I learned a lot about basketball. I learned more about life. |
I opted to finish school, and she offered me a job. The rest is history, as I spent nearly 18 years, or half my life, with her. |
I remember watching a 5-8 kid dunk with power, and she's a 10th grader. |
I should be the least nervous person here. I only had to do one thing to stand here tonight and that was to choose Louisiana State University as a high school senior. |
I think this has really been great for us, for the school and for the fans. |
I thought in several areas we got better today from the standpoint of players that don't play a lot of minutes got a lot of minutes and different combinations with some starters getting to rest and there not being a drop off. All of that is good stuff. |
I thought it looked like we had a couple of weeks off for a majority of the time. It's a matter of executing from a timeout to the floor. It's a matter of paying attention to detail, and as a unit that's obviously something coaches want their team to continue to get better and better at as the year goes on, especially with the slate we have ahead of us. |
I thought the biggest difference was the fact we were able to defend the basketball at the highest level. |
I walked out onto the court and seen the arena filled to the top. That student section is tremendous. When you hear and feel the crowd, that's what galvanizes you to better play. |
I wanted us to have a little more sense of urgency because we had an opportunity to play for a share of a championship. It's nice to see us understand that, process that and come out in the second half and establish some things that have been good for us all year. |
I was extremely frustrated about our start. The players are well aware of what they are capable of doing. They have to make each possession a masterpiece. They didn't come close to doing that today. |
I was pleased with our energy level throughout the game. Our trapping on the side and underneath put a lot of pressure on Alabama. We didn't let them get into anything. We forced turnovers and were able to get some points. |
I will never, ever try to stick a player back in there to get a record. There's a bigger picture out there. |
I'm not complaining about it at all. But we wasted about 7 1/2 or 8 minutes before we got into the scouting report offensively. |
I'm overwhelmed with emotion. These kids have been through so much personally. Not just the aftermath of Katrina, but their families. I'm just happy that we could bring a little bit of joy to some people who faced a lot of devastation. |