South Carolina’s Frank Martin had a heartwarming exchange with a kid reporter

The No. 7 South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the No. 3 Baylor Bears on Friday night 70-50 in the Sweet Sixteen to advance to the Elite Eight. After the game, Gamecocks head coach Frank Martin was asked by a kid reporter from Sports Illustrated Kids, a kid version of the regular Sports Illustrated magazine, about how he coaches his team’s defense, and specifically about the technique and attitude of the scheme.

SI Kids reporter: “When you coach or teach your team defense, what’s more important, technique or attitude?”

Martin: “First of all, a lot of respect to you. that’s a heck of a question. I’ve been doing this a long time, and that’s the first time anyones’s ever asked me that, thats a heck of a question. Attitude comes first. We gotta have guys that are gonna believe in our mission, that are going to believe in what we do. Once they believe, then we can teach them the technique.”

Shoutout to this kid for asking Martin, a guy who’s been in coaching since the 1980s, a question he’s never been asked before. If anyone’s familiar with the media, being asked similar questions as a head coach happens a lot, especially for veteran coaches.

South Carolina’s defense held Baylor to just 50 points and 30 percent shooting from the floor on the night. The 20-point loss was Baylor’s worst in program history in the tournament, too.