Charde Houston Quotations

When I do well, I don't think of me or I. Sometimes we'll struggle a little offensively, but I'll do what I can. We'll get it right.

She has two national championships under her belt. She has to be like that.

She is a veteran. She is a national champion so she knows how to handle things like that. I do understand sometimes size makes a difference and we need to help her. For a long time, she is down there holding her own until somebody can get down there and relieve her in a sense. But if Barb is down there, she is going to do her best to contain the offensive player.

On the court, as far as the preseason workouts, they've given it everything they have. They're very positive and they all lead by example. When things get hard, they're right there with us. Off the court, they all have good personalities. They all bring something different. We have a few that we laugh at and a few that we laugh with. They fit right in with us.

I wouldn't even call myself the hero the first half. It's just seeing the open spots and taking advantage of that.

I don?t remember the last time I played in a game, so I?m excited to see what (Thursday) brings. I?m not going to say there?s absolutely no pain, but I can play. Let?s just say, I feel pretty darn good.

I wouldn't say I don't know them. It's just that sometimes I get confused when they run things. I know the plays. I just run the wrong plays at the wrong time.

I think the joke lasted about an hour. I remember that I hung up and called back. I hung up and I called back and kept saying some other stuff. I was just saying a lot, the first things that popped in my head.

I think while I'm here, the day that he stops getting on my case is probably the day I have to quit. I know that every day in practice, he's going to ride me. He's going to stay on my case, but I'm fine with that because I know that he cares and he sees great things in me. He's only trying to bring it out of me.

I think we've made a lot of improvement. I think from the standpoint of just trusting each other, we're doing a better job of that.

I was thinking they were going to call a charge and they didn't. And then I shot it. It was open and I hoped it would go in, but it didn't. Sometimes things are just not enough, but we don't like to think like that around here. We always want to win. Things didn't bounce our way.

I was excited just for the simple fact that we were able to move the ball and not stand around on offense. Also, we knew that they were a fast-break team and we wanted to pretty much match that. Coach always tells us that when you play teams like this, your post players have to run and that's what we really focused on tonight.

We had chances where we could win the game, but it's just a simple fact that I didn't come to play. The team had to carry their load and mine. It just wasn't fair.

We know that right now it's one and done. It's not like the regular season where (if) you lose to one particular team and just say, 'It's OK. We'll get them next time.' There is no next time.

Ugly, it was. I think we let our good deeds get away from us and we weren't focused. There was a definite lack of concentration.

You have to be mentally strong. Mentally tough. ... The minute you think about being tired, being sore, that's when teams take it to you.

With Ann, she has so much energy running through her veins, you would never know she's hurt. That's the kind of player she is. Unless our doctor says, 'You can't play,' Ann will play. She's a tough kid.

We kind of let our good deeds get away from us.

You look at a lot of players who play on this level, and they don't have the talent like I do. There are a lot of people who wish they had it. To have it and not do anything with it is bad. I am not saying I am not going to make mistakes and have my ups and downs, but I am just showing the effort and the will to want to get better.

Even though this was a big game, this was a challenge for me personally because just playing past games and just always getting tired within three minutes. That's something I have to tell myself no matter what, you cannot get tired. Honestly that's what I had in my mind all night. I didn't want to get tired and I think I did a better job.

Our confidence has always been there, but I think we needed that just to show what we can do. And being able to struggle and come out with a win that shows that we have the ability to pull out wins like that. But we also understand that, against better teams, if you make mistakes other teams will capitalize off of them.

Now, it's been a little bit easier. Just understanding and not having coach yell at me. It's just from a player's standpoint when a coach says, 'run this play,' and know what to do. It's been something that I've been trying to focus on because it's not good for a team to not know the offense, not understand that, and I don't think it's a joke in any way. I'm really focusing on getting the plays.

I told him that I didn't want to come here and I gave him a bogus excuse. I don't remember what the excuse was. I know I told him that I wanted to go somewhere else. I think I said I wasn't happy.

It was one incident in practice where coach got on my case. After that incident it was an eye opener. I feel good. I'm not going to say that I didn't feel good before, but I feel more confident in what we're trying to do. Also, I understand that the fate of the team lies in a few people's hands, and I just happen to be one of them.

This is Connecticut basketball. After suffering the embarrassment of the North Carolina game, it came to a point where we felt like we needed to win. You get tired of leaving the gym crying because you wished you played harder. We came together and won.

Anytime you face a team like that, you have to be excited. We have to play our hearts out to be satisfied about what happens at the end at the buzzer.

I'm not going to say there's absolutely no pain, but I can play. Now it's just like going out and being sore. Everybody else is sore. You have to play with pain. So that's how I look at it. Let's just say I feel pretty darn good. I'm excited to see what (today) brings.

I'm disappointed in myself. We had a chance to win the game, but the simple fact that I didn't come to play and the rest of the team had to carry the load, it just wasn't fair.

I noticed there was not one player outside the three-point line and their backs were turned. I looked at Coach and told Barbara to go deep and I threw it. It was great knowing that it was going to work.

I'll just go as far as saying that we've improved a lot. And a month ago I would just say that it would depend on the night. If everybody was on the same page, yes. If not, no. But I think that right now we're doing a good job of stepping up. Whoever doesn't play well you don't notice it because there's other players that step up.

If you run (the offense) right, there's so many things that we can get into. Even in the offensive breakdowns, we have the ability to read each other and know it's not good to stand around on offense. Even if you do go to the wrong spot, just do it as hard as you can and something good can come out of it.