Top 50 Christian Laettner Quotes

I loved my time in Minnesota. I loved it so much that I lived up there until 1999.

I pursued to have my team win as much as we could.

All I wanted to do was win. People have to remember that when I came to Duke, they’d started to get a reputation that they can’t win the big game. We were aware of that, and we hated it.

I was unique and still am unique.

The only thing I can control is winning on the basketball court.

I bought into everything Coach K preached to us. His whole philosophy.

I really looked forward to the opportunity to play for the Timberwolves. I went up there and gave it my all. I fell in love with the city and the people up there, even to the extreme where I met my wife up there.

You can only be that confident if you know you’ve done the work.

I always believed him. If Coach K said the sky will be purple when you get outside, I would have believed him.

I had an older brother that would beat me in everything, and then he would rub my nose in it, and that made me work even harder.

Honestly, the Carolina games I played in every year were more intense than the national championship games I played in – they had a better environment.

My biggest regret in life – well, one of them – is that I wasn’t muskie fishing from ’92 to ’96 when I was not married.

At Duke, the coaches would cover up for you. But with the Wolves, something happen,s and it’s in the papers, and I’m blamed. Things are run differently here – the wrong way, if you ask me. One man wants to blame another.

For my entire Duke career, people were gunning for us and hating us and wanting us to lose, so I got used to that right away. Every team is going to give you their best shot. Everyone wants to beat you.

I’m a little embarrassed to say I’m a little bit of a soccer dad.

People say I’m selfish. There might be some truth to that.

I love muskie fishing in the summer time.

I know I used to play basketball every day, whether it was for fun with my older brother or if it was organized basketball on teams.

No one thinks more highly of me than probably myself. I think that’s fine.

When you’re at home for Duke-Carolina, you have a crowd of close to 10,000 around you, loving you. That’s awesome. But it’s also a lot of fun in Chapel Hill, where it’s you, your teammates and your coaches, and no one else. I enjoyed the games at Chapel Hill a little more because of that.

I realize everyone has the image and perception that I was the worst person.

I’m versatile in every part of my game – except being nice, which I am only at home.

I don’t need you to love me. I don’t want you to hate me, but just don’t judge a book by its cover.

There’s gotta be a villain; there’s gotta be a good guy.

This is something people don’t realize about me, but I can laugh – and laugh at myself.

Larry Johnson was fun to watch.

It’s easier to work hard when you’re passionate about what you’re doing.

I’ve got a beautiful wife and a beautiful family.

How many people get to say a ’30 for 30′ is being made about them?

I enjoy being mysterious. I enjoy the notoriety it brings.

My whole freshman year at Duke, it was drilled into me that nothing was given to you, and you have to earn it, and this is a dog-eat-dog world, and blah blah blah, and blah blah blah. And you buy into it, 100 percent. You end up loving it. That’s the way it should be, right?

For whatever reason, the people that don’t appreciate Duke basketball or don’t pull for Duke basketball, they have a tendency to vilify one of the players. And a lot of times, it might be a white guy. And has it happened over and over in the past? Yes.

I played some ping pong with the guys on the T’Wolves team. I might have been the champ on that team, too. But ping pong is a big part of my life. I grew up playing it against my brother and my father when I was young. They used to kick my behind for a long time, so I got very good at it.

My senior year was crazy. We were defending champions, we were on national TV just about every weekend, and we were winning. Teams always brought their best when they went up against us, and we always matched it.

I don’t think the world hated Duke basketball before me.

Given the way Duke plays its offense and defense, in high school I was very interested in playing for Coach K. Then when you get there and see how good he is, you buy into it a hundred percent. He has a recipe for how to be successful on the court.

Well, my last year was 04-05 with the Heat, and I relaxed for a few years, and I said, ‘Well, what am I going to do?’ I’ve got to do my passion, and my passion is basketball.

I’d love to do movies.

I used to tell my mother, ‘Mom, when they write really flattering things about your son, don’t believe it all. And when they write really negative things about your son, don’t believe it all.’

I want to see kids go to college more.

My second choice would’ve been Carolina. And when I told my mother I was going to Duke and not Carolina, she just cried, and that made my decision process a little harder. But I still went with what felt right, and it ended up working out well for me.

I can’t say I go through life liking it and that I pursue to be hated, but I did pursue to be a good basketball player.

It’s not good to be a hater.

My freshman year, the hate was all directed toward Danny Ferry. And every year, there’s some new poor sucker at Duke who draws the ire of everybody.

Any opposing gym we go into, I want them to hate me. At the end of the game, I want to be beating their team so bad that they should hate me.

You can’t do something stupid at any time. If you do, you’re going to get technicals or flagrant fouls, or you’re going to get kicked out of the game or whatever.

My problem is being brutally honest. People don’t like that.

I root for John Calipari.

I like Minnesota. I’d be very happy playing there.

If you are not a Dukie, and Duke is having a lot of success year after year, you might get tired of it. They might not like your competing personality or competing persona, and if you are not a Dukie, or you don’t love Duke or Christian Laettner, then I can understand the hating on me.