National champion says players have to block out NIL noise during March Madness to win

The NCAA tournament is right around the corner, and teams all over the country are trying to figure out a winning recipe.

Richard “Rip” Hamilton, 48, helped propel UConn to a national title win in 1999 and was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. 

Hamilton also won an NBA title with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

Hamilton said the key to going all the way is blocking out the noise, especially in the NIL era.

“I think, No. 1, you got to be playing your best night in and night out, right? You just have to. You can’t have no off nights. I think the biggest thing for myself and my teammates was you gotta block out all the outside noise,” Hamilton told Fox News Digital in a recent interview with Red Baron.

“Because, during the NCAA tournament, every camera in your state is in your face. The bright lights are no brighter than it’s ever been all season long. You got some kids that have potential to play in the NBA,” Hamilton said. 

“We ain’t got time to talk about kids getting paid now, but you got agents and everything else right now telling you that, ‘Hey, you got to play this. You got to do this. You got to do that out on the floor.’ Everything’s about players’ brand, name, image and likeness. So, you got to be able to block all that out to come out and do one thing. That’s just hoop.

“Because if you hoop, you go out there and win as a group, you win as a team, you’ll get all the individual accolades.”

Hamilton is second on UConn’s all-time leading scorer list, and during UConn’s championship run, he averaged 24.2 points per game. The three-time All-Star said his alma mater is the best university in college basketball and thinks this year’s squad has a chance to win it all.

“We are the best university in college basketball, period. Men’s and women’s. Give the women a shout-out, too,” Hamilton said. “Dan Hurley’s done an excellent job with this group. I mean, if you see their style of play, the way we play, the way we get up and down the floor on both ends of the floor, and we compete every night. 

“Every game is our championship game. I think that’s what makes us special. We don’t really have any nights off, so it’s not something when the tournament starts, ‘Hey, we got to get prepared, and we got to do something different than what we’ve been doing all season long.’

“I like our chances, man. We got a great, great group of guys. We play together. We do it as one. And we probably got the best leader in college basketball, and that’s Dan Hurley.”

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Hurley led UConn to national title wins in 2023 and 2024. However, while Hamilton’s UConn squad is likely to be one of the heavy favorites this season, Hamilton said his favorite part of March Madness is watching the underdogs.

“I think that my favorite part about it is probably watching all the underdogs, right? I think that people have been watching college basketball all season long and everybody has their projected teams that are going to get there. But you just never know,” Hamilton said.

“I mean, it’s one game. It’s not like the NBA Finals where, hey, if you have a bad night, you come out the next night and redeem yourself. In college basketball, man, it’s one and done. So, you got to be prepared. You got to come out there. You got to be ready to go. But, also, the fans, like all the fans across the world, are locked in for five, six weekends to see who wins the national championship. I think it’s just probably the most exciting time of the year in terms of basketball.”

Many college basketball fans happen to get “sick” and call off work so they can relax at home and watch the tournament. Hamilton talked about Red Baron’s campaign of being a professional fan and being paid to watch the games at home.

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“You get to sit on your couch. You get to hang out. You get to eat some Red Baron pizza,” Hamilton said.

Four people can apply to become a professional fan and sit on the couch and eat pizza on Red Baron’s website for $100 per hour as long as they sign up before March 12. The skills required for the professional fan application are an elite couch presence with a healthy appetite. 

“During this time of the year, usually guys come and try to collect money from everybody to join everybody’s bracket. This is a great opportunity where guys can come out, kick it, hang out, sit on the couch, eat pizza and make $100,” Hamilton said.

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