Bob Thomason Quotations

Wow, they are athletic, disciplined and well-coached. That's not a very good combination. They're obviously tested. If you can beat North Carolina one day and almost beat Duke the next, you're obviously very, very good.

I don't know about them, but I sure am. I'm out for revenge.

Last year we could handle bigger teams. This year that's definitely a concern of mine. We had a team that could match up with anyone last year. We don't have a team like that this year.

Mike is bringing consistency to his position. He's been a little more aggressive of late and, hopefully, it continues because it's been fun to watch.

If they beat us, they'll probably have the league pretty well in hand.

If they ever do, they've got to take my picture from about 20 years ago when I was kind of thin. I don't want a fat statue out there.

If it's on ESPN, I'll start at midnight. I don't care. It was the No. 1 featured game, the only game going on at that time. It was late for the East Coast, but people on the East Coast watched, got a chance to see us.

He's a role player on our team, but I think sometimes he limits his role more than he should.

He just hit one of those shots. You wish when you hit a shot like that you win a game rather than lose a game.

I thought Christian was really a great player tonight. He was real aggressive, real active and real focused on what he had to do.

I thought this was the first game all year we deserved to win and didn't.

I thought this was the first game all year that I thought we deserved to win. I thought we did a great job. I think we brought our toughness to the table, and we just had a few things slip through our fingers.

I thought they were supposed to pick teams, not conferences. Last year, the Big West got two (berths) because we deserved to go and Utah State won the tournament. This year, they were almost over fair. Utah State and Air Force had to be bubble teams, and if you have four or five bubble teams, you pick two and two or three don't get in. Cincinnati should have gotten in, but Syracuse ended up winning the (Big East) tournament. The Big East still got eight teams in. Cincinnati kicked itself out.

I think this is probably the best team we've played in the first round the last three years.

I think they will be good, I just don't know how fast they'll be good. I don't know if early we'll be as good. I don't like to say we're not going to be as good. We'll be what we are. We'll work our tail off and try to win every game and see what happens. I didn't think we'd be 18-0 in league last year, either.

Last Saturday morning, the day of the game (the Big West tournament final against Long Beach State, a 78-70 victory), I get a call from my dad. My son's wife just had our first granddaughter back north (in Walnut Creek), so as soon as the game ended, I had some pizza with the players and went to bed, and the next morning at 5:30, I drove back up to see them, had to go 101 because the Grapevine was closed, and then drove to Stockton for the selection show. I haven't had time to celebrate, but I'll be able to celebrate that every day.

Our guys are hungry to prove people wrong. This team has taken a lot of flak. Everywhere you turn, people are questioning how well this team can come around. I just said, 'Give it time. Give it time.' Well, here we are, and whatever happens the rest of the year, I'm going to be proud of this team.

Our guys played perfect basketball over the last three minutes. The first game of a tournament is a little tougher, but we handled it. We got through it, and now we know we need to play a great 40 minutes for a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament.

I won't know if it was a foul until I see it. I hope it was a good foul and not one of those other kinds of fouls.

I think Karl Benson is really taking care of his guys, and I think there has to be more fairness in the way this is done.

Johnny had a sensational game. It just didn't click for us offensively until Johnny took over.

You listen to that all year. Digger Phelps said he saw the Missouri Valley Conference and said it was 'sorry.' He said that all year.

You just think of all the players you've coached. You're happy for them and their success, and at least you've been doing something right.

With all the information we have, it's something that can be handled pretty simply, and he won't be out a very long time.

Without Bates, they didn't have the penetration they usually get.

We know people can beat us in our conference. That's why we have to see if we can play our best basketball over the next four games.

When we're going to the bench, we just haven't been getting a lot of scoring lately. We have to figure out a way to do that.

We really didn't deserve to win. We just didn't have great emotion and we had all week to get ready for this game. I'm amazed. I thought we were going to be excited.

There haven't been a lot of easy games here over the years. They've always played well here.

You have to create match-up problems somewhere. If you don't have any advantages, it's going to be a long day.

There are always good players out there. You just have to be in the right place at the right time.

We want to win this thing by ourselves. We've worked hard all year to get into this position.

We just looked like a tired basketball team. We haven't had a day off since the day after Christmas, and we looked like a team that needed a break.

We weren't going to take any chances with him.

We know that if we play well we can beat them. Our goal is to play better than we did. We might not shoot better, but we can play defense and rebound better.

Esparza was sensational tonight. He had a monster game.

It would be hard for anybody in the country who lost seven players. You never know how guys are going to respond, but our guys have responded pretty well. Now, we have an opportunity, and we have to capture that opportunity.

I've always said you might not ever see a mid-major go to the Final Four. When a mid-major wins a game, especially if it's not a good seed, if they play a powerhouse, getting to the Sweet 16 is like going to the Elite Eight. Going to the Elite Eight is like going to the Final Four, so George Mason has already won the national championship. If they win the next two games, they'll have won the world championship. They'll have to give them a gold medal.

Sanders didn't play the first nine games, but he's back and playing at a different level.

They might try to take Mike away with a zone, but they can't take away all our 3s.

There were other things, too - things we didn't do as well as we would like - but that's the way it is. It was a tough call, but you've got to live with it and move on.

They're in really, really good shape, but what we have to worry about is playing well. This is a big week for us, too, because two wins would put us in a situation where we're competing for the league championship.

It's not like they've been losing a lot, and we got after them. I love that. I was looking to see if we were going to be tentative or aggressive, and I was happy to see us being aggressive. I hope we see the same thing (today).

That's one of the best conferences in the (nation), and I'd like to play them just for a comparison.

They hit a lot of tough shots. You've got to give them credit for making the shots they had to. I don't know if I've ever coached a game where a team shot 70 percent in the second half and we still won.

They'll be absolutely ready to go. We won't fool anybody. Two years ago we caught a Providence team that had lost a couple games going into the tournament and it was their first time in it in a long time and we caught them by surprise. Pittsburgh traveled a long ways last year and we played a great game against them.

I'm going to tell Anthony he's playing Davis every night. He played very well.

I'm proud of our guys. We've put ourselves in a position to do what we want to do.

I like his heart, his effort, his athletic ability and his activeness.

I'm proud as heck of our team, and we're just disappointed we don't have a chance to go on.

In some cases they do a good job, and in some cases they don't do a very good job. The commissioner of the WAC just has too much say in what's going on.

I'll have nothing but great memories. They're awesome, and they've had a great run. They've taken our program to a new level, and we'll never forget them.

I think New Mexico State is a really good team. The way they're playing lately, this is going to be a heck of a game for us.

His defense and rebounding have been terrific. I've never seen him rebound the way he has during this stretch.

Christian is going to get better and better. He's not done improving, and that's what gives him a great chance to get to the NBA. He's getting stronger, he's maturing as a basketball player, and I just see him getting better over the next four or five years.

I don't know if we can play any better than we played tonight. Our guys took hits from them and kept on fighting.

I couldn't be prouder of the guys that participated the last two years. They set a great standard for our program. They're great role models and great kids.

I don't want to get fined or anything, but it's a call you don't see much in college basketball.

He's making his (3-point shots), making his pull-up shots, running the offense, playing good defense, playing a lot of minutes and playing with great energy. I couldn't be happier with the way he's playing. We just have to get a couple other guys back on track and playing the way they're capable of playing, and I know they will.

I couldn't be more proud of our guys. A lot of teams drop down to .500 when they lose that many players. We didn't know what we were going to do early in the year, but these guys just battled, stayed tough and learned to win even when they don't play their best.