Quotes on Basketball

We may not be the best conditioned team in the country, but our players think they are.

Losing is only temporary and not encompassing. You must simply study it, learn from it, and try hard not to lose the same way again. Then you must have the self-control to forget about it.

I am not a strategic coach; I am a practice coach.

The better conditioned team will probably win in the long run.

Conditioning is essential to success in basketball.

I continually stress to my players that all I expect from them at practice and in the games is their maximum effort.

Hold it more important to have the players' confidence than their affection.

Regardless of what you do put in, every game boils down to doing the things you do best and doing them over and over again.

To me, the big thing in being a successful team is repetition of what you're doing, either by word of mouth, blackboard, or specifically by work on the field. You repeat, repeat, repeat as a unit.

Offensively, you do what you do best and you do it again and again. Defensively, you attack your opponent's strength.

Play and practice like you are trying to make the team.

I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it's plural.

When you are speaking to your team after a game, never talk about the kid who was the star of the game. Talk about what your other players did to help the team win. Be sure to spread the wealth... Then have individual meetings with one to three players to praise and reinforce. Make sure you touch them.

Everyone wants to win, but not everyone is willing to prepare to win.

I think that to stop an offense, you must go to the heart of that offense. If it is a particular move, a screen, the break, an outstanding scorer, whatever it is that they like to do and rely on, you have to work in your plans on taking that completely or as much as possible away from them.

They said you have to use your five best players but I found you win with the five who fit together the best.

It's not what you tell your players that counts. It's what they hear.

In life, never spend more than 10 percent of your time on the problem, and spend at least 90 percent of your time on the solution.

Heart in champions has to do with the depth of our motivation and how well your mind and body react to pressure - that is, being able to do what you do best under maximum pain and stress.

It's my experience that people rise to the level of their own expectations and of the competition they seek out.

Belief in yourself is what happens when you know you've done the thing things that entitle you to success.