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College basketball coaches are a little insane. They’d admit it. The amount of dedication and drive it takes to succeed in college basketball forces you to do crazy things. It weeds out some people really quickly. So the coaches that have earned some of the best jobs in the country are in their respective positions because they eat, drink and sleep hoops. That leads to some awesome moments. When college basketball coaches open up in press conferences, it leads to some quotes that will leave you laughing, scratching your head or just plain confused.
That’s the beauty of college basketball. Some coaches are masters of smokescreens. Some love the one-word answers because they refuse to give you any insight.
Some will make you think that an opposing player is the second coming of Michael Jordan. Others will get you ready to run through a wall with little-to-no effort.
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Here are some of the best quotes of the season from college basketball coaches:
“I’m going to say this — it’s going to come off a little crazy. I got guys from New Jersey and New York City. You think we’re scared of anything? You think we’re worried about guys trying to muscle us and tough us out? We do that. That’s who we are. We are a very physical team. Our bodies probably don’t look like it, but these guys play very hard and very physical.
“So that I wasn’t worried about that at all. We have played bigger teams the whole time. So them being a little bigger and stronger, it doesn’t faze us. When you got tough, hard-nosed kids, they’re ready to play. I played to give it 110% all the time. I tell my guys all the time, you give me 100%, I will give you 200%. I was a decent player. I’m small. People counted me out. So I had something to prove every time. So I coached that way.”
“One of the officials told me tonight, ‘We can call a foul on every trip.’ How do you respond to that? So you’re going to pick and choose? There’s one play where there are two hands straight in his back. I’m not trying to nit-pick on this crew. It’s a really good crew. I’d take these guys every night. I get he’s hard to officiate, but at the expense of breaking his arms, cracking his wrist and bleeding? I better be quiet.”
“I think about my dad all the time. I think about my dad even in the flow of a game. We’ll take an absurd shot because I give our guys a lot of freedom offensively, and I’ll pound the table and then I’ll kind of chuckle to myself and say, ‘My dad is up there thinking, that’s an absurd shot. What are you doing? You’re a horrific coach.’
“I’ll think about would he call a timeout now? I’m constantly — he was my idol, my best friend, and whether it’s during the season and I’m home alone and I have told our local media that we made a change in the starting lineup. There wasn’t a single coach that brought it up. There wasn’t a player because we ask for player feedback. Nobody brought it up. It was me sitting alone late one night asking what my dad would do when we struggled, and he said put the five toughest, five biggest, five longest people out there regardless of position. That’s how we stumbled into the lineup of being so big because his teams at the University of Minnesota and even with — the Timberwolves were always big, strong players even at the off guard or the point guard position. That’s what we’ve done. We’ve changed our team.”
“I’ve often said he’s got more wins than I’ve got practices under my belt. I think I was there when he broke [Bob] Knight’s record. That was at Madison Square Garden. So maybe the NCAA decides I’m the sacrificial lamb or something, I don’t know.
“But getting 1,200 wins or 1,199 wins is just unbelievable. You talk about consistency. You talk about guys staying with the same program. You talk about how long guys are going to coach. Man, if that record’s broken — and I know they’re all meant to be broken — but someone’s going to have to start right out of the womb to break that record, I think, in the future.”
“And I told the guys before the game, I said, there’s three types of people. There’s people that don’t want to fight, there’s people that do want to fight, and there’s people that are looking for a fight. And I said, I want a bunch of guys, 17 guys in the locker room that are looking for a fight as we go up there and compete. And that’s what they did. And I’m very, very, very proud of them.”
“I think the one thing I can say to this media because the media gets kind of (expletive) up sometimes when it comes to me. We don’t have our full roster. Y’all know we don’t have our full roster. Stop asking me stupid (expletive) questions about if I feel like I can do something. If I had my roster like they did, they’re out there like I can do whatever I want to do. I’m coaching really hard. My boys are playing really hard. I’m not embarrassed about anything. We have four freshmen starting. Y’all need to act like it. Act like we got 17 to 18-year-olds out here trying to learn how to play against 22 , 23 and 24-year-old guys, come on, man. Stop disrespecting me, bro. Like don’t do that. I work too (expletive) hard. I work way too hard for that. You write all these (expletive) articles about me and all I do is work. We got young kids on the floor.”
“I’m very familiar with the hoops culture. What Coach Newell and the old AAU teams from here. A lot of people in the East do not realize that this is a strong, deep-rooted love of basketball area as there is. Fifty years ago I spent in ’71 and ’72 a lot of time here when I was in the Army. I was able to try out and make the All-Army teams. We lived in barracks at the Presidio. Hal Fisher, one of the great coaches, coached a team. I was out here at least four different times for six-week periods, and then we would go and play in the World Military Olympics either in Iran, Syria. I know this area well. Heck, when we practiced yesterday at San Francisco, we practiced there. Bobby Geran, who passed, used to help run that place. It’s conjured up a lot of the great memories, but also I try to tell my guys, this area loves basketball. It loves — not just the Warriors. It’s deep-rooted.
“In their gym at San Francisco, they have three national championships, so at the end of practice I brought them together. Okay, ’55, ’56, who was the best player, and they all yelled out Bill Russell. I was actually a little surprised. I was ready to kind of dig in on them, but they knew it. I love this area. It really is part of the foundation of me becoming a coach. Playing and then helping Coach Fisher a little bit when we went on these tours.”
“I think there’s a big bias with East Coast and, quite frankly ESPN. They’re talking about Virginia Tech, they got one Quad 1 win — we got three. They’re squarely on the bubble. We’re not even in the conversation. I hope the committee is smarter than the people that are putting that thing together. But, look, I can’t sit here and pound the table for Colorado because we lost to Southern Illinois, we had 10 losses. But we have a young team. And if you look at the Colorado team today relative to where we were in November or December, if you don’t think we’re one of the top 68 teams in the country, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“I didn’t like the timeout being called, and I’ll be totally honest with you. I thought it was not necessary at that moment, especially being a large lead. And then, for the time out to be called with three seconds, four seconds ago, I thought that that was, what I felt, wasn’t fair to our guys.  
“It wasn’t a press. We were just five pressure defense, man to man. That’s what five is for us.
“Well, basically, you know, I addressed with the head coach that I will remember that, because of that time out. And for someone to touch me — and I think that was very uncalled for him to touch me as we were verbalizing and communicating with one another. So that’s what ended up happening. And that’s what escalated it.”


“Look, I mean, have to face the music. Arkansas is just better than us. Beat us three times this year. Just flat better than us. You can’t let it bother you when they whip our ass three times. It is what it is. Look, we turned — it is what it is. I don’t let that stuff bother me.”

“After studying all of this nonstop and looking at it from every vantage point, it defies logic that we are not in the NCAA Tournament. Despite repeated pleas I have only been given generalities by those above me. No data specific evidence on why we weren’t invited. Without logical reasoning behind the decision, while knowing I still must explain this to our guys and their families it has caused me to lose all respect and faith in the system and those that are in it. What has transpired is wrong. I am so sad for all of the young men in our program, especially those who decided to stay at Texas A&M with their COVID year of eligibility.”
“I think what will help us is to run out of a tunnel and play in front of fans. I think it’s hugely demoralizing to our guys to play games in empty arenas when there’s 80,000 people at the Rams game yesterday. It didn’t help. But I don’t believe in excuses.
“Play on the playground man. It is what it is. I tell our guys, ‘People that make it in life, whether it’s sports or basketball – you’ve got (to have) two things: urgency and pride.’ At some point, if you’re only doing it because the coach is making you, you’re never going to make it. In the pros, they don’t have time to motivate you. You’ve got to have enough pride to get the job done. Have pride in people not taking the ball from you, people just don’t school on you (or) go by you. You’ve got to have some pride. And you have to have urgency to be great. Most people can’t show up every day with the same intensity and urgency.”
“Again, the reason we don’t play the blue bloods is because they don’t want to come to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Let’s call it exactly what it is. We’d love that opportunity and embrace that opportunity. It’s great. It’s great for our school.”
“I’m happy for Kelvin, that he felt comfortable enough in his own skin to do that. But, you know, I have family and friends that I would like to continue to speak to me throughout the remainder of my life. And that I would not do that just so I would lose that relationship due to the embarrassment I would cause them. So that will not happen here.”

“I can’t say I grew up liking Michigan. I can’t say that. It’s nothing personal, but I can’t say I grew up a Michigan fan at all. We grew up in Big Ten country. Michigan was somebody we didn’t like very much. But I have a real understanding of their history. I grew up going to the Barn as a kid watching Michigan and Rumeal Robinson, Glen Rice, I could go on and on. They have tremendous tradition, and I have watched a lot of Michigan basketball throughout the years, not as a fan.”
“Well, that would mean I believe wholeheartedly in the media. And that will never happen. Now, we were picked preseason No. 12 in our own league. You get seeded a certain spot. Who cares about that? I tell the team all the time, if you’re in the dance, you’ve got a darned good team because you earned your way into the dance. You either won your conference tournament, and you’re the champion of your league, and it takes a lot to win any league in this country.”
“Yeah, it weighs on you. Obviously, we worked hard to have to win two games to get here. We were in the Elite Eight three years ago. Obviously, we didn’t have a tournament two years ago.
“It eats at you, man. Like you work hard to do things and to work and represent your school and to put yourself in a position to do well. It’s so hard to get in position to do well, and that’s kind of been — like these guys won 29 games and then you feel awful. We put ourselves in a position to win a Big Ten championship and we didn’t. We put ourselves in a position to win the championship game of the tournament, we didn’t. You get to this point right here and you don’t move forward, but it’s also — anybody can have a good team.
“We have a good program. Our guys graduate, we’re successful, we have the most Big Ten championships of any school in the Big Ten. We just haven’t gotten over that hurdle. We just haven’t gotten that push to where we haven’t been to a Final Four in 42 years. So yeah, I think about it all the time, but it’s not going to stop me from driving to get here and get back in this position again and try to get over that hurdle. That’s what our players deserve and our fans deserve. It’s part of competition. It’s a very, very competitive world.”
“We’re all grieving — I mean, shocked, bewildered, angered, despair. I mean, this part of grieving and I’ll talk more about it later. But my concern — yeah, for the fans, but also these young people — the joy they brought to all of us, you think of people saying this is one of the most fun teams to watch, one of my favorite teams ever here and all that kind of stuff. And then ending the way it ended — I mean, devastating.”
“I’m very, very proud of my time here. I’m just proud of what I’ve done, proud of these guys. Love them. Proud of the guys I’ve coached. …Whatever happens in the future, happens. And that’s fine. K-State is a great place, great people. I told you the other day, I love coaching here, love coaching. I know I’m old and I’ve got gray hair, but they’ll tell you I got some spunk. …We’ll see what happens. Whatever happens, happens. That’s life.”

“Crushing. I mean, come on. It has nothing to do with where we play and the history and tradition. It’s about just that group and how much they’ve done and how great a group of guys they are. Just how hard of work and how much effort. Just what they’ve put into getting us back to the tournament back-to-back years. Just playing out some really strong regular seasons. It’s just — you know, it’s crushing to see your guys not be able to get the enjoyment of that next game and the build-up. It sucks.”

“Disappointed. First of all, there’s not a finer person in the business than Coach Martin. If I had a son, I have said it before, I would love for him to play for him. I think you see this year where the transfer portal a year ago stripped some programs where they had some things going, and you build to a point where like you’re asking me right now where we are, it’s hard not for me to sit here and think in three weeks, four weeks, whatever the season with that next part is going to happen, and we don’t know. I can’t tell you one thing about what I think would happen with our program.”
“Coach Martin and Tom Crean, both of those guys, one thing I know they’re both terrific basketball coaches. Knowing Coach Martin better, I can tell you this, I’ve got two adopted black grandchildren, and I called him one day and said, help me through this. Tell me what I need to know as a grandfather. My daughter was having some issues that she wanted an answer to, and Cuonzo’s wife talked with my daughter, and so I look at him in a whole different light. I know this, if I were an A.D. somewhere, he would be the first guy I would want to go get him because I know him, and I know where his heart is in terms of the game of basketball. He has always done it right.
“Again, I said when I went to Tennessee that I thought that he had walked into a tough situation there and handled it with great class. Again, when I went to — the first time I saw Coach Martin after I had accepted the job at Tennessee, he had nothing but glowing remarks about Tennessee and said, ‘Hey, they have a great basketball base. You’re going to love it.’ And so I have great respect for him. It saddens me, to be honest with you, because, again, he is not just a guy that I have competed against, but a guy that, like I said, has given me wonderful advice over the years in a lot of different areas.”
“I would think playing Tennessee at Tennessee would be as difficult as winning a Final Four game. That is what it would be very much equated to. The difference is this year’s team is actually better defensively. They turn you over. They steal the ball from you. They put a lot of pressure on you. They fly around. This is one of [Rick Barnes’] better defensive teams.”
“Sometimes you’ve got to go through rain to get to the rainbow. We’ve got some ball left to play. We’re not counted out right now, and we’ve got some games left. We’ve got four regular-season games, the Big 12 Tournament. So, I don’t want anybody to think, to count us out, because we’re not counting ourselves out. And that’s all my focus is on is this year.”
“Tonight wasn’t about me, guys. I’m on the record my whole career. You understand that I respect the opponent and I respect the game. Tonight wasn’t about me. I congratulate Texas Tech on a great home win in the Big 12. They had a great crowd tonight. The students in attendance were notable. I thought it was a good college basketball game. I wished we had played better. It wasn’t for a lack of effort. Our guys battled tonight. But tonight wasn’t about me.”
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