University of Tennessee Athletics
TENNESSEE NCAA SELECTION QUOTES
March 12, 2006 | Men's Basketball
March 12, 2006
Head Coach Bruce Pearl
On Getting A No. 2 Seed
"There wasn't a bad team on our schedule. (Associate Athletics Director) John Currie and (Associate Head Coach) Tony Jones did a terrific job putting together our schedule. So moving one spot, up or down, is not an issue. I've been talking to the team the whole year about seeding because a good seed gives you a better opportunity for victory."
On Playing Winthrop
"They are the Big South champions. They won the regular season championship. They won the tournament championship. (Winthrop coach) Gregg Marshall is a guy that is up for jobs every year. This is kind of dangerous. Mark Gottfried sat down with me at Wisconsin-Milwaukee before that game and said, `Bruce, what are you going to do to get a big job?' And I said, `Beat you.' And it's probably the same with Gregg Marshall. They're capable and they're athletic. We'll get a tape on them and get a look at them tonight. It was a very exciting day. The fact that we had such a tough schedule was respected here."
Dane Bradshaw, junior guard/forward
On The Season
"It is unbelievable how things have turned around. Of course everyone had confidence and we felt like we had potential. But for things to turn around this quickly is really unbelievable. When a new coach comes in and you're a junior or senior, you really don't have much time for rebuilding years because then your career is over. I'm so appreciative of the staff and the support around here."
On Getting A No. 2 Seed
"We've got ourselves a great opportunity ahead of us. We just have to take advantage of it. Our strength of schedule and RPI really did it for us. That's the advantage of playing in the SEC. We lost some games but they were to some NCAA Tournament teams like Arkansas and Alabama."
