The Best Quotes in the 2017 NCAA Tournament
I have made it no secret that I am a HUGE fan of the press conferences and postgame conferences that are held throughout all of March Madness. For me, the genuine answers by some of the student-athletes and head coaches at the conferences is what makes the events so intriguing. As a result, I decided to put together a list of the best quotes (in no particular order) that I heard this year throughout the 2017 NCAA tournament (which also includes some quotes from other 2017 NCAA tournament related events).
1. Someone at the second-round postgame conference following Xavier's upset blowout over Florida State asked Xavier's head coach Chris Mack, "What can you give them [Florida St] credit for?". He said "I don't think they played very well."
2. Right after Dayton's loss, a man named George asked the Flyers head coach, "I know you just lost but your name has been linked to the Indiana job... I just wanted to know what your thoughts were?" Archie Miller's response was (appropriately) "No thoughts", as Scoochie Smith laughed.
3. Somebody at the Cincinnati press conference asked Troy Caupain what he would say if his mom said he was better than Stephen Curry. He finished many awkward rumblings and pauses by saying, "I don't know what you want me to say to that."
4. Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin - "Sleep's overrated this time of year."
5. Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin, on Troy Caupain in high school - "He couldn't guard his lunch from a pack of ants."
6. "If you are not committed to playing defense, you should not apply to our university..." - Dan Hurley
7. ESPN reporter, Shelley Smith told E.C. Matthews and Hassan Martin at Rhode Island's second-round press conference, "We have the same hair", much to the amusement of Matthews, Martin, Kuran Iverson, and Jared Terrell. Rhode Island's Hassan Martin responded by saying, "Same barber, same barber...". Then, the woman asked, "I was wondering if I could get an appointment or if you think I should go shorter on the sides?". In response, the State Island native informed the woman that their identical hairstyle is called a "South of France [haircut]". The only thing that Matthews could add to the conversation was, "I like your hair". What a way to send the four Rhode Island players off from their second-round press conference. This was the funniest interaction at all of the press conferences by far.
8. Before Friday's matchup between Seton Hall and Arkansas, the Razorback's Moses Kingsley was asked about his thoughts on matching up with Seton Hall's star big man, Angel Delgado and keeping him off the glass since he averages 13 rebounds. The reporter went on to say that "everyone has been trying to do that but it hasn't been working very good, what is ya'lls plan to do that?" Kingsley responded by saying, "He's a very good player. Umm ... box him out. Box him out, that's how you keep a guy from the [rebound]. Box him out... And then you get the ball and then you go the other way. That's a rebound. And then you um ... the only way to do that is to put a body on him. If you put a body on him, the only way he can get the ball is to go over your back. And if we can do a good job of that, we'll be fine." As Arkansas's big man spoke, all three of his teammates had a mighty, good laugh.
9. "It's about surviving ... advancing ... don't live on a high until you win a championship." - Oregon freshman guard, Payton Pritchard
10. "They can't calculate heart, will to win, toughness, desire... they can't put that into a formula." - Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes after hitting the game-winning layup to beat the defending champions, the Villanova Wildcats
11. After being asked about balancing midterms and playing in March Madness, Princeton's Myle Stephens responded by saying, "We signed up for this. We've been doing this for a while. We know what we need to do, both on and off the court. At this point in the season, we've become pretty good at juggling academics and athletics. So, it's just another day on the job."
12. When asked about how it felt to be playing Oregon, a perennial top-10 team in the nation, E.C. Matthews said, "We try to treat it as just playing basketball and nothing more than that, but obviously, it is. It's the biggest stage, but we thrive off that - being an underdog and playing the best teams in the country. We just treat it as, why not us?"
13. ETSU head coach Steve Forbes when speaking to his players in the locker room before they played Florida in the first round, "Horford, Noah and Brewer, they ain't coming out of that tunnel!"
14. Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson when speaking to his players in the locker room before the UNC-Arkansas second round game, "You got to go out there and play with your heart... it's got to be all heart and one beat."
15. Question to Michigan coach, John Beilein, in the press conference before the Oregon game: "I’m just curious after that Ohio State loss and you said they were lower than low. What was said? How did you try to pick them up and use that as a teaching tool? What was said between the players?" His response was, "... The difference isn’t much guys, but if you all give a little bit more, right? The point with the Super Bowl catch was that Edelman didn’t — he willed that catch! We have to will stuff to happen. You have to work hard. I really stressed the outlier things, too, and all our staff did. When you have great kids to work with they’ll believe and you they trust you."
16. Question to Michigan coach, John Beilein, in the press conference before the Oregon game: "This came up in Indiana and it seems to with you a lot this time of year. For casual fans outside the Midwest you’re not as appreciated as the brand name coaches, Krzyzewski, Williams, Calipari, Pitino and Boeheim. Do you care?" John Beilein: "I don’t care. Our program is about Michigan and it’s about those kids. I don’t care about that. I came up a lot different than everybody else and I am blessed to be in these situations. I don’t want to be measured by those. I would love to be measured by, what are those kids like on the court and how they represent our university and what are they like many years later and not about the trophies. The trophies will come."
17. “I can’t think about (scoring 22 points). No matter what I did, I still committed the foul at the end. The mistake was it.” – Vanderbilt junior Matthew Fisher-Davis, who led the team in scoring but also committed an unnecessary foul at the end.
18. “I think they kind of set it up,” Shockers junior forward Darral Willis Jr. said, referring to the selection committee. “They gave us a 10 seed on purpose to play those guys. We won 30 games and only lost four, so you’d think we’d get a (better) seed. But they wanted us to play Kentucky, so I guess that’s what they’re gonna get.”
19. “They just try to weed us out,” Gregg Marshall said of teams from non-power conferences. “That’s what their intent is. You wouldn’t think that would be the case, but it certainly seems that way. We just want to keep making it hard to do that.”
20. Tom Izzo after dominating Miami (Fl.) 78-58 and being asked who provided leadership for his team, “So I don’t know if it was one guy or collectively. I don’t know. You tell me. You were out there. I wasn’t out there. Is there anybody else I’m missing?”
21. "I’m a firm believer in that the NCAA tournament committee and everything is so financially driven that no matter what is said on that Sunday, they’re trying to sell tickets," Cronin told reporters.
22. Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber right after Selection Sunday was questioned about playing in the first four and responded with, "... There are a lot of teams who have been in this situation. Obviously, Coach [Shaka] Smart is at Texas because of his VCU team. They did not even watch the selection Sunday show together, I remember that story but they ended up winning three games and going to the final four so a lot of good things can happen but we just have to worry about Wake Forest."
23. Following Seton Hall's controversial loss to Arkansas in the first round, Seton Hall's head coach Kevin Willard said, "It's not about me. College basketball is not about me. I think it's going to be extremely difficult for these (players) and how hard they worked, the hours and the travel, everything. I feel for these kids because they've really bought in to each other. They bought into the program."
24. NCAA men’s basketball coordinator of officials J.D. Collins, via Turner Sports/NCAA, who said Doug Sirmons and his fellow referees made the proper call in the Seton Hall-Arkansas game: "The referees have to officiate the play for its own merits. And that makes a really difficult situation."
25. In the press conference before the Michigan-Louisville game, the Cardinals players were asked, "Out of curiosity, Rick Pitino compared them to the Golden State Warriors. Who would you compare your team to, what NBA team, in terms of style?" V.J. King: "I have no idea. I don’t want to throw out a team because I don’t want to say the wrong thing, but just go with what those two said."
26. Following MTSU's 74-65 loss to Butler in the second round, "Coming here, I wasn’t the highly most recruited athlete in my state or at my school or anything like that. And for Coach (Kermit) Davis to take a chance on me and see something in me that I didn’t see in myself, you know, the way he’s helped me grow as a player and as a man, it’s what Middle Tennessee is about." - MTSU senior Reggie Upshaw
27. "That 1-16 game, someone else can have that from here on out. I've served my time in it. I'll go ahead and land somewhere else." - Gonzaga head coach Mark Few after his team's first-round game against South Dakota State
28. “Well, we weren’t very good today.” - West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins after his team's first-round victory against Bucknell
29. "We gave everybody a show, right? We escaped. We've been in a lot of games like that where game situations need a big defensive stop. We've been there. I'm proud we're still alive." - Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey after his team's just got by Princeton in their first-round game
30. After defeating Notre Dame 83-71 in the second round, West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins was asked about how he would celebrate the victory. "I'm going to go recruit," he said on the telecast.
31. "I heard from probably everybody I ever met." - Florida's Chris Chiozza on his night after the game-winning shot.
32. During a halftime interview in the Kentucky-UNC Elite 8 game, UNC head coach, Roy Williams was asked, "What do you need to see from your team in the second half?". His response was "Make some daggum shots and some free throws."
33. Describing the postgame celebration of the Kentucky-UNC Elite 8 game, Roy Williams said that he told Joel Berry, "I'm not stomping [to the alma mater song]", to which Berry responded, "I'm not stopping either". Williams went on to say, " He's got two bad ankles, I've got two bad knees."
34. "I love these guys. I wouldn't trade these knuckle-heads of brothers for anything. I wouldn't trade them for anything." - UNC's Justin Jackson in the postgame conference after defeating Kentucky in the Elite 8
35. At the end of Gonzaga's Prezemek Karnowski talking about how much Zack Collins helped the team throughout the season in the postgame conference following their Final Four victory, he added in, "Six blocks... you know my career-high is seven but six is still good." Consequently, everyone at the press conference laughed, including their stoic head coach, Mark Few.
36. While discussing superstitions in the North Carolina press conference the day before the national championship game, Joel Berry said, "I always for some reason, put my left shoe on before my right shoe... that's the only thing I got. My sock... I just put it on randomly." This quote caused the laughter of his head coach, his teammate, Theo Pinson, and multiple media members.
37. Speaking about his initial head coaching jobs, Xavier head coach, Chris Mack said, "Girls' basketball? Come on, really?" to the offer he accepted as a girl's head coach. Then, when tabling about starting out 17-4 in his first season, he added in, "I thought I was John Wooden."
38. Gonzaga head coach, Mark Few said that John Calipari and other coaches think he is the "index guy" but according to him, "I don't have an email. I don't how to do Snapchat. I don't know how to do Twitter. I don't know how to do any of these things."
39. When Gonzaga's Prezemek Karnowski was asked about the college basketball audience from his native country of Poland, he responded by saying, "Today's game was at 11:10 pm. So, I know that a lot of people are watching." His head coach, Mark Few added in, "... Have Polish dogs being served, pretty strong beer... dudes having a good time at 11pm watching the Zags."
40. When asked about which is more important to his teaching of defense - technique or attitude, South Carolina head coach, Frank Martin said, "Attitude comes first, we got to have to guys that are going to believe in our mission... Once they believe, we can teach them the technique."
