John Pelphrey Quotations

With Noah, it's not so much the talent level, but the effort. His effort is off the charts.

The problem with the NCAA tournament is it's just one of those things words sometimes don't do justice. You have to experience it.

I have been blessed to be associated with some unbelievable people. I've needed that help as a coach.

I feel very fortunate to win the award. There are some great coaches in this league...Basketball is a team game and any award that I win is a direct reflection on how hard our team works.

He went up over everybody and came down like, 'We're back.' It settled us.

He'll be trying to rip our face off. All the friendship, all the love will be going out the window for those two hours.

This was a great college basketball game tonight. Western Kentucky is one of the best teams in the Sun Belt and they made the last play to get the win.

I think the NCAA has a funny sense of humor with regards to pairing us up with Florida.

I sat there for the next three months.

Our goal was to take the inside away and keep them from jamming it down our throats because they have such good post players. We did a good job of that in the first half. In the second half, it got away from us a little bit.

Our turnaround this year was extremely dramatic, in turns of wins and losses. This is going to happen anytime you go through the building process.

Outside of my father, he was probably the most influential male in my life.

Outside my father, he's probably the most influential male in my life. He's a special, special guy.

We have been working really hard here the past three years. We've had some hurdles like all rebuilding jobs. This year we have more players. We have more experienced players. The first-year guys we have signed are making contributions. We're kind of getting it from everywhere. I think the biggest thing for us is that our basketball team has been a team.

We play New Orleans, it's always a battle. I told our guys we can't look at the records in conference play...New Orleans has had a tough situation all year long and I am impressed with how hard they play.

We had a tough day today. We played a better basketball team. Physically we had a tough time getting around them, a tough time getting to the hoop. We tried. We were courageous. We played hard. Florida was just better today.

We understood what we wanted to do in the first half. Especially on offense. We found our pace, worked the ball around and got some really clean looks.

We knew that we were going to be one of the top two or three teams in the league. At least we felt like that. We certainly had a confidence level coming in.

We tried; we were courageous. Florida was just better than us.

This one here, from start to finish, our kids just played as well as they could possibly play. From a defensive side, Western Kentucky is unbelievable offensively. To hold them to 33 percent for the game, that is the best of the year for us.

We are very excited about Charles and Philip coming to South Alabama. They are outstanding people and students who have a world of basketball potential...We certainly look forward to both of them making contributions to helping our team as freshmen.

Billy was better than half of the team.

People don't know how much we missed him. He gives us incredible leadership. Academically, he has it figured out. He's not any smarter, just more organized.

This is a basketball team that had our number last year. I am very proud of our team. FIU is one of the most physical teams in our league and it showed tonight.

They are outstanding, the best we have played so far in terms of those guards and their shooters. It was not one of our better efforts just in terms of executing the game plan. I think Tennessee had a lot to do with that.

This may be the most special one because we're kind of out here on our own right now. We've been a part of rebuilding this.

They have the components to kill people in every single basketball game they are going to play in. They have the ability to compete against anybody in the country.

They have the components to compete in every single basketball game they're going to play in. It's just that time of year. You've got to play well. But they have the ability to compete with anybody in the country.

They have the ability to compete with anyone in the country. It's hard to compare them to the 2000 team. They are better in one sense, they won more games in the regular season. But that team really didn't get hot until the buzzer-beater against Butler.

It's an issue. We've got to find a way to deal with it.

It's not like we hang our hat on one or two guys. It's everybody getting involved. From Day One, we've talked about serving one another, building a chemistry, and they have done that.

The next three months, I know I had to drive him nuts. Always the same questions. I look back and see how much patience he had, it was incredible. But that's what makes him such a special person.

Everyone contributed tonight as a team and I couldn't be more proud of how our guys competed tonight. It was a hard fought physical basketball game tonight and our guys found a way to dig it out.

The beautiful thing about Michael Phillips is that I've never heard him complain. All that he has been through, never a complaint about anything. He's a champ. He's a joy.

I told Billy after the game that they were 26 points better than us -- if not more. They are a very good team.

It's amazing that we're playing each other. I think we would have been an 11 or 12 seed, but the NCAA wanted to match us up. I think that had a lot to do with it.

I knew we were going to be ferocious. I knew we were going to play hard. I just hoped it was well enough to put ourselves in a situation to win. We couldn't. It wasn't because of a lack of effort. It was because Florida's just better.

I never dreamed that Rich (Law) would be able to play as long as he did and as well as he did, it was great.

I'm thankful the good Lord has put him here.

I'll never forget that day. Before we had our game day practice, Mike comes bouncing into my office. He said, 'Coach, my mom's coming to the game tonight.' He said, 'You don't understand, Coach. This is the first time she's ever seen me play.

I know everybody likes to make it out that you get judged by your success in the NCAA tournament. He's had some success. He will have that again. I hope it's not (Thursday).

I felt very confident and we threw a couple more guys out there and they turned things back around and more players came in and took it even farther.

I don't see it helping either side because I haven't been around their program for four years. I'd be shocked if he had any idea what we were doing or knew anything about our personnel before this week. If anything, we might have a slight advantage because we get to see them a lot on television. Our games aren't really televised that often.

I don't think either one of us like the fact that someone's season is going to be over after this thing. I do know one thing about Billy. He's going to be trying to rip our face off. All the friendship, all the love and all that is going out the window for those two hours. It's going to be very, very competitive.

I don't think either one of us liked ... the fact that somebody's season is going to be over after this game. But it is what it is. We don't control who we play in the NCAA tournament.