Mark Schmidt Quotations

We expected A.J. to have an immediate impact and he certainly has not disappointed anyone. It's hard sometimes sitting out a year, but he did a good job of playing hard and staying sharp last season during practice. He's gotten stronger over the last year, and A.J. certainly gives us a physical presence on the inside. What really also adds to his effectiveness and opens up opposing defenses is his ability to hit the outside shot.

They got open threes and they knocked them down. That's why they made a game of it.

He's a good scorer, one of the better players we play against every year. He can shoot it, take you off the dribble. He's a complete player. He's had a wonderful career.

Winning these past two games at home have given us so much confidence. We have really played well, and that will help us as we play three of our last four games on the road.

Central Connecticut is so much like us. It should be a very competitive game. They play hard just like us and, although they are undersized like us, they are tough to beat.

But we need to move on. That is water under the bridge.

But we just didn't do a good job closing games out. That's disappointing. Part of it is we're young. We're inexperienced. We might tighten up. I'm not sure.

I think this is the toughest tournament in the history of Colorado. This one just goes on with state champions, nationally ranked kids and so many ranked wrestlers.

We've been in that situation before and we haven't done a great job of closing out games. It was a tough shot. When it comes down to the playoffs and two teams have equal talent, a lot of it's luck.

The big guy gives us problems. He gives A.J. Jackson problems, just his height. When A.J. struggles, we have a hard time. We can't just rely on jump shooting. That goes hot and cold.