Steve Alford Good Quotations

It's our job to put a good product out there, and fans will come. If they see a good product, a good style, fans will come.

If we don't play well, we'll get beat. We're just not good enough to have an average to below-average night and expect to win.

Maybe your anxiety and nerves are different. Every year it seems we're on the brink and not knowing how many games we had to win or in '01 knowing we needed to win all of them to get in. It's a different feeling this year. There's the pressure that we think we're a pretty good basketball team and winning one of the two Big Ten championships is out there.

From that point on, we really did a lot of good things.

I don't think it's ever a good thing when coaches or players get booed by their home crowd.

I don't think it's ever a good thing when coaches or players get booed from the home crowd, that's never something that is positive. As far as me getting cheers, that's happened for a long time there...that's my alma mater, that's where I played, I won a national championship there.

For whatever reason, on the road our defense has not been nearly as good as it's been at home. We're going to have to get back to that because we're really going to have to guard these last two games to give ourselves a chance.

That first group of Manchester players allowed me to enjoy coaching at a very young age that motivated me to do it. If it wasn't good, I might have made a career change.

Jeff can get going. Jeff's a very good player. And when good players get going, they're hard to stop.

Our guys were just so much more active. We have played awfully good defense all year, but this may have been our best 40-minute effort.

I think we are a better defending team. I still think we have a long way to go and we have done a lot of improvement in that area. That is exciting because I think we have done a pretty good job through 17 games. All-in-all it has been a great team effort in the defensive end.

It hit us at a good time. We hadn't had a break for a while. We got away from basketball Sunday, and we got away from it (Wednesday).

I thought we had a couple of good leads in each half and we didn't finish either. It came down to our inability to keep them off the offensive glass and turnovers. That really hurt us.

I thought this was a good way to start the tournament.

We didn't even talk about whether (Strickland) was going to be in or not be in. I think the guys did a good job of handling that, because we know we've been on the other end.

We've got a lot of upperclassmen, and they understand the importance of that end. Tonight was as good we've helped all year, and that's what good team defense does.

We had good leads in both halves, and we couldn't complete either half.

We had good leads in both halves and we couldn't complete either half. It came down to our inability to keep them off the off glass and the turnover-assist ratio.

When good players get going, they are hard to stop, and Jeff is a good player. He got going and it was hard for them to stop him just like it was hard for us to stop Vincent.

When good players get going, they're hard to stop, and Jeff's a good player.

We beat a very good team tonight, and we did it by guarding. They guarded us well, too. These are two good defensive teams, for the third week of November.

We're losing five really good seniors. They've been absolutely perfect leaders. They've left a lot for the returning players to work with.

We're going to have to continue that. We're going to have times when we don't score, we turn it over. And when that happens, the next possession we've got to do a very good job of getting the shot that we want.

Everybody thought they'd be a very, very good team, but it's kind of hard to duplicate what they did a year ago. And yet, here they are going into conference play undefeated again.

We've been awfully good defensively all year, but this might have been our best 40-minute effort. We've been really good defensively in this building all year.

We've been ranked three times coming in here. But it's a lot different than years ago. This is a very good basketball team that's only going to get better.

We've got to get home and practice that scenario a little more. I'm glad that A.J. didn't get his feet set, because they had a really good look.

We should have some pretty good information on them.

They've got an incredible resume, this is a very good basketball team, and we know that. They aren't going to be intimidated or worry about playing a Big Ten opponent.

People who come for the dogs come here primarily to eat, drink and have a good time,

There's no question I don't think it's a very good thing when coaches or players get booed by the home crowd. That's never something that's positive.

There's no question text-messaging recruits is very valuable. That's something that's changed. It's amazing how rules keep changing and it seems like the rules keep trying to keep up with technology, whether it be e-mails or text messaging, but that's one thing in the rules where we're allowed to stay in pretty good contact with people.

I never felt like we were in it. They are very good at the start of each half, that's their staple. We weren't very good, and they were awfully good and they're tough to beat here when they play that way.

I knew when we met in Chicago (for media day). I thought we were going to be pretty good because we're healthy, and I thought Michigan, with everybody coming back, they'd be one of the top teams in the league. Both of us have done a nice job at the midpoint. I'm not surprised at all.

I'm just glad A.J. didn't get his feet set. He had a real good look there.

I'm a believer in both. Being old school, I always considered the NIT such a prestigious tournament. I'm somebody who would be very disappointed if it went away. Any time young people can experience the post-season and what goes into post-season play, it's a good thing.

I hope it's because our guys keep getting better. We've had a trend here (where) we keep getting better later in the year. That's a good trend.

They were really good defensively. They're much better now defensively than they were a month ago, and that's a tribute to Tom and his staff.

The bottom line is I never interviewed anywhere, and it should be a pretty good indicator of how happy I am and what I think we can (accomplish).

They're hard to prepare for because they are potent inside and out. They are pressure oriented defensively. So we've got to do a good job of getting open and handling the ball.

I do think that's why Bru has a lot of good footwork today. He had guard footwork, and now he's kind of grown into those feet and become a power forward.