DICK VITALE

It is time for everyone to sit down - the NCAA, the NBA, the players union and the coaching fraternity - and come up with suitable solutions to these problems.

I'm living the American dream.

The NCAA model is outdated. If Steve Serby's a great player in high school, and an agent wants to represent you and wants to advance you money as a loan based on the fact that you're gonna be a high draft choice, so be it.

There's nothing like Cameron Indoor Stadium where the kids are right on top of you and the Cameron Crazies are going nuts. Rupp Arena with the Big Blue Nation and the passion of their fans is special.

TV critics came after me for overhyping LeBron. A lot of people don't know this, but I didn't want to do the game. I told ESPN, 'We're making this kid into something special.' I always follow orders, whatever my people want me to do.

Bottom line: college basketball is broken.

I'm a basketball guy. No sitcom guy. I don't care about all that jazz. I care about basketball. It's not me. And I stayed with what I did, and I'm very proud that I did that because I make a great living and I'm lucky and I get to be involved with the thing I truly love, and that's the game of basketball.

Mark Emmert, the head of the NCAA, makes millions. Coaches today are making millions. Who's not making anything? I don't want to hear about they get scholarships. Yeah, they get scholarships all right, they earn those scholarships.

I don't like the sleaziness, the corruption. I don't like the fraud that college basketball has become.

I still love the game. I still feel like I'm a 25-year-old. I really still love the game and feel as enthusiastic about the game as I ever have felt about it.

I told them that I cannot lie when a writer asks me what's my feeling not doing the game. I said I have to be honest. And my honest reply to you is, obviously, I'm a loyal team player. I will go where my bosses tell me to go.

I have a problem with honoring mediocrity in so many cases over teams that have great years.

The biggest thing in my life - the biggest - is raising dollars to help kids battle cancer.

One of my biggest gifts ever, my mother made a Yankee uniform for me as a little boy, and I wore it to bed dreaming I could pitch in the major leagues and then be a Yankee.

March Madness is an incredible three weeks. I firmly believe it's the greatest three weeks in sports. You have the Super Bowl; you have the World Series.

The Allstate March Mayhem Challenge is a great, great bracket challenge.

I got fired - November 8, 1979. And all of a sudden, I got a call, two weeks later, about doing a game on ESPN. And I truly said - Scotty Connal, the head of ESPN production at the time, was the guy that called me - I said, 'Man, ESPN sounds like a disease. What is ESPN? I know nothing about it, never heard of it.'

Really, UCLA's a great place as well, but they don't have the kind of environment they have here. The fans here have a passion.

The courtside seats belong to the kids.

Coaching to me is the ultimate high, especially when you have a game plan and you see that game plan executed to perfection. To see those players take what you put in front of them in preparation and turn it into a masterpiece - it doesn't get any better than that.

Glue guys aren't superstars. They're not the No. 1 option. They just do things only coaches really appreciate. The stars get the headlines, but glue guys help you get in the winner's circle. I don't think you can win without having that kind of player.

The glory of sport is witnessing a well-coached team perform as a single unit, striving for a common goal and ultimately bringing distinction to the jersey the players represent.

A loser is someone who makes excuses and alibis and blames everyone else for their losses and failures.

A winner is someone who can look in the mirror at the end of the day and say in pursuit of my goal and dreams I gave my best.

The clothes do not match my personality. I'm more of a very conservative, blue-blazer kind of guy. But as far as my personality, it's a lot of hot-dog mustard - have a lot of a fun and a lot of excitement. I feel like I'm 68; I act like I'm 12, talking about a game of basketball.