Hoop Quotes – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/12/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 12, 2000
Jim O’Brien
“A lot of good teams did not make the tournament and for us to get a No. 3 seed is pretty good. I think it is pretty good that we are going to Nashville. When we went to Knoxville we were able to get a lot of fan support, we’ll have a lot people interested in following us again and we can get a good crowd.”
“We aren’t disappointed in getting a No. 3 seed instead of a No. 2 seed. The committee obviously puts a lot of emphasis on conference tournaments and maybe a little less emphasis on what you do during the regular season. We play in the arguably the toughest conference in the country and to go 13-3 over a 16 game schedule and because of one loss, lose a little steam in the their eyes, that must have factored in their decision some how.”
“We have to try to get some films on the teams that we may play. Our coaching staff is very sharp, Jamie Kachmarik and Rick Boyages were taping all of the conference tournaments that were on television. So we do have some film of Appalachian State. We know a lot of coaches around the country, so we will be on the phone tonight and tomorrow trying to find out as much as possible.”
“I am familiar with Miami. We follow them because they are in the Big East and we lost to them last season. Arkansas must be doing something right because they play in a very tough conference and for them to win their tournament they have to be on a huge roll. We are not going to spend one second worrying about those guys. Our focus is on Appalachian State.”
Scoonie Penn
“A No. 3 seed is something we have to be happy with. We are going to Nashville and Tennessee was good to us last year, and it will allow a lot of fans to travel to support us.”
“It is not too hard to prepare for a team we know nothing about because they know nothing about you. This gives us the opportunity to go against a team that is not in the conference. The teams you face twice, sometime three times a year know what to expect. When it comes to the tournament it is all up in the air.” “Nothing stood out about our bracket other than Appalachian State. When you start to think about the teams you could face you could get into trouble.”
“It is time for me to step up. This is my last time out. I understand with one loss my college career is over, so I don’t want it to be over soon. I am going to do what I have to do to help this team continue on.”
“The loss to Penn State was tough, but in the NCAA tournament now so we have to put it behind us. We have to focus on what is ahead of us.”
George Reese
“It will be a breath of fresh air playing against a team we haven’t seen this year. They aren’t accustomed to the players and personnel.”
“I don’t think some of the teams will be used to Kenny (Johnson) so they might try to challenge him in the middle. They also might not know how to guard a guy like Scoonie or Mike on the perimeter. They can catch a lot of teams by surprise.”
Michael Redd
“When we saw Cincinnati get the No. 2 seed, I thought we would be the No. 2 seed out in Tucson. We are happy with the No. 3 seed, we can’t be too disappointed we are in the tournament again. Our bracket is tough but we have to what we can to beat Appalachian State.”
“Our fans were great last year. That is one good thing about being in Tennessee our fans can follow us. Hopefully, we will go down there and we will have great fan support. Tennessee was good to last year so hopefully it will do the same for us again this year.”
“This year was different when it came to watching the ‘Selection Show’ because our expectations were higher. Last year we were just happy to get in and a No. 4 seed was gracious. This year we are still very happy to get in and the No. 3 seed is good, it is higher than last year.”
“It didn’t matter where we played. We can play with anybody in the country as long as we make our shots, which we didn’t do on Friday against Penn State.”
“We have heard that Appalachian State is a good three-point shooting team so we have to key on that. Hopefully, they will try to challenge inside against Ken and we can get back on track with our shooting.”
