Marty Manfredo Quotations

We looked bad in the first half. We were out of sync.

We made them work for it. That was the good thing.

I talked to him all week about keeping his composure and not playing out of control and I almost didn't start him because I knew how fired up he would be and I didn't want him in foul trouble. But he promised me he wouldn't get in foul trouble and he played really well.

It hurt down the stretch that they had to foul to stop the clock.

Our first focus is on whether we're getting defensive intensity. Mt. Vernon was probably the best game we've played this year. We got beat by six but held a quality opponent to 35 points on their home floor. But in terms of development our offense is behind the defense so that's why we spent 90 minutes of our Sunday practice working on nothing but offense.

I was very pleased with their effort. We were just worn out in the fourth quarter.

We probably played our best quarter of basketball of the season.

We played well tonight and have showed improvement. They beat us up there by 26 points.

Tommie was the difference for us. He scored and did a nice defensive job on their best player.

We're trying to work big Jake on the inside. He just needs playing time. Where he's come from (Unity Christian School) he hasn't played much organized basketball so he's come leaps and bounds with us this year. If nothing more, his conditioning has improved tremendously. He's come a long way.

We were not very focused at the beginning of the game. We were a step slow and sluggish and playing uninspired on defense. But I was very pleased with our defense in the middle two quarters.

We were expecting him to log heavy minutes this year, so not having him was a big blow to us.

E.J. has been in a slump and kind of down on himself and those two threes were big for us down the stretch.

Every kid on this team is now a little better than they were before the game. And that's good. It was a successful night, but without a win, you're never completely happy.

The whole tournament, the kids improved each game. They improved their skills and made free throws. Winning this trophy means a lot.

Defensively, I had no complaints all year. Offensively, our skills were not as good as you would want. We'll work on that this summer. But defensively, the kids played well all year. We do have trouble putting the ball in the basket sometimes.

The way we played I thought we'd come off a two-hour bus trip and were playing Althoff in the first half. We just started real slow and never got in the flow of the game. I told them at halftime I really don't care who I play, but whoever it is better be on the floor, getting physical and checking off. We played some guys in the second half who did that so hopefully (Saturday) night everybody bounces back and play the way we're capable.

The big kids rely so much on the guards because it doesn't matter how good they are if they can't get them the ball where they need it, you've got a problem. Hopefully down the road they can contribute. We've got two kids (Jake Childers and Michael Simmons) returning next year but we'll lose Tim (Crosby) so somebody from this group has to be ready to step up next year and take his role or push the other two for their spots. You can never have enough depth, especially inside.

If you want to play these are the kinds of things you do. Fortunately I've got a good group of kids who want to learn and are willing to put forth the effort. Hopefully it will pay off for them and the program in the long run.