Basketball Quotes - Page 51

I came from a broken home, so my mom was a major influence in my life.

But at the same time, my parents always encouraged my brother and me to be happy with what we were doing. My parents were athletes in high school; my mom and my dad were the stars of the basketball team, but they never pushed my brother and me to be anything we didn't want to be.

Be quick without hurrying.

I don't need my players to like me. I need them to play for me

Anybody involved in sports in Missouri knows it's a great sports state. It is a great sports state, particularly in basketball and baseball. Particularly. Not to demean football, but it's a baseball state and a basketball state.

Winning is more related to good defense than good offense

A key basketball skill is imagery. The best players "see" situations before they happen so they can be prepared

Basketball is not played simply with X's and O's. It's played with both trust and confidence.

I am more than just a serious basketball fan. I am a life-long addict. I was addicted from birth, in fact, because I was born in Kentucky and I learned, early on, that Habitual Domination was a natural way of life.

It's not up to anyone else to make me give my best.

Timmy, he's the beginning of it. He doesn't have to be the end all the time now.

I was always doing something physical. My brothers and I used to have handstand contests. We'd walk around the projects on our hands and see who could get the farthest. I was always playing football with them, basketball or racing in the street.

I'm a firm believer in the hustle game.

Our goal as a team is to keep playing as a group for as long as we can because you will never have that team again. It is like a dying limb, you have to prune it off and let another one grow in its place. That is the way you have to do it, but it still hurts losing these guys and that team because they and you have put so much effort into building a team. Even if you win that last game (and a national championship), it hurts badly because the players know they will never have that same special group of guys together on the same team again. Somebody always goes and somebody new always comes in.

You can't think about basketball or you ruin your game. It is an instinctive game.

I've always believed in quickness over strength and size.

I play basketball to win a championship. That championship is everything to me. And thats what gets people to buy in to your brand - being a winner.

A lot of people I meet say, 'You remind me so much of Magic Johnson.'

Play hard, learn as much as I can and do what I do best. The rest will take care of itself I think.

Players must be able to carry out simple instructions from the bench to the court. If they can't, then they can't play

Everybody hears, but few listen.

We hung out on the streets, played stickball, and did all of the things that other kids did.

I recruit hungry kids who love the game and want to get better and feel they have more questions than answers

I'm still waiting for perfection. In the meantime, I'll settle for persistence

My dad was a huge basketball influence in my life on and off the court. Playing for him and having him around, having him push me harder than maybe another coach would have was a huge blessing for me. Getting to play with my brother was an unreal experience at Oklahoma, in college, it's some of the funnest times I've had in basketball, and I'll cherish those memories forever.