MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-American guard Remy Martin expressed enthusiasm ahead of his debut at the US NCAA Tournament Final Four for the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday (Sunday, Manila time).
In his final year in college hoops, Martin is headed into the biggest stage of his career.
After recently becoming a breakout star for Kansas late in the season, Martin is simply thankful for the chance to extend his fine play.
"I'm extremely excited, I mean getting to play in the Final Four, not many teams get to do that," Martin said in an interview organized by Fil-Am Nation Select.
"And just being able to experience this whole thing and being able to experience it with my brothers and being a part of Kansas is a big thing for me. So I'm very excited," he added.
Martin, after nursing an injury earlier this season, is peaking at the right time as he recently also nabbed the Most Outstanding Player award in the Midwest.
He was norming 16.7 points, 5.2 boards, and 3.2 assists in the four games of the Midwest tourney.
Now that he's set to play in arguably the biggest game of his career at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the 23-year-old hopes to put on a show.
"It's going to be a good game and the arena, it seats like 70,000 people so that's going to be the [biggest] I've ever played around. I like the crowd, I like the entertainment, so it's going to be pretty good," he said.
But according to Martin's Fil-Am coach in Kansas Kurtis Townsend, the Final Four game against Villanova on Saturday (Sunday, Manila) is only the tip of the iceberg for him.
After failing to be 100% for the Jayhawks all season due to his injury, Townsend says Martin looks to show everything that he's got.
"Remy told me this last weekend, you know, he didn't want to just get here to the Final Four. His goal was to win a national championship. So he's really focused," said Townsend in the same interview.
"I'm so happy for him just cause he was hurt, didn't get to show people what he was really like and now people are seeing him," he added.
Martin, Townsend, and the rest of the Kansas Jayhawks hope to show out and conquer Villanova to enter their first NCAA Tournament Championship game since 2012 and clinch their first title since 2008.
Townsend, the brother of the NBA's first Fil-Am player Raymond Townsend, was already with Kansas during their last title run in 2008.