Tommy Amaker Obvious Quotations

It's healthy for our kids to look at this as we're the No. 1-ranked conference in America, and we've been able to finish .500 with us and Michigan State, both finishing 8-8 in our league and splitting with one another throughout the regular season. Obviously (the Spartans) are going to be a team (in the NCAA). No one is talking about them not being in.

We can cry about that if that's the right word to use, but nonetheless we have to keep fighting. I don't know if that's what happened with our team (when the Buckeyes took control with Harris out). But obviously it didn't help us to have him go down.

They aren't as deep, but those kids that are out there know they are going to be out there. They're a very athletic team, long and rangy. I think they're a very confident team. They play with a great deal of confidence and you're able to see that. Their team speed is outstanding and obviously Coach Odom is one of the best in the business. They've been on a tear here down the stretch and they were on the verge of winning their conference tournament before coming up a little short. They've gone on the road to win some big-time games in this tournament, at Cincinnati and at Florida State . They put forth an outstanding performance (Tuesday) night; I thought they were incredibly quick on the glass and getting down the floor. They are a very confident group that seems to play well together.

Lester has arguably been our most consistent player since he's been here. And it's obvious when we haven't had him we haven't been the same team. That's not an excuse. That's an explanation. And it's an accurate one in our minds.

He struggled tremendously and obviously with some of the personnel that we have right now if he's not going to score well it's going to be tough for us. It started off early that he didn't make a few shots and it didn't get better from there.

Going there, obviously for them to probably have a chance to get off the losing slide there in the conference, the home opportunity ? the best opportunity if you're sitting in their seat, their side of the street. We're playing for a lot of things ourselves. I'm hopeful that we are able to be healthy, be ready and be prepared to go after it (tonight).

It's obvious we have other options and weapons and that's been one of the keys for us at this time of year. With depth, fresh bodies and fresh legs, you see guys who have been out have an opportunity to reconnect with their games. Their confidence is up and so is ours as a team.

It's obvious that we need to continue to take steps climbing the ladder. We are moving our program in the direction where we're going to be very proud. We're maturing and more than anything else, you see the confidence growing. That's the key word for us.

I'm not trying to get into the specifics about the calls -- it was obviously a terrific crew -- but it certainly was a situation I disagreed with and I got a technical for it and I deserved it.

Obviously it was a disappointing ending and loss. You can certainly look at a lot of different stats and reasons but none more telling than 24 turnovers. That was our undoing and it was unfortunate for us. I thought our kids gave great effort, especially our seniors, and I'm very disappointed for them to end their career home game with something like this.

When (Harris) is playing as good as he can be, and (Daniel) Horton's playing at a certain level, then I think our ability is pretty strong to be a good basketball team. Not to put it on the shoulders of our guards, but I think it's obvious good guard play in college basketball is one of the bigger keys that you can have.