Vivian Stringer Quotations

There is no question that Villanova is the team we most dread to play. I am so grateful to get that game over.

There is no question that Villanova is the team that we most dread to play. I'm glad we were able to be victorious, because they really wear you out.

We want it by ourselves and I think the greatest test of them all is to play Connecticut at our place, last game on the line and they've got a chance to share it. It's going to be crucial.

When I looked in the faces of the senior class, this is the class as freshman that had nine wins and 20 losses. People gave up on us, but they (the seniors) didn't.

She's been a leader right from the beginning. She can play whatever we need her to play. What's good about it is, she's given so much confidence to everybody else.

She seems to see the game slow down, no matter how fast she's moving. She's very good at taking the game apart and not taking bad shots. And when she's going to make things happen, she carries that 'ain't nobody going to stop me' attitude.

She's done a great job. She and her staff have really brought the level of competition up ... I believe the future is very bright for Pittsburgh. Very, very bright.

She and I are personal friends, but as it relates to the game itself, she can see like I can see. She can tell what our strengths and weaknesses are just like I can with them, but I'm not necessarily worried about that. We just have to go out and play.

She doesn't mind. E takes great pride in that.

She is one of a dying breed. I love her very much.

She really did change the game because we were not able to get a '55' defense. I thought the difference was her being able to extend the defense at full-court level.

I wish we could get a little more out of her offensively, and I think it's going to come.

I don't know what to say. Maybe the next game we do the same thing. Maybe we'll turn it on in the second half. Everybody has to function at the same time.

I don't know what anyone was thinking about when they decided to do this. I thought we were trying to spread the talent so the four best teams could arrive at the one spot.

I don't know who came up with this rivalry business. I have enough sense to know a rivalry is when you can't determine the outcome.

I came to Rutgers to try to build Rutgers to become the jewel of the East. I really think a lot of people got bent out of shape thinking that we claimed to be the jewel of the East. I don't know where you're going to get 'jewel' when you are undiscovered and unpolished. What we hoped to do was become the jewel of the East. I think anybody who loves competition has to appreciate someone who is going to push the envelope a little bit in terms of competing.

I am so personally hurt with losses. I really am an elephant like that. I don't forget. I can still feel the pain and sting of it (last year's loss to Tennessee). So when you consider the length of the season and when you can be a little tired, I am not. I am just fueled by what could have been.

I feel much better, and I thought this was a real test. This was the first real test where somebody came that was legitimate, not going to back down, and demonstrated that they play the same game all the time. So, it was nice to see that.

I can't imagine him not coaching. I just can't imagine it. It really puts everything in perspective for me. I never saw that day coming.

West Virginia clearly wanted it more. They worked harder, and played with a great deal of heart and determination.

To date, yeah, we probably are. We've done a lot work on zones in the last week and a half, anticipating that everybody is going to play zone, but the team that we feared most was Marquette. I like zone a lot as a coach, but my team doesn't seem to like zones.

Kids don't play every second like it's their life. Those kinds of people are probably the ones who think that in the last seconds we're going to come back, or wait until we do this or do that, but they don't understand how quickly it escapes.

I suspect if we continue to work hard, we can continue to hopefully prove ourselves worthy.

I think it all comes down to fundamentals. This is not a time to start forgetting things. It will be a matter of inches and seconds that will win the championship. You work hard all year to get to this point, and you have to be able to sustain. You can only escape for so long.

I thought West Virginia really deserved this win. I think their team clearly wanted it more. They worked hard from the beginning. I think they played with a great deal of heart and determination.

I thought we sputtered and I thought we did not make the extra pass. We played selfish basketball today, and I thought we played not smart.

I thought Essence had a lot more points. She seemed more active.

I think we've decided that that is who we are. And that's who we need to be.

I think (West Virginia) played with a great deal of heart and determination. They were small, but they fought hard. I don't know if we overlooked them, but there is no point complaining about it. We deserved to lose.

I think that because Connecticut represents national champions, people should not get confused about what Connecticut is. Connecticut is a national power. They have been defending national champions. What makes Connecticut great is because they represent such greatness and accomplishment. So (a win) would say a lot.

I went off. They were unforced turnovers, too.

I think there needs to be a heightened sensitivity of athletic directors who are doing the hiring process. I'm proposing to see if we could develop a list of what I deem to be the important necessary skills to be a head coach at a high level.

I thought we were excited in the beginning, running around like chickens with our necks cut off. I feel we settled down, I just wondered how far we were going to go before we settled down.

I think Connecticut, if I'm not mistaken, is still ranked above us, aren't they? I think it's in all the polls. I'm not aware of us being ranked over Connecticut. The win we had against them didn't matter much. Connecticut still holds a long history over the Knights. One game for us isn't going to make us the big shots of the Big East. Connecticut will come in as the favorite, no doubt about it.

I think if you were a gambler and you had a million dollars, you should have gone to Las Vegas and bet a million dollars that Tennessee and Rutgers would meet in the NCAA tournament.

It feels good anytime you beat Texas and Tennessee. Wins over those great coaches are very special.

I think overall we were rusty. But the truth of the matter is if we don't know what time it is, it's time to play.

I think I've addressed it adequately that it's not going to get a chance to get like that, because I'll stop it real quick. It's not going to happen again. I can control that.

I'm so grateful to get that game over. I think the team would rather play Duke, Connecticut and Tennessee all back-to-back or in one week than Villanova. I took 600 milligrams of Motrin before the game and the headache is still coming through.

I would much rather meet them and deal with them now. That's the way I feel about it. The only thing it does for me is like, bring 'em on. I don't really care. And so if my team takes that same attitude, I don't care who we play and when we play.

We hadn't demonstrated to ourselves that we could play at a certain level, so this was nice. This was a test. I felt much better (after this win).

We needed something dramatic. Maybe you have a different perspective when you're seeing it from the bench. It's kind of interesting how you can see things a whole lot easier from the bench than from when you're on the floor.

We've been getting progressively better which is good. We haven't been consistent. We've been up and down, but I'm more encouraged than discouraged. It's been an up and down year. We had a real fine game against DePaul and I can tell you I am looking forward to this game.

You learn in life that, you give everything that you possibly can. And when that's not enough, you learn to accept that.

We start off pretty fast, but now we've got to be able to maintain. It won't get a chance to get like that, because I will not let that happen again.

We would get in the gap and then kick it out 15 feet, and that's nice because you're sharing the ball. But what we were trying to do was put the game away earlier, so we understood how you do put a game away.

We did not play. I don't know if we overlooked them, (but) there's no point in complaining about it. We deserved to lose. We should be going home and we will be going home in a couple of hours.

We were excited at the beginning, like chickens running around with their necks cut off. I figured we would settle in. I just wondered how far down we'd go before we settled down.

We all count on her to do the incredible.

We just want to get more talent and more depth.

Every team we play is a rivalry in a sense, because you try to win every game. That's what it's all about. Who knows who came up with this rivalry?

Every possession was crucial. Every point, every missed cut. It was that kind of a game. It's nice to finally win here.

Every game we have a period of time when we slack. We grab teams by the neck and choke them until they can't breathe. Then we start relaxing and my blood pressure goes up.

Essence takes great pleasure in creating zeros on anybody that she plays.

Essence's job was to keep Duffy quiet. When Duffy scored it was against somebody else.

They are an NCAA team. They are a good young squad who deserve to go. The Big East should get eight or nine teams in.

The win that we had against them (Feb. 7) really didn't matter much. One game for us isn't going to say, 'Hey, we're the big shots of the Big East. Connecticut will come in as the favorite. There's no question about that.

Offensively we were not making the extra pass and not getting a nice, smooth transition look. We were not attacking or executing our patterns. It wasn't Villanova. It's just the way we play.

Anybody can distribute the ball, but what she wants to do is know how to break zones and how you can handle things. I think she wants to go to the next step, understanding that you can't play the same way. I think her improvement is simply a result of a year of reflection.

They're tournament-tested and play at the highest level. They're ready.

A lot of people got bent out of shape thinking that we claimed to be the jewel of the east. What we hoped to do was become the jewel of the east. I think anybody who loves competition has to appreciate someone who is going to push the envelope a little bit in terms of competing.

They knew. I have clothes I want to wear.

They have been a joke with regards to the selection. I didn't say that earlier because I thought I'd get sent to Alaska and they don't have a regional there.

They are really just special young ladies. They're daughters. They're great daughters. It felt good today. It felt good to see them smile.

There were so many things that were wrong (against West Virginia). We just have to re-define our roles a little, do what we have to do and how we can do it.

It's just that it's getting so bad. It's so obviously bad that rather than wait for there to be others who speak out with me, I'll just go ahead and do it on my own.

It's a challenge and I'm anxious to see how we rise to that. It's one thing when you are hunting. It's another thing when you are hunted.

It's about that killer instinct, the great teams have that and we need to look for it. We need to teach our team that killer instinct.

It is the big picture. That is right. That is a fact.

It's the same issues. It's not that I didn't know we had posts that haven't shown up. This is bad. I felt we played selfish basketball. I thought we did not play very smart. Our rebounding was very lax; we did not play as if we had a purpose.

You try to help the team to see the big picture. I really welcome the day when I have a team that is on automatic pilot and they just feed off of it, and as soon as the ball goes up they just know. They just play.

That kid was getting open looks for that shot. As a team, we usually play extremely well getting out on the 3.

It's nice that we win sometimes up here - one time in 50 years - it's kind of nice. We've had great games, but we haven't won. To win here is pretty special.

It's something we've thought about. We are concerned about it. Senior Night is always a personal game, and we have a formidable task. I remember playing Notre Dame, going down, 17-1. We're fully aware of it.

Everybody's coming to the same party. We're all here.

That girl is shooting over 50 percent from the floor. ... Anyone who has watched greatness has to know this girl is getting it done.

It?s a much-anticipated game, and it?s the last one. If you think about it, I don?t think you could ask for anything better than that.

It was nice to see them play free. It was one of the better games I've seen in a long time.

The two best teams in the Big East are Connecticut and Rutgers. What better situation could you want than to have this game played and be the last one? I don't think you could ask for anything better than that.

It was great to see our team execute. We really moved the ball, we got good shots and we were looking for each other. It was one of the better games I've seen in a long time, and it can't come at a better time than now.

It was great to see our team execute, move the ball, take great shots, play defense, it was nice to see them play so free. It was one of the better games I've seen in a long time and it comes at no better time than now.

I'm glad we got that one out of the way. When it came down to it, we didn't put pressure on them for the entire game. So we ran the risk of getting embarrassed.

I'm glad we got that one out of the way. I was greatly concerned about Dartmouth. This kind of game is uncomfortable as a rule, because of the style of play. Fortunately we're going to go on and see another style of play.

I'm not going to tell you now while everyone is listening.

I mean, really. I knew they counted on our fans, but wow.

I know they were embarrassed and they all came out to play and put it together today. So I'm happy for them because I know they were hurt.

I liked the fact that we only turned the ball over seven times. That's a major. And we had 17 assists. That's an extremely important category. But I don't like the way we executed.

I'm looking way ahead. I'm looking at Connecticut.

I really want this for her. I can't imagine me wanting something more personally as I want her to get this award.

I know and it's so sick. It's so sad. And you know something? I knew I would get upset with a game like this. And you will see this type of game again. So let me give you fair warning.

I really felt we had all the elements to seriously make a run. On the other hand, in years past we had far more depth and could have withstood more things. At the beginning of the year I felt we were flexible enough to pull this off, and throughout the Big East season there was no reason we shouldn't have been able to at least get back to the Elite Eight level and be a Final Four team.

I don't like being scored on, to be honest with you. I'd rather beat you 21-3 than 100-75, because I just don't like being scored on.

For them to get up in the morning, come over here and get beat up and play, to do that they've demonstrated a tremendous amount of respect for our players. I would like to pass legislation even if it meant reducing a scholarship. ... I think we need to reward them.

You only go to Tennessee if you're a great player and want to compete at the highest level and want to get pushed. There's a certain kind of mentality that's there. This is a different kind of mindset that's been really important at the championship level.

The guards are the protector of the championship.

The freshmen grew up a lot and we as a team grew up a lot. We learned how to win.

The kid that showed up (Maddox), that's incredible. I mean, she wasn't even on our radar. It's kind of interesting with us. Probably the best thing that happened to Temple was that their point guard went down, because then our brains went to sleep and we no longer focused on the guards. It was confusion, at the very least.