It's been a long haul here. There's been some pretty emotional games. I think we're going to be really tested Monday, physically and mentally. We'll see if we have anything left. |
It's been kind of hectic in some ways because you're here, there and everywhere trying to cram as many activities in as you can in a short period of time. But I think the closer you get to the actual event, the more it hits home with what's real about it opposed to in the beginning it's just an idea, just a thought. |
It's day-to-day. She said she felt pretty good (Friday), but right now it's going to be some down time for her. We'll give her a couple more days off and see if it keeps getting better. |
It's different than it was two years ago, ... People buy into teams and into personalities. We were coming off a national championship and we had the dominant personality in the country. Now we're coming off losing in the Sweet 16 and we have a bunch of nice kids that are just happy to be here. Maybe I'm going to have to rile some people up, start saying and doing stuff that stirs the pot a bit. |
It's different than it was two years ago. People buy into teams and into personalities. We were coming off a national championship and we had the dominant personality in the country. Now we're coming off losing in the Sweet 16 and we have a bunch of nice kids that are just happy to be here. Maybe I'm going to have to rile some people up, start saying and doing stuff that stirs the pot a bit. |
It's easier to fix the plays at the end because they are one-shot deals. What got us 13 down is a little bit harder to fix. I'd have disappointed if it went from 13 to 20. The fact that it went from 13 to two, that's a positive. But getting down 13 on your home court against a Rutgers team that we knew coming in was going to be hard to guard in the perimeter, I'm just really disappointed in the way we came out and played the game. |
It's going to be like this every night on the road. And I told our guys, more important than the win, I think, is we came out with something that was really important. We came out with a sense of, we're pretty tough and we're pretty resilient, and I don't know that we could have been like that a while back. So we've made progress. We've come a long way and I don't think it could have gone any better for us. |
It's interesting when you know somebody when they're 17 and they come out of high school and spend some time with them on the college level. I remember the Duke game was one of the best games she ever had when I was there. Things like that just stick out in your mind. |
It's kind of bittersweet, you know? I'm happy for her, and I'm happy she's at a place she enjoys being at, but you hate to see them in that situation. |
It's kind of odd. She coached players who won national championships. She made women's basketball acceptable. And yet, she's not in the Hall of Fame. People say it's because she didn't coach long enough. I don't care whether she coached three years. When you win three national championships, you're in the Hall of Fame. So there's a lot of people that aren't in that should be. |
It's never easy to lose and it's especially difficult to lose if there's a conference championship at stake. So there's a tremendous amount of frustration right now and it's going to take us a while for us to get over that. This is one of the bigger challenges that we've ever had as a coaching staff and as a program in the last 10, 15 years. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, I know how difficult it's going to be. |
It's not anything that you could ever prepare yourself for. And for someone who spends a lot of time talking, it really is the first thing that really renders you speechless because you just don't know how to express in words what it would mean to be part of this fraternity. And I still haven't figured out how to say it. All I can do is just look around bug-eyed at all the people that are here. |
It's not like you ever lose confidence or give up on people. I think players sometimes don't understand fully the amount of responsibility on their shoulders. As seniors, you have to take on that responsibility. |
It's not something that you really consciously spend any time at all thinking about, or gauging your reaction. It's kind of like a spontaneous thing that happens if you ever get a phone call saying you've been selected. |
It's real easy to when we're playing well because everyone contributes a little bit. |