Doc Sadler Quotations

We felt like we could pick up 94 feet - something we were doing earlier in the year when we had more bodies.

We tried some things. A triangle-and-two, some zone. And they made some shots.

One play in the second half summed up this entire season. We were up by 20 and we had three guys diving on the floor for a loose ball.

Rice is a good basketball team. Offensively they scare you because Almond had scored (30-plus points) in their last four games. That especially concerns you when our strength is not scoring points.

Rice has as good an offensive player as their is in the league. They start with him and that's important. Transition defense will be very important. They are a very good transition team. And defensively, they are doing a lot of different things.

I'd love to sit here Wednesday night and say we're 10-1 (in Conference USA), but it's going to be a challenge. I don't know if we're going to win or lose but I know we're going to lay it on the line for 40 minutes, just as we have for these first 23 games.

I don't know yet what we will do. Tune in Wednesday night and see.

He won't play this week. They won't give me a date (when he might return), but I know he won't play this week. It will apparently be week-to-week.

Just more little things. Making free throws. You've got to do the little things to win basketball games -- especially on the road.

Josh has been here every day, working hard. I've never heard Josh complain about one thing. He will definitely be a very successful person.

I think we're still playing OK. We just don't have the depth at this point. But our effort has been tremendous. We competed very hard against Georgetown for 40 minutes when we had a chance to break a time or two.

I think what this does is force us to win the (conference) tournament. That's the bottom line right now. But we can't be concerned with the big picture. We haven't been all year and we can't be now. We've just got to play one game at a time and not worry about anything else.

It happened so fast, I don't think anyone knows what happened. When I feel like this basketball team is ready to move forward with Jason, then that's what we'll do.

Jason is not making any excuses. He just said, 'Coach, I don't know what happened...it just happened.

Our guys call him Rudy. Josh is a guy who comes to practice every day and goes hard.

That crowd was terrific. I don't know if we could have won the game without them. And I know there were people who couldn't come, sitting home by their radios, and they helped us, too. SMU is one of the top four teams in the conference and I'm glad we've got them out of the way. Our defense was key. Our defense is something we work hard on and something the kids have bought into. We also held them (the Mustangs) to only seven offensive rebounds. Doing that to a team like that is big.

It finally caught up with us. We didn't have any emotion. We could never get going.

It finally caught up to us. We didn't have any emotion. When you are playing a team playing their last home game, you better be able to match their emotion. This game can't be played unless you are emotionally ready to play. You have to give Central Florida credit. They were ready to play. They did that. They made some shots ... and when you are emotionally ready to play, you make some shots.

I think SMU is one of the top four teams in this league, especially talent-wise. They're getting better every game. I'm glad we've played them twice.

I think everybody was disappointed Friday. I don't ever want this program to be satisfied playing in the NIT. That is not our goal. But the NIT is a great tournament, the longest running tournament in college basketball. We're excited to be playing in it. There is always a positive in everything and the positive in this is that we get to play at home again.

It doesn't get any easier. We're playing extremely hard, we're just not making the plays we need to make to win close games. We need to keep working hard. It's going to come.

Miguel went to the doctor today (Friday) and the doctor released him -- probably a week earlier than we had expected. Miguel will play some against Rice. John will play, too. His, as we have said, is a game-to-game deal. But he will definitely play, too.

Michigan made shots all night. Michigan always seems to have a lull in games where things don't go their way. They didn't have that tonight.

Will's been sick and I'm a little concerned about him. I put him in during the second half, and he was only out there for 30-45 seconds and asked to come out.

We played hard early and, unfortunately, looked at the scoreboard and our intensity fell off. When you're only playing seven guys, sometimes you try to conserve energy, and that's my fault. I thought they definitely outplayed us as far as effort in the last 20 minutes.

Yesterday was tough ... it was tough. I found out the results about 10 minutes before practice was over. It was an emotional situation.

We had a member of the selection committee speak to our spring committee. He told us the RPI is not even considered by them. He said they do not even have access to the RPI ... that it is just something for the media to talk about.

We had four guys in double figures and we had 22 assists. That means we were sharing the basketball and we were making some shots.

We're trying to sign three or four more. We are mixing it between junior college players and high school kids.

When you are talking about a Bob Knight-coached team, you know they are going to run motion offense, play man-to-man defense and not beat themselves. Our transition defense will be huge. And we have to prevent Jackson and Zeno from having great games.

We were down 12 on the road and we found a way to win. Give our guys credit. Give Southern Mississippi credit, too. But we have some experienced guys who have won some close ballgames, and that had to help.

This team has overcome so much adversity. It speaks to the character of the kids. It seems like every week they've gone through something. It's an unbelievable group of guys. You don't win as many games as these guys have and not be different. That's what they are . They're just different. I don't know how to describe it.

We just kept playing hard and I think our depth helped us wear them down a little in the end. But they played well and it could have gone either way.

Thursday night's game between UAB and Memphis could have decided some things. But it didn't. Other than that, nothing much is really decided until Saturday. There is still such a logjam in the middle. A lot can happen on Saturday.

We tried to score too quick in transition. You are not going to score quick like that against a team like Syracuse. I don't know. We just got too excited, I guess. We tried to get into transition, and that turns into turnovers and bad shots.

We just need to continue to win basketball games. I think what's happening right now is probably going to be more important in terms of recruiting than what happened 40 years ago.

We felt we could pick 'em up at 94 feet. We were able to create 23 turnovers. And we didn't give up any easy baskets.

You get it to 44-all, I think we got a little too excited. You're not going to score in transition against Syracuse at their place. I thought we forced the issue. Even when we got it down there, we took some bad shots.

This speaks to the character of these guys. It's something. I can't explain it. This is just an unbelievable group of guys. You don't win as many games as they have without being different. And they are different.

We shot the basketball and that's what we have to do. If we are going to win at this time of the year, we will have to shoot the basketball.

At some point, you have just got to tip your hat to the other team. The best team won tonight.

The winner of that game is definitely in the (NCAA) Tournament. (For) the loser, Sunday's going to be a long day.

I've said all along that we have to take care of things first. First, we've got to win Thursday. Then we get to Friday night. If they take two teams from our league, then I think the winner of that game will get to go (to the NCAA tournament).

It was turnovers, it was their shooting, it was everything.

The strength of their team is that they are able to shoot the basketball. They've got three guys averaging in double figures. The key to the game is that we have to defend the perimeter and keep them off the offensive glass.

The thing about Southern Miss is that they've gotten better and better each game.

I've always thought this team had a chance to be pretty good. The thing that concerns me is offensively, I don't know how much we can win without shooting the basketball better.

Randall did the scouting report on Tulsa during the season. Ed had Southern Miss during the season. So they were both already familiar with those teams. Southern Miss is a lot like ourselves. They are not going to do a lot of different things. They will do two or three things on offense and do them very, very well. They will make you guard everything.

Our effort was tremendous. It's frustrating to get an effort like that and come up short. We didn't give ourselves a chance at the end of the game.

Are they talented? You bet they are. ... They are an awfully good basketball team. Do they wear you down? Yeah, most definitely.

This is a team that has very good guards. They have guards who are capable of scoring points. On the nights when they have scored, they have been very difficult to beat. They have beaten some people and they have played well against some good teams. They have gone to Houston and won.

The whole game was summed up at the free-throw line. It came down to the last few seconds. If you're going to go 50 percent at the free-throw line, you're not going to have a chance to win against a good team.

They are playing a little more man-to-man this year. But they play that zone. We will have to execute and hit shots. They want you to attack the basket, to think you are open. We will get 15-foot shots. We've got to take them and make them.

There isn't anybody who could have played the schedule they've played and have a very good record. When you look at the tapes, you see a very athletic team.

It may have seemed like it was easy. But it wasn't. We had them down 13 points there inside of five minutes and the game was not over. Anything can happen at that point.

That's something they do very well. Besides playing really hard, the best thing they do is rebound.

That's something I will have to decide after the 16th game. You can't make that decision until the 16th game.

This is a unique group. A group of guys who come from totally different backgrounds who have come together to build a basketball team. It's special. It speaks of their families and of the character of each one of them.

It's no bigger than Saturday's game (a win at Tulsa) was. But these are two teams who have played well and who have got a chance to keep themselves one game out of first place. But whether we are playing UAB or East Carolina, it is a big game.

SMU is one of the top four teams in this league, talent-wise. I'm glad we've already played them twice.

I know several people have talked about it, and we will wear them. Right now, though, we haven't gotten the jerseys yet. With today (Monday) being a holiday, I don't know. But if we get them, we will wear them.

I'm just so disappointed for John. That guy's given as much ...

If you had told me we would shoot 35 percent (actually 35.1) from the field and 52 percent (52.9) from the free-throw line, I'd have said we would have a very hard time winning.

I just told the guys that you practice on this floor every day. No way can you let a team come in here and play harder than us.

Hopefully it does. I don't think it's going to hurt because if you are a basketball player or in the family of a basketball player, you will go and see these kind of movies.

For sure, the winner of this game will get in. The loser will have a long day Sunday.

Alabama A&M will be here expecting to play a basketball game. I know some people might think that because it's a non-conference game, it might not be as big. But at this stage of the season, every game is critical.