After making school history and coming close to a major March Madness upset, Kennesaw State head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim didn’t hide how much the moment meant to him in a postgame interview.
As he sat with a host of his players, Abdur-Rahim became visibly emotional talking about how far the program had come to get to the 2023 NCAA men’s tournament.
A teary Abdur-Rahim said he was crying “tears of joy” at all his team had accomplished in going from rebuilding years to winning the Atlantic Sun Conference for the first time and making the Big Dance.
“We made a commitment to this university,” Abdur-Rahim said. “We made a commitment to these guys sitting next to me, man, that we were going to show up every day for, and when you get to a place like this…again, these are tears of joy because it takes a special group of people to commit to something and stay, to see that vision through.”
Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim cries "tears of joy" as the Owls' season comes to an end after a first-round loss to Xavier. Grab a tissue. Why March Madness is so special. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/LQMYMYztEi
— Kyle Boone (@Kyle__Boone) March 17, 2023
That is just awesome perspective from Abdur-Rahim after such a tough loss.
Kennesaw State has been one of the best stories out of this college hoops season, and they’ll be contenders for years to come when there are people like Abdur-Rahim leading the charge.