Steve Rives Quotations

So many times in our area of the state, our kids do not get the publicity all over the state, which would enable him to get the votes that he needed to do this. It's exciting to see one of our guys getting his due.

He is someone who has given us a real go-to guy.

I felt it was time to move on. This was not a quick decision, and after laboring over it for over a year, I just felt it was time.

Jeremy set a good pick and we got a great look there. Jasper did what he's done all year ... made shots for us.

Travis took advantage of them laying back in the lane. He shot it in the set-up game, and he shot it in transition. He was outstanding.

Valdosta State had five guys in double figures and shot 50 percent ... and we win the game. It's amazing. We're lucky to be sitting at this table as poorly as we shot.

We have a first-team all-conference player in Jeremy Richardson, a 6-7 kid who plays small forward. He gives us an excellent perimeter player. He's been at 18 or 19 a game.

We put ourselves in that same old crack again, but this time, we didn't make shots at the end. It is a shame that it has to end here. We felt like we got beat by a team that's not as good as we are. But they were better than us tonight.

What a game. Our guys never game up, and when we needed a big shot, someone stepped up and knocked it down. Our guys really played (well) today.

We've put ourselves in position to play for the whole thing - to play for a national championship. Boy, it's going to be a tough road. But we have a group of guys who really believe we can do it. I told them that if we win it all, we'd have to go out there and get the biggest rings we can find.

Right now, we're a few overall wins ahead of where we've ever been before. But we have yet to do anything. We've yet to take it on down the road like that Final Four team in '86 did. Only time will tell if we're that good.

So far, it's been an incredible run with a great group of kids.

Every once in a while as a coach, if you're lucky enough, you get someone to come to you as talented as he is. Not only (is he) an exceptional player, he made everyone around him better. He's certainly one of the best that we've ever had at our college.

The conference tournament will be big for us. If we play well, we can get that No. 1 seed in the region and host a regional. If we win it, I would think we'd be almost guaranteed to host a regional.

It was a much different second half. What happened early, I guess you can blame that on bad coaching. But we dictated tempo and pressured the ball to get us back in it.

This was a total team effort tonight. We won the battle on the boards (48-32) and I thought we really executed our offense well down the stretch.

I am very proud of the tradition we have built here at Delta State, but I think I am most proud of the way we went about it. I tried to run this program with class and fairness and I believe that's one of the things that has allowed us to keep this run going for so long.

He's not a kid who is tied to the block. He can go outside and score, and because he shoots so well out there, we have some high-low stuff that we've run very well.

He always believed in himself. As a coach, you're lucky to get someone as good as he is. He's certainly one of the best players I've ever had.