We were behind like about eight points. Maybe a minute and 20, 30 seconds now. You know, and it was a, it was a game where you look up at the scoreboard, they played the same style, so really we couldn't press them, you know. But we've made a couple of key steals, made some big shots, and ended up forcing the game in overtime. I never forget Rodrick Rhodes got fouled and I remember him telling how the game is over. He goes and both missed both free throws, the game goes into overtime and you know, and Anthony Epps had to console him on the sideline. He was, you know, mentally he had checked out. He was done. But we ended up winning that game. And like I said, we had, we had so much confidence. You know, we had played well all the way up until that point and we knew Arkansas was going to be a tough game. And I want to say they had beaten us earlier in the year. You know, we lost to them my first three years 00:46:00every regular season, and we beat them every tournament. So it was our time to beat them.

MACY: Yeah. I mean, their squad was very talented.

DELK: Mm-hmm.

MACY: Who was the guard line up, was it Beck?

DELK: Alright, it was Corey Beck, uh, Clint McDaniels, they had Alex Dillard, of course Scotty Thurman, uh, Corliss Williamson was that team. That team was really good, and plus, that was their championship returning team, you know, from ninety four.

MACY: Yeah. So to do that against a team that's been through the battles.

DELK: Mm-hmm.

MACY: Yeah, that, that, I just remember that was just an exciting outstanding college basketball game.

DELK: Yeah, yeah, we didn't during in my tenure, we never avoided anyone. You know, we played, we would play anywhere. We play against anyone. And our conference was really good then, we had about five or six really good teams every year that, you know, to go on the road and to beat a Arkansas, to beat a LSU. You know, it it was they were kind of like statement games because we knew in Kentucky we were always going to get other team's best game regardless of their record. So we always had to elevate our game whenever we went on the 00:47:00road and it was all within, they knew it was going to be tough to come to Rupp Arena to beat us.

MACY: You know, there's a concern now that since you brought that up, that the SEC everybody's perception is it's down. They only get three teams in the tournament, um, whether it is or not. But you're right, I mean, those were some of the prime days--

DELK: Oh, yeah.

MACY: --just in the tournament, every game was a battle.

DELK: Well, yeah. I mean, we were getting five or six teams in the east. You weren't talking about, oh, well we need to get this team in. Are they on the bubble? I mean, there were no bubble teams. You know, you had six legit teams that came from our conference because, you know, you had great coaches and also you had great talent. But also you have players that were juniors and seniors, you know, and it was guys who got better each and every year and they developed into better players.

MACY: Um, another thing about that team and a lot of Coach Pitino's (laughs) teams, I guess, but, uh, you really beat up on some squads. I would look at some of the scores. I mean you beat LSU by 47. You beat Mount Saint Mary's by 46 in a NCAA tournament game. And even Arizona State by 24, which was Herb [Coach Herb 00:48:00Sendek] there?

DELK: No, he wasn't there. He may have been at North Carolina State then. Maybe, no, I don't think he was at North Carolina State. I don't know where Herb had went at that point in time.

MACY: Okay. But I mean, you pounded some--

DELK: We had a, like, you know, and that's what I'm, you know, even run up against North Carolina, you know, we knew that if we had, if our style worked early and, you know, there was there was going to be no you know, we still thought we could advance to that Final Four. And they had a really good point guard, Jeff [McInnis], was really good. You know, he knew how to handle the press. And, you know, once you get past, you know, our backcourt now you have to attack. You have to keep attacking when you have [Jerry] Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, well then you have two lottery picks. They're going to finish at the basket. So, you know, it is still goes back to, you know, when and when not to do it. And you know, you do it depending on how good the guard is if he's handled the press. But you're also thinking I'm going to eventually wear him down. So our philosophy was that you might have a good first 00:49:00half, but you can't have two good half if you'd only guard the court because you want to pick up ninety four feet. We're going to deny the ball in. And we going to make it hard for you to score. And by the time the second half come, we're expecting for your decision-making not to be as good, but he had, he was surrounded by three really good players.

MACY: Speaking to the press, it seemed like that, I don't know, how hard is it? I guess the question is how hard is it to pick up? Like knowing on the outside jump shot you're, you're on the ball or layup you're off or vice versa or whatever.

DELK: First of all, you got to be in great shape. I mean, it's not a style for, for a lot, a lot of players, a lot of coaches don't want to teach it. But you know, you know where you supposed to be. You know, your man and you can guard. When you're versatile, you can guard a couple of different guys because you just want to prevent the ball from getting in easily. Once it gets in, now it's about picking them up and eyeing the floor to turn them and try and bring a trap from the weak side. Try to get a many deflections as possible. And we just try 00:50:00to wear you down. So even when you cross that, you get past us in the backcourt, you know, he implemented this thing called back tip. So the press is not done once you passed one of the players. We're still pursuing the ball. So we were really great at pursuing the ball from behind. And you know, and getting tips and getting them out to guys. They would get steals and throw it ahead and we get easy layup. So that's how you make runs by having a really good press, but guys understanding what they need to be and then having great anticipation. And that's what we had with most of our guys that playe that were the guards.

MACY: You talked about that back tip drill. Was there a drill that you just hated that Coach Pitino had in practice?

DELK: There was a few drills I hated. 174, that's one drill I hated. 444 was a pressing. He has three team, four players on each team, you've got to touch the jump circle. There was "come in", that's 402. Yeah, there was quite a few drills I hated. I, I can go on and on. You know, shooting drills, ball handling drills. But all those drills made us better. I can't I can not lie and say, 00:51:00you know, looking back, every drill meant something. So, you know, it, it worked out well.

MACY: So after that season, your team goes on a trip to Italy and uh, talk a little bit about the trip. What what was good about it what, the bonding and whatever you brought back.

DELK: Well, I mean, the bond, we were already bonded. I don't think when when you keep guys as juniors and seniors, you know, it's not like we're a bunch of freshmen, a bunch of juco guys. We all had love for one another. You know, we did a lot of lot of events. We took classes together, we did so many different things together. But that trip was, you know, a chance for us to get some early, some early practices, more and more so than anything. You know, you start the season a little bit earlier than everyone else and you see what you really have. And I think that's what Coach knew, what he had and all the returning players. But then as you add pieces, you get better. But, you know, to go against professional teams and you really know where you're, you really see where your guys are at from professional standpoint. But we knew 00:52:00we could play with anyone. You know, we knew we had pros on our team.

MACY: Did did you enjoy the trip?

DELK: I enjoyed, it's funny, playing my last year professionally overseas. I enjoyed that a lot more than being a young player, not really embracing the culture, not really eating the food. There are so many things. When I was a 21 year-old player, I look back and say, man, you know what I really could enjoy? I really could have enjoyed this European trip if I had had been more or culture, not more learning. Learning to have learned more about the European style of living, eating, the people. You really didn't know a whole lot, you know. So we would just, our typical sport Americans going to Italy, looking for McDonald's, Burger King, all the American restaurants and not really enjoying their foods.

MACY: Well, that's why I asked, because, you know, if it was a bad experience, you probably wouldn't have wanted to go back and play 00:53:00professionally. As you said, maturity changes--

DELK: It does. But I'll never forget Coach paid maybe like $5,000-$10,000 for this, you know, we were going, there was a boat. I think we was on this boat. And we had a nice tour, you know, set up on the Riviera, going to look at some of the islands. And we were so tired, we fell asleep. So we got back to land. I remember him saying like, "did you enjoy the trip?" All of us had, every guy was passed out, we was so tired because we really thought we were going to be on vacation. But we practiced like we were, we practiced like we was playing for the Final Four and we had a few days off. But, you know, we took it seriously and we really were trying to win games. I think we went four and one on that a tour.

MACY: (laughs) Well, you had Ron Mercer and Nazr Mohammed, the next year, your senior year. It's always special going into your senior year, seemed like focus really gets even more intense if that's possible.

DELK: Also, you know, we brought in Wayne Turner, another really good unheralded 00:54:00guard, McDonald's All-American that was really good at that position, that could break down the defense. But Ron, was that that three, that we needed, mid-range shooter, great size. Nazr was young, you know, Nazr was your typical freshman still trying to learn the game and where he fit in at. And it was kind of the speed of the game from high school to college. And that, you know, it takes guys a few months before they adapt. And Nazr was kind of the guy who was, you know, still trying to get in shape. And, you know, it was a we had grueling practices and for a freshmen that was kind of overweight, it was hard for Nazr, you know. And the best thing to have for Nazr was Coach Pitino. You know, he would run with him. He would get him in great shape. And then going back to Ron, you know, he was a mid range specialists, great player in open court. And, you know, once again, you bring Wayne in and he could break anyone down off the defense. Antoine was versatile, big. Walter and I were seniors as along with 00:55:00Mark Pope. You know, guys that he could rely on, you know. So when you become a junior and senior, coaches trust us. We've been into style. We know a system. We know what he expects out of us. So he allowed us to play my senior year. And, you know, he was more of a more of a fan. You know, he still coached us, but he became a fan because he knew we were going to go out there and execute.

MACY: How do you describe how Wayne Turner shot, that the first time you saw it?

DELK: Um, it was different. It was different. And I know he went to about three or four transformation with his shot. But Wayne, Wayne was a scorer, you know, to make Wayne a jump shooter was not his game. And, you know, Wayne was better in the open court. Would've been really good in pick and rolls. You know, just reading the defenses and just breaking anyone down and either him finishing at the basket or creating for a big. But Wayne, you know, he came out of scoring and he had to accept his role. And that's something that players in this modern generation is hard for them to do, coming as a McDonalds All-American. 00:56:00And you have a junior in front of you that, yeah, he was probably better than Anthony Epps. But Anthony Epps, he was the engine. You know, he was the IQ that we needed to, to manage and massage the players at every position and know how to get the ball to the right guys. And Wayne, coming out of high school, he's a big time scorer. So it, it actually made Wayne a better player to see how to be a facilitator at that position, surrounded by good talent.

MACY: And he really had that knack to get through cracks and get to the rim--

DELK: Oh yeah.

MACY: --and really pull that d [defense].

DELK: He was he was crafty. He was a crafty player with a nice floater and having really good handles that was low to the ground. And, you know, just playing, playing behind Anthony, he was able to be a really good facilitator just to see, you know, how I get the ball to guys at the right time. And that's what Anthony did a tremendous job of.

MACY: Yeah. So looking back at that team, what was the one thing that made them better than your other three years? Just, I mean, the talent levels was maybe a 00:57:00little bit better, but--

DELK: Right.

MACY: --you had a lot of talent, those early teams, too.

DELK: I really. As I tell people, I really thought ninety five team was a team that was destined won a championship. We had all the pieces. We ran against a really good North Carolina team. You know, when you look at UCLA, who won it in ninety five and we lost to them by one point, the first ever Gentleman's Classic and questionable calls here and there, you put us on neutral court. You know, I see us beating, we could have beaten that team as well as, you know, Arkansas, whoever we would have faced. But that team was special because we were so close. I felt that year in ninety five just return your core players and you add a few pieces and you got to be able to, Coach is really good at that, put the right guy on the court, make adjustments and he learned a lot from some of our previous losses against Marquette, North Carolina, Michigan, is that if he ever got to that Final Four and championship game, you got to be able to make adjustments and have the right guys on the court at the right time. Chemistry, you know.

MACY: Yeah, your senior year, you go 34 and 2.

DELK: Not a bad year.

MACY: (laughs) No, not a bad year. Only two losses. One was early November against a UMass team. 92-82, I think it was--

DELK: Mm-hmm, lost by 10.

MACY: -- at Auburn [Auburn Hills, Michigan]--

DELK: Mm-hmm, neutral, neutral site.

MACY: Had a [Massachusetts] player name Marcus Camby, right?

DELK: Yes.

MACY: And who's the coach on the team?

DELK: John Calipari. The young John Calipari.

MACY: (laughs) What do you remember about that game?

DELK: I remember it good. You know, that team was an Elite Eight team in ninety five. I mean so they returned their back court of [Carmelo] Travieso and [Edgar] Padilla. So Padilla at the college played a year. Marcus Camby, Donta Bright was a McDonald's All- American during my year when I came out in '92, they were a solid team. You know a team that, you know, just like we did, they return players. And it wasn't like we lost to a team that wasn't good or a team that was questionable. You know, they were a solid, and they were really 00:59:00good team. And at that time, they were ranked maybe fourth or fifth in the country. So that means the you know, the NCAA, the coaches, everyone thought of them as being a really good team.

MACY: Yeah.

DELK: And, you know, so we didn't just lose to one of the bottom teams in our conference, we lost to a team that potentially, you know, gets to the Final Four.

MACY: Well, you roll off twenty seven in a row after that.

DELK: Yeah, got hot.

MACY: I think that got quite, quite a run. And then all of a sudden the talk is, should they lose one or should they not lose one? (Delk laughs) Take that pressure off them.

DELK: Right.

MACY: Is that a, well, as a player, what were you thinking about at that time?

DELK: We played, you know, we didn't think about losing. We didn't want to lose a game. I mean, because we knew, you know, losing means it gives, give teams, you know, something to talk about, gives the media something to talk. When you've won that many games it's kind of like, you kind of become the villain because Kentucky's always on TV and people start to dislike it when they start to see a team too much. and I figured that, you know what? And now 01:00:00they talking about us! But the great thing that year was we stayed number two all year. So as we lost a game being number one, we lose to UMass. They stay number one all year. We number two. So it's not as much pressure when you're number two. Everybody want to be number one. Number two, you don't get the same kind of support, you know, support from the media or it's not as exciting to crash the floor, to run out on the floor. But that year, it was really good because, you know, just being number two, you know, we just really stay in our lane. We was happy with it. We knew at some point in time we'll get a chance to, you know, we knew was going to go to the Final Four that year. And we just wanted to play against the team that we had lost to. And, you know, it was it couldn't have been, couldn't have been a more, couldn't have been a better story for, for our '96 team.

MACY: Well, obviously, you win the SEC regular season. We take on Mississippi State in the finals of the SEC tournament and you lose them, 84-73, which, you know, some people think, that's probably not the one, well, if you got to lose 01:01:00one, that's probably not the one you want to lose.

DELK: Right.

MACY: --because it's right before the tournament starts.

DELK: Right.

MACY: You know how Kentucky fans will think about the different stories, storylines, putting--

DELK: They're coaches within them within themselves.

MACY: (laughs) From a player's, though, standpoint, after you lost to Mississippi State, I mean, again, another good team, Erick Dampier, was on the team. Dontae Jones, I think, had a big game. Darryl Wilson at--

DELK: solid guard. Really good, I liked Darryl Wilson, had good game.

MACY: --are really good. Like there was a really good game. So what was the team mindset after losing that game? Maybe talk about getting ready for the NCAA tournament.

DELK: When we lost to Mississippi State, I remember our junior year. They beat us actually in Rupp Arena, one of my two losses here in Rupp Arena was against, one was against Mississippi State on Valentine's Day. So we play them down in Starkville, I'll never forget, I said, you know what? This is personal. And we beat them by 20 on their home court. And by the time we got to the SEC tournament. We knew they would compete, they were really good team. Like I said, they had two pros: Darryl Wilson was a solid guard. He guarded me well. We was similar players, but, um, you know, we didn't go and we didn't take 01:02:00this thing lightly. I mean, Dontae Jones got hot. I mean, in one player get hot during the NCAA tournament or SEC tournament game, one player can win a game. And we just really didn't have that one player that that could shut him down. So he was the player that really hurt us the most. And it was a-- everyone say it was a good loss. We needed that loss before we went into NCAA tournament. But we didn't go in trying to lose. And I remember Antoine and Coach kind of getting into it in the second half and he benched in the second half. So it was a statement to him that, you know, you're not big on a team. But also we knew how good we were.

MACY: So really no doubt crept in your all's mind. It was just a matter of just kind of refocusing.

DELK: Yeah. You got to retool. Go back to the drawing board. Look at some more film and get back focused because, again, what we were able to do, going back to what I said earlier, we were able to put consecutive games together. So now we just got to win six. We won twenty seven it's going to be easy to win six games. 01:03:00(Macy laughs) That's how we looked at it, that was our approach.

MACY: Well, again, you thumped quite a few teams. San Jose State in the tournament, beaten by 38, Virginia Tech by 24, Utah 31. Wake Forest had a guy there you may remember, Tim Duncan, beat them by 20.

DELK: Right.

MACY: I remember that game. And that, uh, it seemed like the game plan whenever Duncan got the ball. You double teamed him and just pretty much walked him right off the court with that draft.

DELK: Well, we doubled teamed them. Which most times when you see a double team, it's going to be a big and maybe a small, but we double teamed him big on big. So you have 6' 10", 6' 10" and Walter and Antoine two active long athletic bigs. And it made it hard for him to see out of, out of the double team. And he struggled, you know, and like I said, we had really good guards on the weak side. They were able to read passes. And so we really just focus on him, which Coach Pitino was really great at taking the team's best player out. If you got, 01:04:00you would have to have two or three other guys to complement that really good player. And we, we saw he didn't have that. So we took it away from him. And you know, when you can do that now, other guys got to step up. And we were able to guard those guys one-on-one.

MACY: But I remember that trap. It was a physical aggressive trap.

DELK: Oh yeah. It wasn't--but, you know, that was our game plan. Our game plan was to double any really good big, big on big because it easy for big to throw the ball over a guard's head. So as soon as I see that guard coming, I can already make a pinpoint solid good pass and my shooter. But when you come in big on big, it's hard for those guys because most times, you know, you never see two bigs double a big because now you're leaving that backside open for, you know, an easy dunk.

MACY: So this sets up a rematch with UMass. And you talked about Coach Pitino learning when he gets the Final Four that he's got to be willing to make some adjustments.

DELK: Yes.

MACY: A team that had beaten you earlier in the year. What kind of adjustments did he make?

DELK: Well, also, you know, we were ready to play them. I think early on and you 01:05:00know, another team we face, we faced my sophomore year, we had beaten them. And, you know, like I said, we knew how good they were. We fight. I think we played them two or three times before we play them during the ninety-six year early on. And we lost to them in Detroit. But this team was solid. They had two really good backcourt players, [Carmelo] Travieso. Um, he was really good and solid as far as like making decisions, knocking down shots. And you know, we knew Marcus Camby was going to be a low. You know, they would have to throw the ball to him. And we were just hoping that our strategy that we did against him, dunking, was also going to work against him and make him turn the ball over. Um, but as far as pressing them, we knew it was going to be, you know, they, they were ready for our press. You know, we knew there was a guard that could play the forty plus minutes it needed because he was like, say, he was strong mentally and he was in really good shape. And that, that team was confident because guess what, they beat us early. You know, when you when you face a team, you beat them 01:06:00early, you know, in your mind, you're always know it's going to be easy game. They it wasn't to be an easy game. But, you know, they thought that, OK, we wasn't going to get their best game. And we knew that if we played our game, knocked down shots, guarded that we were the better team.

MACY: This game was in the Meadowlands, if I, I'm correct--

DELK: Mm-hmm.

MACY: In New Jersey. Whether this game or the earlier game, Coach Pitino having gone to UMass, uh, did he ever mention anything about that?

DELK: No, he didn't. He really didn't, you know, we were, we were about taking care of business. You know, it wasn't about, you know, the college that he had graduated from. I'm playing with Dr. J. How great UMass was, you know, he knew he had a special team and he had to keep us and he kept this focus. Um, and when we got there, you know, like, listen, you know, don't be satisfied. And I was a player because I had gone to the Final Four as a freshmen, I wasn't satisfied just getting to the Final Four. I think a lot of teams who haven't gone and players who haven't gone there, just happened 01:07:00to be there. You know, my mindset was I want to win. I want to be a part of history because I remember as we started this season, Coach was telling us is that we have a lot of great scores, he said, but you had to sacrifice something in order to be a part of history. And when you're young, you're not really understanding what he's talking about as far as being a part of history. And uh, so when we got there, you know, I think, you know, I remember saying this is our time.

MACY: Well you knock them off, 81-74. So it sets up a final game against Syracuse. Jim Boeheim, coached the team. You had an outstanding game, 24 points, 7 of 12 from behind the three point line.

DELK: Mm-hmm.

MACY: And I read an article looking back where Coach Pitino said really didn't take a bad three. The team took, I think, twenty seven threes that game. And there's a highlight of you hitting one kind of falling down.

DELK: Right. That was my phantom flopping. You know, I really didn't get hit that hard, but I sold it, hey, and the referee bought it (both laugh).

MACY: Ron Mercer had 20 off the bench. They had obviously an outside team. John 01:08:00Wallace set a big game. Twenty-nine--

DELK: Yeah he did. That, playing Syracuse was, it was different because, you know, we really hadn't during that year, because we had so many good shooters, we never really saw a zone. And that was their primary defense. So we knew we was going to see it. And it was about taking good shots, rebounding out of the zone, getting easy to look for the shooter. And, you know, we was hoping that we could just wear them down. But to me, it was of all the games we played, it was our worst game. And it's it's fun, you still win a championship game. But, you know, we didn't shoot the ball particularly well. I remember, you know, we just had our twenty year reunion. We missed so many shots. I missed a couple of layups. We missed a couple of shots down. We could have easily been up 10 points the first half. And I don't know if it was the nerves, but we missed a lot of chippers early on.

MACY: You think so that maybe, too, from being so up after knocking off the 01:09:00UMass team?

DELK: It could have been. I knew I was coming off being cramping, and so I had to do a couple of IVs, you know, the night before because I had started cramping in the UMass game and Coach was taking me in and out of the game. I was drinking, drinking water and they was doing everything they could to kind of get me back in the game. So I was just happy that I was able to play in the championship game. But once you get to that point as a senior, you know, you want to leave as a winner. And, you know, like, say, Walter [McCarty] and Mark [Pope], we all paid our dues. You know, and it was our opportunity to not only get there, but now we're in position to win. So your game plan hasn't changed, but also your mindset.

MACY: Yeah, even though like you said, you weren't maybe playing your best game, but you got up by 13. But again, John Walsh kind of put his team on his back--

DELK: Mm-hmm.

MACY: --cut it all the way down to two.

DELK: Right.

MACY: Did your nerves come in a little bit there. What were you thinking?

DELK: I don't think so, but, you know, it was a team that wouldn't go away. I mean, it was one those teams you look at and say they're not as talented. They only have one player is going to be a pro. We have all these pros 01:10:00whole they're still in the game. But if it was another game we played them, we would have probably annihilated them. But the team was well-coached. Their zone worked in their favor the second half, because, again, you know, you don't see a lot of zones. It's not going to be a coach's best defense. But Coach Boeheim, it's always been his best defense.

MACY: How cool is that? Your senior year, you win a national chairmanship, going out in style.

DELK: There is no greater feeling. I mean, just to know that, you know, coming in as a freshman, not playing, possibly wanting to transfer, seeing players come and go. Having played so many games, a tradition here at Kentucky to see the banners. Even a person like you, jersey hanging up. You know, it was a, it was a great feeling. You know, to to come back from the Meadowlands, you know, being crowned national champion. And it started, as you know, as a freshman and ended as a senior. And just playing for Coach Pitino is kind of like I give back to 01:11:00what he gave to us.

MACY: Coach Pitino, I think it was came up, somebody did, with the nickname, which Kentucky fans like to have, "The Untouchables."

DELK: Yes.

MACY: What's that mean to you and me?

DELK: It means it was a bunch of guys that sacrificed, we committed on both sides of the ball. We love playing with each other. We enjoyed the game and we loved the game. And just playing for Coach Pitino and being named Untouchables, me, we felt that it was a team that was special because of our winning streak. How bad they beat up on us? But how we how much fun we had. We had a lot of fun. We enjoyed it.

MACY: Well you finished your career with playing 133 games in a Wildcat uniform; 1,890 points; 283 3s made; 47% from the field; 39% from 3-point line; 70% from the free throw line. 210 assists, 201 steals. When you look at those numbers now 01:12:00that you're getting a little bit older.

DELK: Yes, I am.

MACY: How does that make you feel?

DELK: You know, it's funny when you come here and you have, you have, uh, no points, no rebounds or assists. Don't have any steals. Is you never, you don't know how your career is wanting in and you don't know what kind of statue you want to put up or if you ever going to be a guy who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, have his jersey retired, win the championship, go to the Final Four. You don't know any of those things. You know, you just come in and you're a freshman and you're just playing basketball. So as my you know, as my career as an NBA player, coaching, there was stuff for ESPN. And I look I reflect on my career and I always think about what if I had a left Kentucky? None of those stats will be available. No one knows where Tony Delk is. So it means a lot just to have laced up and play at Rupp Arena and play 01:13:00against so many great teams. But just a tradition itself speaks volumes for anyone who comes and puts on that blue jersey, plays in front of 24,000 fans. Have this state of Kentucky embrace him being from Tennessee? You know, this is like my home away from home. So to have won a championship here in Kentucky, you know, is one of my greatest highlights, definitely one of my great highlights as a basketball player.

MACY: And you talked about the jerseys hanging from Rupp. What's it mean to you to have your jersey now hanging from the rafters of Rupp?

DELK: It means I'm old! (laughs) No, It means you, you're, you know, you're a legend like yourself. You know, we put in a lot of hard work. You know, you don't come in thinking you're got to be one of those players hanging up there. You just love the game so much, want to play the game, have fun, enjoy yourself, and if you're in a position to win some accolades. It would be great. But to go up there with so many of the greats, you know, going back to the forties to fifties to sixties, seventies, eighties, um, speaks volumes for this 01:14:00university and all the players that have come and gone and just where the tradition has always been. You know, it has it, it's felt, maybe fell off for a couple of years, but, you know, not in this state. This state is going to embrace the good teams, the bad team. They just embrace players because, you know, to come here, you're going to be loved by millions of people.

MACY: We've talked a lot about Coach Pitino, obviously a big part of your career. But if you had to describe him to someone who maybe didn't know him, how would you describe him both as a coach and as a person?

DELK: Uh, as a coach, fierce, competitive, um, loves the game, um, has made tremendous sacrifice from his family to give to so many players and coaches. And that's a difference when you look at someone who likes or loves something, is their commitment to it. He was dedicated to making us the best people, on and 01:15:00off the court, even furthering our careers, to give us the opportunity to play on the next level. And then once we finish playing, just still being a friend. That, you know, being a mentor, uh, coach, he understands the roles of a, of an adult, that when you're 18, 19, you know, he has, he sees your future. And we don't see that. And that's what I really appreciated about him and admired the most is he put us in position to be successful.

MACY: What if I say Bill Keightley, what goes in your mind?

DELK: Oh, Mr. K? Unbelievable. I loved Mr. K. I mean, this is a tremendous man. You know, just his loyalty to this university, how much he loved each and every one of the players, you know, from former players, you know, to even the guys who just came in. He just had a, a, I would say, a smile that was contagious and seemed like he never had a bad day. Mr. Keightley was, you know, was special to 01:16:00so many of us players. And just to see him, you know, just smile and how Coach moved him down and made him part of the family, uh, you know, because being the equipment guy, sometimes they get left out. But we looked at him as being one of our coaches. He was like, he was like the grandfather on our team. When we needed something, I'll never forget, um, we were wearing Converse, and I said Mr. Keightley, these shoes are killing my feet. And he was like, Tony, we got all these different styles and seemed like you don't like any of these styles, you're pampered, you're just a freshman. And by the time I became a senior, I never forget, I went to Coach. And I said, Coach, I'm going to have a problem with my feet. And I say I need to wear some different shoes. So he goes and tells us Mr. Keightley."Can you go out and get..." He's like, he's like "Delk, I tell you. You know what? If you wasn't such a good player, I wouldn't get you these shoes." So long story short. He goes out, buys me some Nikes. You know, we have a Converse deal. He said, "Listen, I need you to tape 01:17:00over the Nike sign so Coach P doesn't lose money." So he let me play in some Nikes. (laughs)

MACY: Um, the Kentucky fans.

DELK: Second to none by far of any professional team, high school, middle school, by far the best fans I ever played in front of. They have a love for the tradition, the former players, the current players. They embraced players from different, different states, which very seldom happens. You know where you can be from another state, finish playing ball here, and people really think you from Kentucky because they have so much love and they know the tradition and know the history of the game. And you know, they want to see the players be successful. So it's a, it's a state where it doesn't matter where you from. This will always be home.

MACY: Coach Calipari likes to call 'em crazy. (Delk laughs) Would you call them 01:18:00crazy or how would you describe them?

DELK: They're, um, we do have some crazy fans, but they're fanatics. They love, they love basketball. You know, when you grow up in a household and you see your parents love players, they love this university. They love teams. It would be hard for you as a kid not to like what your parents like, you know, and that's how my kids are, you know? I'm selling Kentucky on them. I just had to buy my daughters all these different jackets and t shirts going back. It was like, "Daddy, bring me something back from Kentucky." So even if they don't want to be Kentucky fans, you know your kids, you know you embedded in them. So and that's what I've done with my kids.

MACY: Talk a little bit about the bond that that '96 team had. I mean, you mentioned you just had the 20 year reunion. They like to talk about being the best team ever.

DELK: Right. (laughs)

MACY: But there is a special closeness that the teams have, but even more so 01:19:00when you win a championship.

DELK: Well, it is, because you went through the grind, the rigorous times of practicing hard and spending three, four, or five hours in the gym. You know, the classes, the flights, the bus trips. I mean, there's so many things that go into it, you know, just from leaving your family, leaving your parents, leaving your brothers and sisters, leaving your friends from your hometown. The sacrifices of not going on. You know you know, when, when kids get out of school to have a spring break, we can't enjoy that. You know, the countless hours we spend in the gym, people really don't know the sacrifice the players make in order to play professionally, to play on a collegiate level. And you have to love it. And it's a lot of hard work. And you going to miss out on a lot of things that college students missed out on. And, you know, that's what we did. You know, but we made sacrifices and we all were committed to each other. 01:20:00We made sure that, you know, set the common goal. How do you achieve that common goal? You achieve that common goal by putting in the hours, putting in the hard work, hold each other accountable, being responsible. You know, if there was a curfew, everybody needs to be in, and we looked out for each other. We may show that, you know, if one guy was missing, we had to find out where that guy was that, you know. And that's what you do when you have veteran guys and veteran guys that the young players respect. So the younger players respected us because we were, we acted like professionals and when you have professionals, it teaches the younger generation, even the younger players, you know, that this was what it was going to take to be successful.

MACY: Now, this started with some of the older players that played for Coach Rupp. But we give each player that we're interviewing an opportunity. Now, you don't feel like you have to if you don't want to, (Delk laughs) but seemed like especially Coach Rupp's players, they all had an impersonation of Coach Rupp. So if you want to do an impersonation of Coach Pitino, your favorite, feel free at this point.

DELK: I really don't, really don't. You know what? Coach, he was just a fiery 01:21:00guy, you know. And, you know, he would constantly walk up and down a sideline and he would scream things at you that you can't even, that we can't even say in this interview. (Macy laughs) And he's fired coaches not, not taking it personally. But Coach was, I look back and he was just really this a mentor. And he was such a good coach. And um, and, you know, the one thing I do admire about him, you know, going back to how much he loved us and loved his family, his kids, is that he spent so much time, you know, and going back to the sacrifices that, you know, as a coach we don't look at, there is 15, 20 hour days that those guys spend. And I'll never forget just coming to the gym one morning, like maybe four or five. And, you know, I'll look up there, you know, course at the Memorial Coliseum where his office set, that light would be on. I know he can't be in here at five in the morning, but it was his job as a head coach to beat everyone to the gym. And just so his 01:22:00drive instilled in all of us. And, you know, you look back and I just say, man, just a wonderful, wonderful coach to have played for. And, you know, just always just forget, I never will forget him just screaming at me. And, you know, sometimes he'd grab my leg, he'd try to grab my jersey, but my jersey was so wet, he couldn't get it. He couldn't grab my jersey. So that was the only time I was, he would be so mad and so upset with me. He was trying to grab me. But, you know, I have about three or four percent body fat at that time. And I was like, you know what? Your hands aren't going to be able to stay on my jersey.

MACY: (laughs) You're drafted then after your UK career by Charlotte?

DELK: Mm-hmm

MACY: --and go on to a 10 year NBA career, is that correct?

DELK: Yes.

MACY: You played with some different teams. Which was your favorite stop along the way in that career? I mean--

DELK: Uhm, I had

MACY: I always give people. Well, you know, when you're a similar size, height-wise--

DELK: Right.

MACY: --to me. You know, I fooled them for 10 years ago, a guy of my height playing in a league of giants. (laughs)

DELK: Right.

MACY: So what was your favorite team to play with?

DELK: There were two teams, um, I really enjoy playing in Sacramento. I didn't play the first half of that season, but by the second half I finally got into the rotation and had a really good last 30, 40 games. I had a really good playoff against the Lakers and that team reminded me of my Kentucky team. Everybody into what we did. We did things together over the events. We went out together, had dinners together. So that team was really, when I look back, one of my favorite teams, because we just enjoy playing in Arco Arena. But the fans reminded me of Kentucky because it was the only show in town. So they treated us like rock stars and we really enjoyed just playing one another. Um, and then just to leave and go to Phenix, I really want to play with Jason Kidd. And I wanted to be a scorer, be a shooting guard. And I knew I had a big sides, nice sized point guard who can guard guys in my position. So it was a perfect system 01:24:00for me to go in there playing under [Phoenix Suns head coach] Scott Skiles, who really enjoyed, really enjoyed guards. He let the guards play their game. And even playing in Sacramento. Rick, Rick, [Sacramento Kings head coach] Rick Adelman the same thing. So those were two of my favorite coaches. And I can't leave out [Boston Celtics head coach] Jim O'Brien. Jim O'Brien when Coach P left, he actually, I remember him calling me, saying, you know, we're about to make a trade. So I was in Phoenix at the time, which was one of the places I loved playing. I love the weather out in Phoenix and to get traded to Boston in, I think it was, maybe February. It was the coldest place I'd ever gone because I spent three years in California, two years at Phenix, and now I get traded in Boston where I didn't have any warm clothes. So I really, you know, wasn't looking forward to it. But you know, one of those organizations where the team had great tradition. You know, you get a chance to see a, a, Bill Russell, [John] Havlicek. I mean, it just, it was just 01:25:00extraordinary just to see those trendsetters of the NBA and just how they really, really enjoyed the game of basketball in Boston.

MACY: After your, well, at the end of your NBA career, how did you know it was time to stop playing?

DELK: I think I probably still could have played a few more years. I think every player even yourself, as well, as we end, we see, we see ourselves playing three or four more years. I still got it. And I knew I still had it. But my body started breaking down like I started having, I remember the last year I played overseas, when I was in Greece. And when I got back, both of Achilles were probably as sore as they had ever been. And overseas it's a whole different ballgame. They practice. They remind me of college. I hadn't practiced that hard in, you know, probably ten, eleven years, but it was a setback. And like I said, I think your body doesn't respond the same way it does. And most importantly, I stopped liking practice. I love playing in game. But, you know, once you know how to play the game, you know, practice of more of like walking 01:26:00through, wa--watching films. You know, there's not so much is going to change. And, you know, when you stop liking practice, your body don't respond the same, that's when I kind of knew it was time for me to go into another, start another career.

MACY: So after your NBA career, I know now you do some SEC network work. But, uh, what else have you been doing since, since you finished?

DELK: Uh, training kids in the summertime. I get a chance for about three or four months. I have about 25 to 30 kids. I've been training and I got a real good Texas Morning, one of my kids, I started training last, last year. He made the middle school team. So that put a huge smile on my face, just knowing the hard work he put in. And, you know, just listening to what, listening to what I was telling about the game, what's going to help him and just being aggressive. So, you know, to see those kids as you train make teams and them come back and, you know, you see, you put a smile on their face, but something that they worked hard for actually achieved it. And I'm also just spending 01:27:00time with my own kids. You know, I think as you become a head coach or assistant coach, you kind of neglect your family. You know, your wife, your kids. And doing it for, you know, the four years, here, two with Coach Cal [UK head coach John Calipari], two with [head coach] Marvin Menzies at New Mexico State. I really started missing my kids. And I really wanted to go back and be a dad. So I'm really enjoying spending time with them, going to lunch, going to dinner with my oldest 18 year old daughter and kind of making sure I stay, stay up on what's going on in social media. So it's been fun.

MACY: Do you have a favorite story or favorite memory of your days at UK?

DELK: Uh, my favorite---

MACY: It doesn't necessarily have to be on the court?

DELK: Um, I think just playing cards with the guys, you know, us just, you know, just sitting around talking, maybe playing pool. Ping pong was a favorite game of mine at the lodge. But just sitting around talking basketball, because even as a kid, up until, you know, you finished playing and if you go into 01:28:00commentating, your whole life has been basketball. But sometime we just like to go away from that and do other things and let people know, you know what? You know what, I do like pool, I do like ping pong. I like playing games. I think just the card games that Walter and I would play against, you know, we were, we were this duo. We were really good at cards. And we might have done some cheating every once in a while. But, you know, we were competitive playing cards. And, you know, it was just, that was one of the fun, funner things that I did because it's relaxing. You know, you still dealing with numbers. You have to remember what's been played. So when you get a partner, you're able to read off one another's kind of like on the court. You know, you in sync with, with your point guard, he's in sync with the coach. And that's how it is with cards. You know, it's the competitive game, but it's a game where you have to think.

MACY: Um, how would you like to be remembered by the UK fans thirty, forty, fifty years down the road--

DELK: Uhm.

MACY: --maybe when you're long gone? How do you like to be remembered?

DELK: You know what he, the sacrifice, the sacrifice that I made, like I said, leave my family to leave the state of Tennessee where, where I was heavily recruited by Memphis State and Tennessee and by other teams. But there was something here that was special from Coach to the fans to my teammates. Um, and then just helping lead this team to a championship from where you won it in '78. That was a huge gap. And we were able to accomplish that goal. And, you know, we all collectively look back and say we look back at the '78 team and the team that won it before us in, you know, '48, those teams that, they were special. So that's something, as Coach Pitino told us beginning, at the beginning of our '96 season, you should want to be a part of tradition. And tradition means put a banner up here. That's what they going to remember. And that's the one thing I look back in as I played all those years in the NBA, everyone 01:30:00always talk about me playing at Kentucky. It's not about my years in the NBA. It's like, dude, you played at Kentucky! You're Tony Delk, Kentucky! So I'm basically tied into Kentucky. They can't get rid of me!

MACY: Thanks, Tony, I appreciate it.

DELK: Thank you.