Barry Hinson Quotations

We are probably a mid-major conference in most of our other sports, but in men's basketball we are obviously a high-major conference. It's the sixth best conference in the country, and there should be talk of five teams going into the NCAA Tournament. Whether we get that or not, we deserve the attention.

What we did this time, how we came back, says a lot for this team and for our crowd. Our fans were phenomenal.

Right now, four teams, people should be saying it's a lock. The debate is whether it should be five teams.

I'd like to say I thought their defense was good, but it's not what caused us to miss shots in the second half.

I think the conference race is already done. I think Wichita State is going to win the race. I think what everybody else is trying to do is to get the highest seed they can get for the tournament, or finish as the runner-up.

I think that would be big for him going into next year.

Just because they're the sixth seed, that doesn't mean anything. Not this year in our league. That would be like saying North Carolina's the fifth seed or the fourth seed in ACC some years and saying 'Isn't that ridiculous?' No. It's just because the league's so good.

Just because they're a No. 6 seed, that doesn't mean anything. Not this year in our league.

Our league is deserving of this whether you want to call it a freak or a phenomenon. The league is good. It's a tough league.

I think our body of work is deserving. I believe in the selection committee and I believe they'll make the right choices. If we're in, it's the right thing. If we're not, it's the right thing and you won't hear me moaning and groaning.

We just couldn't make shots. It was like we fed the piranhas. We couldn't do that.

We know they're a heck of a basketball team that will be ready to play us.

We have a student body that is fired up about Bears basketball. It's a whole different level, the best our students have been since I've been here. This is a big game.

We would even give up one of our guaranteed home games next season and go to Maryland. To have an ACC team in our building the following season, and the respect I have for Coach Williams, it would be an honor for our league.

There have been some things said. I just talked to our players about it, and we have to hold our composure. We did not appreciate the comments, nor did we like the comments toward the Valley. But we're not going to get into a war of words.

We save it for special occasions against Drake.

We always talk about equal selection and how it's fair to all the conferences and schools. Well, (the selection committee has) a chance to prove it.

Few people know it, but we were actually supposed to play in an exempt tournament this year in Pittsburgh. It fell apart at the last minute and we couldn't find another one on short notice.

This team deserved something like this after what happened on (Selection) Sunday.

We felt good at halftime. We just chose a bad time to not make our shots and ... we fed the piranhas out there. We couldn't do that.

I've been in the league seven years, and I don't think I've ever seen any conference, period, that has had this kind of balance and competition.

Practicing for the unknown, it's hard to be as motivated. I understand that a little bit, but we should be as motivated as we've ever been because we know we're going to postseason play.

Now let's go to Louisville and win us a trip to the Big Apple.

Defensively we turned it up a notch. We forced 21 turnovers against a good basketball team and that's pretty good.

They really sped the game up for us. Blake was so sped up a couple of times when he shot, I thought he'd had two Mountain Dews.

I told the guys in our last huddle, whoever gets the last rebound would win. Nate went and got it.

That's our biggest challenge and I don't mind saying I think it's going to be really hard. But one thing I've always been impressed by is how young people are much more resilient than older ones.

No messages. We just played good basketball (against Stanford). Coaches that run their mouths, that all comes back to haunt them.

I want to get mad, but I don't know who to get mad at.

They average (27) 3-point attempts a game and, to put that in perspective, that's 10 more than we average.

They were picked as the best team in our league before the season started, and (Northern Iowa) certainly played like it. They played with a sense of urgency.

Sky is mature enough to figure it out on his own. We've talked about the sense of urgency with our team, but Sky knew.

I'm frustrated and I'm perplexed. I'm tired of being a statistic.

I'm sorry ... and I'm sorry to our fans.

I'm thankful that both of these guys are going to graduate. It's been a blessing to have each of them ? Deke for two years and Kellen for four ? in our basketball program.

I just told our group in the locker room that when (SIU) had to get tough, they did, and when we had to get tough, we did not.

But I did not know who that team was out there in maroon. That was a team I have not seen all year long.

I don't think there's any question the league has the potential to be better. I anticipate it being better, but at the same time that also puts a lot of pressure to say the Valley is going to have six teams in the top (45) of the RPI and competing for an NCAA berth. That's a lot of pressure.

I don't want to say we missed all of those ourselves; they had something to do with that, 6-7 guys going at 6-2 guys.

And I would expect them to play much better than they did the other night.