Pokey Chatman Quotes (56 Quotes)

They have a team where if you are not on the balls of your feet and ready to play, it can make for a troublesome afternoon.

I thought it looked like we had a couple of weeks off for a majority of the time. It's a matter of executing from a timeout to the floor. It's a matter of paying attention to detail, and as a unit that's obviously something coaches want their team to continue to get better and better at as the year goes on, especially with the slate we have ahead of us.

She was an administrator. She probably taught a class. She drove the bus. She coached the team. I remember she told me when she became head coach at Stephen F. Austin she was making 6,500 a year and she thought she'd hit the lottery.

I opted to finish school, and she offered me a job. The rest is history, as I spent nearly 18 years, or half my life, with her.

From my office I could see the helicopters landing on the track and taking off all day. You knew every time it was someone who was really sick.

I walked out onto the court and seen the arena filled to the top. That student section is tremendous. When you hear and feel the crowd, that's what galvanizes you to better play.

You hear coaches talk about players being in the doghouse. It's not one of those things. It's a kid who made a mistake. She served her time and she's learned from it.

Sylvia realized the last few times out she hadn't played to her capability. When she came out of the locker room at half, she made a conscious effort to establish herself and use some of her speed and quickness.

I wanted us to have a little more sense of urgency because we had an opportunity to play for a share of a championship. It's nice to see us understand that, process that and come out in the second half and establish some things that have been good for us all year.

She's so active without the ball. She knows she's drawing the most attention, that she's going to be held, bumped, pushed and challenged. But it's not going to change her game. It's not going to make her stop cutting and screening and staying active.

I thought the biggest difference was the fact we were able to defend the basketball at the highest level.

This conference doesn't allow you to enjoy it a whole lot because you know there's a talented Georgia basketball team that got to sit home and rest. It has to be huge for the players to come in here and play against a quality opponent like Tennessee.

She has served her three-game suspension and she is available to play at coach's discretion.

It may be the final game for these three seniors. But the one thing that feels good is watching banners drop in here, and we are going to try our hardest to keep that going.

You got an early sense of what she was going to be like. And as the years go on, nothing ever changes. Shes still that superstar player with that engaging personality.

Usually when I give my opening statement, I can find something that's wrong. But, there wasn't a whole lot tonight. I think the energy and the execution led to so much offensively and defensively. And, I was pleased how we extended it for close to 40 minutes.

It's huge from the standpoint of, obviously, it hadn't been done. To be honest, we hadn't come close. And that's a credit to Tennessee and what they've done here.

Let's start with the positive. It's a win. It's a short list. We have to take care of the basketball. We had 22 turnovers against Florida and 23 against Arkansas. That's unacceptable. We are not giving ourselves the opportunity to score.

You couldn't use cellphones down there but I needed to call the family that was staying in Coach Gunter's home, ... They didn't answer the phone - and there was Sue's voice on the answering machine. It brought a smile to my face after all the destruction of New Orleans.

We don't want to be good. I want to make that next step to being great. We'll work on that and we'll be a better basketball team.

We were able to defend at the highest level I've seen from this team. This game was decided with defense and our ability to take away their transition game.

It's one thing to have the national runner-up on your schedule, but to have them coming off of the Christmas break didn't make for a truly enjoyable Christmas. They're balanced, intelligent in their attack and play at a high level for 40 minutes.

I was extremely frustrated about our start. The players are well aware of what they are capable of doing. They have to make each possession a masterpiece. They didn't come close to doing that today.

I should be the least nervous person here. I only had to do one thing to stand here tonight and that was to choose Louisiana State University as a high school senior.

Watching that tape last night, it's amazing the mentality (of Washington) going after the basketball and not just the kids that are five, six, seven feet away from it. It boils down to your base defense, and being able to lock in on it. Being able to play people head up and contesting shots and getting the block-out scheme.

Overall it comes down to our defensive effort. We had 47 deflections, and that's always something good because that means you're able to pressure the basketball and not let them feel comfortable in their sets.

The bottom line is, the further you advance, the tougher the competition becomes, the more locked in and focused you have to be on every single possession. We had opportunities to help ourselves, but we didn't.

While Gunter's passing and enshrinement are major events in the history of LSU basketball, don't expect too much in the way of dedications when the season tips off. She would probably come down from heaven and put me over her knee if I did anything any differently in regards to her not being here, ... When she stepped down during the season, it was never about Win one for the Gipper' and Sue's demise.

I learned a lot about basketball. I learned more about life.

Overall I'm extremely pleased with the outcome of this game. As far back as I can remember we have struggled in this building and it was nice to see us not only put together two halves of basketball, but in the manner in which we put it together.

She had that Coach Gunter gleam in her eye and that smirk in the right corner of her mouth. That wink said more to me than anything. This is, in my opinion, the pinnacle. This represents that national championship that so eluded her as a coach.

You don't feel like an outsider, because at the end of the day it's the basketball game and everything you work for so many years coming up to this point.

This Arkansas team is the perfect team for us to come back and try to solidify some of the things that we not only did not do well at Florida in terms of defending the basketball, but there were some of the same things we didn't do well in Fayetteville. We were lucky as apposed to good in some of our possession the first time against Arkansas. This should be a good game to try to correct some of those things.

We are well pleased with securing a No. 1 seed in terms of the regular season championship. This team is a group of individuals who look at the task ahead. They understand that there is a lot of hard work that goes into that.

The truth is, we really had no transition,'' Johnson said.

Today was a strong indication of us getting better as a team. Several key players got some rest and some reserves got some playing time before getting into the SEC.

I will never, ever try to stick a player back in there to get a record. There's a bigger picture out there.

She just has a special inner drive. She works to continually improve her game, and it's not for anyone else or because anyone else told her to. She wants to get better.

At certain times, you get a player of her caliber, and because of prior star players, you have this expectation. And she extinguished them immediately.

I can always tell the energy of the crowd when they come back in the locker room.

I thought in several areas we got better today from the standpoint of players that don't play a lot of minutes got a lot of minutes and different combinations with some starters getting to rest and there not being a drop off. All of that is good stuff.

She had eight shots. She's posting up and not getting a touch because we're not doing the things we've done in the past and I credit Connecticut with that. It was a battle of wills.

Honestly, I didn't know I had any records left to break. The hope is to continue playing and get some fresh legs underneath some people. But it does seem like a pretty smooth move on my part.

We didn't pull out a marker and get on the board at halftime. We just kind of appealed to their competitive nature and challenged them in terms of where they want to go and how they want their season to play out.

When things were a little bit sluggish for us it was always a senior who got a big rebound, hit a big shot, got a loose ball or a steal that kept us together when things weren't going real well. Those are things that are not often seen when you are winning basketball games, but I am on the inside looking out, so I see them all of the time.

That's the part that was so bittersweet for Sue, ... It's so in line with so many things that happened in her career. From being head coach of the 1980 Olympic team when we boycotted, to our first Final Four when she watched the game in her hotel room in New Orleans. The irony of all that is that she was the one person who was OK with the circumstances.

She looked so much in a comfort zone shooting that jumper. Ever since the knee injury, she's fought back to come back really hard.

It's obviously been a difficult day for me. Not only have I lost a great friend and mentor, but the game of basketball has lost one of its true pioneers. She not only made a huge difference in my life, but in the life of everyone associated with women's basketball.

I dont think (a national title) needs to validate her game. I think the fashion in which shes accomplished things validate (her game), but why not let that be the golden prize for a kid that has done so much for the game, for herself and for the program

It was such an honor to walk out behind her and watch her stand there and look at the arena filled to the rafters. That was enough for me. Win, lose or draw, that said everything about her when she had to coach, tape ankles, teach, the whole nine yards. That moment right there was something I'll always remember.