Mark Gottfried Quotations

Whether we play Winthrop or Louisiana Tech or (future opponents) Temple or (North Carolina) State, the players realize we schedule very, very good basketball teams and we've got to play at a high level every night.

We've beaten the top three teams in the (SEC) East and the top three teams in the West, and I don't know too many other teams that have done that. The bottom line is we need to keep winning.

We got what we wanted. It just didn't go down.

We're going to leave this game here - we're not taking this one with us. We didn't play very well today, and Mississippi State was terrific.

We knew they'd make a run, come back at us a little bit. They're too good of a team, too well coached, but our guys were able to respond to their run and extend the lead back up there.

We're not good enough to look past anybody or have letdowns. Every team we play can absolutely put it on us when we're not playing well or at a high level.

We've got great fans, terrific fans and you don't want to let the actions of one person ruin a night or have something bad happen.

We're 7-6, lost our best player and we're a jump shot away from being in the Sweet 16. They overcame a lot.

We're 1-of-10 from the 3-point line and we're right there and have a chance to win at the end of the game. We're down three and Ron had a pretty good shot at the end.

We've shortened our practices. We don't really do anything to prevent injury, except doing minimal contact drills, but other than that we're just trying to be smart about how we go about practice.

When they went to the man, our guys really lit up.

LSU is one of the better teams in the country. Their front line is tremendous.

Last year we felt we had a team could really make some damage in this tournament, and we didn't do it. So for our returning players, I think there is a little bit of the attitude that we want a chance to do this a lot better than we did last year.

Mississippi State played about a flawless game, from my perspective.

Obviously, Ole Miss came to Tuscaloosa and won. Our players have a lot of respect for how good they can be.

Richard Hendrix was terrific today. He was a real presence. We did a good job of getting the ball inside and rebounding the ball. Richard especially.

I wouldn't do anything different at the end of the game. Absolutely. I've got as much confidence in Ron Steele as anybody in the nation.

I am disappointed in Justin's decision and certainly the timing of this decision.

If, in fact, South Carolina had won, my hope would have been that the last team on the board, regardless of conference, would have been the one eliminated, not a team from our league. I don't know that anybody knows the answer to that question. I don't think it's important at this point in time.

I don't think we're going to see a whole lot of people in this arena shoot the ball like Chris Lofton can shoot it. My goodness.

I don't think our players will be satisfied, nor will I, with just getting in. We want to advance, we want to advance deep.

He was very successful at the smaller level, and when he had the opportunity to coach at this level I knew he would do well.

(He) has come out of nowhere. I mean my goodness, I don't think there's a whole lot of freshmen in America doing what he's doing. He has been terrific.

He is obviously done for the year so that's a tough blow for our team. We're really disappointed for Chuck and sad. I care about him so much. I cried with him the other day -- you hate to see that happen to a young person. And he's just a great guy and he was having a great year.

He got loose against the zone and made a couple of shots. He got off to a real good start and I thought that was the key.

Hendrix today was a big key on the backboard.

We thought with his (Felix's) size, he might be a little tougher to shoot over. He took some pride in that today, and he should. He's a really good defender.

I think it's a good decision. I think he's got a chance to be one of the premier forwards in the nation next season. He became a leader on our basketball team this past season, and I think he'll continue to mature as a player. And I'm also excited because he's on track to graduate next spring.

I think it gave him some confidence and he got to see where he stacked up. He had a great year this year, and he's improved every year he's been here.

I think it's a statement for our players. I don't think that they ever allowed Chuck's injury to be a built-in excuse for them.

I think it's easy to get down. Our team is going to be a little bit unsure how we're going to score and how we're going to play without Chuck. We're going to be very positive and just believe in these guys.

I thought both teams were tired. Florida looked tired and we sure looked tired. We were able to kind of grind it out there and made the plays we needed to make.

I thought Alonzo gave us great energy, great lift off the bench. He did a lot of things well tonight. Sometimes on those 'Senior Nights,' somebody else always emerges. Tonight, it was Alonzo.

I think the carryover is that the pickup games, when we're not present, are better, ... They're talking about principles defensively.

It is going to be a great challenge. They are going to be hungry. Our guys are going to compete hard, and that is all we can ask from them. Our options are limited, and we know that. We have very little room for error.

I thought the game was over. I'm a complete idiot. I was jumping up and down like a fool out there. I thought Gee's basket won the game for us.

I thought that was just a great gesture on Evan Brock's part.

I think we're playing a team who is playing as well as they've played all year long. They beat Florida twice, and they beat Mississippi State pretty bad.

I think teams have done a good job of defending him a little better. And he's not Superman. He's human. He's going to struggle from time to time. That's just part of it. He'll be fine.

I will be completely miffed if this team hasn't done everything that we've been asked to do. I think Ron (Steele) said it best, 'It's out of our hands.

I think there's not a lot of difference between the eight and nine seeds, that's what makes it difficult.

Our team just needs to be careful of that whole concept of whether we're a bona fide NCAA tournament team or not. We've got to play better.

Really in the last two, three or four years we've been as aggressive as anybody in the country with our non-conference schedule. I hope that doesn't hurt us. I hope that all of a sudden that's not used against you, because we could have played three easier teams in December and we'd be 20-9 and everyone will be celebrating.

Our options are limited, and we know that. We have very little room for error.

Look at their team and the personnel they have. I think everybody in this league would all agree Arkansas is good enough to handle everybody in this league. They played terrific in Tuscaloosa. We were fortunate enough to win.

I wish we would have played the same schedule and won a few more. I don't want to play a soft schedule and the kids don't, either. I want to play a national schedule that gets them exposure. It's going to make our team better.

I was there. I know what it's like to be a part of that. There's a sense of belonging in the Final Four. We're supposed to be there. You take a program like ours and we've been to one Elite Eight. You have to get your players to believe they're capable of doing that.

I think our team looks forward to playing Ole Miss again. That team beat you once, and you look forward to playing again. It's only human nature.

I think Richard has really stepped his game up. He's in better condition now, and that's helping him be a lot more effective.

I tell you, Kentucky's depth was a problem for us. We got tired near the end, and they made some shots while we missed them.

I think he realizes he needs to be more aggressive. He didn't have to look for his shot as much last year because we had ( Kennedy ) Winston and ( Earnest ) Shelton . The team needs him to be a scorer and he's done that.

I thought I was in for another Patrick Sparks like last year the way he was shooting it.

I think they're a top 15 team in the country. I'm not sure there are 15 teams better than them. We had key defensive stops at key times. Collectively, the defense won the game for us.

That was the good (side). There was no question. The last two games he was something like 2-for-15 from the field. But for us to be good, we have to give him the shots when he's open. You just have to take the bad with the good. He had one of those performances that's phenomenal.

That was the good of Jean Felix. I think in his last two games he was 2-of-15 from the field. Today's some of the best we've seen from him. He did a great job shooting the ball.

That was a lot to do with them, a lot more than what we were doing wrong.

That was a little bit confusing to me.

I wasn't trying to get a foul. I don't know that I was worried that I did or not. I felt like if I got one, it might not always be a negative thing at that point. I was just a little frustrated at some calls.

I would not do anything different at the end. I have all the confidence in the world in Ron Steele.

We haven't shot the ball very well. It's one of those situations where we haven't found our rhythm at all. ... It's a definite blow but we're going to try to challenge our players. We're not going to cancel the season.

We were 7-6, lost our best player and today we were a jump shot away from being in the Sweet Sixteen. I wouldn't do anything differently.

Those guys, for young players, are doing some amazing things in this league. They played us tough at home, and we know it's a tough environment for us to win in Starkville.

We have to regroup quickly. We don't have time to go through a lot of growing pains with this situation. We've got to get to where we need to be fast.

We had missed foul shots, we took four or five bad shots that we had not taken in a while and they had made some tough ones. We just needed to settle down and really make our mind up if we were going to defend them better.

We played our hearts out tonight. It hurts. Ron Steele was terrific tonight. Arkansas had its back against the wall and they came through.

We were stunned (after the loss to Ole Miss) when Chuck went down, and we played like it. But now we've gained some confidence. We've had some different players step up and carry us. That's been the difference between then and now.

We never got into a good rhythm. Defensively, they did some things and took some of our strengths away. We never seemed to get our aggressiveness back they way we need to around the basket.

Those of us who know him know his background. He led his team to two state championships. He's an unbelievable winner, and we would not be here without Ronald Steele.

You'd like to put some magic potion on your team and have them play like that every game.

We're not thinking about the NCAA tournament. We're thinking about playing a game at Ole Miss. Period. It doesn't do any good to start all that speculation. It's way too early.

We're a team that's got to get better. We're our own worst enemy -- whether it's free throw shooting, whether it's missing lay-ins or containing the ball defensively, we've just got to play a lot better.

We're a team that needs to avoid foul trouble. It hurt our ability to score. That was a big factor.

We understand this would be a huge, huge upset.

We put the big lineup in, so it's disappointing to lose the rebounding battle like that.

We had a couple of different things we did. I didn't think they attacked it well at times. Sometimes, you can stay in it too long and teams can find holes in your zone and I thought they did a couple of times late in the game. We wind up in a little bit of a pickle when we don't have depth.

This will be the most freshmen on the floor that this series has seen in a long time.

We wanted to get more than that. With our team, it's like putting our finger in a dike. You plug one hole, another one opens. Tonight it was rebounding.

We've been pretty good on the road with our poise, but I thought today we got a little hurried. Late in the game, LSU made some big shots and we weren't making shots. I just felt like they had a little more in their tank.

We need to go in with the mindset that we need to win the tournament. If we've done enough already, that's fine. We still need to go in with that attitude.

Today, we were a jump shot away from being in the 'Sweet 16. I wouldn't change a thing. I have as much confidence in Ronald Steele as anyone I ever have. We got what we wanted and it just didn't go down.

We wanted to take advantage of an opportunity if it was there. We didn't want to just make the game an absolute helter-skelter, run-up-and- down. But we didn't want to turn opportunities down either. And we had a bunch of them.

This team is much more physical and athletic than that Stanford team. They're also a much better defensive team.

This was the definition of a team win.

We're going to win, 100 percent. We've got a lot of work left to do to reach our goals. We're not going to take our foot off the gas pedal at all.

To be honest, I think Kentucky's depth wore us down a little bit. I sensed we got a little tired. I think they were a little fresher than we were and that's just who we are right now. There's nothing we can do about that.

We're disappointed sitting here 6-5. We don't want to be 6-5. We've played a tough schedule, but we still don't want to be 6-5. But I like our team. I'm encouraged at how we played.

We're disappointed, but I couldn't be more prouder of a basketball team than I am right now.

Brewer for a couple of minutes just absolutely took the game over.

Every game is like the absolute biggest, hugest game. It's like the Super Bowl. There are so many teams around the country that are in that same position. You just have to go play. The kids are having fun. This is the best time of the year. This is what you play for.

As soon as I heard about it, I thought, 'I'm going no matter when it is,' ... It's a tremendous opportunity for us to show our troops how much we appreciate what they're doing.

Elizabeth and I are going to pledge, personally, one dollar for every fan in attendance. I'm hoping to write a check for $10,000 that night. We are encouraging others to either match that gift or just give whatever they can. Maybe it's 50 cents or a quarter for everybody in attendance. Hopefully that can be something that will motivate others to do the same thing.

Florida's a team we're going to watch advance through the tournament.

First of all it's going to be a tremendous challenge. They are ranked third in the RPI and eighth in the AP. They are very underrated and will pose problems for us. On the other hand, our guys are very excited about having the chance to upset a team that is highly ranked.

Felix is the only guy on the team that can make the pass. We practiced it and had guys throwing it all over the gym.

There's still things within our team that we're trying to figure out. We need to play better.

There's no magic wand you can wave over your team. I know the one response you cannot have is to get down and get disappointed. I don't think our team will do that. Injuries are part of the game. When I was in Kuwait coaching, there was a sign that said 'Adapt and overcome.' That's what we are going to have to do.

I sensed we got a little tired. They have a lot more bodies to play. I think they were a little fresher than we were. That's who we are right now.

I've tried to explain to (Davidson) the advantages of him as a senior here, which I think would far outweigh any gamble. He's got a chance to be one of the top big men in the nation.

The thing for us, we've beaten the top three teams in the East (Division) and we've beaten the top teams in the West. Nobody else in our league, I think, has done that.

I've been asked that question a lot. But I think things work out the way they're supposed to work out.