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In His Words: UNM guard Darren Prentice

By Iliana Limón
Saturday, May 26, 2007

The Tribune handed the mike to University of New Mexico senior point guard Darren Prentice before he headed off for the Lobos' tournament in the Bahamas. Here's what he had to say:

I love the Spurs. They're my team and they're going to take it this year. There's no question in my mind.

When I was younger, I looked up to a lot of guys. I loved Michael Jordan, my dad, Anfernee Hardaway, Isiah Thomas and Oscar Robertson. I saw some tapes on (Robertson) and I loved his all-around game.

These extra practices before our trip have been really intense. They've made us all really sore. But it's given us a little bit more structure that we needed. We got some discipline and built up good team chemistry.

We're a lot more competitive, and the drills are way more intense for us. We're all pushing ourselves to get better and show the new coaches what we're capable of doing. At the same time, we're all teammates and still love each other at the end of the day.

I hope we come back to Albuquerque as more of a cohesive unit and as a team. We're a team right now, but the games and extracurricular stuff we do out there should help us really bond. And it should also help us get to know the coaches a lot more as well.

I love to swim. I have to see what color the water is first. I have to see everything before I get in the water. I know they have sharks and jellyfish and everything. I'm scared of all that stuff. I'm OK with the snorkeling if there's nothing in the water. But if there is something in there or I can't see, then I'll just have fun watching everyone else.

I don't know how many guys on team can actually swim or are worried about the jellyfish. I don't think Tony (Danridge) can swim very well, so it might be fun to see how he reacts out there.

It has been pretty hectic for all of us getting ready for this reward, but we're all pretty happy to have this opportunity. This is my senior year and my last chance to do something special, so I'm excited we happened to get this chance this year. I hope we make it back to the conference tournament championship like we did my freshman year. I just don't want this last year to be a rebuilding year and they're not like that. These coaches want to get it going right away.

I've changed a lot since my freshman year. I was really nervous when I first got here and didn't think I could play alongside guys like Mark Walters and Danny Granger. Now I'm a lot more confident and understand I have to be a leader this year. I know the Division I level a lot better now.

I was a military brat, so I got a chance to play in Italy, Spain, San Antonio (Texas) and Alamogordo when I was growing up. It gave a lot of great experience playing against different kinds of competition. I first got into basketball because my dad played basketball when he was growing up and really loved the game. My mom was a track star too, so athletes really run in my family.

I love our fans, and I know they get really disappointed when we don't win a lot of games. I just want them to know that we try really hard and push ourselves every night. We never want to lose a game, and are really excited about our chances to be a lot better this season.

During the offseason, I want to get a lot stronger, become a better point guard and be a better playmaker both offensively and defensively. This is my senior year, and I definitely want to be a strong leader and help us win.