Bruce Weber Quotes (279 Quotes)

We have to develop a personality as a team. It's new guys and new roles and we're not sure. We could have so many different lineups. ... We'll have to experiment a little.

We can be one of the top 10 or 15 teams in the country. At other times, we don't play with that same energy. We have two seniors. Last year, we had five older guys. They understood what it was about.

It's an amazing list of names associated in Big Ten history. It's a who's who of college basketball. (Augustine) probably doesn't know any of the players. He should be proud. He's part of the elite of college basketball.

We could go small and play James at the five and Warren Carter or Brian Randle at the four. There's all kinds of combinations. We might try something and it might not work and we'll have to go to another idea.

It was frustrating the second half we shot two free throws and they shot 21. Inconsistency, that's always when you're mad. We fouled, but I thought maybe we got fouled, too. But (the refs) didn't see it that way. There's nothing you can do about it.

Maybe it's an attention getter. Maybe it will make you realize that anything can happen.

Maybe the travel will be a blessing. We don't have to deal with the hundreds of people in the lobbies, going into the hotels and using the kitchen elevators.

When he had the stress fracture or whatever it was two years ago, the trainers told him it was caused in part because of a circulation problem brought on by the high socks.

Our big problem will be scoring, I think. Last year scoring was so easy. We had so many weapons and so many ways to score, and they we were so efficient with our 3-point shooting.

We did not get a lot of free throws last year and we did not get a lot of inside points, and I'm hoping we can do that, which will also make it easier on our 3-point shooters.

It goes down in history. Not only in Illinois history -- NCAA history. I mean, if you're not happy with this, I feel sorry for you, because life ain't getting better.

He's had a lot of bad luck. But when he gets bad luck, he compounds it by making stupid fouls. He knows it, and I hope that over the last stretch of the season here, he can have the discipline not to do it because we need him in the game.

It's pretty obvious they came ready to play. They came with a high level of intensity and we didn't match it, especially in the first half.

We have to put a closure to it. We're a new team, a different team. We have to create our own image, our own personality, and that might take a little time.

It's taken a toll on him. Both those guys, that's inside and they have to fight through that. There's a big weight on their backs. But to sit there and worry about it and let games pass by and then kick yourself in the butt ... You've got to cut loose and play, but that's easier said than done.

These guys know how important it is. We're locked in. We've done a nice job. We can't let our offense affect our defense. We break down on the defensive end because somebody misses a shot and they don't run back. Or they don't communicate.

I'm happy. You expect your guys to improve, keep getting better. We work hard on fundamentals, we work hard on the shooting, conditioning, weights, and now we're starting to see that with some of the other players.

We're not as flamboyant as last year's team, not an offensive juggernaut. But we play defense and we rebound, and that's got us to 20 wins. I feel this group can be special, too.

We're more versatile now. The intensity level in that game was amazing. Both teams have progressed since that time.

They play small, they spread you and they shoot threes. Other times they punish you inside with Dials. We have to stop Dials and do a decent job on their 3-point shooting.

When we play at Mackey, my (former) neighbors are sitting behind the bench. There will be babysitters there who took care of my kids. It's always going to be a tough situation, but if we win it makes it more rewarding than anything.

One thing he has done is try and commit to guarding and doing some things we've asked, like getting on the floor. He didn't do a lot of that stuff early. Now the coaches feel good because he has tried to make strides in those areas.

When his feet are squared up, he's a pretty good shooter. When he has to run and shoot, he's just not as consistent. We have to find ways to get him shots where he can get his feet squared up. That's a little different than last year when Luther could run and shoot, and Deron could do that, and Dee got better at it.

Are we going to make the steps forward to be a top four seed in the NCAA tournament, or are we going to have to struggle to be in the NCAA tournament That's kind of the fine line that we have.

Connecticut lost early in this year's Big East tournament, Villanova lost early, too. It didn't seem to affect them because both were given No. 1 seeds. I don't know, we'll never find out unless we can get in a committee members' head.

We have a great alumni base in California. They have been begging us to come out there. They've talked to us several times about trying to arrange a game. Well, we're coming When we were in Las Vegas we had a lot of California people come watch us so we should have a good following out there.

You have to give him a lot of credit for what he has meant to Illinois basketball. He's had a major impact in taking Illinois basketball to another level.

I don't think motivation will be a factor. (But) can we match their will to win and their motivation We're kind of the underdog and Iowa and Ohio State are the targeted teams now. Maybe that will loosen us up.

I'd rather be up 35-0 to be honest. But, they've competed with everybody (in the conference), so it wasn't something new.

They ran the same play to Williams seven times in a row, ... We did not have an answer.

Last year about this time they were starting to wilt. I've talked to several other Big Ten coaches, and they're scraping. Last year in our game at their place, they just gave in. That's not the case right now.

I hope our team is motivated. If not, it's going to be a quick stay out here. We'll have a better feel (before the game today). If they have energy, if they're anxious to go, that will determine how we play.

He's not 100 percent yet but he'll continue with the water therapy and riding the (stationary) bike and they might even let him do a little shooting. As long as he doesn't go crazy, anything that gets the blood flowing there helps the healing process. It was a positive report.

It's over. I told them 'One, learn from it. It should hurt a little. If it doesn't, we're in trouble. Two, it's a clean slate. It's our fourth season. You did great in non-conference, 14-0, kicked some butt. Conference, you were close but no cigar you have no one to blame but yourselves (because of the home loss to Penn State). And now we laid an egg. You've got one more chance, and it's how you finish that everyone remembers.

Getting in the tournament is big, but each step after that is such a great commercial for your program. It helps recruiting, it sells tickets, all those things. It gives your program so much more visibility around the country.

They're hurt depth-wise. We're catching them --I don't know if it's a vulnerable time --but when there's probably some doubt in their mind. The home crowd might get them going. The key will be if we can get off to a good start and get them to doubt themselves a little bit.

We've got to get everybody going at the same time again. That's going to be a key down the stretch. If we can get them all clicking at the same time, we can make a run (at the Big Ten title).

It's amazing, the names that are associated with Big Ten history. It's the who's who of basketball. So for James to have his name associated with that ... He probably doesn't even know any of the players, but he should be proud to be mentioned with the elite of basketball.

It's great tournament experience. I told them afterwards I hope they hurt a little bit. This is a dress rehearsal for the NCAA. The next time we lose we go home and don't get to play again.

We've got to keep James in the game. We'll kind of rotate people and see if we can wear Marco down.

You get James out, and it changes the whole game. They go on a 7-0 run that stretched to 11-0 after James went out. We did score two baskets, but they just went down and scored boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And in other games -- in the Wisconsin game, he gets fouls, goes out and they make their nice run. So we need him in the game.

I feel bad for Mike. I know it could be me. It affects family and people have no sympathy. But that's part of it. It's sad, but we chose to be in the profession and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Dee beat them both times this year. They made a decision. Their guys stepped up defensively and didn't let Dee get many open looks.

He didn't take care of business.

I'm griping now, before it happens. Next week, I won't even bring it up to the players. If you gripe about it to them, it's all they worry about. And of course, we have to win first.

Watching film, I was wondering what he's still doing in college. He's a little bit of a Kobe Bryant.

He kept apologizing, ... I said, 'Hey, I love that you're a villain, keep doing it.' Deron said one time, 'That's their job, to make predictions. That's what they do.' But at the same time deep down, it gets the juices flowing a little bit. . . . We need a little adrenaline tomorrow there's no doubt about it. If we don't have an edge, I don't know if we can win the game.

I'm glad he got the opportunity and he is very deserving. But we're not looking forward to going against him and the way they play. I am not sure that right now he has the athletes that he can do that totally. I'm sure as time goes on he'll get the type of athletes and there will be that '40 Minutes of Hell.' It won't be much fun.

We ran some plays, and we shouldn't have to run plays. I told them, 'You should be embarrassed. You should just be able to push it or run motion.' If we're running plays to survive at home, they should be disappointed, not me.

I set out eight chairs and called some plays five on zero. If they made a bucket, everyone had to get up. I blew the horn and subbed and they had to give high-fives. If someone was on the floor, everyone ran over and picked that guy up. If you had walked in you would have thought we were loony.