Virginia's Darion Atkins was so disappointed on Sunday that he couldn't hide his frustration over seeing his college career end with a 60-54 loss to Michigan State in the NCAA tournament.
How bad was the senior forward feeling after seeing his college career end with a second straight loss to the Spartans in the NCAA tournament? Bad enough that the publicly questioned the desire of his teammates and then described the second-seeded Cavaliers using a perjorative for female anatomy.
Here's the full-context transcript of Atkins two responses (via @martinrickman):
Q: You played so well in the first half. Did you feel like you were alone out there at times?
A: To be honest, yeah, I felt like I wanted it more than a few other guys on the team. I felt like I tried to rally everyone together and bring everyone together in the second half than the first half. It was just a little bit too late to get things going.
Q: About 16 and a half minutes left, [Branden] Dawson scores after Michigan State gets two offensive rebounds. [Assistan coach] Jason Williford jumped off the bench and stuck his finger in [Mike] Tobey's chest and started yelling at you guys. Was that a particularly heated timeout for you guys?
A: Yeah, that was. That was a gut check and heat check. I felt like we were just playing like some p------ to be honest. I mean, I don't know.
To his credit, Watkins did play with a lot of energy, turning in 10 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks. One early rejection of an Alvin Ellis dunk served as the lone early highlight for Virginia.
Of course, it's not news that the rest of the Virginia team struggled, shooting only 30 percent from the field and 12 percent from behind the 3-point line.
But while several of his teammates might agree with Atkins' assessment, it's probably a good bet that Atkins apologize to them for his comments once the heat of disappointment has worn off.
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