(The Salukis) get a lot of publicity for their defense. I challenged them to show (SIU) how good our defense is. It was unbelievable in some stretches. |
Any one of seven or eight teams could win this tournament. Things are so close, it's really going to come down to making plays at the end of the game. Those who don't will be disappointed. |
Apparently, it was for a show of emotion for the second time after a call. That's the way it was explained to me. |
At this point sleep is way overrated in my opinion. What little sleep I did get last night, my wife said I had a smile on my face. ... There's plenty of time down the road for sleep, so we'll worry about that later. |
Being a player is more of a personal satisfaction. Now it's like being a part of the tradition and history of Bradley basketball and being a part of putting it back on the map. ... Seeing all the people now that have been affected. It's more fun to be a part of that. |
Being in this league, this is my fourth year and I've got a lot of respect for the level of basketball. We're continuing to make this upward climb to get national respect. |
Being part of this program spanning 30 years ... to see the jubilation on the faces of those people, and getting the calls and text messages from people enjoying this run, that gives me tremendous pleasure. Bradley basketball is back on the map in a big way. |
Bradley basketball is back on the map in a big way. I am proud to be a part of it. |
Coaches have an understanding how good this league is and it makes it tough to schedule up. The strength of our league has been our parity. |
Early on, we let him get going with some of his pet moves. Then he developed a ton of confidence, and even when we contested some of his shots, he knocked them in. |
Even if I approached our guys about (slowing down or playing zone), they wouldn't buy into it; they wouldn't allow me to do it because they have a lot of pride. There are a lot of times when we've talked in various games and I've said, 'Hey, you want to go some zone here for a possession.' Every time, they say, 'No, Coach. Put it on us. We'll guard them.' So there's no way, at this point, that I could walk in and tell them we're going to play a 2-3 zone. They would ban me. |
He got some of the butterflies out. He made some big plays for us down the stretch. |
He was absolutely a project. We thought maybe by his junior year he'd be ready to make an impact. |
He's very good at attacking penetration and making people adjust shots. He's our mistake-eraser. |
Hopefully the trickle-down effect from the exposure we received and from the experience we have can carry us now for yearly runs like this. |