It's healthy for our kids to look at this as we're the No. 1-ranked conference in America, and we've been able to finish .500 with us and Michigan State, both finishing 8-8 in our league and splitting with one another throughout the regular season. Obviously (the Spartans) are going to be a team (in the NCAA). No one is talking about them not being in. |
It's nice to have seniors remember those things, and internalize those things that we talked about at the beginning of the season. Having players back makes us a much deeper team, and it makes us a different ball club. |
It's obvious that we need to continue to take steps climbing the ladder. We are moving our program in the direction where we're going to be very proud. We're maturing and more than anything else, you see the confidence growing. That's the key word for us. |
It's obvious we have other options and weapons and that's been one of the keys for us at this time of year. With depth, fresh bodies and fresh legs, you see guys who have been out have an opportunity to reconnect with their games. Their confidence is up and so is ours as a team. |
It's one of those things you can't sit here and cry over. You move forward and do the best you can. It certainly does not help us with those key guys out like that. |
Lester has arguably been our most consistent player since he's been here. And it's obvious when we haven't had him we haven't been the same team. That's not an excuse. That's an explanation. And it's an accurate one in our minds. |
Maybe I've been cautious with him, but it's in all of our best interests. I don't know what is realistic, but one thing we've seen is that these kids are not the same when they first come back from an injury. I think it takes a while. |
Maybe it was something we couldn't handle. |
Not practicing today probably leads us to believe it might be a stretch for Wednesday. |
Obviously it was a disappointing ending and loss. You can certainly look at a lot of different stats and reasons but none more telling than 24 turnovers. That was our undoing and it was unfortunate for us. I thought our kids gave great effort, especially our seniors, and I'm very disappointed for them to end their career home game with something like this. |
Obviously, for us to win one or two more games wouldn't hurt. But we're the No. 1-ranked conference in America and we've been able to finish .500 along with Michigan State. We're both 8-8 and we split with one another. No one's talking about Michigan State not being in. |
Obviously, one possession here or there was going to determine the outcome for either team. We certainly need more production from a few of our other guys. |
On the floor, I thought we had a terrific defensive performance. I thought we were very active, I thought our team shared the basketball really well. We certainly tried to take care of it. Obviously, with 23 assists and 13 turnovers, for us, that was the difference. |
One of the real positives for us throughout the tournament so far is that we've been able to go 10 deep. We used different combinations, and different opportunities presented themselves. |
One possession here or there was going to determine this game for either team. Dee's three-point play late was somewhat of a dagger, but he's done that a few times. |