Any time we win it's because we've played hard. I told the kids two things: One, you'll have a lot more left at the end when you've played hard, and, two, the harder you play the luckier you get. |
Carl is always quick to correct me. One day when we were doing a scouting report, he noticed my shirt was on backward. He must not have been paying attention to the scouting report, but I tried that shirt on again the other day and it fits pretty well backward. |
East St. Louis is a very physical team and they have good athletes. I think they shot the ball a little better today than they normally do, and I do know this, I know they shot better at the free-throw line than they normally do. |
He's a very good passer and played hard. And he turned his game up a notch the last five or six games. |
I believe this is the best ballgame that Mike Simmons has played. I was glad to see him run the court and get a couple baskets. He is gaining confidence and when you gain confidence, other players gain confidence in him. |
I know there's not an S on it. |
I'm a great believer in the difference between winning and losing is intensity. Our intensity has picked up lately. This is a great group of kids who make it enjoyable to come to practice every day. We are getting better all the time. |
Our defense did a good job and we gained confidence as the game went along because of our defense. We played a triangle and two and our defense really stymied them. |
The biggest thing is that we competed and got a lot of mileage out of our talent. No way I'm bad-mouthing our talent, but I tell you what, our guys played very, very hard in certain basketball games. |
The effort was not there like it should've been. It takes everybody on the whole team playing hard. We're a good team when we give an effort. |
The guys thought we could just throw them out there and they would win. We have to have a mental toughness and take that approach into every game. |
The main thing is to encourage them in a little financial way to go to college. |
Their quickness made us panic a little bit. As long as we took care of the basketball and got a good shot every possession, we were in good shape. |
They came out quick and we didn't respond. We knew they were going to come out charged and ready to play and we didn't. They hit their shots and we didn't hit ours and next thing we know we're in trouble. |
They're a team we're capable of beating unless they play like absolute gangbusters. They're not a big team, but they're a very good offensive rebounding team and we'll have to check them off the boards. |