Lou Panzanaro Quotations

I don't know what time they usually get up, but I felt it would be a good thing. After practicing and then getting to school at eight, by the time nine o'clock comes, it should seem like a late time.

Last year's team relied mostly on two kids (Randy Wilson and Rick Cadell), and this year it's been a building of a team, not just one person, right down to the end of the bench.

He was standing in stocking feet during the national anthem when the guy ran in with the sneakers. His focus wasn't real strong that night on his part. He didn't have one of his better games because that was distraction to him.

He hasn't said one word about getting the ball, not getting the ball, anything. It doesn't make any difference to him. And he's becoming a leader on the floor.

He grew from a sophomore into a veteran tonight, the way he played that game. He played hard, he had huge blocks and played good defense as well.

Looking at all the people in that room and hearing them read all the accomplishments, it really started to click that this is something very special. I'm just so proud and honored to be selected for this.

People know what's coming. We just have to execute it.

Our kids have to be driven by something. Something's got to push their button, and I think being down by 10 is what did it.

I thought about my first year with Coach (John) Moro, the Elton (Brand) years, the first sectional championship. I went back through the whole career.

I was proud of how we played in the first half. But I am not happy about that second half. We got tentative and we got lackadaisical with the basketball, and we stopped attacking. That's been our problem. When we're struggling offensively, it's because we're not passing the ball well.

That's been our trademark all year long. It's not always in the first quarter or in the first half, but usually by the fourth we've been able to turn things in our favor.

Most of them were role players. When this team is firing on all cylinders, I don't know if you can identify who the five starters are. They play so unselfishly. They all play together.

We'd play games and I'd have a couple of college coaches come up and ask about players and nobody would ask about Derek. Once I found out why, I went to Derek and told him not to get upset but the college coaches thought he was playing soft. He just gave me a bewildered look, but he realized he had to change.

That was huge. We were just getting people in the right position and we had switched defenses. But I thought switching the defense was important. They were taking some deep shots and we were hitting the boards and not letting them get second shots. I thought the rebounding was big in that quarter.

We won the state title despite playing a mediocre game. We knew we had to bring a different brand of basketball if we wanted to have any hope of winning the Federation.

We stay with the same concepts and try to execute it better. Adding stuff over the years has just created more tentativeness. The season is so short that I've never tried to do much with our offenses.

We put two things on the board before the game run and rebound. Those two things go together, and we challenged them.

Elton is such a professional and works hard at what he does. He's not a flashy player like Kobe Bryant or Tracy McGrady. I don't know if people anymore appreciate the ethic he has.

This year can not be compared to any other. I'll never forget this courageous, dysfunctional and record-setting team.

(Brand is) just so genuine there's no put-on.

I've always said that who you play in December helps with so many things when it comes to getting to your final goal of winning the state title. We've learned so much about our weaknesses from this tournament.

Our energy level was a bit low. Just before tip-off we hear all this fuss over at the entrance to gym and we look and Hilton is standing over there. He made a big splash with everybody in the stands. It just kind of energized our whole team.

This is the best day of my career. That first state championship was phenomenal. But I think with everything that went on with these kids this year, the ups and downs, makes it the best.

I mean, he?d be 30 feet from the basket fouling somebody. He?d never be in there to rebound, where he should be. It was just total confusion and lack of understanding: What is my body doing here in this space?

So everybody gets up to leave and Hilton?s still sitting there. He looked like he was in pain.

(Sunday) was a season's worth of payoff for us. I don't think any team out there conditions the way we do. We're hoping that depth is the determining factor at the end of every game the rest of the way.

That's an interesting proposition. Absolutely, I would love to see it. We're the little guys and maybe we don't belong there ... but I would love the challenge. They would have more pressure than we (would). I think it would create a lot of interest.

I pointed out how well conditioned they are. We like to think we're in tip-top condition too though. It's all about mental focus. If we do what we do well, we'll pose problems for them.

I didn't expect it. I thought I would fall backwards. I didn't know how strong those guys were and they had small arms, but once they built the base around me it was a great feeling being up there.

They were phenomenal on the offensive boards, that got them second and third shots, and (Brutus) shot the lights out.

Not even in practice do we shoot that well. Tonight we needed it and they did it.

It only surprises me when he doesn't play well. Devon Beaufort would've started as a sophomore for many teams I've had in the past. The number of guards we have that are seniors with good ability has kind of kept Devon in that reserve role.

That's our thing. The idea is not necessarily the turnovers, but just to make them work mentally and physically the entire game. We want to be the aggressor.

We weren't sure he would graduate on some days when he was a junior. I was worried he'd come back home if he got upset with his playing time. Coach Calhoun wasn't going to baby him.

They?re playing the national anthem. Hilton?s supposed to be starting and he?s standing there in his socks.

I can compare it to our time being up there first time and that was tremendous motivation for us. A team like that which has been that scrappy wants to pull in a first state title to prove it's not a fluke. We certainly have to overcome that by matching that will to win.

He's matured a lot over the last four years. He admitted that the first three years have been tough, that he didn't know if he was going to be able to get it right up there. Now he's feeling really good and confident.