University of Minnesota Athletics
Q&A with Brady Rudrud
1/13/2019 4:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Q: What is it like being a Minnesota native playing for your home state?
A: Growing up here, you're always going to the games as a kid and you want to play for the Gophers. It was something I couldn't pass up when I got the opportunity and it's been a blast the whole time
Q: Aside from high school, what was the Minnesota AAU scene like?
A: I think it's definitely grown. Maybe because of social media, but you see it a lot more. When I was playing, you got to know everyone around the state. When you're with your high school team you only play with your high school kids, but then you get to know everyone else with AAU. Coming here, you get to continue to play with these guys and it's fun.
Q: What excites you about this particular team for this season?
A: I'd say it's the closest team we've had, in terms of chemistry. Also we're one of the deeper teams than in past years, while last year we were pretty short on depth. We have a lot of pieces, and I think everyone can contribute
Q: How does having older and younger contributors play in to having a solid unit?
A: The competitiveness has been so much higher than in the last couple years, and I think that's because we have so many good players. Including the transfers, Marcus and Payton, they help us compete every day even when they're not playing. The freshmen have looked good and are ready to make an impact.
Q: What do you like to do off the court?
A: I like to be with friends. I'm not too big into anything in particular, but I like hanging out, going out with friends. Really whatever everyone else is down for. If we're hanging out, we're usually watching football or other games, playing cards. We have a tally of who wins the most. We like to play video games, Madden gets pretty competitive - that, and NHL. I'm actually not too big into NBA 2K, which is surprising.
Q: What makes this team so close?
A: We've all been here, it's one of our more experienced teams, so that helps. We all know each other pretty well now. The freshmen are all from Minnesota so we all knew them. Lastly I think we're all good guys so we all get along well. There's really no clowns on the team, so there's no problem with that.
Q: What do you like about this roster being so Minnesota-heavy?
A: It's great because we've known each other for awhile. So that's nice to go through college now with them. Being from Minnesota, we know what it means and how special it is to wear the Minnesota jersey and we take pride in it.