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Fans Loved Virginia Tech Player's Viral Quote Admitting Hokies Beat Low Expectations

Not everyone can be the best.

Tyler Lauletta

Virginia Tech Hokies forward Tobi Lawal with the ball as California Golden Bears forward Lee Dort.
Virginia Tech Hokies forward Tobi Lawal with the ball as California Golden Bears forward Lee Dort. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
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Virginia Tech men’s basketball saw its season conclude on Tuesday with a double-overtime loss in the ACC tournament to the California Golden Bears.

The loss capped off what had been a disappointing campaign for the Hokies, who finished the year 13–19 with a 8–12 record in ACC play.

But while it wasn’t a winning season, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, as forward Tobi Lawal noted after the game. Speaking with the Collegiate Times, a student-run, weekly publication out of Virginia Tech, Lawal delivered what will surely go down as the best quote of the college basketball season.

Asked what he was proud of in his first season with the Hokies after transferring from VCU, Lawal reflected that despite the team’s record, he was proud that they had outplayed many people’s expectations for their season.

“I’m proud of how far we came,” Lawal told the Collegiate Times in the locker room after the game. “What did they have us in the preseason? Maybe 14th or 15th? They thought we were going to be a--. I mean, we were still a-- but, you know, we weren’t that bad. You know what I'm saying? We beat expectations.”

Immediately, the quote was shared across social media as a brilliant example of athlete self-awareness, the power of finding the bright side, and the importance of student reporting.

Sports are hard. As is life. Sometimes you aren’t going to be the best. But if some people thought you were going to be the absolute worst, and you wind up being only a little bad, well, that’s a win, and one worth celebrating.

Kudos to you, Lawal and your Virginia Tech teammates. May you prove the doubters even more wrong next season.

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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.

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