March 16, 2008

PITT SELECTION SUNDAY QUOTESHEET

Sunday, March 16, 2008

 

Quoting Pitt's Head Coach Jamie Dixon:

 

On playing Oral Roberts:

 

"Oral Roberts is a great school with a long history of winning. It's a team that's used to playing in big games and often coming out victorious. I don't know a whole lot about them right now, just that you have to be a good team to make this tournament. We'll start preparing for them later on tonight."

 

On Pitt's seeding:

 

"I would imagine given our injury situation that there was a lot of back-and-forth by the committee on where to put us. I think they positioned us very well, but that kind of thing matters only matters until the ball is tipped. After that, you just have to take care of business."

 

On playing in Denver's thin air:

 

"I'm very used to dealing with it from my days in Big Sky Conference. It's something you have to think about, but we'll prepare properly and be ready to go with it come tip-off. It's always something that I think people make more of than they should."

 

On how he feels about Pitt heading into the tournament:

 

"I always feel good about us heading into the tournament. The thing that the Big East Championship showed me with this particular group is that we're finally healthy. With such a young team, our goal from the start of the season was just to improve as the games progressed and I think we're doing that."

 

On the Big East's representation in the NCAA tournament:

 

"Getting eight teams in, more than any other conference speaks for itself. It seems like every year there are a few conferences that separate themselves from the pack as being the best in the country. The other teams change from time to time, but the one constant I see is the Big East. We got half of our conference in which says something when there are so many good teams that didn't make it."

 

On playing in the west:

 

"I'm never surprised where we end up. I think given the number of schools that are on the east coast, you're going to have more teams moving east to west. We just happened to be a part of that. Seven years ago the committee put us in Pittsburgh and caught a lot of flack for that, and I think they've been making up for it ever since. Honestly, they have a very tough job and they can't satisfy everyone."

 

Quoting Pitt's DeJuan Blair:

 

On how he feels physically after playing four games in four days:

 

"Anytime you play four games and four days you're going to be feeling it for a while. I'll be sore for a little bit of time, but that's just what happens this time of year. I'll be more than ready to go on Thursday."

 

On playing in the NCAA tournament:

 

"For me it's hard to believe that I'm about to do this. I watch the selection show and the tournament every year and it's something that I love to do. But it's going to be a lot more fun playing than watching."

 

Quoting Pitt's Sam Young:

 

On winning the Big East Tournament:

 

"It's all about momentum for us right now. After the end of the regular season our goal was to go undefeated the rest of the way. We've taken a big step there, but what we've done so far doesn't matter come Thursday. We have to make sure we keep everyone on the same page."

 

Quoting Pitt's Levance Fields:

 

On Pitt's momentum:

 

"We're definitely getting better at the right time. I think it's very easy in college basketball and in our conference to peak too soon sometimes, but I'm very happy with the way we're playing right now. We have to do everything we can to stay on this roll."

 

On what's contributed to Pitt's improved play:

 

"The obvious answer is that we're finally as healthy as we're going to be as a team. But more than that is that now we're finally getting after other teams the way we like to do. We're being physical on defense and making smart plays on offense. Even the couple of times we got out-rebounded in the Big East Tournament, we felt like we attacked the ball well."

 

On Pitt's free-throw shooting:

 

"I hope it is something that we work on in practice this week. I think it's really a strength of ours as a team usually our ability to draw contact then knock down the foul shots."

 

Quoting Pitt's Ronald Ramon:

 

On the teams Pitt might face in the tournament:

 

"I haven't even thought about that yet. I don't think anyone has. We've just been so focused on ourselves and making sure that we were ready to be at our best that we haven't thought about anyone else. I'm sure we'll be prepared for whomever we end up facing, though."

 

Quoting Pitt's Brad Wannamaker:

 

On winning the Big East Tournament:

"It was a fun and great experience the whole time. I'm happy for myself that we were able to win and that I was able to contribute, but I'm happiest for our upperclassmen. Guys like Ronald Ramon and Mike Cook and Levance Fields, they've fought so hard for this school and they deserve this win."

 

Quoting Pitt's Gilbert Brown:

 

On the difference between this year and last year's Big East Championship final:

 

"In both games they got a little lead on us early. Last year when that happened, I felt like we kind of panicked and let the game start to slip away. This time we were so ready and so determined to not let that happen that we rallied."

 

Quoting Pitt's Austin Wallace:

 

On winning the Big East Championship:

 

"It's just exciting to be a part of. Everything right now is just a new experience for a lot of these guys and it's great to watch them learn and grow. We're just going to work as hard as we can and see how far we can take this ride."