The two seniors missing on our team, it's put our players with nowhere to hide. There's real clarity on what guys do well and what guys don't do well. |
The word I would use to describe him is relentless. I don't know if I have ever been on a basketball court with an offensive player who is as talented as he is, [and] at the same time as nasty and relentless as he is. |
Their big guards bother us on defense and offense. By the way they choose to play their zone, they've had success taking Brian Thornton out of the game. He's obviously a big part of what we do. |
There are games that are going to be very difficult road games. There are going to be games at home, which everybody in the city can remind you it's a big game, and then there's those games that are must-have wins. And that's what (today's) game is; it's a must-have win. |
There is no lunch pop. Before, we'd get slammed at 11 o'clock - people waiting to sit down. And now, it's just a slow trickle. |
There were so many times where they would come out of a pileup, and then it's bounce pass, dunk. That's what makes them who they are. They have great depth and quickness. |
There's a lot of intrigue and mystery, and trying to find out what other people are up to. Every day is different. Shipping is a market, so it tends to fluctuate and peak. If you're looking for consistency, you're in the wrong job. You've got to be extremely driven and thrive on pressure. In fact, if you enjoy the adrenalin buzz - and it is an amazing adrenalin buzz - it feels more frustrating when the market fluctuates the other way and things go quiet. |
They chose to guard Stanley Burrell and really tried to take him out of the game. The silver lining is when you do that, you open the floodgates for some other players. |
They could have made us whatever seed they wanted. In our case, we've been climbing the mountain and we were able to put it together at the right time. We're the most excited team in the country. |
They have a hungry group of guys. |
They have a lot of different players who can guard (Burrell). When they switch screens, the next guy in line that takes him is a lot of times as quick. And I thought they did a really good job of keeping us out of transition tonight. |
They may be desperate, loose and tight. But the players are very excited about the tournament, make no mistake about it. We've certainly shown we can play with anybody in our conference. Now, whether we can break through and make those big plays to advance, that's going to be another story. |
They seem to be playing their best basketball now as they enter conference play. That's dangerous for everybody in our league. |
They're not disappointed or relieved. We won the game by 17; we won by a decent margin. We're going to be focused on getting off to a great start in our conference. We know we have a tough next game. |
This is a different team than the one I coached for many games and many weeks throughout the season. |