Famous Quotes & Sayings

Wesley Matthews

A lot of my improvement came from strength. I got stronger over the summer. Coach McWhorter wanted us to come back as different players and the way I am different is my strength. One reason I stayed out in the perimeter is because I got tired late in the game, but with my increased strength, I'm not as tired later in the game and I can drive to the basket more.

Kobe Bryant

You want to come out here and play good basketball. The fans here know their basketball and want to see good basketball.

You want to be playing your best basketball at this time of the year.

Ben Howland

You want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the season. But not only are we playing good, we're getting better. This is truly a team.

Malcolm Gladwell

Basketball is an intricate, high-speed game filled with split-second, spontaneous decisions. But that spontaneity is possible only when everyone first engages in hours of highly repetitive and structured practice--perfecting their shooting, dribbling, and passing and running plays over and over again--and agrees to play a carefully defined role on the court. . . . spontaneity isn't random.

John C. Maxwell

When problems confront successful leaders, they get excited about the opportunity.

John C. Maxwell

When I was 17, I made the decision to have a good attitude. I was a junior in high school; the coach said I was going to be the captain of my basketball team. I thought - that surprised me because I wasn't the best player. And I kept thinking, "Why am I going to be the captain?" I think everybody else was thinking that too. And the coach then answered, "The reason John is going to be the captain is he has the best attitude on the team. He encourages others, he believes we can win, he never gives up."

John C. Maxwell

If a person doesn't govern his temper, his temper will govern him.

John C. Maxwell

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Jerry Sloan

Andrei was sensational. He probably played the best basketball game that he's played in a long time. He had the basketball in his hands and did some nice things when he had it.

All we can do is take it one game at a time. We are playing good basketball right now. Our sophomores are giving us a life and our seniors are giving us leadership. We'll be ready for next week.

All three were in foul trouble in the first half, but we managed to weather that. We were controlling tempo and doing a good job until Reed got hot.

All three teams are about as good as you can get. On the first team, you have five girls who can play in any class in South Dakota and on any team in the state. That says a lot about Class B basketball in our state.

All that's good, but we're here to play basketball tomorrow.

All summer I kept hearing negative talk about him. I think he's staying because this is his passion. He focuses on basketball. He doesn't travel. He just wants to teach basketball. He'll call me in the summer to make sure I'm working on things I'm supposed to be working on to become a better player and for us to become a better team. Basketball is his life. All he does is talk basketball, basketball, basketball.

All my shots were within probably five feet of the basket, so I really didn't have to do anything. I hadn't really played much basketball since the school year started, so it was nice to go out and just play for fun with no one taking the games too seriously.

Michael Finley

A lot has changed in the last year, but the game of basketball has remained the same. I put myself in a position where I'm very happy, very comfortable. I'm just going out there and playing.

The girls that came in understood what I needed from them. They got up in the passing lanes, were dropping back and trapping the basketball and doing a better job of just running one set.

The girls know that they've been overlooked. But they play big when they need to play big. I don't care how people look at us, as long as when we're finished, we know that we did the best we could, and that we're a good basketball team.

Pete Wilson

The girls hung in there. There was a couple times they had a little run but we stopped it. They may have had a 4- or 5-point run, but we'd come back with a big basket to keep us in it.

The girls have been very focused this year on what their goals and dreams are. I feel that we've been tested at the right times, and we've been playing our best basketball at the right time.

The game was physical. That set the tone for how the game was going to be played. We couldn't get to the basket and do what we wanted to do.

The Georgia Tech game was physical but I think the rest of our conference schedule is going to be the same way. NC State comes in a very physical basketball team. We're going to have to really work to get to the point of screens even and make our cuts like we want to be able to do. Obviously the ACC is a conference that really does prepare you for March.

The game of basketball is a game of runs. They got within 11, but we were able to keep on coming.

The game of basketball is 40 minutes, we knew we still had time. Once we finally got to our game plan we were able to come out on top.

The game of basketball goes in runs, and you hope your runs are better than their runs. It's kind of bittersweet because we won't be able to come back and defend our title. The timing is unfortunate, but we're leaving on a high note.

Antawn Jamison

The frustrating part is we're right there. We're in every game going down to the last two or three minutes. we've just got to do a better job as far as showing some poise and some leadership to make sure guys are all of one accord. Of late, it just hasn't been there. It's fun basketball to be in a game that comes down to the last three or four minutes, but it's not fun when you're not winning. We just have to find a way to close them out.

The four of us will reminisce about West Portal Avenue, playing basketball at West Portal Middle School, the St. Ignatius-Lincoln battles and all the All-City players we played against.

The closeness our students have helped us to pick each other up. It's more than just basketball, but everyone has been there to help out.

Carmelo Anthony

The Clippers did a heck of a job packing it in on me, not letting me get to the basket like I wanted to and as I had been doing in the past. They sent every kind of defense a team can send at me these last two games. It got frustrating, especially when you're trying to get back in the game and whatever you do is not working.

The first thing we told the kids when we went in was that we hadn't played very well at all and only trailed by two points. We felt like we could take better care of the basketball and felt like we could guard better. ... We felt like we were in pretty good shape.

Devin Harris

The first trial was successful. It was good to get out there, get my legs under me a little bit. I didn't get as fatigued as I thought I would. That explosion to the basket I've got to get that.

Flip Saunders

The first time I talked about that, we went out and turned it over the first four times we touched the ball. That mark I credit to players who are extremely disciplined and players who know their roles. They don't play out of character and that goes back to what I've talked about all year -- this team has a very high basketball intelligence.