Dec. 16, 1999
Columbia, Mo. - MISSOURI HEAD COACH QUIN SNYDER Press Conference Quotes December 16, 1999
On Kareem Rush: ?Kareem right now is ineligible because we have declared him ineligible based on our understanding the situation. We?re waiting for the NCAA to remedy that situation and give us some direction. It is an external matter. It?s discouraging. Hopefully the people involved in resolving the issue will be sensitive. Whether or not it is done in an afternoon or a day is hard to speculate on.?
On Johnnie Parker: ?Johnnie?s situation is an internal matter involving some academic responsibilities and guidelines. He?s hopefully taking care of the things he needs to take care of and we will reevaluate at the appropriate time. I won?t get into the specifics of the situation.?
On current adversity: ?I think you are going to undergo some adversity. This month with the type of schedule we have, we expected adversity from our opposition, but not this type of adversity. I think our kids our real together and we?ve practiced well. I don?t know that you handle it any other way than continue and try to improve the way we have been on the court and also handling these things off the court. These guys won?t splinter. I don?t think that is who our guys are. I think our guys are a committed group. We?re looking long term. I don?t want any cracks in our foundation. I?ve been talking about trying to build this thing and no one game or two games is going to make me waiver on that.?
?I don?t think I?m taken a back. I?ve been around a little while. I haven?t been in this situation as a head coach before, but I know who I am and I know who our team is. I know the things I want our kids to value and we are staying on course. I?m not as alarmed by this as everyone else is. Kids have setbacks and they deal with them. The true test is not only how our players deal with it, but also how we deal with it. I hope we?ll look back on this and say we were able to learn something from it.?
On Saturday?s lineup: ?Independent of any of the situations and how they impact the team, prior to any of this we met and watched the St. Louis game and as far as I?m concerned right now there are five open spots (in the starting lineup). We?re going to compete in practice all week and see who earns those jobs. The kids know this, it?s just a question of getting back to the way we were before Sunday. We don?t have a lot of guys, so a lot of people are going to play. I may play everybody, I don?t know. There are a few guys that have practiced well and I think everyone has given their best effort this week. In spite of all the distractions, our kids are working hard.?
On need to win: ?We?re desperate to win every game. Winning is not a salve that you put on a wound. I don?t know that we are even that wounded. Maybe I should be desolate about our prospects, but I?m not. Its unfortunate that this has occurred, its unfortunate that we played poorly against St. Louis, but we?re not going to hang our heads and run tail. We?re going to give great effort and be ready to play on Saturday.?
On the team?s psyche given the current week: ?I would have to say we are going through some growing pains. The key word there is growth. All is not lost. We are going to be fine.?
On Iowa: ?They have had some big wins. Steve (Alford) is a terrific coach. Oliver is a real terrific guard. Jacks is good inside. I think Griffin is capable of big games. They?re quick, we need to be alert. They are great shooting the ball from the perimeter and are capable of going on runs. They are a good team. They?ve played some tough opponents and had some road games. Certainly they?ll be ready to play. It should be a terrific match up.?
On finals: ?Our kids are having finals this week. I?m more concerned about how they are doing on their finals. The game will come and hopefully we will be ready to play.?