Feb. 9, 2001
Columbia, Mo. - Quin Snyder Press Conference Quotes February 9, 2001
Opening Statement regarding Thursday's events: "The details of both actions are not going to be made public, except to say that neither involve any criminal activity and I am not going to take further questions on either of them. I don't believe in exacerbating the situation by doing anything that could be construed as grinding an ax in the media and I would expect my players to do the same. Sometimes you have to take a step back in order to take a step forward. When I came to Missouri, I said that I wanted to build a championship level program, I am resolved and committed to meeting that goal. This move is in line with that goal and necessary. If you think that this means that we are quitting, I don't think that you know me very well. I have no idea what that will translate into, in terms of wins and losses or tournament bids. I have never allowed our team's focus to be on any of those things and I'm not going to change that now. Our kids are focused and ready for the challenges that lie ahead."
On Thursday's events "This is not a watershed event, frankly. This is part of coaching, it happens, whether you are dubbed a player's coach in the media or a disciplinarian or however you want to be perceived. This is part of coaching basketball and it is part of a team's growth process and part of a player's growth process."
On the team learning from the events "All adversity brings with it challenge and with challenge comes opportunity. You don't exactly welcome opportunities of this nature, but given the lense of perception I think we will choose to view it that way."
On continuing on with the team "We are going to coach this team the way that we see fit. I think we play a great system. Our kids like us and we like them and none of that has changed."
On the importance of an inside game versus Iowa State "That is the element of our game that has to be there for us to improve. There's a ceiling on our team without some interior presence, both defense and scoring and that remains the same. It gets even more important when we lose Kareem, it probably gets even more important when we lose Clarence. Our entire team has to step up and be better. I think we have kids that are prepared to do that. You just get to learn under fire."
On Iowa State "They're a really old team, a very mature team, a very tough team. I think that maturity and that toughness makes them a special team and their very good and their unbelievably well coached. There's a determination about that team that makes them unique and they've been there. They've been there as league champs. They've been there knocking on the door of the Final Four. Where people thought that they would take a step back this year, if you were around there in preseason, they were probably saying, `You know what, we are going to take a step forward'."
On the play of freshman guard Wesley Stokes "Wesley shows you what competition can do for a team. Wesley and Brian have had to compete maybe more than any two players on our team, head to head every day you have to bring it. Wesley got knocked back, he's got discouraged, he's come on, he's pushed Brian. I think that Wesley is as tough right know as any player on our team."