Wake Forest Athletics
NCAA Tournament Quotes
3/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 16, 2003
Head Coach Skip Prosser
On heading into the tournament:
"I've been lucky, as an assistant and as a head coach to have been in a whole bunch of NCAA Tournaments. Some Selection Sundays are more agonizing than others. When you're on the proverbial bubble, that's an extremely difficult week. Today was great. You see your name up there and it's exciting. We're really looking forward to playing."
On what Wake needs to do to win:
"We have to guard better. We guarded OK (against NC State), but we just have to guard better than what we did. They made some great shots, but you can't just drop your hands and say 'they're really hitting 'em today.' You have to find a way to lock them up and East Tennessee State presents you with problems. With a kid like Timmy Smith, who's extremely quick and can create match-up situations. We've seen him play a lot and he's Edward Scott-ish or Raymond Felton-ish in his quickness and those two guys have done pretty well against us this year, so it's a headache right from jump street."
On not looking ahead on the bracket:
"We haven't looked ahead at all this year. Like I tell the kids, when you're in London and you take the underground and they have those signs that say 'Mind The Gap.' You better watch what's right in front of you or you're going to fall right between the platform and the train. We don't want to do that. We want to 'mind the gap' and focus on what's in front of us. We'll have enough trouble with East Tennessee State without worrying about the rest of the bracket. We've won a few more than we've lost and we haven't lost two in a row, so I think our guys have done a good job of focusing on what's in front of them."
On being a two-seed:
"It matters a little bit because not much was expected of this team and to come from October to the point where we're entering the national tournament with a number-two seed, that's a tremendous credit to our team. That won't mean anything come Friday against East Tennessee State. They won't care what seed we are, or what seed they are for that matter. But again, I think it speaks to what these kids have accomplished in the eyes of the basketball gods, if you will. I'm really thrilled for our players for that fact."
Sophomore guard Taron Downey
On getting the second seed:
"It's a great accomplishment for the team. I'm very excited. I'm happy for us to be where we're at."
Difference from last year:
"It's going to be more relaxed this year. Last year I didn't know what to expect. You hear about the NCAA tournament and all the hype surrounding it, but now I'll be just more laid back, like it is another game for me."
On the team:
"I think we're playing pretty good. There are things that we have to work on, but I think we'll do well in the tournament. We need to work on team defense, not turning the ball over so much, which we did pretty good against NC State but still lost, just little things like that. We didn't lose momentum from the weekend. I think everybody still thinks we're a good team. We haven't lost our confidence, and as long as we haven't lost it, then everything will be fine for us later on."
On the freshman:
"The freshman have been playing well for us the whole season, I don't think that will change just because we're in the NCAA tournament. I don't expect anything less from them now."
Freshman guard Trent Strickland
On getting the second seed in the East Region:
"I'm just very excited right now. It's my first year, and we're doing so well and getting to go to the NCAA tournament. Hopefully it will go well for us this year. The team is real excited, especially to get a second seed in the NCAA tournament. I think everyone else is excited to play against East Tennessee State."
On recovering from the NC State game:
"Yesterday (against NC State) is in the past. There's nothing we can do about it but move on and learn from what we did wrong. We're not worried about it. Josh like all the other great players have days where he's off and others when he is on, that was just one of the days he was off, but I think he'll come back strong."
On playing against former teammate ETSU's Tim Smith:
"He went to Hargrave with me. He's a real close friend, actually called me tonight and started running off at the mouth a little bit. I kind of said something back at him, just all fun and jokes. We were excited to talk to each other and get the opportunity to play against each other in the first round of the NCAA tournament. I'll give as much insight as I can, as much as the coaches need."
