Men's Basketball Practices at RCA Dome in Indianapolis
03/19/2003 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
March 19, 2003
Indianapolis, Ind.-- Southern Illinois practiced for one hour at the RCA Dome on Thursday afternoon. After practice, Coach Bruce Weber and the players spent 45 minutes speaking with the media. Later the team practiced at the Conseco Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers.
Bruce Weber Quotes
"It's not new to us. Myself and my assistant coaches have been to many NCAA Tournaments. Last year, the players had to rely on us. Now, there are six guys back who played in those games last year. We know we have to play good basketball to have a chance against Missouri, and I think our kids are focused. I think the circus atmosphere that comes along with the NCAA Tournament, which I think is great, I think our kids are dealing with it much better than they did last year."
"Last year, we had exposure nation-wide. We were kind of the darlings for being the bubble team early, and then beating Coach Knight and Coach Harrick and then facing Coach Calhoun, three tremendous coaches. We got a lot of pub. If we do it again, we'll get more and more national publicity and make people aware of the mid-majors. I think Gonzaga started it, Creighton's continued it, and hopefully, we can keep it going."
"The best thing that happened to us after Creighton beat us by 4,000 points, was that we had spring break. We let (the team) go for three days. We had six games in a 12-day span, and I told them every game was the biggest game. So when they came back, I told them it was like spring football, a new season. We went very hard. Missouri has had four games since we played, and we've had four hard practices. It will be interesting to see which team has more energy and is more fresh. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were three of our hardest practices since late November."
"We're going to have to compete. We're going to have to be tough. They are very physical, hard-nosed guys and athletic. If we don't have that toughness and extra edge from that fear factor, we'll struggle."
"Obviously, we were not very good in December, but we made great strides in January and into February. Hopefully, the last game, the Creighton game, which seems like forever ago, was something that just happened and we can play good basketball this week."
"Jermaine Dearman and Kent Williams were part of our first recruiting class. They've really been our franchises, Kent on the perimeter and Jermaine on the inside. When Jermaine came out, there were quite a few good players in Indiana. Usually, we can't come in there and beat a Butler or an Indiana State or a Ball State, but there were quite a few guys, and he had some questionable grades. People shied away, we took a chance, and it worked out for us. He's been great. He and Kent both have the most games played in school history. He'll end up in the top 10 in scoring and blocked shots and will be one of the top players in the history of the school. He's always had athletic ability. It's been a matter of developing attitude and consistency. Slowly but surely, he's done those things as his career has unfolded."
"First when we saw our name on the board, there was relief and excitement, then we started looking at it. Jermaine Dearman is going back to Indianapolis, he's going to be fired up. Then it's Missouri, and we've done a pretty job of recruiting that area. I'm not stupid, some of our St. Louis kids wanted to go to Missouri. We were watching ESPN Classic in the lockerroom the other day, and they were showing the UCLA-Missouri game when the kid went in for the layup, and Bryan Turner said 'I cried for hours after that game.' He was just a little tike at that time. I"m sure there's going to be some extra motivation, but once the game gets going, that's kind of out the window."
"Kent grew up in a smaller town in Southern Illinois. He had a storied high school career. He's just been a winner. He's started every game since he's been here. He's Mr. Consistency. I joked that he's the Brett Favre of Southern Illinois basketball. He's just been there every day, including practice. He comes every day and gives his best effort. He's a winner, he's a winner in life, as a student-athlete. You can't say enough about him. Last year, it really stuck in his stomach that he didn't play well against UConn. He didn't play great in our tournament two weeks ago. I'm just hoping for his sake he has a great Thursday and gives us a chance to keep playing in the tournament.