All these kids are capable of being the one. At one time, Nick was out this year, and the kids just stepped up. What can you say when you have kids like that? |
Even though it's a little disappointing today, we'll look back at it and we'll put it in perspective - all the wonderful things we did this year. When you live in a small town, these are the things you live for. You can never take it away. These kids won a league title. These kids were 19-4 and these kids were district runners-up. |
For me, I started thinking about next year there in the fourth. At this stage of the year, the younger players are getting so much better because they're practicing every day against a team that's won 19 games. That's a wonderful thing to be around. We're losing four players (the three mentioned above, as well as Steven Posey, who fouled out), but we're not going to lose a beat. We won't allow it to happen. The younger kids have to be ready to step in. |
Good teams can come back from that. You can look back in history. You can look back at this year. Good teams that get down by 15 or so, they're still able to come back. Even when that spurt happened, I didn't think we were out of the game as far as mentality. We just couldn't overcome it. We just have to grow as a program. |
I don't think they have too many weaknesses. We have to match their intensity and match their patience and composure. They're a team that has won many games over the last few years. Those kids are seasoned. |
I told my wife, my schedule's open for the next couple weeks. So we might as well just keep playing. |
It's been a key for us all year, to get that pressure at some point during the game. It might not happen all the time, but there are points in the game when it gives us our key, our momentum booster, when we need it. |
It's fun to be around (Frankfort) right now. You go down Main Street and all the store fronts have decorations and the windows are painted. I tell the kids this is a fun time to be playing. If you're playing in March, that means you've had a good season. We're enjoying ourselves, but we understand what we need to do. |
It's going to come down to the team that makes the least amount of mistakes. I hope you're going to see the best basketball we're going to play all year long. |
Our goal coming in was not to let them get open looks and not let them get on a roll. That second quarter was probably just too much for us to overcome. We got into a mentality where I don't think we accepted the challenge they put on us. |
Our kids played tough throughout. Every now and then you come up against a kid that's that talented. |
That first half, especially the second quarter, seemed like a blur. I don't know what their shooting percentage was, but it seemed like they shot extremely well in the second quarter. |
That's the thing about our pressure. We may not get steals every time down the floor, but it just wears on you. Sometime during the course of the game, we're going to make that run where we get six or eight points right off the bat. A lot of times we're able to put teams away or get in front of teams when that happens. Tonight we were able to get our little lead and build it up. Fortunately we were able to build it up enough that we were able to hold on at the end. |
The second quarter seemed like a blur. |
Their strength is the same as our strengths are. They have some athletes that can come at you and can score at any time. |