Phil Martelli Quotes (51 Quotes)

No, I don't see anybody today. Come three more weeks in the league, there's going to be another team. There will absolutely be another team. One of the teams has to win some road games. Somebody will have to get on a run going into the (A-10) tournament. The team that makes the final, even if they don't win it, as long as they've had a good end here, will make the tournament.

Being a greater nuisance on defense doesn't always mean stealing the ball. At times he got anxious and wanted to steal the ball when he was already in the player's head. He can win a lot of psychological battles without stealing the ball.

Any time you play Temple there's two numbers you have to look at right away. Turnovers and offensive rebounds. That was the whole game. I just told my team that the defensive effort was great.

We're picking up the pieces and moving forward. We're constantly reminding ourselves that there's still a half-year of basketball to play.

I was very proud of the emotional response. I knew it would be a challenge, but I didn't go in with any preconceived notions. I just tried to study their eyes and their body language.

We're clearly playing our best basketball now. We were 11th in the A-10 after the Temple game (Feb. 14), and this is a tribute to our four seniors. They knew we were better than our record showed.

When the ball doesn't go in the basket, you start hoping you can get out of town under the cloak of darkness. Confidence has dwindled here. We'll see whether the second half against La Salle has energized and picked up their emotional level. We've put ourselves in a precarious situation in terms of the league.

It feels better because Saint Joseph's won on the road, won for the 13th time in 15 conference games and defended its league title. That's a very, very impressive win by a group of guys, ... To get back to this level in confidence and this level of determ

Shannon did everything that we asked of him on and off the court. He gave maximum effort and had a great disposition -- but the ball just didn't go in for him.

When you get physically intimidated in that way, mentally you kind of, like, crack. That's what I felt happened the first eight minutes. It sure seemed like they had more than five guys, and we had less than five out there at that time.

One of the things we don't do is that we don't penetrate. We don't have that ability on our team. We have one guy who can get by people on the dribble, and right now his knowledge of basketball is such that he can't find the open player. We just don't put pressure on the defense to make them help. We've allowed teams to play us head-up. If you're not getting the shot in that sweet spot, it's not going to go down easily.

We're just older than them. We start three seniors. They start two freshmen and a sophomore (Luke) Meyer who hasn't played much basketball for them.

I thought coming in that there was no clear two (seed) and there was no clear 12. Maybe you say Richmond was 12, but there's a lot of teams that think they can win it now.

I'm really disappointed in our play tonight. I don't know if we played with near enough heart and near enough head.

I'm very, very impressed with their balance. There are some teams we've played that haven't had their balance. I think they've all bought into a system.

You try to play your best basketball at the end of the year. We've clearly been playing our best basketball. We just have a feel that we're suppose to win these games.

Any time you play Temple, there are two numbers you have to look at right way. You look at your turnovers, 19, and their offensive rebounds, 13. To me, that was the whole game.

Charlotte is lurking, Temple is lurking. One of the teams that is going to make it has to win road games. Somebody's going to have to get some league wins and get on a run into the (conference) tournament.

It's still a work in progress sometimes as to how he's going to get the ball to the basket. But he's practiced real well, he's a real good talker on defense, and he's better with the ball than even I would give him credit for.

I'm blown away by 19 assists on 20 baskets. That's basketball the way it was meant to be played.

I thought that the biggest message that we delivered was that they're big boys. Everybody was responsible for us losing yesterday. Players, coaches, everybody had a hand in that. It's human nature, but no one feels sorry for you. Even though you think that they should feel sorry for you. We went back to the method we used in Dallas. We asked for maximum effort. We told them that there would be a constant rotation of players. And the second quarter was the difference. The second half was an exercise in futility and it's a shame that guys don't grasp the idea that every opportunity should be maximized.

It's something that we have discussed. On both sides of the issue, everything is forgiven, but you can't forget what happened. That would be inhuman. I don't know if anybody would be capable of that.

This is the biggest challenge for us emotionally. The team today traveling was much more somber than they were last year. This feels much more hurtful than in past years.

I thought Chet's movement was particularly impressive, considering how well Saint Louis guards you.

There is a certain arrogance that still says, 'How can anybody beat us at our own game.' Well, they have. We have to be more diligent throughout our program, understanding the nuances of international basketball.

They have wonderful, wonderful players and their inside guys are better offensively than ours were.

flying up and down the court.

Kansas ran more effectively than anyone else in the country last year. It's a style that creates better opportunities for our big people. Of course, if all you needed were a perimeter game ... it's see you in San Antonio .

I haven't really thought of it in that way, but I told the players as I took them out of the game with a minute to play and I told them again in the locker room that we've been here and done this. We've played for the championship. I think it's time to break through and win a championship. That's what we'll be intent on the next 24 hours.

The dike has some holes in it. You can't put your hand on all of them. Who would have ever imagined

It's an attack on your senses because people come at you in so many different ways. They know who the coaches are. They wait outside the convention center where we collect our tickets. They're pros. ... I've had people standing there with hundred dollar bills fanned out in front of my face.

To me, it's about the kids and how tough they've been. It's really not about sticking our chests out. We're one of the best teams in the country and the best story in college basketball.

Can you imagine One-for-21 in your own building. That's what keeps you up at night with this team.

For like a three-year period, we saw each other maybe 350 days out of 365. We were both newly married and no children, and we were just trying to chase basketball.

We don't create a lot of easy shots. We have to look at offensive patterns, and that's going to take some time. You have to work on them, you have to work on them, you have to work on them. I don't know if you can make their skills better during the season. But you can work on their understanding of the game.

He is the best player in college basketball, because he's the best leader in college basketball.

We let Robinson, who I think is having a wonderful, wonderful year and who I think is the most improved player in the Atlantic 10, loose in the first half. That was the only defensive slipup we had.

Jim Boyle gave me an opportunity to enter college basketball in 1985 and I will be forever grateful.

You don't have throw him the ball, you don't have to run a play, and you don't have to run screens for him -- he scores without the ball. And he's comfortable with the physical nature of the game some big guys in college look for a foul on every play, but he just plays through that.

I would say that in my 21 years, the number of those schools has quadrupled, and I would put schools in quotation marks. They're not all academic institutions.

I just said to the players when I took them out with 1 minute to go We've been here. We've done this. We've played for the championship. It's time to break through and win a championship.

I think it's going to be really interesting because I think some of the teams that are in the middle of the pack are probably better than some of the teams that will get a bye.

I did notice that he had the three turnovers in three possessions. We did want to turn the pressure up a little bit. Not necessarily because it was his second start, but because he's a freshman. Unless you're extraordinary, freshmen really can't stand down.

There's a certain expectation at the University of Delaware that Monte signed on for. He will fight every day to make sure their expectations are fulfilled.

We crumbled again. Our maturity level in the second half has to be questioned. It's very disappointing. We showed toughness in the first half, but none in the first 12 minutes of the second half. It should not happen.

I enjoy going to Dayton, because the crowd support is great. They actually cheer for their team, and there's none of the goofiness that you find at some places around the country.

This is a group that deserves to be celebrated. What you have seen may never be repeated anywhere in college basketball.

You know it's coming. You know they're going to go on a run You watch enough of their games and you know it's going to happen. I've watched six of their games and I knew what was coming. You just hope you have the plays in your repertoire to withstand it. We didn't. It got away from us.

The players who were let go gave us everything they had. There's nobody being let go who wasn't a good player or didn't handle themselves properly. ... These were not easy choices that we had to make.

We knew when they came back it would be with a vengeance and we weren't ready for it.