Jason Hanson Quotations

We are getting better. We have got a lot better over the past four games (43-of-62, 69 percent).

We had been in a shooting slump from mid-January to mid-February. We kept telling the kids to be patient. We kept hoping for a night like this and we picked a great night to do it.

The plan is not to use Nick, ... He's a punter, and I don't want to do that to him. ... Nick's a great guy, but I doubt he could kick well enough to use him as a kicker for a game.

One time he was running out and I heard him yelling at me, and it was happening too fast, ... He said, 'I was going to ask you how to put the ball on the tee.' Not real good.

I was at the other end, thinking they were going to spike it. I had to run over there.

I am so proud of the kids. They played with tremendous effort everyday. I hope we put Neoga on the basketball map and I think you will see good things from Neoga in the future. This was a great ball game and I am sure it was fun to watch.

I feel like I hurt it, ... But I'll do whatever I can to be ready to go.

Getting old? ... I don't believe it. I mean, possibly, but I don't think so. I mean, I know I came in the same shape and have worked hard and haven't slacked off. That's what puzzles me. I'm not quite sure what led to this.

If it's Friday and I kick a 30-yarder and I'm like, 'That really hurt,' that's too late to make a decision,

He is a floor general. He tries to get people in the right spots whether it is practice or in games and he does a good job of that.

He shot the ball well for us. He has for most of the year. Part of it is that he works so hard to get open.

Hopefully, this is the week. I'm doing some stuff and there hasn't been any pain, but these have been baby steps. We'll see what happens when I try things on Wednesday.

He is one of the smartest players I have ever coached. He also works as hard as anybody I have had. He works hard and is smart about what he does.

Keller had a big game. It was someone we didn't really plan on.

Physically, yeah, but mentally the reason I'm good is you fight the battle to stay good.

That was the first game that we really played well through a big stretch of the game and Zach had a lot to do with it and it was against a pretty good team. The Saint Joseph-Ogden game was the same thing. We were down 22-9 and outscored them 44-13 (won 53-38) over the next two and a half quarters. For us to play that way was really something special to see. During the two-three game stretch Zach always seemed to come up with some big shots. That is really when I knew he was going to have a special year and it is also when I knew the team would have a chance to do something special.

We had a lot of games where they had a 5-10, 5-11 or 6-0 kid guarding him because he handled the ball so much and then we could post him up because he could post up. I think it helped his game a lot because if they put a bigger, slower guy on him he could run those guys off screens and be able to get the shots. If they put a smaller guy on him he could post up. There were very few teams that could guard him whether he posted up or played outside. He was able to do both of those really well.

We do $2 million to $3 million a year with 95% of the funds coming in (as) checks.

We talked about going inside more at the half. They made some adjustments to keep us from shooting from the outside as much.

Every person in business ? that's their goal ? to get the money into their account quicker.

The tournament was no different than the way he has been playing all year. He usually comes through for us. He will do whatever it takes. He can handle the ball, work to get others open, post up, he just wants to win and he works hard at doing it.

Is it something that I can work through or is it something that is going to be a problem? ... I'll try my hardest, but at the same time, if I can barely do it and I can't do anything else, I could get us killed by acting like I can go.

Our defense has played OK. If we would play better offensively, that would help our defense. Our turnovers lead into baskets for the opponents, and we have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball and taking good shots and that will help our defense.

They had a good baseball season and he was a big part of it. I was hoping the team's success would carry over into basketball season.

It's just kind of unknown, ... We've babied it, and we'll show up Wednesday. I might be able to do a 'Hey, let's go' or 'We'll see.'

It was terrible. At that moment you don't know if it's a passing thing or if it's life-threatening.

That's the danger of getting hurt as a kicker, and I knew it, ... It was like, 'Here's a big game, and all of a sudden we're going to have to start passing up long field goals.'

The ball doesn't spring off your foot when it's cold. You want to get used to that before you get out there.

That is one of the things we talked about was keeping them off the boards. I'm amazed we were able to stay in the game when you look at the rebounding totals.

Nokomis is very good team. They slow you down with their zone defense. We had good shots. We just need to hit one or two more.

Nokomis is a very talented team. They have two tall kids (Brad Baumann and Blake Johnson) that go to the glass really hard. We have to do a nice job on them in order to have a chance.

If you have good basketball sense you can accomplish a lot more than someone who doesn't. Zach knows how to play the game the right way. He can shoot the ball and handle the ball and he is a good-sized kid for the position he plays.

If you got kids who keep playing hard no matter what, you're never out of a game.

He can guard a guard or an inside player. It doesn't matter where he does whatever you ask.

The community and school are in a buzz. It is a nice feeling.