Kobe Bryant's former players remember his words during their first year of college basketball

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — On the fifth anniversary of that day — when the helicopter crashed, and she lost Coach Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and so much more — Kat Righeimer became a scholarship player at Northwestern.

The former walk-on, who played for Kobe Bryant with the Mamba Academy, soaked in the moment with her jubilant teammates. The timing, she said, felt like a sign.

“I look at it as like a gift from heaven, kind of from them,” Righeimer said. “Just like them telling me keep going, keep pushing.”

Keep working. Just like Kobe would have wanted.

Righeimer, 18, is one of six women from the Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball. A proud group that learned so much from Bryant — always Coach Bryant to them — forever connected by a club team and a tragedy that shook their world.

They are spread throughout the country — and right beside each other through text messages of love and support. Emily Eadie is at Princeton, and Annika Jiwani plays for Dartmouth. Annabelle Spotts just finished her first season at the University of Chicago. Mackenly Randolph is at Louisville, and Zoie Lamkin plays for Orange Coast College back home in Southern California.

As they moved through their first season of college ball, their conversations with Kobe were a frequent companion.

For Lamkin, it was all about repetition. Finish your breakfast, that’s what Eadie remembers. For Jiwani, it was the value of mistakes. Righeimer and Spotts focused on the mirror, and improving every day.

“At the end of the day, look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, did I get better today?” said Spotts, who is interested in working in sports after graduation, possibly on the business side. “And if not, fix that tomorrow. ... That’s one thing that always sticks with me.”

Bryant wanted Eadie to clean up her opportunities inside. When the 6-foot forward misses a layup or an easy shot with the Tigers, she often returns to what he used to say.

“In terms of finishing layups, because that was just something easy,” she said, “he was just like always just you can’t leave them on the table. You can’t leave your eggs and bacon on the table. ... Always got to finish your breakfast.”

When Lamkin first joined the Mamba team, she wasn’t very good with her left hand. So Bryant suggested brushing her teeth and turning on the TV with her left hand.

“He was like, ‘If you’re struggling with something ... just continue to practice on it,’” said Lamkin, a 5-foot-7 guard who is averaging 13.3 points this season.

Jiwani had the reverse experience. The 6-foot forward was a lefty growing up, so Bryant would tape her left hand behind her back and have her do everything with her right hand. Jiwani remembers Bryant staying after practice to work with her.

She also remembers the value he placed on mistakes as growth opportunities.

“That’s just ... that doesn’t even apply to basketball. I think that applies to life for me,” said Jiwani, who hopes to become a doctor someday.

All the players fondly remember the two sides of Gigi — a fierce competitor on the court, and a lighthearted friend off it.

“She was very bubbly, I can hear her laugh in my head,” Righeimer said. “She was always smiling, always cracking jokes. But on the court, it’s like a light switch. She becomes like a beast.”

Eadie called Gigi "just the hardest worker.”

A lot like her father.

The players described Kobe Bryant as extremely detailed, focusing on the small things. He rarely raised his voice. He “just wanted to see us figure it out on our own,” Lamkin said.

Righeimer said she doesn’t think they touched a basketball at her first practice with Bryant. They just played defense and ran the whole time.

“He taught me to play my game, remember what I do best,” Mackenly Randolph said.

The icon part of Bryant’s life — all the basketball accolades and worldwide notoriety — that rarely surfaced with the players. For them, he was just coach.

“It never felt like he was this huge celebrity. But when we would go to these tournaments and all these people would come up and crowd our court, that’s when it felt real,” Eadie said. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is a big thing.’”

It's only now, when they look back as college players, that they have a better understanding of what they experienced.

“Throughout the whole time that I knew him he was such a global figure, such an influence on the whole game of basketball and everyone who played it,” Spotts said. “I feel like I couldn’t fully appreciate and understand it at such a young age. Where now I could have. It was just kind of a surreal thing the whole time.”

On Jan. 26, 2020, a helicopter carrying Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna — along with six other passengers and a pilot — crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles. They were traveling to a tournament at Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy.

Alyssa Altobelli, 14, and Payton Chester, 13 — two more Mamba teammates — were among the victims. Assistant coach Christina Mauser, Altobelli’s parents, Keri and John, and Payton’s mother, Sarah, also were on the flight.

At the academy that day, as the players waited for the rest of the team to arrive, there was a growing unease.

Spotts’ father, Jon, got everyone together in a meeting room. The helicopter had crashed, he said. There may have been some fatalities, he continued — a word that stayed with the players long after that moment, an almost incomprehensible possibility when connected to their friends.

Fatalities.

“I was only, I think 13 at the time,” said Lamkin, who is interested in becoming a nurse after college. “I didn’t realize that meant like people might have, you know, passed away. And so I asked my mom, what does that mean? And she told me, and I just remember everybody just like breaking down, crying.”

Fatalities.

“I grew up going to Catholic school,” Righeimer said. “I went to church twice a week, and I prayed a lot, but I don’t remember ever praying as hard as I did that moment. And I remember telling my dad, ‘What does this mean? What are we going to do?’”

The Mamba Academy team was a group of All-Stars in a local league before it turned into the club team. There were players added along the way, often involving a somewhat dazing encounter with Bryant.

The Mamba parents became friends, too. After the helicopter went down, they had to face their own profound grief alongside their children.

"I think it was bigger than it being Kobe Bryant for our team and for my family," Annika Jiwani said.

Feinberg reported from New Jersey.

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Northwestern women's basketball head coach Joe McKeown, left, talks with freshman Kat Righeimer, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Princeton's Emily Eadie (14), one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, looks on from a team huddle during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Dartmouth, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Northwestern freshman Kat Righeimer, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, poses for photo during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Northwestern freshman Kat Righeimer, second from left, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, works with teammates during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Northwestern freshman Kat Righeimer, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, works with teammates during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Northwestern freshman Kat Righeimer, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, is reflected on the court as he drives to the basket during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Princeton's Emily Eadie, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, cheers her team from the bench during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Dartmouth, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Northwestern freshman Kat Righeimer, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, poses for photo during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Dartmouth's Annika Jiwani, left, and Princeton's Emily Eadie, two of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, pose before an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Princeton's Emily Eadie, right, Dartmouth's Annika Jiwani, two of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, hug before an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

University of Chicago freshman Annabelle Spotts (14), one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, works out during NCAA college basketball practice, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

University of Chicago freshman Annabelle Spotts, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, poses during NCAA college basketball practice, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Northwestern freshman Kat Righeimer, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, works with teammates during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Northwestern freshman Kat Righeimer, center, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, warms up with teammates during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Dartmouth's Annika Jiwani, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, cheers her team from the bench during an NCAA college basketball game against Princeton, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

University of Chicago freshman Annabelle Spotts (14), one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, works out during NCAA college basketball practice, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Northwestern freshman Kat Righeimer, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, drives to the basket during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Dartmouth's Annika Jiwani, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, cheers her team from the bench during an NCAA college basketball game against Princeton, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Dartmouth's Annika Jiwani, left, and Princeton's Emily Eadie, two of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, pose before an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

FILE - Louisville forward Mackenly Randolph (4), one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, passes the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame, Sunday, March 2, 2025, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/John Mersits, File)

Dartmouth's Annika Jiwani, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, smiles as she acknowledges Princeton's Emily Eadie (14) at the end of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Princeton's Emily Eadie, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, places a basketball in a rack before the start of the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Dartmouth, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

University of Chicago freshman Annabelle Spotts, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, works out during NCAA college basketball practice, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Dartmouth's Annika Jiwani, left, Princeton's Emily Eadie, two of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, greet each other before an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, March 1, 2025, in Hanover, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Northwestern freshman Kat Righeimer, one of six women from Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Academy going through their first experience with college basketball, warms up with teammates during NCAA college basketball practice in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)