20 Quotes by Mike Francis

When the players found out that this team (the Cougars) was a straight man-to-man team, they were licking their chops. We felt like that is our style of play anyway. That's the first time we faced man-to-man all season. We like to get out and run and make things happen and we did that tonight.

When you play this slow tempo kind of game, every possession counts and any turnover is very costly. But towards the end, we made them come out on defense and beat them at their own game.

Everything these guys want to accomplish started tonight. They know that.

Coaches are trying to take the big guys away from the game with zone defenses. That's why athletes are more balanced now. There's a lot of guys that can beat you off the dribble, step outside if they need to and make things happen.

Anthony's been major for us right now. He's getting better and better every time we go out. We just have to get him the ball more.

The unity of this team is what made this team stick out. These guys worked their butts off in practice. It was always spirited and competitive - sometimes too competitive.

It seems like Murphy's Law in this place. It just feels good to get away with one, finally.

That motto was born out of telling the kids that we (the coaches) can talk about X's and O's all day, but they have to make their mind up that they want to get it done. I can't always call the plays that are going to work. Sometimes the kids have to take it upon themselves. No matter what it takes, no matter what we have to do, just get it done.

In terms of team unity, this was my strongest team ever. They really bought into to what we were preaching and their commitment to team work paid off in the end for us.