UTEP Men’s Basketball Remembers Kobe Bryant

The sports world is still stunned over the death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant. The 41-year old, his daughter Gianna, and junior college baseball coaching legend John Altobelli were among the nine people who died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. All of them were travelling to Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks for Gianna's basketball game.

NBA teams have taken 8 and 24-second violations at the start of their games to pay tribute to Bryant, who wore numbers 8 and 24 during his career with the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA postponed the Clippers-Lakers game which was scheduled for tomorrow night, and it will be rescheduled at a later date. Thousands of people have paid their respect at Staples Center and Mamba Sports Academy.

UTEP men's basketball head coach Rodney Terry was coming back from church when he first heard about the helicopter crash. He spent a good portion of the next 24 hours with his team talking about Bryant's legacy on and off the court. 600 ESPN El Paso was at UTEP basketball practice today and Duke Keith had an opportunity to speak with Miners players to reflect on Bryant and his impact on each of them.

Former UTEP center Greg Foster joined me today on SportsTalk from Toronto. Foster, now an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks, had spent a season as a teammate of Bryant. I asked him what he would remember most about Kobe.