Hoop Quotes – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/2/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2000
Talk about how Minnesota is a different team without Joel Pryzbilla?
“There is a major difference without him on their team. You lose a guy like him it would hurt any team. “
Will you try to come out with a better start against Minnesota?
“It is always important to come out and be ready to play early. We are not going to make any specific changes just for that. We just have to be ready to play, period.”
Why do you think Michael Redd has picked up his game these past few games?
“He has played better. A lot of it has to do with him playing a lot more aggressive, offensively and defensively. He has picked up his rebounding and he is now getting more offensive put backs than he was at the beginning of the season. His whole approach has gotten more aggressive.”
Have you addressed the stakes of winning on Saturday?
“The only thing we talked about was how meaningful winning the Big Ten Championship is. The media and fans have discussed being awarded the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. There will be a No. 1 seed next year, but no one can take away a conference championship. Some players go through their entire career without winning a conference championship.”
Where is this team compared to where it was at the beginning of the season?
“I think roles are being defined better, especially by some of the younger players. They have gotten some experience and we have been able to get contributions from different guys in different game, Doylan Robinson scored 10 points against Penn State at home, Brent Darby scored 12 points at Indiana and last night Will Dudley came off the bench to score 10 points at Penn State. Early in the season we could not have expected that out of them, but guys are settling into their roles.”
Before the season you were ranked in the top five, and you said this team was not at that level. Are they at that level now, ranked No. 5 and No. 6?
“I think we are playing really well right now. We have won a lot of really good games. I don’t think it matters if we are No. 4, No. 6 or No. 10, there is not a big difference. I think we are deserving of being on of those top teams at this stage.”
Was there a point in the Big Ten season when you felt this team had a real chance of winning the title?
“We started to feel like we had a shot after we beat Michigan State. We still had a bunch of games left, but we felt they were all winnable after that. If we were capable of beating Michigan State then we felt there was no team that we could not beat. We also knew we still had to play and win those games on our schedule.”
