Colorado University Athletics
Colorado vs. Nebraska, Quotes
March 06, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Ricardo Patton
GENERAL: “That was a great ball game. I think all the fans got their money's worth. We knew coming into the game that
ON THE KEY TO VICTORY: “Having the lead late and then getting a couple of key stops and the rebound that Lamar got off the free throw. That (rebound) was huge because they have so many people who can shoot it, you're at their mercy of they get it.
ON NCAA HOPES: “I just believe that there's no doubt about it when you finish No 4 in the Big 12, unless they only take three teams, we're going to be in. " Anything is possible, but we've done what we can to put ourselves in position.”
ON IMPROVEMENT THROUGH THE SEASON: “Sometimes we look alright and sometimes we don't. This is a group that I think got better. You look at the losses against
ON BLAIR'S SECOND-CHANCE THREE: “I thought he had a better chance of hitting it because he was wide-open. On the other shots he took there was always a defender to the side of him or putting extra pressure on his shot and it makes you a little tentative. I was glad to see David (
ON IMPROVEMENT FOR BIG 12 TOURNAMENT: “We had a stretch there where we were really good defensively and I don't think we were as good defensively. We've been okay, but not a solid. Our point guard situation isn't as good as it was for a stretch. We have to get back to being good on defense and not depend so much on our offense. When you win a few games and guys think they're good, they think it's their offense, they forget it's because of their defense that their offense is good.”
ON THE SENIOR CLASS: These guys have spent four years listening to me yell and scream, that also happened at halftime. Those guys are special. Yesterday Stephane (Pelle) called from
ON LOOKING AHEAD TO BIG 12 TOURNEY: “I tell you right now, I'm just sort of exhausted. " Right now, I'm going to enjoy the moment. It's been a long season and I'm tired. I'm not going to spend any moment tonight worrying about
ON HIS HALFTIME SPEECH: “The gist of what I said was who was going to make shots for us next year when Michel is gone. " I challenged the guys to step up and said who is going to make those sots next year and I also challenged those guys who's going to be rebounding for us because Lamar will be gone. They need to get involved in the fight.”
GENERAL: “We just ran out of time at the end, and we tried to come down the stretch with more possessions by putting the right guy on the line as much as possible. I think rebounds and missing shots were a critical problem. (Michel) Morandais and (David)
ON F JOHN TUREK FOUL TROUBLE: “John played a lot of minutes, and had foul trouble throughout most of the game. We didn't lose him until late, and we needed to finish strong, but it didn't happen. I thought he (Turek) had a good game, and rebounded the ball well, but we didn't have an answer for (David)
ON NCAA TOURNAMENT BID: “I think it is possible if we play a little bit better. We tried to keep the season alive for the NCAA run, and we may have a shot. It happens every year, and somebody has to do it so it may as well be us.”
GENERAL: “We don't like to win by a lot of points at home for some reason, I think we're Tyring to make some good TV or something. Even with it was tied at 75 I knew we weren't going to lose the game. I knew if I didn't make the game-winning shot, one of these two (Blair or Michel) would have.”
ON HIS FUTURE: “I don't know. I haven't made my mind up yet.”
GENERAL: “Tonight we didn't play a very good game at all. We had a lot of distractions and everyone was too fired up at times. You got to like going into the tournament 10-6. We're going to try and make a serious run at playing on Sunday.”
ON SENIOR NIGHT: “It was so close, I don't think we could enjoy it like we wanted to and celebrate the last couple of minutes. It was a heck of a game to watch but a tiring one for us.”
ON THE LEGACY LEFT BY THE SENIORS: “We're considered a losing team and losing players when we got here and I don't want to leave here being remembered as a loser and I know the other seniors feel the same and the other guys will step up and keep this tradition going. We never saw a packed house the first two years at least not one with our fans, maybe with
ON HIS SECOND-CHANCE THREE: “I knew I was going to shoot it. I wasn't going to turn that one down. David wouldn't have given me the ball if I he didn't Think I could make it and if I hadn't taken the shot, I'd been on the bench, so I was between a rock and a hard place.”
ON NCAA HOPES: “Don't know so much that 10-6 gets you in, but finishing fourth or fifth, when every bracket out there has six teams going should. " It would be really heartbreaking not to get into this tournament and to get cheated. We've done everything we can and it's out of our hands. We're going to try and win that tournament in
ON HIS HOT STREAK TO END THE FIRST HALF: “I don't know really. It's just a feeling that you get and you feel like the goal is so big that you can't miss. I started the game struggling, missed my first four or five shots. It's my house, I practice here everyday. Once you get the rhythm going, that rim was looking big.
