Sprint Tournament Center Quotes from March 16

Host Bonnie Bernstein and Former Coaches Jim Harrick and Perry Clark Give Sprint Customers News and Analysis from All the First Round College Hoops Action

For more information about Sprint’s college basketball content offerings, visit the Sprint Tournament Center Press Kit: www2.sprint.com/mr/cda_pkDetail.do?id=1180

CHICAGO — 03/17/2006, The following quotes were pulled from the Sprint Tournament Center’s coverage of the first round games of the men’s college basketball tournament in Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Oakland and Atlanta...

Bonnie Bernstein:
Washington, D.C. Region
BONNIE BERNSTEIN: “Air Force is one of those teams kind of controversial when they got to the tournament simply because they real didn’t schedule anybody nonconference.”

Minneapolis Region
BONNIE BERNSTEIN: “For the 18th time in 19 seasons, a 12 seed has knocked off a 5. This time around Montana doing damage on Nevada in Salt Lake in the Minneapolis region.”

Oakland Region
BONNIE BERNSTEIN: “There’s really nothing Adam Morrison can’t do. 20 of his 35 points came in the second half as Gonzaga extends its nation best win streak to 19 games.”

Atlanta Region
BONNIE BERNSTEIN: “IONA was able to overcome 7 double digit deficits throughout the course of the year.”

BONNIE BERNSTEIN: “One of the things the Colonials are great at doing is forcing turnovers. That certainly helped in that run to rally back.”

Jim Harrick:
Whose going to be the first one seed to be knocked off?

JIM HARRICK: “I’m going to go with Villanova because of the injury to Allen and because they have the least margin of error in the bracket they are in.”

Washington, D.C. Region
JIM HARRICK on Tennessee’s Major Wingate: “If you look at this guy, you’d think, wow, he’s big, he’s strong. He only averages 10. But today, 15 points, 7 rebounds. A breakout game for Major Wingate.”

Minneapolis Region
JIM HARRICK on Florida’s victory over South Alabama: “I could hear Billy Donovan at half-time give it to the Gators, give it the big fellow Joakim Noah. A big game; 16 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 blocked shots. Al Horford, the other big guy, a double-double. 14 points, 10 rebounds. They just beat up on the inexperienced South Alabama team and sent them home.”

Atlanta Region
JIM HARRICK on UCLA: “They did it in a conference tournament. They turned around in the first game NCAA tournament and they did it again. UCLA locked Belmont up; not to even give them 50 points. Rebounding was at 44 to 23 and they just completely shut Belmont down. And their defense did it all.”

JIM HARRICK on UCLA coach Ben Howland: “I listen to Ben Howland talk and he always talks about great defense, great rebounding, controlling the tempo, sharing the ball, and a tough minded team. Check them off. They did them all this game.”

JIM HARRICK on Gonzaga: “When the Zags get down, they bring Morrison out to the point and let him pass and cut off screens.”

JIM HARRICK: “This game was about runs. Wilmington made theirs, but here comes GW. Trapping, pressing, double teaming and 3-point shots. And a 19-0 run to get him back in the game.”

JIM HARRICK on Sheldon Williams of Duke playing against Southern: “He looks like a man playing among boys.”

JIM HARRICK on Rob Spivery, coach of Southern: “They haven’t had a winning season in five years, but Rob Spivery, has coached a long time. He’s a veteran and brought them to the championship of the SWAC conference. He’s a good coach. This is a well coached team. Rob has done a good job with this group.”

JIM HARRICK on Duke’s win: “They just had a little bit too much for them. Sheldon Williams had a monster game with 29 points of 18 rebounds. J.J. goes for 28. He shoots 10 for 18 from the field. He makes five, 3-point shots. And those two guys just kind of dominated the offensive end of the floor. And they’re just a little bit better than Southern.”

Perry Clark:
With Wichita State winning today does that give the Missouri Valley Conference and credit?

PERRY CLARK: “Everyone respects the Missouri Valley Conference, especially with the big win by Wichita State today. They’ve got a tough day tomorrow with 3 teams scheduled to play but I think they’ll do just fine.”

Washington, D.C. Region
PERRY CLARK on Wichita State’s victory over Seton Hall: “They really did a great job. But they’ve been doing that all year. They had balanced scoring today. They shot a very high percentage from the field. They were able to get the ball into Davis. He was able to distribute the basketball. They’ve got great bench scoring. Excellent offensive performance by Wichita State.”

PERRY CLARK: “Illinois does a great job at sharing the basketball. They get a lot of people involved. They have four guys in double figures. And, again, it was a typical Illinois victory.”

Minneapolis Region
PERRY CLARK on University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s victory over Oklahoma: “Milwaukee-Wisconsin’s style of play created havoc for Oklahoma. Kelvin Sampson’s team had 19 turnovers. He is kicking chairs right now. He’s really upset because Kelvin Samson’s team does not turn the ball over. The turnovers really hurt Oklahoma today.”

PERRY CLARK on Montana’s victory over Nevada: “They really effectively ran their half court offense with Andrew Strait leading the way for Montana. They were able to really control the game.”

Oakland Region
PERRY CLARK on Dominique James of Marquette: “I think he’s the best freshman point guard in the country. Marquette would not be where they are right now without him.”

PERRY CLARK on Dominique James of Marquette: “Dominique James is one of the best in the country. He came out, had a tremendous second half. Scored 20 points for the game and put Marquette in a position to win this game.”

PERRY CLARK on Alabama’s victory over Marquette: “Alabama, which struggled earlier in the season not shooting the ball, shot the ball extremely well and won this basketball game.”

Atlanta Region
PERRY CLARK on LSU’s Glen Davis: “He read the defense, knew when to put the ball on the floor, when to go to his turnaround jump shot and wound up with 17 second half points. He really paced LSU in the second half.”

PERRY CLARK on Syracuse: “Syracuse had a tremendous run this the Big East tournament, and they certainly looked like they were out of gas today. And Jerry McNamara, the groin has been bothering him off and on for about the last ten games. And he wasn’t able to even get a field goal today, and it really took Syracuse out of what they wanted to do because he was playing so well setting the big guys up. None of that today, and Syracuse went down.”

***Editor’s Note - Sprint will distribute a daily quote sheet from the news desk of the Sprint Tournament Center with host Bonnie Bernstein. To view each sheet, visit http://www2.sprint.com/mr/cda_pkDetail.do?id=1180. Attribute quotes to Sprint Tournament Center.

About Sprint Tournament Center
The Sprint Tournament Center is the cornerstone of Sprint’s exclusive college hoops content. Renowned sports reporter and host, Bonnie Bernstein -- along with coaches Perry Clark and Jim Harrick - will provide in-depth tournament analysis only to Sprint customers. The Sprint Tournament Center originates from Chicago for the first two weeks of the tournament; during week three, the Sprint Tournament Center moves to Indianapolis. These studio-based video segments provide game predictions, in-game updates, post-game analyses and breakdowns of key games and players each day of tournament play. In addition, Sprint will offer news and analysis from other major college basketball events.

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