Jamie Dixon Quotations

We stressed getting off to a good start and being ready to go, but my advice didn't go very far.

We've been able to celebrate Big East championships and NCAA Tournament appearances while playing in the sold out Petersen Events Center. That success on the court has been mirrored by tremendous academic achievement. Pitt basketball has a very bright future and we are working to build on our recent success.

We've always thought he was a very good player and always believed in him. He just happened to play on some very good teams behind some very good players. Last year, he developed and got better. He played in a lot of big games against a lot of good people.

We've always played three guards in certain instances over the years. A number of programs do that. Oftentimes, your smaller players are your better players. Last year, our bigger guys were our better players.

We're going to play our same style. We're going to play to our strengths. We're not going to change. We're going to defend. We're going to take good shots. We're going to move the ball around. We're going to do the things we've been doing all season.

What he's doing best this year is keeping the ball up around the basket. He's running better. He's jumping better. He's chasing down shots a lot better than he ever had. But it's not like all of a sudden this summer he decided to work on these things. He's been constantly improving.

We knew what they want to do and how good they are off the dribble. They make tough shots and, when they do, you have to continue to play defense, to stick to your principles and rules. That's what we did.

When you're undefeated, that's what people are going to point to. I'm not going to lose sleep; we've played good people.

We want our people to improve. We want them to get better. This is the most important award for us.

We were impatient. Rushing things offensively and that hurt our defense. We had some foul problems early and that hurt us. We just didn't play well. Our offense has a lot to do with our defense. They go hand in hand.

We're 16-1. I wouldn't want to be complaining about that. No one would listen. We're getting better and improving every game. Even (against St. John's), we got much better in the second half.

We've seen them and we're familiar with them. Having a short turnaround as far as playing them, at least it's good that we're familiar with them.

We're hearing from so many people who want to do things. We got a call from people who want to have a women's tournament in her name in Madison Square Garden.

We had been in contact throughout the time he was home. He mentioned some things.

Maggie touched so many people beyond basketball. Our family has received an outpouring of sympathy from across the country and we are deeply appreciative. As her older brother I know she looked up to me. But I always looked up to her, too, and it's obvious that a lot of other people did as well.

Maggie touched so many people beyond basketball. ...As an older brother I know she looked up to me. But I always looked up to her, too, and it's obvious that a lot of other people did as well.

Levon was obviously very good tonight. It was a team effort. I like our 11 guys and I have confidence in all of them. I think you can see that and they all seem to step up.

She then went to the house of a friend for an afternoon tea, where she said she wasn't feeling well and collapsed. She was immediately taken to Keller Army Community Hospital (in West Point), and then, transferred ... to Westchester Medical Center.

She was there a couple days. She walked into Doug Bruno's office and was working a camp later that day. By the end of the summer she had a job, and has moved up each year.

She ... went to the house of a friend for afternoon tea where she said she wasn't feeling good and she collapsed.

She saw the good in everyone. She made everyone around her a better person. She made me a better person. I've said this before -- when I grow up I want to be just like her.

One of our strengths as a team is that we don't foul or over-extend ourselves. We try to play sound positional defense, which keeps us out of that kind of trouble. Even with the depth we have, we always stress to our guys that we can't give fouls away.

One game doesn't change things. We are going to be ready to go (tonight).

Obviously, this is a disappointing loss. We didn't play well against a very good team. We're going to get together (today) and figure things out and get better for it.

Nobody had her heart, nobody. I know her heart will stay with us for all our remaining days on Earth.

I'd actually put almost our whole league in the Top 25. It's so deep, and there's probably 10 teams you could put in there.

Carl set the tone with his nine assists. That makes us hard to guard when he's playing like that. It was a great team effort. We had a lot of guys step up.

Carl has done everything he's needed to do academically,

Barry has been very important to our success over the years. Whether it was a director of basketball operations or as our associate head coach, he was a vital part to our program's rise to elite status in the Big East and nationally.

I don't think we've ever had a conference this deep. You look at our situation. We're a team that is 15th in RPI and the sixth seed. You're going to have some teams that in a normal situation would be getting a bye but in this conference they are going to be playing Wednesday night.

For most people, he's a surprise. But for people inside our program who have seen him and seen where he's come from, we really had high expectations for him this year.

(If) we make a free throw, they miss a free throw, we're very happy.

He's grown an inch, and he's gradually put on weight. Strength is a big thing.

He had some health problems, so he's getting checked up. I think he will be on a flight tomorrow. He practiced yesterday, but got very ill last night ... He was throwing up last night and did not feel well. He was violently sick last night.

He has a knack for putting the ball in the basket.

He is a proven player who has performed at a high level.

He is a great shooter, so you have to make him take tough shots. We tried to contain him, and to do that you've got to make them tough.

He got a few better looks, some in transition, and they were also setting some screens. He's a good player. I didn't think he'd go scoreless tonight.

He flew in today, but he didn't practice with us.

We try to improve every game. We feel like we can get better and better. The battle on the boards (with Wisconsin) was tied, 32-32. That's an area we have to win, so we feel like there's always something we can do better.

We've been very good all year long and tonight was just more of the same.

We've been under the radar, maybe locally, but definitely not nationally. But we don't really care about that. If you're asking me, 'Would I trade the attention for the Steelers winning the Super Bowl? Was it worth it for the Steelers winning the Super Bowl?' Yeah, it was definitely worth it.

What we were able to do more in the second half was contain their quickness and ability to get penetration. We just had to stay with our game plan.

He's a great player. He's been a winner from the day he got here. The guys know that. They can sense it. It carries over with his competitiveness. The guys are watching, and I think Carl enjoys it. He relishes it. He's proud of what he's done here, and he should be.

He's a great player, a tough kid, a former McDonald's All-American. The key is we have tough guys who can battle down low, and we're deep, so we can keep rotating guys in to play him very physical.

He's definitely gotten better. I don't think anyone predicted he would be all-conference. He's improved, worked hard. He'll work. That's the biggest thing and that's going to carry him a long way. I'm proud of him. And I'm proud of Carl and Sam for the honors they received.

He's better in every area. Carl's comfortable in his position and understanding of our system. That's a big step. It's one thing to know it, but it's another thing to pass it on to others.

We made some great adjustments against the zone in the second half. We had a little more penetration and movement.

We made our first how many shots. Our passing was the thing. If anything, we got the shots we needed.

He was pretty sick for about two days. But he looked like he was fine today.

He was getting some shots, but the thing I noticed was he finished a few of them around the glass.

He was somewhat light-headed and dizzy, but he battled through it. He wasn't running the floor like he usually is able to, but he still managed to grab 20 rebounds. That says a lot about him as a player.

Hamilton is a big-time player who put up big numbers last year. He's had some injuries, but he can get it going at any time. He is very good around the basket. He can also step out and shoot it. I thought he was an all-league type player last year. And he's improved this year.

Keith penetrated and got to the basket very well. Defensively, he made them earn their points, forced them to take tough shots. He's also exceptional at finishing on the wing in transition, which we also saw a lot of tonight.

It came down to free throws. It's amazing how it's such a fine line. It's amazing how one little thing can go from making you feel happy to feeling disappointment.

I thought we'd see a lot more zone than we did. It got down to our penetration and Carl hitting those 3s. Our penetration was good, especially when they went man-to-man.

I thought we just battled and ground out a victory. We beat them on the boards, which is a thing we knew we had to do coming into the game, and we beat them badly. We also had to get better at making free throws, and we need to improve defensively. We still have a long ways to go.

I thought we battled, we played hard, we got through some adversity with the foul trouble. We made some shots at the end but we didn't make them consistently throughout the game. They're a good team, but we need to play better.

I thought they were really a tough team and got after it. We knew that coming into the game and we know it now. It was two teams getting after it, playing aggressive.

I think we're all right with the injury.

I think we passed the ball well and got a lot of good performances from guys on the court and off the bench. I thought all of our guys played very well.

I thought our guys had a whole team effort, and our defense, rebounding and decision-making was solid all the way through. We were fortunate to beat a very good team and we've got to get ready for Syracuse now.

I think we should have nine teams in the NCAA tournament. I think we should set a record. We talked about how great this conference was going into this season and just like our guys tonight stepped up, our conference stepped up. We deserve nine bids. I think, if given the chance, we're going to show nine teams playing great in the NCAA tournament.

I was a little disappointed with the rebounding, but they're a good team with some very, very good players in the middle.

I say it every week. I'll be the same next week and it'll be the same the week after that. I try to make it a new idea, but it's not changing. I'll never be satisfied with (the defense).

Our guys were ready to play. We played hard. It was just bad execution. We rushed things. Our poor offense lead to our defense deficiency. Both teams battled on the floor and were going hard.

Our family thanks everyone for their support and prayers and asks for their continued respect and privacy.

Our front line is an interesting group. I'm very comfortable with what they've been doing. I have a lot of confidence in them. They haven't put up a lot of numbers here, but I have confidence in them.

Our whole thing has been to continue to improve. Not a lot was expected of these guys by people but they have been gaining confidence and we're continuing to improve.

Replacing guys has always been a constant in this program. Guys have always stepped up. Carl went from a backup to a guy who plays 30 minutes a game. That's the transition guys are going to have to make. I expect that to happen this year as well.

Recruits definitely talk about it. You bring them to a game, and they see the environment. It's good. It helps us a lot.

Rebounding is our biggest fundamental. It's our biggest emphasis. We didn't get it done against DePaul.

Records on the road usually aren't as good as records at home. We want to be undefeated on the road well but we had all five games down to the last minute. They could have gone either way.

I think it worked out well. The way it worked out, you're not going to get a better shot. We couldn't have done it any better. We got as good a shot as you can get on the next play. People are going to question it, but we did the right thing.

It hasn't been like an overnight thing or even an over-the-summer thing. It's been a continuous process really since we signed him. His improvement's been constant, yet dramatic when you look at it.

That was a very good win against a very good team, well-coached and a tough, athletic group. We found a way to gut it out. We didn't shoot the lights out and it wasn't a pretty game, but we found a way to battle through.

We were very efficient in the second half. We wanted to get it inside to Aaron from the start. We missed some easy ones early. Our patience was good in the second half. We used the clock and got shots at the end of the clock, which can wear down teams. We really had good clock management.

We'll be ready to go. Our guys will be anxious to go. We took care of business (Saturday). We played very well throughout.

We don't concern ourselves with our record. It's all about getting better. We're not near where we need to be defensively. That's what we talked about after the game. We need to make significant progress defensively, and with the number of young guys we have, I think we're capable of doing that.

We don't put too much emphasis in scoring. I know it's going to be there at different times. Carl is making good decisions. He's playing good defense. He's rebounding. He's playing very well.

You always wondered how the relationship was going to work out with two guys that are so competitive. But both guys wanted to win so bad that they knew it was the right thing.

We dug ourselves a huge hole. That many points when the game is only going to be in the 50s is a huge hole.

We had good execution throughout the game. We recognized some things of how they played and executed our plan.

We had four good games up there. We got a lot of good things out of it. A lot of guys got some good, big-game experience in a hostile atmosphere similar to what we'll face in the NCAA tournament. We got better last week. That's the biggest advantage.

We've had five games that could've gone either way on the road. Every game, we've battled and fought hard.

We're still trying to figure out what it is. I'm not sure where he stands as far as playing.

We could have taken better care of the ball.

We have to win the battle on the boards. We practice it every day.

We came out of the gate and executed throughout. We didn't have a lot of time to practice for Syracuse and their 2-3 zone, but mentally, we talked about a lot of what we wanted to do to attack it.

We hadn't even considered that. Right now, we're more worried about (Benjamin's) health.

We were so impatient, rushing things offensively and that hurt our defense. We improved in the second half but again that early hole was huge.

We never consider that. Tonight, I actually considered it. I thought about it because they were making so many unbelievable shots. The shots they were making were unbelievable, consistently deep and with a hand in their face. We had very few mistakes out there defensively. Guys were making shots from 35 feet.

We needed to take charge and win the boards, and we clearly did that in the second half.

We had everybody step up. We had five guys in double figures.

We haven't played in so long, it seems. I know the guys are anxious to play. I'm sure glad it's Saturday. I don't know how much longer we could wait to play a game. The guys want to play, and I'm ready to play.

We haven't had a lot of 3 or 4 days off so far. It's a good opportunity to get some rest and comeback with plenty of energy and determination. I think it's going to be a good thing and we'll be ready to go when we return to practice.

The quality of teams in this league is outstanding. It's the best conference in the country. No one is even debating that anymore. We used to say it in recruiting and somebody would say, 'Well, maybe the ACC.' Nobody is questioning it anymore.

Those are the things that separate him from the other guys, his passing and his touch. And he's willing to pay the price.

Turnovers are a big thing to me. We're pretty good. Our goal is always less than 12. That's a tough number to shoot for, but it's a hard number to achieve.

We didn't shoot it great tonight and a lot of that has to do with the zone. I thought we got the ball inside when we wanted to. I thought we did a good job attacking but don't read too much into it. It was two teams playing hard and we came up a little bit short.