Mark Gottfried Quotes (100 Quotes)

He is obviously done for the year so that's a tough blow for our team. We're really disappointed for Chuck and sad. I care about him so much. I cried with him the other day -- you hate to see that happen to a young person. And he's just a great guy and he was having a great year.

I think it's a good decision. I think he's got a chance to be one of the premier forwards in the nation next season. He became a leader on our basketball team this past season, and I think he'll continue to mature as a player. And I'm also excited because he's on track to graduate next spring.

They have so many different offensive weapons. We know it's going to be an unbelievable challenge to try and compete with them, so we're going to have to go out and get ready to play.

It wasn't until the middle of December that things started to turn for him. In hindsight, I should have sat him a couple of games. He wanted to play, like all players do. We had that full week during finals where we were able to sit him and I think that helped.

I thought I was in for another Patrick Sparks like last year the way he was shooting it.

There's no magic wand you can wave over your team. I know the one response you cannot have is to get down and get disappointed. I don't think our team will do that. Injuries are part of the game. When I was in Kuwait coaching, there was a sign that said 'Adapt and overcome.' That's what we are going to have to do.

How was the weather Cool, ... 128 to 135 every day. The sign says 125 and you think something's wrong with it.

Ron Steele is starting to step up in ways that he did in high school with his team. With maturity comes some aggressiveness, especially late in the game. He's a unique person and he will find a way for you to win. He's done that for us this year.

We have to regroup quickly. We don't have time to go through a lot of growing pains with this situation. We've got to get to where we need to be fast.

The difference tonight, I thought, was the defense in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

I wish we would have played the same schedule and won a few more. I don't want to play a soft schedule and the kids don't, either. I want to play a national schedule that gets them exposure. It's going to make our team better.

We thought with his (Felix's) size, he might be a little tougher to shoot over. He took some pride in that today, and he should. He's a really good defender.

We understand this would be a huge, huge upset.

I wanted to play Felix but didn't have an opportunity. I didn't feel the time was right.

In the time outs, there was a ton of determination in those guys. That comes from being burned once or twice.

As soon as I heard about it, I thought, 'I'm going no matter when it is,' ... It's a tremendous opportunity for us to show our troops how much we appreciate what they're doing.

I tried to explain to them that this could get ugly this year. When they start taking bad about Daddy, just hang in there.

We're a team that needs to avoid foul trouble. It hurt our ability to score. That was a big factor.

Randolph Morris was a factor from the tip. You could tell from the first minute that he wanted to make a difference, and he did. He causes you problems while he's on the floor, and you have to pay attention to him.

I thought the game was over. I'm a complete idiot. I was jumping up and down like a fool out there. I thought Gee's basket won the game for us.

We're going to leave this game here - we're not taking this one with us. We didn't play very well today, and Mississippi State was terrific.

There's a cost to attending these tournaments. If I'm not going to get a chance to play top schools, my athletic director would not let me go,

We're not thinking about the NCAA tournament. We're thinking about playing a game at Ole Miss. Period. It doesn't do any good to start all that speculation. It's way too early.

I sensed we got a little tired. They have a lot more bodies to play. I think they were a little fresher than we were. That's who we are right now.

He's really smart, really quick and I think he can beat you in different ways. He's such a good foul shooter that when he's fouled, it's hard to not count those as two points. ... We want the ball in his hands late in the game.

We have a great chance to be an NCAA basketball tournament team if we take care of business night in and night out in our league. Records are deceiving. You can schedule your way into a 10-1 or 11-0 record. I have learned that you're not going to trick the NCAA tournament selection committee.

This will be the most freshmen on the floor that this series has seen in a long time.

I think it gave him some confidence and he got to see where he stacked up. He had a great year this year, and he's improved every year he's been here.

This is a disappointing loss because we just needed one more defensive stop. Arkansas had its back against the wall and they came through.

As a graduate assistant just starting, I get the opportunity to know John Wooden. I mean, are you kidding me How great an opportunity that was.

I think it's easy to get down. Our team is going to be a little bit unsure how we're going to score and how we're going to play without Chuck. We're going to be very positive and just believe in these guys.

Felix is the only guy on the team that can make the pass. We practiced it and had guys throwing it all over the gym.

Hendrix today was a big key on the backboard.

Davidson stepped up and made those four free throws at the end. We made some key plays at key times.

Last year we felt we had a team could really make some damage in this tournament, and we didn't do it. So for our returning players, I think there is a little bit of the attitude that we want a chance to do this a lot better than we did last year.

It was a great gesture by Evan Brock. Unselfish. To wear Chuck's number on (Brock's) senior night just shows how close we all are as a team.

The last four games, Darrel Mitchell has averaged about 26 or 27 points a game (actually 24.5), and we felt like against a zone he would find too many holes and get loose. We went to the zone once in the first half and he buried a 3 on us. I just felt like with Darrel Mitchell, right now, at the level he's been playing, we just needed to be body to body with him for 40 minutes.

We were stunned (after the loss to Ole Miss) when Chuck went down, and we played like it. But now we've gained some confidence. We've had some different players step up and carry us. That's been the difference between then and now.

We've got great fans, terrific fans and you don't want to let the actions of one person ruin a night or have something bad happen.

He got loose against the zone and made a couple of shots. He got off to a real good start and I thought that was the key.

I do think he needs to come out of the games sometime even though I never take him out. He would be better.

You'd like to put some magic potion on your team and have them play like that every game.

It's important to have our legs back underneath us. But the players are in pretty good shape and in good basketball condition and can handle it pretty well.

Really in the last two, three or four years we've been as aggressive as anybody in the country with our non-conference schedule. I hope that doesn't hurt us. I hope that all of a sudden that's not used against you, because we could have played three easier teams in December and we'd be 20-9 and everyone will be celebrating.

The fact we don't play on the first night of the tournament is big. That was important for us for a number of reasons. No. 1, it gives you another day or rest. No. 2, it's one more feather in your cap as far as how you're perceived by the (NCAA) selection committee.

The two of them are winners. Thomas feeds off of Big Baby's attention so much. Thomas gets all the junk, cleans everything up.

I wouldn't do anything different at the end of the game. Absolutely. I've got as much confidence in Ron Steele as anybody in the nation.

That was a lot to do with them, a lot more than what we were doing wrong.

If, in fact, South Carolina had won, my hope would have been that the last team on the board, regardless of conference, would have been the one eliminated, not a team from our league. I don't know that anybody knows the answer to that question. I don't think it's important at this point in time.

He was very successful at the smaller level, and when he had the opportunity to coach at this level I knew he would do well.