Rachel Banham kept the same gameday ritual throughout her illustrious Gophers basketball career. She’d wear a Kobe Bryant T-shirt under her practice uniform during walk-through, then keep it on the rest of the day as she attended class.
“It helped me stay in that Mamba mentality,” she said.
It wasn’t the same shirt every time. She has 20 or so Kobe shirts in her wardrobe, so she rotated them. She also has three Kobe game jerseys and is planning on buying another one.
Banham wasn’t just a fan. She and Kobe became friends, which still seems surreal to her, but their connection has made this week especially emotional as she processes the death of her basketball idol.