Mike Waldo Quotations

We struggled a little shooting the ball tonight. Granite plays a good, tough zone and they played it very well tonight.

We knew they would not quit. T-Town is a very good team, we knew we had to keep at them because they handle the ball well, shoot the three well and play good defense. That's not a team we thought we'd win big over. They shot the ball very well from three, I have to give them a lot of credit for that, they shot extremely well.

There are only good teams left now. Every game from here on out is going be hard fought.

I don't think it's ever mattered to Spencer whether he scores any points or not. He's just trying to do what the team needs him to do and he's always going to do exactly what the coach wants him to do.

He is a very good player. And I thought we did well to guard him. He got some of those points off loose balls that we collapsed on and didn't get and he got passes in situations where he could score, but that's just how basketball works. But I thought we did well guarding him. We didn't allow him to penetrate too much and we kept him from hurting us off the dribble like he is capable of doing.

He's a great leader in the sense that he practices well every day. Every drill, everything we do, he works hard. He's enthusiastic every day about everything we do and I think that rubs off on his teammates.

He's a great shooter; he's strong and quick and can shoot it. You concentrate on Maguire and Stewart a little bit and when he gets some open looks, he's certainly good enough to knock them down.

We made the lead big in the first quarter and they weren't able to catch us after that. I thought we played hard. I thought we played smart.

I thought we played well tonight. I thought we rebounded well, we took care of the ball, we shot the ball pretty well and played very good defense.

I thought E.J. played an outstanding defensive game. He got some steals, knocked some passes away, changed some shots, rebounded the ball well and pushed it up the court nicely.

I thought E.J. had a very good game. He's very athletic, and a very gifted athlete that can do a lot of things for us. He's also been working very hard on his shooting, as I think you saw tonight.

I thought we played very well on defense. And I thought we rebounded the ball on both ends very well. And we had to since we didn't shoot very well, but Schaefer had three offensive rebounds on our first possession, he had a very good night on the boards.

I think we probably played our best game of the year. We had to against a team like that. A lot of things went well for us and not much went right for them.

I think we have a good bunch of guys that work real hard. We prepared well for this tournament and I think we deserved it. This is a good win for us.

I think any time you advance in the postseason it's fun for the players. Our guys are thankful to have the opportunity to still be playing and when you get this far along, you're playing good teams.

Our kids played real hard against a very good basketball team. They showed a lot of poise in a pressure situation and came up with a big win for us.

Our guys have had a great season. We're getting ready to start a new season.

Our low-post defense and defensive rebounding will be a big key.

I think our team is tough to guard because we don't have one guy that you can key on. If you take something away from us, we have had the ability to take what the defense gives us.

I think our team did a good job of finding Dustin in places where he could score. Then he made the shots.

I thought Mark had a real good game. He made some shots, he was really active on the glass and got a lot of big rebounds and he played good defense all night long.

We ended up being to guard the post and the perimeter, and I think you have to give our players credit to be able to do so.

We had a lot of foul trouble and I thought that Burkett, Carl and Ess all gave us some great minutes. That was a big part of the win for us.

Those days in the practice gym helped. We got a chance to work on some of the things that we needed to work on. This was a good start to the tournament.

We play every game the same. I don't think our guys ever think about whether we've beat a team before and what they're record is.

We still have a long way to go in the conference. We've got ourselves in position to win it, but still have some work to do.

We do a good job of taking what the defense is giving us. In the second half we defended better, but we still had a tough time rebounding the ball, but that's a credit to Belleville East. They have good athletes and they were trying hard to win.

We like coming here for the competition. They have always treated us good up here and there are some good teams here. Winning here is important because we have been here a lot of years and haven't won many of these. This is a really good tournament.

We've worked very hard all year on those very important parts of the game. That's why we don't see a need to change our offense or defense to whoever we play because we've worked so hard at the fundamentals of the game.

We've got a good group of guys that work very hard at what they do and are very dedicated and focused on getting better every day. We prepared hard for this tournament, like we do for all our games, and we came out and executed.

We did a good job of pressing. Our guys worked real hard in the press and they did a real good job of being in the right place at the right time in the press.

E.J. and Dustin have both come in and worked and adapted to the other players.

East St. Louis played hard tonight. They played well defensively with their pressure and they made some hard shots. You have to give them credit, they played a good game.

Belleville East played a great game, and it was hard for us to defend them. I was talking to one of my assistants, and we agreed we played our best game of the year. And we needed to do that to win this one.

There's no more pressure on us now than there was when we first started. We like to play basketball. We like to work hard in practice and we like to work hard in games and we like to win basketball games. That's all we're focused on right now and that's all that matters.

They are an excellent team. They beat Alton and we know how good Alton was this year. They've beaten some good teams and have played very well this season.

They are a good shooting basketball team. And when they are able to make shots from that far out, they are hard to guard.

Spencer is a very gifted player who works very hard at what he does. I thought he played smart, played with a lot of intensity and had a great game.

Spencer and E.J. made some nice plays in the middle.

That team does a lot of really good things offensively and defensively, utilizing their personnel very well. They're a big team and have done a great job.

Alton's very quick and they do a good job pressuring the ball. They were well prepared to guard our delay game, and it showed. Our guys did a really good job of coming back down the floor and executing a good play to get us the lead back.

Alton's very good. They ran a lot of good offense. Our guys had to play hard and smart to guard them. Holding them to 37 was outstanding, considering all the good stuff they ran.

They had a great run and were a dangerous team. We knew this would not be like the other two games.

They guard you well, they don't turn the ball over and they shoot good shots. This year they've got a very good shooting team. Last year they had some inside might and a couple of shooters. Now they've got a lot of guys that shoot well.

They're playing very good basketball right now. They play hard, they're very athletic and they've got a new player that is giving them a lot offensively.

They're a good basketball team and we knew they wouldn't quit. They handled our pressure very well in the first quarter and we couldn't get our run going.

It's the first time we've had a physician with us. It's a good thing we did because he stitched Spencer up at halftime or we wouldn't have had him otherwise.

That's been something we've done all year. We have good shooters and guys that are good competitors.

I think our guys played the press very well tonight. We got some big steals and were able to get back on defense when we didn't steal the ball. I was proud of our defensive effort.

I think our guys played hard tonight. We're doing a good job of taking this one game at a time and focusing on the team we're playing next and not worrying about what's ahead. We prepared well for Jerseyville and now we will get prepared for whoever we play next.

I don't really pay much attention to the polls. I'm sure it's fun for the guys to look at it and talk about it. But I don't think it's a big focus for them either.

He's made himself a good shooter, and I think that showed tonight. He's a good athlete, and I think he likes all sports. That's a great opportunity for him at Minnesota, and I think he's happy about it.

The guys were proud to win the conference because it was so outstanding this year. Our guys have done a good job. They've prepared well and played well and had a great regular season. Now we're getting ready to start a new season, and we'll get to work on that.

All things considered, we probably played the best game we've played all year, and we needed to do that. I thought they played outstanding.