It wasn’t exactly a trendy pick, but there were more than a few brackets out there that had 13 seed East Tennessee State upsetting 4 seed Florida. Buccaneer coach Steve Forbes knew his team had a pretty good chance considering the way Florida had been playing down the stretch, and he let his team know about it:
What a pep talk by East Tennessee State coach Steve Forbes pic.twitter.com/9bllaCRsJI
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 16, 2017
If you’re unable to watch and hear the video, here is some of what he said:
“I know the difference between good and great. I’ve seen great Florida. I see good Florida. Understand this: Horford, Noah and Brewer, they ain’t coming out that tunnel. They ain’t coming out of that tunnel today. They’re coming out of that tunnel with guys just like you. Just like you.”
No one is mistaking this Florida team for the one that won consecutive national titles a decade ago, but a little bit of fearlessness from the coach of a mid-major in the NCAA Tournament is always fun.
However, those comments can come back to bite you if your team ends up getting blown out, and they did. They were only down one at the half, but ended up losing by 15 points, 80-65.
But at the same time, an underdog needs to have that mindset if they want to be a Cinderella so why not be bold when you’re a mid-major like ETSU?
