I think the NCAA has a funny sense of humor with regards to pairing us up with Florida. They did the same thing to my old roommate Travis Ford last year when he had to play Kentucky in the first round. |
I told Billy after the game that they were 26 points better than us -- if not more. They are a very good team. |
I'll never forget that day. Before we had our game day practice, Mike comes bouncing into my office. He said, 'Coach, my mom's coming to the game tonight.' He said, 'You don't understand, Coach. This is the first time she's ever seen me play. |
I'm thankful the good Lord has put him here. |
It's amazing that we're playing each other. I think we would have been an 11 or 12 seed, but the NCAA wanted to match us up. I think that had a lot to do with it. |
It's an issue. We've got to find a way to deal with it. |
It's not like we hang our hat on one or two guys. It's everybody getting involved. From Day One, we've talked about serving one another, building a chemistry, and they have done that. |
Our goal was to take the inside away and keep them from jamming it down our throats because they have such good post players. We did a good job of that in the first half. In the second half, it got away from us a little bit. |
Our turnaround this year was extremely dramatic, in turns of wins and losses. This is going to happen anytime you go through the building process. |
Outside my father, he's probably the most influential male in my life. He's a special, special guy. |
Outside of my father, he was probably the most influential male in my life. |
People don't know how much we missed him. He gives us incredible leadership. Academically, he has it figured out. He's not any smarter, just more organized. |
The beautiful thing about Michael Phillips is that I've never heard him complain. All that he has been through, never a complaint about anything. He's a champ. He's a joy. |
The next three months, I know I had to drive him nuts. Always the same questions. I look back and see how much patience he had, it was incredible. But that's what makes him such a special person. |
The problem with the NCAA tournament is it's just one of those things words sometimes don't do justice. You have to experience it. |