Pat Summitt Player Quotations

Obviously Candace wanted the ball in her hands. She's a player that can see over people as well as go around people.

I just want her to play the game under control. And for her, it's much different from any player I've ever coached in that she can be flat-footed and go up and dunk. So it's not like things have to be perfect in her basketball world for her to dunk. If she goes up inside and dunks it, more power to her.

Candace commented that she had a lot of shots that seemed to go halfway down and come back out. We had to grind it out, and I wasn't particularly happy with that, but was proud at the end. Our ball movement and player movement was stagnant at times.

I remember every player-every single one-who wore the Tennessee orange, a shade that our rivals hate, a bold, aggravating color that you can usually find on a roadside crew, "or in a correctional institution," as my friend Wendy Larry jokes. But to us the color is a flag of pride, because it identifies us as Lady Vols and therefore as women of an unmistakable type. Fighters. I remember how many of them fought for a better life for themselves. I just met them halfway.

She taught me that it's ok to let down your guard and allow your players to get to know you. They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Bringing together disparate personalities to form a team is like a jigsaw puzzle. You have to ask yourself: what is the whole picture here? We want to make sure our players all fit together properly and complement each other, so that we don't have a big piece, a little piece, an oblong piece, and a round piece. If personalities work against each other, as a team you'll find yourselves spinning your wheels.

I really felt like we had to have a go to player.

There is not that many players that really can take over games, signed Candace Parker, I really felt like at that time that a National Championship was certainly in reach.