John Whisenant Quotes (39 Quotes)

She might want to play, but she doesn't have any wheels. I hope she comes back and surprises me.

No matter who we play, we try to give the opposing quarter, the point guard, hell. Whether it's Lindsay Whalen or her replacement, we're going to do our best to wear them down, tire them mentally and physically. We feel like that is the head of the attack weapon.

They led the league with the fewest turnovers. We can't expect to win two games in a row in causing the league's best in non-turnovers to make more turnovers. That's why we have to improve on some things.

We're tickled to death, of course, to come here and play a great team like the Sun and get away with a win.

It's true. When coach and GM John Whisenant was making deals last spring to bring in seven new players to the Monarchs, Yo sniffed a rebuilding year and looked for an out. She was 35 and she wanted a title. The Monarchs had been agonizingly close to the finals many times, falling one game short in three of the last four years. But seven new players, most of them barely out of college, all needing to learn a challenging defensive system -- who needed that stress She thought she was too old to be on a rebuilding team, ... I told her we weren't rebuilding, we were reloading.

I wish we already had it wrapped up, ... and I would be on the golf course tomorrow. But we don't.

I came in here expecting that we could win two. I think that's the way our players think. We've got two at Arco (arena) now, but I don't think home court makes a lot of difference. With these two teams, they are very close.

I'm glad that she's on my team. She's not afraid of anything and she plays right through to the end.

Our plan was to cut the lead under 10 by 10 minutes to go and get it to four or five with five minutes left and we were there. In the second half, I was pleased with my team.

Sacramento coach John Whisenant said he could tell Whalen was not 100 percent. Lindsay was obviously in pain, ... I was really concerned the one time under the basket in front of our bench. I thought she had reinjured it. She's a determined young lady. Got to give it to her. Got a lot of courage.

There are no sure things in the WNBA. It's been two straight years that we knocked off a higher seed in the playoffs, so we know how slippery that can be.

I'm proud. It's what I believe in. That basket gets awful hard to make when you're under pressure situations like this game, but defense holds you in there.

These fans have just jumped on. I think it's great for women's basketball and this city. We've got great pro sports fans here, and it's shown. I think this is a great step for the future of the WNBA.

Getting his players to share his confidence wasn't easy. They bought into what I was selling, ... They analyzed it, studied it and ultimately accepted my concept.

We will regroup, ... This, in no way, will be regarded by us as a firing. We both understand that a different direction would be best for both Henry and the Sparks. It is an amiable situation for us both.

No. 1, I'm honored to be chosen in such a good league,

That's why she's our hired gun. They had done a good job on Nicole, but I told her to keep shooting.

I was afraid we'd foul them shooting and we'd get beat that way. (In) hindsight, it couldn't be any worse than what happened to us.

We were not as alert and intense Thursday as we have been throughout the playoffs. We played like we had tired legs. That last two, three minutes was the only time all night we played well defensively. We got ourselves back in the game and got control and had the lead. When we play that way, I think we can win, but there was just a breakdown. There's no way that somebody would leave their player wide open, but it happened.

Mistakes, turnovers, that's part of what our defensive intention is. We make their shots harder, eliminate their assists. That's all part of being alert and intense. Our goal in everything we do is built around our defense, our whole game from start to finish.

We've only won what we've won before, we have to win the next series to get into the finals for the first time. But beating them two straight is quite an accomplishment.

We make our living with trying to stop teams from scoring and making it hard on them,

And she does a lot of it on just her own grit and determination. We don't run a single play for Yolanda, ... She creates her own opportunities.

At 35, Yolanda did not want to waste a year, ... But I explained that we were reloading, not rebuilding. We were just adding some young shooters around her. Eventually, she didn't want to be traded.

We are tickled to death.

Mistakes, turnovers, that's part of our defensive intention. We hope to get more shots than them (64-52), limit their shots, make their shots harder and limit their assists.

I'm sure glad that when she thought we were going to rebuild, she didn't go somewhere else. She thought she was too old to (stay while the Monarchs) rebuild, but I didn't listen to her and trade her.

I've always liked her. She's got her head in the game, plays hard and plays for a good coach. She knows how to compete at the championship level. My only question is why she didn't play outside at that size. But the way she rebounds, who cares what size she is. She gets rebounds, loose balls and she's shown that she can pass and shoot from out there, better than some of us thought.

Yolanda's only thing when I started making all the changes was she requested that I trade her because she thought that I was rebuilding, ... We had an old team she knew we needed to rebuild, get younger. I told her, 'I'm not going to trade you. You're too good and I can't replace you, and I'm not rebuilding, we're just reloading.'

She is the attitude. It's my defense that they play, but it's Yolanda's attitude that gives them the personality to play it.

I thought our defense would get a stop. It was just a breakdown. There was no reason when the ball went inside that somebody would leave their guy open. But, it happened. That's basketball.

It's a real shame because Ticha was probably playing the best basketball of her career, the best that I've ever seen, for sure, ... She was even brilliant in our scrimmage (Tuesday). It was right at the end of practice, and Ticha was just running up the court. She stepped on someone's foot and turned her ankle. I should have ended practice one play sooner.

Gutsy, very gutsy. She played hard and determined. We intended to give Lindsay fits, whether she had a knee (injury) not.

(But) Kara is smart, and tougher than a knot on a log. And she loves the opportunity to stick the big shot against these great players.

Throughout her four-year college career, Kim has had a great shooting percentage from the floor and the line. We think she can learn our defensive style and be an excellent team player.

I'm tickled to death to win and beat a first-class team, that makes the fact that we were able to beat them even sweeter. Now we have a chance to achieve something that's never been done in franchise history.

We talked about it. An assistant coach suggested fouling, but I rejected it because I was afraid we'd foul them shooting and get beat that way. Hindsight couldn't have been worse than what happened to us.

I just said it's not over 'til it's over - that old Yogi (Berra) thing, tried to make a joke of it,

We encouraged them to come back instead of getting them down and holding them down like you would like. I'd like to have the last 3 or 4 minutes over. We got a little tight with the ball, and I was encouraging them to attack.