Dee Brown Quotations

When we come out and he plays aggressive, that opens it up for other players. When he plays like that, the sky's the limit.

When he got back in, he made his presence known.

We've seen it before. Now we just have to practice for it.

There ain't no difference. Take Penn State. They're a rival. Whoever wants to step up and play against Illinois is my rival. That's the way I see it.

When I'm playing against them, I guess I get a little more juiced.

Nothing lives long Only the earth and mountains

To the Indians it seemed that these Europeans hated everything in nature - the living forests and their birds and beasts, the grassy grades, the water, the soil, the air itself.

The librarians know the secrets, not the historians

Treat all men alike.... give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who is born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask to be recognized as men. Let me be a free man...free to travel... free to stop...free to work...free to choose my own teachers...free to follow the religion of my Fathers...free to think and talk and act for myself.

I've tried word processors, but I think I'm too old a dog to use one.

The white people were as thick and numerous and aimless as grasshoppers, moving always in a hurry but never seeming to get to whatever place it was they were going to.

You just don't give up. There have been times when everything seemed to conspire against getting a book done or printed, and I would feel like turning my back on the whole thing. But I came back and persisted

The Indians knew that life was equated with the earth and its resources, that America was a paradise, and they could not comprehend why the intruders from the East were determined to destroy all that was Indian as well as America itself.

Lydia and Emily will be very important this year. They both have national meet experience and we will lean on them.

Me and James (Augustine) have been through this before as sophomores. You just have to play with a different mentality.

My freshman year we win the thing and get a four seed. So it didn't matter then. It matters now, I guess.

If they tell me to go back to school then that's what I'll do. That's OK. I'm OK with that.

I have fun all the time, ... You should hang with me. I feel like you only live once. Time flies, I'm 21 years old and just a while ago I was 17. I have to live my life every day. You never know what's promised for tomorrow.

I didn't make shots. I was thinking too much. I'm going to continue to fire and do my job as far as being a point guard. We came out with a win so I'm happy.

Carolina doesn't have a chance. They're a good team, but the Bears are a great defensive team and they're in Chicago.

I hang with E.B. (Halsey), Mel (Melvin Bryant) and J.D. (Jason Davis). I beat them in video games, and they beat me in video games. Those are my guys. They know I played football and that I have a special love for football. Illinois is a football school as well as a basketball school, so I have to show them respect.

I feel that we want to accomplish a lot. I think we got the toughest bracket with a lot of good teams on our side. Last year expectations were high, but I think they're just as high this year.

I expected us to go to California. You have to expect the worst.

He makes sure our faith in God is still there.

Guys are a little confused, and coach is yelling all the time. It's going to be a grind. The Big Ten is a grind-out conference.

He's a great talent and he likes to talk trash.

He's got a terrific game. I can't wait to get out on the floor and play against him.

He was so nice, a guy you'd want to be around, not as an athlete but just as a person. He had raw talent. He was a guy I wanted to play with.

He wanted me to do more and get involved by running off screens. I wasn't doing that, and he got in my ear. ... That's what coach wants, and I have to work on it.

Just look at teams like Hofstra and Michigan that didn't get in (the NCAA Tournament). We have to be happy. The Committee has a tough job.

I think that's what we've been emphasizing. Energy. Enthusiasm. Just have fun. You've got to have fun playing basketball. We've got to bring the fun back.

Last year I said they were gonna make the Final Four. This year I know they're gonna make the Elite Eight, just because of the style that they play.

I want to thank my mom for putting me in a basketball environment and coach (Bruce) Weber for putting the ball in my hands when he got to Illinois.

I think they came out, made some shots and were full of energy, enthusiasm and that's what you need to come on the road and win. Those guys were definitely special tonight.

I think every team comes out and just gives it their all and plays good team basketball, and we've got to be focused every game and come out with intensity.

I said last year they were going to make the Final Four. This year, I know they're going to make it to the Elite Eight just by the way they play, the style of play they play. They're still a tough team. Hopefully, we'll see them again in the Big Ten tourney, but they're a good team.

People are saying they shouldn't even be in (the tournament). They have a lot of motivation to prove they deserve to be in.

Right when it left my hand I thought it was good, then I saw it was long. I usually make them. It just didn't go in for me.

People move on and you've got to realize you have to work with what you've got.

I won't say this feels like a loss. But we could have put them away, and we didn't. We have to come out there and finish it out to be a great team.

That was what we set out to do, stop Grier.

That's the way the tournament goes. Wherever they send you, you've just got to go and play.

That's the way it goes. We have to focus on basketball.

We've got stars, you just don't know them yet. It takes a little time. Last year wasn't a grind, but you probably thought we played well when we beat someone by 20. Maybe we should have won by 40.

We could have played better. We didn't play our best, but we stuck it out and we won.

We just didn't finish the job. They came out and played the good zone and it really affected us tonight.

We came out and played well in the first half. We just didn't finish them off in the second half.

We were hacking more. We were undisciplined on defense.

We were hacking more and fouling. We weren't disciplined on defense.

We know other teams are going to give us their best shot. It's just how mentally prepared we are. And when another team goes on a run and gets the momentum, how do we respond? Do we lay down or do we raise our intensity? In the second half tonight, we raised our intensity.

We didn't relax. It's a road game. If they didn't come back, they're not protecting their home court.

There is just nobody talking about it, no buzz at all. The play on the court is better now than it ever has been. It's a pretty good product, but it's like nobody seems to care.

There is just nobody talking about it, no buzz at all,

There are a lot of positives we can take away from this one. We really played well.

When you get opportunities, you have to step up and take them. We need production from our bench.

Until I quit writing and I don't know when that will be, I will always be reading something that has to do with what I'm working on.

You can't depend on the crowd. You have to go out and play. Coach told us they would make everyone leave, and we knew once it started it was going to pack up.

We were really disappointed with our performance at the end. Don't let my words fool you, we'll take a road win, but we should have played the last 10 minutes better.

We didn't play as well as we wanted in the first half, but in the second we came out with the intensity we needed. We play against teams that give us their best shot. . . . It's all how you rebound from that.

We didn't play as well as we wanted defensively and offensively. We're not doing the things we want but we'll take the win. The Big Ten is a grind-it-out conference.

Bo Ryan does an excellent job in this arena. So for us to come in here and win two years in a row is special to me.

Every team is going to play hard. The intensity level is so high I can't explain it.

Every game's a must-win game. It's going to be a good game. Two successful programs. Two great coaches. It's going to be fun.

Doyle was talking a lot. He's a good dude, but he's out there talking. He came out and addressed me. . . . It's all fun. I love it when guys come out and trash-talk and have fun with the game.

Elite? Oh, we're elite, most definitely. We've been one of the best in the country, man. We're elite, and if anyone wants to argue about that, they can argue with me to my face and I'll show them the facts.

Five rebounds, five assists, no turnovers. He played solid. He always plays solid.

The transition game opens up a lot of things. We got a lot of easy baskets.

The word is really getting out (about Iowa Central cross country). Both teams should be much stronger this year and we have a lot more depth to work with.

The second half we came out with more intensity.

Teams play better without their best player because others have the opportunity to step up and make big plays. They came out trash-talking and playing with confidence.

Our experience is an advantage, but it's a team thing and can't just be two guys. You just try to tell the young guys how hard they have to play and how much they have to want to win. It's our job to deliver that message.

People raise their game at home. They're protecting their house. They just play well. ... I'm not scared of nothing. You just have to go in there believing you can win. It's all about confidence, no matter who you play.

Offensively it was one of our best games.

No reaction. It's basketball. That's what happens. They (the selection committee) have a hard job.

That game two years ago, when we won 51-49 there? Yeah, I remember that. It's a tough place to play. But you have to steal a couple on the road (to win the Big Ten). It's going to be a grueling game. But you can't knock 'em off your schedule. You have to show up and play.

You're always going to be compared to last year's team whatever you do, ... You can't do that. It's going to be a different team and it's going to be fun to watch because everybody's so new.

You mean so much to me. When someone wears my number, I think it represents our whole team. My teammates make me better. My coaches make me better.

They made it tough. They bumped and they played physical. But I missed some shots, too.

They have a lot of motivation. People say they shouldn't have got in.

The Year of the Century: 1876 was fun to research, and I did a great deal of traveling. I wanted to cover every event of any importance in that year. So I had to immerse myself in microfilm of a dozen newspapers in different cities, and half-blinded myself looking at it, hour after hour.

They're real good. I feel bad about D.J. White. If they had him, they'd be a tough team to beat. They're still a tough team to beat. But that added a little more extra problems for you.

They're practically putting us in the bottom half of the Big Ten. I like it. It's always good to surprise people.

They're a disciplined club and they're not afraid to play. We have to limit easy buckets and play good, constructive defense.

They have looked very well so far in practice. I am very excited to see what they can do this year.

They have some good players. They're a scary team and I don't think anyone would want to play them in the first round.

It was a tremendous boost for us going into the half. It was huge for us. We were in the locker room pumped out, and we came out with the same energy.

It's a wonderful thing. He rebounds, he runs the floor, he's a terrific guy. He's a first-round pick if he continues to get that killer mentality and feels like every rebound is his. This is a great accomplishment for him. But I know he's not going to get complacent. He's going to continue to get better.

It opens up a lot of things. We push the ball and put pressure on the other team to get easy buckets. I think it opened up the game for us.

It's like my third one of the year,

It's possible, but you've got to go in with a different mentality. We have to work hard and believe we can do it.

The numbers are just great. We give the kids another option, and I know the success that we have already had has helped with bringing more in.

That's one emphasis now - energy, enthusiasm and having fun playing basketball. We have to bring the fun back. . . . We have to continue to play with energy and enthusiasm and we'll be fine.

It's so tough to beat them here. For us to come up here and win two years in a row is an unbelievable accomplishment.

I've got to continue to play well. We're a better team when I play well. That's the pressure of being an athlete.

Not everybody gets to play for Illinois. That's the way it goes. His future wasn't with us.

It was a great night for me. I was a little nervous, but it didn't have anything to do with my performance. I just had so many thoughts going through my head.

I want everybody to play with confidence. It's only going to increase my assists, my scoring. I want everyone to come out there and be aggressive and play the game.

They came out and did a good job. Teams come out and give us their best shot. They play hard against us.

That's cool, you should protect your house. It just feels good to get a road win.

I'm going to shoot 'em, anyway. I'm going to go 1-for-9, 1-for-30, 1-for-50. If I don't make one more shot this season, I'm still going to play the way I play and do the things I do.