"Quote of The Day" Ed Cota isn't happy. He is a long way from home playing in Jerusalem, Israel for Hapoel and the former North Carolina Tar Heel has been sent to the bench by coach Dan Shamir. Cota recently voiced his frustrations in the Jerusalem newspaper,  I'm frustrated about the number of minutes I'm getting at Hapoel. I played 30 minutes in all the important games, and in others I'm playing only five minutes. The coach has his reasons, but I can't figure it out."  "Quote of the Day Archives"  Check out what your favorite coaches and players have been saying  LSU coach John Brady had a dream season in 2005-06 which ended with a trip to the Final Four. This season, though, has been a struggle. The Tigers are 15-13 overall and just 4-10 in the conference and they had lost nine of ten until they upset Florida 66-56. Brady is an emotional coach who can be quite chatty. Here are a collection of his quotes following the victory over the Gators. "I was coaching so hard and trying to do everything I could in the last five minutes to make sure we won that game. We got upset with each other a little bit, but we all hugged after it was over. I was so emotional when I was talking to them after tonight's game I couldn't even finish talking." "It goes without saying, I’ve never been through anything like this as long as I've been coaching. We lost games this year like we won games last year. Last year, with the game on the line, we made the big shot, got the big rebound, came up with the big defensive stop, when we had to. Not this year. It's gone completely the other way. And you know what? The buck stops right here. With the head coach." It probably was the most unselfish victory I've ever been associated with. I was so happy for the players who have been battling through some tough times. The job Garrett Temple did on their quarterback, Taurean Green (who went 1-for-7 and finished with six points), was as good as it gets. For me, it brought back memories of the job he did against J.J. Redick last year against Duke. We wanted to make sure they didn't get into any offensive rhythm. Yes, they missed a bunch of 3-pointers (2-for-17), but part of the reason was they were never able to get into the kind of rhythm they enjoy." Texas Tech coach Bob Knight was asked a couple of interesting questions at Monday’s Big 12 teleconference. The first was about players being required to spend a year playing college ball and Knight said, “The worst thing that’s happened to college basketball since I’ve been coaching. Because now you can have a kid come to school for a year and play basketball and he doesn’t even have to go to class. He certainly doesn’t have to go to class the second semester. I’m not exactly positive about the first semester. But he would not have to attend a single class the second semester to play through the whole second semester of basketball. That, I think, has a tremendous effect on the integrity of college sports.”  Story The other question was about official working five and six games in a week. Here are audio excerpts from the press conference.  Audio Gonzalez is looking for a bridge Seton Hall has lost three straight games and six of its last seven. First year coach Bobby Gonzalez is used to 20-win seasons, he had four of those in seven years at Manhattan. The Pirates are 12-12 with five regular season games remaining, including West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Louisville. Unless the Hall gets hot at the end of the regular season and in the conference tourney there won’t be a 20-win season and right now the Pirates are cold. In a 67-55 loss to UConn, Seton Hall was 19-of-66 29%) from the field and the Pirates play had Gonzalez telling the Hartford Courant that he was looking for something to jump off of, "I'm looking for a bridge to jump off right now. You guys have any good ones in Connecticut? We have the GW. What's tough is that we're just trying to find a way to get over the hump. The game was just the way we wanted it. There were a lot of great things happening for us, but when you miss shots and you can't score, that's when the whole complexion of the game changed." South Carolina's Kelley is ticked off Another South Carolina SEC loss really ticked off the Gamecocks Tre’ Kelley. A 73-54 home defeat to Georgia was a fourth straight loss for Carolina, but at least the other three were competitive and not a blowout. Kelley, from Swainsboro, Georgia responded in The State newspaper, “We can’t come back in here feeling like we’re just using up. I’ve never been on a basketball team that just feels useless, or the atmosphere’s useless. I’m not saying we feel useless as a team. But the atmosphere is definitely that. The atmosphere of our fans, I think they just don’t believe in us that we can win a basketball game. And the mindset of some people around us may be the same way. And I’ve never been a part of that before.” Doherty trying to rebound at SMU Matt Doherty is six seasons removed from being named the AP Coach of the Year for his 26-7 rookie campaign at North Carolina. Since that fine start in Chapel Hill, there was a meltdown of Carolina blue under Doherty followed by a 15-13 season at Florida Atlantic in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Yea, Doherty is one of a few who have made the move from big time college basketball to the A-Sun (Hugh Durham coached at Jacksonville). This season Doherty is in his rookie year leading SMU, which plays in Conference USA. The Mustangs are 13-10, but are only 2-7 in league play. The team has only one double-digit scorer and has lost seven of its last nine games. Doherty has been through it all- the good and the bad. In a story carried in the Winston-Salem Journal,  he said, "I had my butt handed to me. I hit rock bottom. You do miss the sounds and you do miss the packed arena on a big game where there is just electricity in every step in the gym. We had a good crowd here against Dayton, three-and-a-half or four thousand." Bearcat meltdown upsets Cronin There was a major meltdown at the end of Providence’s 71-70 win over Cincinnati. The main culprit seemed to be the Bearcats’ leading scorer, Deonta Vaughn. Vaughn is a 6-1 freshman and he is averaging 14 points per game, but like most freshman there is a lot of ebb and flow in his rookie season. He has scored 25 with nine assists and just two turnovers against N.C. State and 24 versus cross town rival Xavier. Then again he had eight turnovers against Central Michigan and five in a loss to St. John’s. Vaughn has scored in double-digits in his last eight games and he had 14 with just one turnover against Providence. Unfortunately, that one turnover was half of the meltdown. Since December 30th, the Bearcats have had two five game losing streaks and they have lost 10 of 11. Perhaps all of this explains coach Mick Cronin’s comments in the Cincinnati Post, "First of all, he shouldn't have caught the inbounds pass. We told them the play, and Deonta fell asleep on the play. Then he fouls the jump-shooter. You don't foul jump-shooters when you're a 5-10 stocky, non-shot-blocker. You don't do it. The thing about it is that it wasn't bad luck. We made bad decisions we were told not to do on both ends of the court." Pearl versus Brady- round two? Is their a feud going on between Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl and LSU coach John Brady? Last year LSU whipped the Vols 88-74 in Baton Rouge. Brady questioned Pearl’s class after the game for lifting up Dane Bradshaw’s hand to the LSU student section when he put Bradshaw into the game. Pearl talked about his popularity amongst his fellow SEC coaches in the Tennessean, "In 14 years (as a head coach), we've either won the conference or finished a game or two out. That doesn't make you the most popular guy in the conference. The guys that are popular are the guys you can beat. I said from the beginning that I want to be popular with our fans. But if we don't start winning some games, I'm all of a sudden going to start becoming more popular in the conference, and I'm not interested in that."  Bearcats' Warren frustrated by free throw shooting woes Jamual Warren is a 6-foot-2 junior guard, at Cincinnati, who is averaging eight points and three assists. Shooting is not his specialty. He is hitting only 36% from the field and 15% on 3-balls. However, what is really aggravating him right now his free throw shooting. In a 73-64 loss to St, John’s he made only 5-of-10 at the line and for the season he is shooting less that acceptable 60% (33-55). Warren isn’t pleased and he explained his frustrations in the Cincinnati Post, “They're big, obviously. I lost a game twice now due to free throws. I guess I can't shoot free throws. Me, I do everything I do in practice to try to make the free throws. They just miss. I don't know why. I make them during practice. It was off. It's something I can't control.” Jim Calhoun is thirsty The Connecticut Huskies had lost five games in a row at Pittsburgh, home to Indiana, at Louisville, home to Providence and at DePaul. This terrible slide finally ended with a 61-50 overtime home win over Rutgers. Coach Jim Calhoun is finally back in the win column ant this is what he said in the Harford Courant, "We needed any kind of win. I didn't know how it was going to be. It could be ugly, it could be pretty. We needed a win - even though I'm going to go home and sleep in about three minutes. Or hit my local tavern - either or. Maybe do one then the other.” Odom is disappointed in Lakers' play Lamar Odom's numbers are up across the board this season, the seven-year pro is scoring more and shooting and rebounding better than he ever has. Of course Odom has had a checkered past dating back to his days at Rhode Island. But now he is 27 years old and among the main line Lakers he is a veteran, only Kobe Bryant is older and has been in the league longer. So when LA struggles Odom is one of the players who will speak out. And he did speak out after the Lakers' 95-84 loss at Indiana. In this offensive gem, Los Angeles just 38% from the field, made only 5-of-23 3-pointers and was outscored in the fourth quarter 32-14. This is what Odom said in the Los Angeles Times, "It's a shame the way we played tonight. In the triangle offense, you have to play with confidence when you have the ball. It looked like our recognition was bad tonight and we had guys that didn't know what to do with the basketball."   Izzo isn't happy Since the start of Big 10 play Michigan State has gone 4-4. The four wins have been at home and the four losses on the road. On Saturday the Buckeyes trailed Ohio State by 20 at half on the road. The Spartans came back and cut that lead all the way down to one points before losing 66-64. On Tuesday, on the road at Illinois, the Spartans trailed the Illini 28-17 at half. Once again MSU rallied and cut the lead to three, but the end result was another loss, 57-50. Spartan coach Tom Izzo responded to the defeat in the Detroit Free Press, "Well as proud as I was of our team on Saturday, I'm probably more disappointed in them tonight. I thought the maturity of my team was at an all-time low tonight. We're not very good at handling success." LeBron pays tribute to Mike D'Antoni LeBron James has seen the Phoenix Suns twice in the last 17 days and of course his Cleveland Cavaliers have been on the losing end of both games that are apart of the Suns’ still growing 17-game winning streak. Phoenix beat Cleveland at home 109-90 and 115-100 on the road. In the two games the Suns have racked up 65 assists including 36 in the home victory. LeBron has scored 30 and 34 points in the two games. But it isn’t the Suns defense that had James talking in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, I think (Suns coach Mike) D'Antoni is an offensive mastermind. No matter what you do defensively, he's going to find a way to counter it. No matter what you do . . . The way they're playing right now, they are unbeatable. Durant is happy to be a college player The media is constantly hounding Texas sensation Kevin Durant with one question. "Are you going pro next season?" Durant has said repeatedly that he will decide on that issue after the season is over (Good answer). Meanwhile, USA today did a feature on Durant and he said some interesting things about how he would have handled jumping straight out of high school to the NBA ,if that had been an option,   "I'd have struggled, man. I would have wanted to spend all my money on stupid stuff. I'd have wanted to buy everybody else everything. It would have been a disaster, I think. Outside of basketball, I don't know what I would have done. I think my mama would have had to quit her job just to look after me."    Gary Williams is back Maryland coach Gary Williams returns to "QOD" after his Terripans knocked off Georgia Tech 80-65 at home. Maryland started its ACC season 1-4, beating Clemson but losing at Boston College 73-62, at home to Miami 63-58, on the road at Virginia 103-91 and 67-64 in overtime at Virginia Tech. The 1-4 ACC start was Maryland’s worst since 1992-83.  Now, after the win over the Yellow Jackets, the Terps are 2-4 and Williams had some interesting comments in the Baltimore Sun, "It's nice to be able to throw it back at people sometimes. To get this win tonight was very important for us. At the same time, it wasn't life or death. If it was life or death, we couldn't play. We would've been too tight. Our message after the Virginia Tech game was to play like that the rest of the year. That's what we did tonight." Sampson "the heel"  As expected Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson was the wrestling equivalent of “the heel” in Champagne, Illinois on Tuesday night, January 23, 2007. The man who stole recruit Eric Gordon, according to the Illini fans, was yelled at and jeered just like a bad guy in pro “wrasslin.” Illinois won the game, so afterwards, Sampson wasn’t saying much about his ring appearance in Champagne. Here is his quote in the Indianapolis Star, “I don't care about that. The only thing is right now I want to get home and make my team better. I could care less about that other stuff.”  Sampson vs Weber  How bad is the blood between Indiana and Illinois following Eric Gordon’s decision to back out of his commitment to the Illini and sign with the Hoosiers? Among the Illini fans it is bad, real bad. The two teams will play for the first time, since all of this went down, in Champaign. ESPN will be broadcasting the game, so get ready for plenty of cutaways of both coaches, especially when it is time to shake hands. Illini coach Bruce Weber, who was jilted by Gordon, said in the Belleville News-Democrat, "I'll shake hands (with Sampson), I guess. I'm more worried about us surviving as a team. That's the biggest thing. We've got enough issues and problems right now." Meanwhile, Indiana’s Kelvin Sampson has admitted some wrong in his comments to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, "The first thing I would do is call the coach and let him know that contact had been made with us. No excuses. That's something I should have done. I know the family was making contact on both ends, but no excuses. I should have picked up the phone and called Bruce." Gary Williams’ Maryland Terrapins opened the season with nine straight wins and they weren’t all easy ones. Maryland beat Winthrop, Michigan State and Illinois in its preconference schedule. However, since the Terp’s ACC schedule began, they are 1-4. They were the first team to beat Clemson (92-87 at home), but they lost at Boston College 73-62, at home to Miami 63-58, on the road at Virginia 103-91 and 67-64 in overtime at Virginia Tech. The 1-4 ACC start is Maryland’s worst since 1992-83. The media is asking coach Gary Williams about “the 1-4” and he responded this way in the Baltimore Sun, “I'm not worried about that at all. That's just for you to write about negative if you want, but we're getting ready for Georgia Tech. That's our only concern. If we play like we did tonight we'll be OK in the league." Cincinnati’s Cedric McGowan is a 6-foot-6 senior who transferred from Kilgore Junior College in Texas. This is second season playing for the Bearcats and he isn‘t enjoying the Bearcats’ recent struggles. Cincinnati has lost four in a row and only one of those was to a ranked team (Memphis). Three of the loses have been to Ohio (11-5), Rutgers (8-8) and South Florida (10-8). Cincinnati, after a 74-59 loss to South Florida is 9-7 and 0-2 in the Big East. McGowan told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he is tired of losing, "It's getting old now. We've lost four in a row. We just need to come together as a team so we can win. We're not supposed to be happy after we lose. One of the reasons I'm so emotional right now is that I'm worried they're going to get used to losing and quit and just turn it in. I don't want that to happen in my senior year." Now that all the 880 hoopla is finally over, Indiana coach Bob Knight can talk about other things, like one of his players getting nailed in the head. The Red Raiders Esmir Rizvic was hit in the face by an elbow from Oklahoma’s Longar Longar, a 6-foot-11, 228 pound junior who was born in the Sudan. Knight took Double L to task in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, "That was a really bad situation. Rizvic has a fractured eye socket now. I'm not sure what that's going to do to him. I'm not sure that guy (Longar) should be able to play anymore. That was just, that was just bad. When a kid gets hurt that badly on a play that isn't even really a part of basketball. Kids can get hurt going up to the bucket, kids can get hurt getting tripped or knocked over, but swinging your arms out like that with your elbows out at the height of some kid's head, that's not good."   When other coaches are spouting off cliches you can always count on ole Jim Calhoun at UConn to say something clever. So far this season he has been gruff and somewhat nice while dealing with his young team. After his Huskies beat South Florida 69-58 in a performance that was kind of average across the board, Calhoun forced himself to say positive things which were recorded in the Waterbury Republican-American, "They needed to be coached. They needed me to be more positive than I'm accustomed to being. I actually feel ill because of it. I said too many nice things and that's not in my personality. There are certain points you need to feel what your team is. When you've got a young team, you can destroy them at this point in time. I did say this was a very important game, and that's unusual for me to say."      Mick Cronin Although the shooting numbers don’t prove it, Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin was upset with his team’s defense. In a 79-66 victory over the Bearcats, Ohio shot 42% from the field and just 25% on 3-pointers. So how did Ohio score so many points? The Bobcats were 30-36 from the free throw line as Cincinnati was whistled for 24 fouls, 13 more than the Cats. Instead of whining about the officials Cronin, in the Cincinnati Enquirer, was more frustrated with his club’s D, That was our worst defensive effort of the season. We got exactly what we deserved. No matter what we tried to do, it was a feeble attempt. The enormous amount of free throws that they shot was a direct result of our poor defense." We haven’t heard from Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun in a while. He is the most frequent contributor to the “Quote of the Day“. He is just a natural communicator. His Huskies beat little St. Mary’s 89-73. But 47 of St. Mary’s points came in the second half and Calhoun was not to pleased with his team’s second half defense, as expressed in this quote in the Waterbury Republican-American, "Once we got a (29-point) lead we just completely stopped playing defense. We didn't guard a chair. Some of us thought the game was over. In order for us to be good, we have to soak in every ounce of every minute because we do have liabilities. The rust is that we stopped the mental approach of, don't give up a hoop. Overall, a good performance by us, tainted a little bit by 10 or 12 minutes of not playing defense like we can." Welcome back coach Calhoun.     It was a wild day in Charlottesville. Virginia coach Dave Leitao was tossed from the game. First he kicked the scorer’s table after a call giving him technical foul number 1 and then he turned to the Cavalier student section and asked for more noise which gave him his second T and an automatic ejection from the game. Leito apologized for his actions in the Times-Dispatch, "Although I'm demonstrative, and try to challenge everybody, it's not to leave my players without some level of leadership. That's not why I came here. That's not what I'm about."   In a 68-51 win over Prairie View Matt Doherty told junior guard Derrick Roberts to go to the locker room. According to a teammate Roberts was not in the locker room at the end of the game. Doherty, who had a strained relationship with several players at North Carolina, said in the Dallas Morning News, “You’ve got to follow the instructions and there are no exceptions. When I get a response that is not appropriate, I need to take action. Derrick is a great kid. I probably could have handled it a little differently myself.”   As an observer it appears as though Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has a passion for roundball, but many times it borders on being a crazed obsession. On Friday night Pearl was watching a high school game and he says he told an official to, “let them play.” At that point the referee nearly tossed him out of the gym. Pearl apologized in the Tennessean for his actions, “I'm sorry that this has even elevated to the point where it's a story. The officials have a tough enough job without me offering my advice. I shouldn't be saying anything to the officials, and I can promise you I won't from now on.” Ed Cooley  After working as an assistant coach at Boston College for 10 seasons, Ed Cooley was used to winning. He has been to six NCAA Tourneys and the NIT. But winning doesn’t come quickly when you take over a program , like Fairfield’s, which went 9-19 last season. So far this season, the Stags are 2-10. The have beaten Central Arkansas (3-5) and St. Francis, NY (0-10) and lost a double overtime and an overtime game. Six of the losses have been by double digits. After shooting just 28% from the field in a 57-54 loss to 3-5 Manhattan, Cooley aired it out in the Connecticut Post, "Today was definitely a step in the wrong direction. We were outplayed, outcoached, outhustled from top to bottom. It was absolutely a bad performance from us. We've got a long way to go. We were just not ready to play, it's that simple. I did an absolutely poor job of preparing us to play. If there was a positive in this game, I thought our assistant coaches were dressed nice. We were terrible. "Quote of the Day Archives"   Doctor John Giannini preaching D Dr. John Giannini, he is a doctor of kinesiology, has been a successful head coach for 13 seasons. He won a Division III National Championship at Rowan in 1996 and at Maine he had two 20+ win seasons in eight years on the job. This is his third season at LaSalle. He won 10 games his first and 18 in the second. This season the Explorers are 4-2 with losses to Coppin State 68-67 and to Maryland-Baltimore County 78-67.  Opponents are averaging 70 points and shooting 47%. Maryland-Baltimore County shot 57% from the game and 63% (15-24) in the second half and those numbers got the Doctor talking, about a lack of D, in the Philadelphia Inquirer,         "I think I have some answers, but only time will tell. Certainly, the way I've tried to get this team to play is either inappropriate for them or it's falling on deaf ears, or maybe some of my faith has been misplaced. It's probably a combination of those things. But I don't think my faith has been misplaced. But frankly, we're getting exhausted telling them our effort isn't good enough. Our defense isn't good enough, and I think this result is worth a year's worth of lectures from me."   Lincoln coach Garfield Yuille Controversy isn't common in Division III basketball and national attention is a rarity.  You have do do something outrageous to have major newspapers and ESPN talking about D III roundball, like beating somebody 201 to 78.  That is what Lincoln University of Pennsylvania did to Ohio State-Marion on Saturday.  Whipped them like a team dressing just six players, five of which were freshmen, and the other was the coach Mark Sisler.  Lincoln plays a pressing style and shoots a lot of 3-pointers.  In this game Lincoln forced 62 turnovers.  Lincoln coach Garfield Yuille has been on the hot seat because of the rout and he apologized in the Philadelphia Inquirer,   Historic Box Score “I am not happy with the 201 points.  You've got to understand, they came five hours to play basketball.  How do you tell them not to play basketball? This is not peewee (ball). These are grown men playing basketball.  Let's be real.  I didn't want to play the game.  I wish we never played it.”  Lincoln web site     Homer Drew at work  Homer Drew has been coaching college basketball for 30 seasons.  He started in 1976 at Bethel College and then he moved on to Indiana University-South Bend and finally to Valparaiso.  Not once in his long career had he ever been thrown out of a game.  Last night that changed in Evansville as the Aces beat Valpo 69-64.  Drew picked up two technical fouls and was tossed with 6:21 to play.  Drew said, "I wanted the first one and it worked. But I didn't want the second one.” What had Drew talking after to game to the Post-Tribune was the number of palming violations that were called against the Crusaders, “It was truly unfair to our kids. They made four palming-the-ball calls on us.  We've had one in the last however-many-games.  And they all came at crucial times, when we were two points up or two points down.  And (Evansville was) palming it all night; of course they didn't call it on them.  It's not fair to our guys."   Louisville’s large freshman Derrick Caracter makes his debut tonight in the Jimmy V Classic versus Arizona. The 6-foot-8 Caracter, who scored 29 points in two scrimmage games, will probably be matched up against Arizona’s 6-10 senior forward Ivan Radenovic. Coach Rick Pitino said this about Caracter, who can be a character, in the Louisville Courier-Journal, “He's only been thrown out of practice once, and I expected it to be 150 times.  He deserves all the credit in the world.  Just think if in August any of us were asked to lose 55 pounds.  I know we'd all like to, but try it.  I just think his past is his past."   There is nothing more demoralizing for a coach than when your team comes out in a big game and doesn’t play with passion.  Bradley coach Jim Les went through that at Michigan State as his Braves shot only 30% from the field and were outrebounded by 18.  So Les opened his post game comments by apologizing to his opponent, "That was just a thorough butt-kicking by Michigan State.  I thought they played extremely well, and we didn't come to play.  I apologize to Coach Izzo for not giving them a better game.  I'm just disappointed that Michigan State didn't get a taste of Bradley basketball.  Our kids usually show a little bit more fight, fire and intensity.  Regardless, if we miss all of our shots, that's fine. I  wanted Michigan State to know they were in a back-alley fight, they had their way with us pretty easily, and that's disappointing.     Early in the second half. While leading 38-33, Carolina coach Roy Williams yanked his starting five. Why? He told the Winston-Salem Journal he wanted to let them have it, "The reason I did it was because I just wanted to have an opportunity to blast those guys I was taking out.  There's no excuse to let somebody outhustle you.  There's absolutely no excuse.  The basketball was rolling on the floor and we're tiptoeing through the tulips, reaching over to get the ball.  That's the stupidest thing.  We're going to dive after the ball.  We had four guys daintily trying to get the dadgum basketball.  If it's rolling on the floor, it's got 'North Carolina' written all over it.  You'd better get it or I'll get somebody else in that will."     After consecutive losses to Alabama, Villanova, Arizona State and Virginia Tech, the first two on a neutral court and the last two on the road by three and four points,  Iowa beat Texas Pan-American 62-46.  Coach Steve Alford said in the Des Moines Register, When you haven't won for two weeks, winning becomes a little bit harder.  It's early in the season, and I'm not coaching the scoreboard.  I'm coaching for them to get experiences."   There is nothing better than beating your crosstown rival, especially when you have been the underdog for so long.  But Charleston Southern coach Barclay Radebaugh is shaking things up in Charleston, South Carolina.  For the second straight game, Charleston Southern has beaten the College of Charleston, 84-80 in overtime on Thursday.  Prior to Radebaugh's arrival, the College of Charleston had beaten Charleston Southern 23 straight times.  Radebaugh told the Post and Courier, "We do our best to say it's another game, but you're kidding yourself.  It's important.  It's an important game for the growth of our program.  I think you have to consider our program now, at the very least, a program that is growing and getting better, hopefully by the day.  But yeah, it means a lot.  It means a lot to beat the College of Charleston."  The fans in Chapel Hill were raucous throughout the North Carolina and Ohio State game. However, they apparently overstepped the bounds when they began a chant, “Overrated” which was directed at the Buckeyes, who were ranked first.  The Public Address Announcer requested that the fans stop the chant and after the game Tar Heels’ coach Roy Williams said the following in the Charlotte Observer, "This is North Carolina. We don't do that ... to people. We do not do that.  That's a sorry chant. There's no place for it in college athletics."   Maryland beat Illinois 72-66 in the Big 10/Acc Challenge and Illini coach Bruce Weber was not a happy coach.  His rant in the Decatur Herald-Review  included the following comments, ''Yeah, definitely, it sucks.  I'm proud that we have some guys playing through some injuries.  We fight back and don't quit.  But some things have to change.  Shot selection has to improve, careless turnovers, finishing around the basket.  Those are the things that have to change if we're going to make progress.  There are only so many clipboards you can break.  Sooner or later they have to figure it out on their own.  It has to come from within.  I told them, if you look in the mirror and blame yourself, then we have a chance.  If you blame someone else, we don't.”   St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli returns to “QOD”, as expected, to apologize for his harsh comments about the officiating in his team lost to Penn State 65-61.  Comments like, "That guy (official) chose to be involved in the outcome of the game.  And then we got cheated at the end." On Monday in the Philadelphia Daily News said, "I apologize for my comments following Saturday's game at Penn State and sincerely regret my words of criticism directed at official Mike Sanzere.  I know that I let down my team, my staff and my family and have directly apologized to them.  This conduct is not befitting of a representative of Saint Joseph's University and the Atlantic 10 Conference and it is imperative that I set a better example in the future." More Monson.  The University of Minnesota's Don Monson is back because his Golden Gophers were the only team in the Old Spice Tourney to lose all three games (Marist, Southern Illinoisand Montana).  Monson told the Minnesota Daily,   "We came down here and found out a lot about ourselves.  Unfortunately, we don't like what we found out.  Now, it's just a matter of if we can fix that and, unfortunately, we don't have a lot of time to do that.  When I set this schedule up, I knew this was going to be a difficult stretch.  I knew this would challenge and expose us, but you have more confidence that we would play better than we are right now." St. Joseph’s coach Phi Martelli was quite upset and vocal after his team lost to Penn State 65-61.  Martelli thought a foul was not called and he went off on this rant in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Ahmad Nivins got fouled.  We just watched it on tape, and he got fouled.  It's on tape, and the guy blew the call. He's getting paid to do his job.  The guy didn't do his job in the last five seconds, and it's a damn shame.  He [Nivins] got grabbed by the kid in the lane as he was going up.  They [the officials] are not supposed to be involved in the outcome of the game.  That guy chose to be involved in the outcome of the game.  And then we got cheated at the end." Wow, hope that doesn't cost Martelli in the wallet or on the bench.  JaJuan Smith was trying to lead Tennessee to a comeback win over North Carolina.  He had scored 18 points in 21 minutes and hit a four-point play with 14:21 remaining in the game.  But then moments later he was called for a flagrant foul on Tyler Hansbrough, who had a break away.  Smith fouled Hansbrough and the UNC center went crashing to the floor.  Instead of calling an intentional foul, the officials called a flagrant and Smith was ejected from the game.  Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl addressed the call in the Tennessean, “I didn't see it that way.  I'll watch the tape, and Hansbrough is a great player.  He went to the foul line 15 times. H e had 45 and-1's last year.  If you're going to try to block his shot, you have to make an aggressive play.  I thought that's what it was.  Smith played his guts out.  That hurt our chances to come back." Minnesota coach Don Monson wasn’t pleased when his Golden Gophers lost to Marist 63-56.  The Gophers shot too many three-pointers (31) and too few free throws (2) provoking this quote from Monson in the Star Tribune, “We just weren't a very sound basketball team and we weren't a very confident basketball team.  “We've just got to settle down.  We got panicked in the first half. We've got to believe in ourselves, believe in our teammates.    Mario West in action Last season Georgia Tech went 11-17 and couldn’t close out the big game.  The Yellow Jackets lost to Michigan State 88-86, Boston College 66-64, Virginia Tech 63-62, FSU 80-79 and Maryland 87-84.  On Tuesday night, in Maui, the Jackets came from 16-down and beat Memphis 92-85, prompting Tech's Mario West to say in the Atlanta Journal Consittuition, "Last year's team, I hate to say it, wouldn't have gave it their all like this year's team.  Even Coach (Paul Hewitt), his demeanor was cool.  He said, 'If you get to playing Georgia Tech basketball, defense and tempo, you're going to win by 10.' "    A happy Jim Calhoun Jim Calhoun has been quite disgusted, at times, with his Huskies, but winning three straight in Hispanic College Fund Classic at the Hartford Civic Center has the Hall of Fame coach saying some nice things about his team in the Waterbury Republican-American, "We've made some giant strides.  The three games here this weekend gave me a much better feeling.  Tonight was the best exclamation point we could have put on it.  We made improvement, but we're going to have to be so much better than what we are.  But I saw signs."   Utah played terrible defense in an 83-72 loss at Santa Clara.  The Broncos shot 60% from the field prompting Utah coach Ray Giacoletti to say in the Desert News, "Until we take pride in guarding, nothing is going to change.  They can't come out and shoot 67 percent in the second half.  Until we can defend, there's not going to be any improvement.  It's about getting stops,"   Bob Knight’s trying week continued when his Red Raiders barely beat North Dakota State 85-81. Knight said this in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “The wrong team won.  They out hustled us; they outplayed us; they out thought us.  It was really a shame that we won the game from the standpoint of somebody watching basketball.  I was really disappointed in our team being out hustled and just outplayed like we were."   After Oral Roberts' 78-71 upset win over 3rd ranked Kansas, Jayhawks Brandon Rush, who scored 14 points (missed nine of 14 shots) said the following in the Lawrence Journal-World, "Coach was upset (after the game). He said we needed this right now because we were taking everything for granted, from the No. 1 spot in Sports Illustrated, all that stuff.  Thinking we’d come in and beat everybody at home, not giving effort just because we’re Kansas.”   On Tuesday night, after a win over Arkansas-Little Rock, Bob Knight finally uttered some words about the 'slap'.  He didn't say much, but here it is,  "I have said nothing publicly about it nor do I intend to, and that is the attention that it deserves.  Now does anybody else have a question about basketball?  This is a press conference for a basketball game."   Chris Holm  The University of Vermont pulled of a nice upset whipping 14th ranked Boston College on the road 77-63.  UVM senior Chris Holm said the following in the Burlington Free Press, “We weren't going to celebrate like this was some out-of-nowhere victory. We came in thinking we could win and we walked away like that. We knew we could play with them, and this is something that you can't take away from us now. We wanted to make sure that everybody knew, just like we knew, that we came in thinking we could win." Greg Paulus listening to Coach K  On the first day of practice, Duke’s Greg Paulus injured his foot and he missed 26 days.  However, when the season tipped off against Columbia, Paulus was dressed and ready to play.  He only logged 19 minutes in the 86-43 blowout win. The point guard scored two points with seven assists and said this in the Durham Herald Sun, “It felt fine out there.  It was great to be out there with the guys on the team and just getting back in the flow, but I didn't know if that was feasible with pain and everything I had to go through as far as rehab.  I was hoping.  It was one of those things where you kind of hope but you're not really sure.  But I tried to keep optimistic, and it worked out well." Bobby Cremins  Bobby Cremins made his coaching comeback in Atlanta, in the backyard of the Georgia Tech campus, where he made his name in the college world.  His new team, the College of Charleston, beat Georgia State 72-66.  Obviously, Cremins was the game's story line and Bobby said the following to the Charleston Post and Couirer . "I didn't really care where the first game was.  It's about the game.  It isn't about me and all this crap.  It makes a nice story, and I will admit to you, when I first looked at the schedule, I said, 'You've got to be kidding me. Atlanta, Ga., for my first game?'  My son lives here.  My brother flew down with a bunch of people.  It's unbelievable.  I'm happy for the kids, For me emotionally, once I get into the game, it's not about me.  It's about the game.  I was just happy we won the game. I really thought there was a chance we could have gotten blown out there in the first half.  I was really concerned."   I'm back for another memorable "QOD" Jim Calhoun, apparently, is going to be a regular contributor to our "Quote of the Day".  At least he will be until his young basketball team figures out how to please the Hall of Fame coach.  This is Calhoun's third "QOD" appearance.  After last nights 53-46 win over Quinnipiac Calhoun said the following to the Connecticut Post,   "It's going straight backwards right now and I have no idea why," Calhoun said of his offense, which scored only 18 points in the second half.  "We were awful." "We've found the enemy, identified it," said Calhoun, obviously referring to his own team.  "And we'll practice with them (today) at 9 o'clock."   Northwood University  Rollie Massimino If you didn't know, Rollie Massimino has resurfaced in the coaching profession.  He has taken on quite a challenge at the age of at age of 71.  The NCAA Tourney Championship winning coach has started a basketball program from scratch at Northwood University, a NAIA school, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Coach Rollie said this in the Philadelphia Daily News,    "My wife said, 'Are you crazy?' Daly called me a lifer and Cunningham told me I was nuts, but I missed it and I missed the kids.  I didn't need this, but the thought of starting something from scratch was kind of intriguing.  Needless to say, I didn't realize how much was involved.'' On Saturday night Northwood opens the season playing host to Massimino's old school, the Villanova Wildcats.  Northwood lost two exhibition games to big name schools.  Florida beat the Seahawks 70-41 and Miami drubbed them 94-54.     Mark Few  Gonzaga coach Mark Few was talking about his teams prospects for this season and he said the following in the Seattle Times,  "I think it's a year when we'll have to be really, really disciplined and detailed, really tight with all our execution on offense, defense and rebounding — and hoping the whole is so much greater than the sum of the parts." Larry Chapman  AUM coach Larry Chapman said this in the Montgomery Advertiser  following the Senators 69-64 win over Auburn, "It might happen once again in 100 games.  Tonight, you saw it. It was what it was.  I had mixed emotions.  I've never beaten Auburn before.  We were just fortunate to hit critical shots at the critical times." Chapman played at Auburn from 1962-64.  He was a three-year starter and team captain as a senior.  Chapman played for coach Joel Eaves in his sophomore and junior seasons.  Those two Auburn teams went 36-10 overall and 21-4 in the SEC. Jeff Lebo  And by the way, Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said this in the same story,  "It hurts our kids, hurts their confidence.  We've got a young, fragile group.  They're not going to be too happy with what happened tonight.  It's a good thing it doesn't count." Jim Calhoun  UConn’s Jim Calhoun is back for another “QOD”.  Last week he was peeved over his team’s uninspired 16-point win over American International College. On Monday, frustrated by his Huskies’ erratic play in the first half of a 70-45 win over Bryant, Calhoun bolted for the locker room before the first half was over and he said afterwards in the Hartford Courant, “I couldn't watch anymore.  We just were not very good offensively.  We're throwing balls away ridiculously, we're missing foul shots, we're not running any offense whatsoever.  It's helter-skelter.  I just walked into the locker room and tried to get myself ready to jump on them and go over what they were going to do.  And they did (in the second half)."   Belfast Star coach Darren O'Neill American Phil Valenti  Today we go all the way to Belfast, Ireland for our "QOD".  Betcha didn't think they played basketball professionally in Ireland.  Well they do.  On Saturday Neptune routed the Belfast Star 102-78.  Belfast coach Darren O'Neill was appalled by his teams’ effort and he let them have it in the Belfast Telegraph.   "It's the worst performance by any team that I've coached at any level. I was disgusted.  That was an absolute nightmare.  I kept the boys in the dressing room for 40 minutes and made that clear to them.  Normally I like to defend my players, but there was no defence for that performance which lacked the hunger, desire and class that I expect." "Tuesday and Thursday night training will not be a place for the faint-hearted because I want a better attitude on Saturday night." Hamilton College's Phi Valenti, 6-foot-4 from Pittsford, New York, took particular abuse from the Telegraph newspaper.  David Kelley writes:  Frankly, I cannot remember the last time an American played so badly for Star and no doubt O'Neill's fury will have much to do about his display.       Mick Cronin New Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said this, in the Cincinnati Enquirer , after his Bearcats struggled for a half in an 81-59 exhibition win over the University of Ottawa.    "What I try to teach these guys is that teams win for a reason.  When you win, you need to understand why you win.  We can't just say we're going to go out and play some hoops.  That's not going to get it done.  You've got to understand what it takes to win at this level.  It's not easy."     UConn coach Jim Calhoun said this in the Waterbury Republican-American to challenge his young team after a 75-59 win over American International College, "Somebody will give in, either them or me, because I'm not going to tolerate anything like that again.  There is no question that there are a couple of kids shell-shocked from their experience tonight.  It was a good opportunity for them to see that when we get in the midst of a game, you're going to compete and you're going to play.  And if I can break you down with a couple words, the Big East will do a better job than I could ever think of." Multiple Quotes Subject- Eric Gordon changes mind and commits to Indiana, a year after committing to Illinois  Bruce Weber  Illinois coach Bruce Weber- the jilted said: "Getting a verbal commitment from a player only to learn he has changed his mind a year later is "a big blow to the program, mainly because you can't recruit other kids.  You're in a bind. What do you say to a kid:  'If he de-commits, you can come here?'  Sooner or later kids are going to blow you off."  Kelvin Sampson Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson- the winner said: "I've been recruiting 23 years and it hasn't changed," said Sampson, who was hired away from Oklahoma.  "It's not unique.  It's not the schools as much as it is the kids.  There's a million scenarios with that stuff." Tom Izzo  Michigan State coach Tom Izzo- the neutral observer said: It should have been handled a little differently.  My opinion.  I told that to both of them.  Most of it wasn't their fault."  Read the whole story in Madison, Wisconsin's The Capital Times Derrick Character Rick Pitino  Rick Pitino said this in the Louisville Courier-Journal about Derrick Caracter, his large, but talented freshman "Just lose five pounds," Pitino said he told Caracter. "Come in at 285." Caracter came in at 318. "Unfortunately, Derrick's scale was 30 pounds off," Pitino said. "You know how sometimes you go to a hotel and you're very excited to go out and eat a big Italian meal because your scale was five pounds off? Well, his scale was 30 pounds off." Read the whole story in the Louisville Courier-Journal Slimmer Caracter “real deal” in Louisville’s scrimmage Kentucky's Randolph Morris talks about dealing with his hype and his own expectations in Brett Dawson's story in the Louisville Courier-Journal.     "I came in (to college) with a lot of hype.  It hasn't really materialized.  Personally, I think I get more out of myself if I feel like I have something to prove. So for me, the (talk) about all the hype I had and the (question) of have I lived up to that hype is a motivation. All the talk about the other SEC schools, I think that's a motivator." David Harrison      David Harrison, a former Colorado Buffalo now playing for the Indiana Pacers said this, on the subject of Coach Ricardo Patton’s decision to step down at Colorado after this season, in Tom Kensler’s story in the Denver Post. "I think it's a travesty, but if it's going to bring a better coach for the basketball program that is going to get them winning then I'm for it. But if you're losing a coach, you've got to get something out of this. You got to get a better coach, better facilities, better this, better that. It's going to take a step back. It's going to kill a year of recruiting. It's a bad situation for both parties." Harrison was involved in an ugly scene at Kansas (picture to the left) in 2004.  He was taunting officials players and fans and eventually Patton sent him to the locker room.  Check out the whole story.     Bob Knight His Indiana teams won 11 Big Ten Conference titles National Coach of the Year (1975, 1976, 1987, 1989) Youngest coach to reach 200, 300 and 400 wins Bob Talk on one Bob's birthday    John Rohde Oklahoma City Oklahoman wrote an interesting story on Texas Tech coach Bob Knight and Big 12 newcomer, Kansas State’s, Bob Huggins.  The Bob’s have faced each other twice with Knight winning both games by double-digits.  The two will see each other again on January 8, 2007 in Manhattan, Kansas.  Knight needs 11 wins to pass Dean Smith in all-time DI NCAA wins.  The K-State game will be the Red Raiders’ 17th game of the season.  Will the Red Raiders be 10-6 going into the game in Manhattan?  It is doubtful, but, if they are, Huggins will be trying to keep Knight from breaking the record.  Huggins on that subject,         “I don’t want him to come to Manhattan and get it,” Huggins said of Knight’s breaking the record. “I’m all for him. I want him to do that. But he could just as soon do it before or after he comes to Manhattan.”   Knight on Huggins and his temperament on the bench, “He is not sitting there thinking to himself, ‘Well, this won’t look good if I get up and get on this kid’s (butt) or whatever.’ And I like that.” Knight paused, then deadpanned, “I admire that in Huggins because I have always been reluctant to get up and raise hell with a kid during my career.”         Bob Huggins .740 - Career winning percentage  1 - Appearance in the NCAA Final Four (1992)  3 - Appearances in the NCAA Elite Eight (1992, 1993, 1996)     Mark Price Day 2- Mark Price vs Shane Heal  The accusations and denials are flying back and forth down under.  Did Shane Heal undermine Mark Price?  Price was fired as head coach by the South Dragons of Australia's NBL after five games (all loses).  Shane Heal, who came out of retirement to play for Price and the South Dragons, was named player/coach, replacing Price.  Price in his comments to the Australian News feels Heal played a role in his dismissal,     "It's most disturbing to know while I was trying to get our guys to come together as a team, there was another agenda going on behind the scenes.  I've been in professional basketball a long time and I've never seen undermining of a coach quite like this before. Obviously he had his own agenda going on," Price said. "I've done nothing but spoken well of Shane Heal ever since I've been here. I thought he was the guy who could lead our team." Heal responded to that accuastion in The Age, "I certainly didn't knife Mark Price."   Here is another take on this hot story from the Herald Sun.  Price not right for Dragons       Michael Jordan Is this the basketball equivalent of the Dixie Chicks bashing Bush in London? Or is M.J. right?    Michael Jordan said the following at a press conference in Paris, France in regards to the USA’s bronze medal performance at the World Championships: "It's obvious that European players master the fundamentals better," "In the United States, we're too focused on the highlights, dunks and passes. It's not that we don't have the players we need, but putting together a team becomes difficult under these conditions. "But I think things are going in the right direction today." "European basketball has become very strong and their players have contributed a lot to the development of the game. The United States now has problems beating them." Read all of Jordan’s comments   Jamar Butler   Excitement is running rampant in Columbus, Ohio.  The Buckeyes’ football team is ranked number one and “The Thad 5”, which includes Greg Oden, is preparing for a big basketball season.  Jamar Butler is  OSU’s  junior point guard and that makes him, relatively speaking, the old guy and the leader of the team.  Butler said this in the Akron Beacon Journal about the upcoming season,  ``It's very exciting,' you walk around campus and people are yelling at you saying they want two national championships. We're going to try to do it. I hope the football team gets their job done first, then we'll take care of ours.  I have to try to lead this young group, but some of these guys played on ESPN in high school. I think they know what's coming.” Hubie Brown said this in the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine The subject is the USA's play in the World Championships "Dirk Nowitzki and four guys from Wendy's over here in Auburn (Maine) were on that team," Brown said. "And against that team, we shot 40 3's. Forty 3's! I'm watching that game at 3:30 in the morning saying, 'What the hell is this all about?' It's false security. We were jumping over those four guys from Wendy's, getting the rebound and getting fouled, and we ended up winning the game. But we were in trouble, because we didn't run an offense to attack a zone." "The next night, we play a team of five white guys with nobody in the NBA, called Greece. Greece packs it in and we take 28 3's, with no second shots at all. Those five Greek guys are knocking us right on our ass," Brown said. "This is a big stage now. What happens? Boom, long rebounds, and here comes Greece, 3-on-1 and 3-on-2, all night. The second and third quarters of that game, I think Greece shot 72 percent.  Check out this very entertaining story in the Sun Journal.    Tubby Smith cutting the nets in 1998  UK coach Tubby Smith said thi