March 14, 2004

Missouri Head Coach Quin Snyder

Opening Statement:

"Everybody, I think, in college basketball, their goal at the beginning of the year is to make the NCAA Tournament and win the national championship. We're no different. When that opportunity is not available to you, then you have another opportunity. That's where we find ourselves now with the NIT. We'll get ready to go and fight like crazy, and see if we can get to New York and win a championship. We are pretty disappointed, but at the same time, we're going to make the most of the situation because we have a great opportunity."

On scheduling:

"If you look at what our team did this year, you could flip a coin. We would have been one of the last teams in. There are a number of teams in the field, like every year, that you could make a case for one or the other. That's the way the selection happens every year. We have the opportunity to objectively evaluate our scheduling philosophy. We've been told that you get rewarded for playing a difficult schedule, but that wasn't the case here. Having said that, it's also important to acknowledge that if we had played better we wouldn't be in this situation. We've had more close games in one year than in any year that I can remember as a player or coach. The games have been decided by a point, two points, or overtime. Had we won some of those games, we'd be in the NCAA Tournament."

On perception of the Big 12:

"Oklahoma State is one of the best teams in the country. They won our league and they won our conference tournament. Our league is strong. I don't know what the RPI of our league is, it's third or fourth in the country, I believe. We aren't as strong as we were last year, but our league is still really strong. I was surprised that our league only got four teams, relative to some other conferences."

On the NIT:

"We'll find out both where and when we play later on this evening. Obviously, if we could get a home game, we'd like to play a home game. It would give us every opportunity to help our team. We had a wonderful ceremony to end the run for this building [the Hearnes Center], but I think if we could open it back up for a game, particularly if we win the game, it would be a better way to go out than losing to Kansas."

On the team's mood:

"You're always thinking about ways to get your team ready to play. I don't think our guys are even remotely aware of Missouri's NIT history. These guys aren't accustomed to playing in the NIT. I think, having said that, they're in shock like I am. At the beginning of the year you set out to make and play in the NCAA Tournament, but I think they're looking forward to an opportunity to keep playing. I don't think any of these guys want their season to end in any way. Once you get over the disappointment that today brought, I think they'll be determined to fight and play."