Tom Yeager Quotations

Years ago, I thought when we were able to hire a head coach from another Division I institution, it was a statement that we were moving up the pecking order. I guess the next step is when you are able to retain your best coaches.

One year, that really isn't a complete analysis. You've got to do it every year. I think for both the Valley and us some of the other guys that haven't advanced ... I think the basketball community realizes there's great parity out there.

Particularly for Georgia State, every time they?re playing an away game they?re getting on an airplane, so obviously we?re trying to minimize those trips.

I think maybe they'll accept mid-major teams who have done everything they can do, to the best of their ability. You'd like to think these teams will get an extra look, that they won't just be summarily dismissed in favor of high-profile programs.

We're very thrilled that we got the recognition that I felt has been due for a long time. It's always been the goal. The first thing we need to do is do it again and start stringing years like we've had this year together. Then the next step is to take it further.

You can't buy chemistry. You can't draw it up or chart it.

The opportunity is there. It's a matter of being able to close the gap and win some games. You've got to win the right games.

We've been so frustratingly close that you just wonder when you're going to get a break. Maybe this is the year.

Delaware was selected among several institutions that were interested. There is tremendous interest in women's basketball in Delaware and we know that the university will do an outstanding job of hosting our premier women's championship.

I told him the only people whose opinion mattered were the 10 people on the selection committee.

It's a group of kids that came together ... and showed people that there is more basketball than hangs out in the big, power conferences. The idea of having a team in the Final Four is kind of beyond dreaming.

It's incredibly difficult to reach this level even for those programs that seem to have all the things going for them, so when you really have an underdog like a George Mason make it ... it's all the more unbelievable and special.

In Division I, you can probably count on one hand the number of people who even come close to that kind of longevity. Of course, Jim became an athletic director when he was 8 years old.

These aren't hollow, computer-generated numbers. They're there. They're real, I think. This could be a defining year with the conference, if things play out. You need to get over the hump, and once you do, you have a better chance to continue to build on it.

A lot of lower-seeded teams have senior leadership, and they can be really tough in the pressure situations you get in the NCAA Tournament. At the end of the day, experience can carry you over the sheer athletic ability of younger players.