Al Skinner Quotes (84 Quotes)

I just thought there were times when we moved the ball tremendously well. When they're focusing on (Smith) too much, then it makes it a little bit easier for everyone else.

This was one of those days where we weren't playing really well and just brought it together at the right time. I give a lot of credit to our kids for staying with it.

It's not for public knowledge.

We're just trying to put our heads above water here. We put ourselves in a hole and we're just trying to get out of it.

Guys like Jon were here and working hard when it was not the most fashionable thing to play basketball here at BC. When you see us reach the Sweet Sixteen and advance in the rankings it's because of guys like Jon and others who put in their time and got the most out of their abilities day in and day out.

This was a total team effort. We needed to play with composure. We took bad shots and had poor execution. (Oklahoma State) was a good basketball team. We needed to calm down and show patience.

We're still trying to improve. We're just not going to be a great free-throwing team. That's something we just have to accept. We have to compensate for that.

That really helped lift us. I don't know a better way to lift a team. It gave our guys a lot of confidence. It really made a difference in the start of the half.

The level of competition is fairly equal. I think there is a lot of credibility that goes with both tournaments. For us, the location is what the difference is, but now is the time where you just focus on what's going on on the floor.

Tim had to calm me down to put things in perspective with how far we had come that we were in that situation.

He raised his game to another level as far as his shooting was concerned. We didn't defend him as well as we hoped to, because we talk about shooting percentage and his shooting percentage was pretty good. But again, it was a big game and he responded.

We're just at .500, so there's a lot more basketball to play. Hopefully we'll continue to play at the level we need to. There's no question we dug ourselves a hole and it's not like we're really out of the hole, but at least we're in the mix a little bit.

They weren't really looking for him. That got the crowd into it.

It's not the guards that make the plays. It's really the forwards that are able to handle the ball and deliver it.

We all recognize that it increases your chances of having success in the tournament if you don't have to play four nights. If you can just play three nights, I think it improves your chances of success. That's our reward for playing well throughout the season and hopefully we can do that.

Give Florida State credit. They continued to attack. They didn't quit.

I don't care which team you play in this league, they're no trap games. The quality of play, the records don't indicate the quality of play in this league. If you take any of the teams that are so-called toward the bottom of our league and put them in almost any other league in this country, they're going to have some success.

Here we are playing great basketball, and you'd think they'd take these things into consideration. From an academic standpoint, it has not served us very well. We're going to have to go to the other side of the country. We have to travel to a different time zone. So, we've got some issues, and we've got to try to limit them as best we can.

There's nothing wrong if you're not my type of guy, but I think guys should have the fire burning inside them. I always knew what games to get up for. I can read. I knew who was who. There's a discipline in me. I take a deep breath. Do I need to act out Or is there another way. I'm not looking for a crown or brass ring. I just look to get the best out of each player.

He'd rise early and wake me up, drag my butt out of bed. But I was never afraid of competition. I would make him come out with me to play at night.

He's recognizing what opposing defenses are trying to do to him and delivering the ball to his teammates. I don't think the coaches in this league have (overlooked Smith). Maybe the fans and media isn't as familiar with him, but I guess you will be as time goes on.

Pacific has had a tremendous amount of success in this tournament. They have beaten Pittsburgh and Providence in past tournaments. They made shots and made plays. You have to give them a tremendous amount of credit. I thought this was going to be a great challenge for us, and that proved to be correct.

Obviously, the most disappointing thing is we just didn't do the things we had to do at the end, communicate. There was a little break down in communication, you know. They didn't have any more time-outs and I didn't think that they could run a play that was going to give them a good enough look that we couldn't defend.

Some of my coaches run. Some lift weights. I play basketball. It's what I do.

There are a lot of ways to win basketball games, and obviously the easiest way is to score points. But when you don't do that, there are other things that you can do -- hustle plays like the tip-in or the rebounds on the free throws. Those plays can make a difference and they obviously did this afternoon.

If we play Friday, then everything works out OK. If we have to play Thursday, we'll be put at a huge disadvantage.

It'll be a change of culture for me.

This league has evolved and hopefully we bring some credibility to it. And people will appreciate the quality of basketball we're playing, as well as the other two schools.

I think it's a tremendous accomplishment, considering how we started. There was a little bit of concern about that.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to worry about that now. We're not going to get any extra consideration because of it.

It was really incidental. It wasn't even a distraction for either team. Maybe the fans and everyone else got excited, but for us, for the most part, it really didn't have any impact on the game at all.

It's similar, because the level of competition is there. It's going to be very intense, but the Big East tournament in New York is a very big deal. The only difference is you're playing different teams.

The one at the end of the half really took us in the locker room on a real positive note. I don't know a better way to lift a team. Even though we had scored 40 points, I don't think it all came smoothly. It was clearly a big lift for us and gave our guys confidence. It really made the difference, as far as our start in the second half.

We're still trying to get our heads above water here. We're not at that point yet. I don't look at us as a Top 25 team. We've got to get some more wins before we can entertain that.