March 13, 2002

Florida Atlantic Players:

Raheim Brown
(On the improvement that the team has seen over the past two years)
"Coach Green had a vision for us and we knew we could get there with hard work. We believe in ourselves and everybody has stayed on the same page. We have confidence in each other and we have stayed together to get to this point. Now that we've made the NCAA tournament, we've got a lot more friends on campus too. They've told us that they're going to be watching on TV and supporting us."
(On playing Alabama)
"We need to stay level-headed and keep things in perspective. We have to treat this like another game and remember what got us here. Alabama has a great team, but we feel like we have a great team too. We just need to play 40 minutes of good basketball and we can advance in the tournament."

Daryl Dingle
(On whether Owls can repeat past performances of No. 15 seeds beating No. 2s)
"We don't worry about past history. We're worried about what we can control now. But we certainly feel like we can win. Maybe nobody else in America believes we can win, but we do. We've changed our attitude since last season. We came back this year in great shape and made it our goal to accomplish something great."

Florida Atlantic Head Coach Sidney Green:
"I tried to give the players a vision of what it would take to be a good team. We tried to plant a thought in their heads about what it takes to be successful. I am just pleased that the players bought into that vision and put their trust in me. I am very gratified that we've reached this point, that we're playing in the NCAA tournament. But we've still got to remember that we've got a job to do and that we haven't reached all of our goals yet."
(On what the visibility of NCAAs will do for the program)
"It speaks for itself. We've made the tournament and we're here talking about it. We are playing on national television. It's great exposure for us. It's great not just for the basketball program, but the athletic department as a whole. When I took the job, this was something I felt could happen if we were successful."
(On Alabama)
"They are athletic and well coached. Coach Gottfried has done a tremendous job. We hope to be on Alabama's level in the coming years. They have very good post players and they're tough in the middle. We just have to come up with a remedy to combat what they do best and I'm very confident that we'll be able to do that."
(On feeling the pressure of having two losing seasons prior to this one)
"I can tell you what pressure is. It's me growing up in Brooklyn and not succumbing to peer pressure, not succumbing to everything around me. Anything that I might have been through at Florida Atlantic was nothing compared to the things I have been through growing up in New York. You will always have naysayers, you will always have doubters, but all of that fueled my fire. We're just thankful to be in the position we're in right now."

Alabama Head Coach Mark Gottfried
"I can see why Florida Atlantic won its conference tournament. There are probably not a lot of players in their conference like Raheim Brown. He's got size, he's agile and he scores inside and outside. They have quickness around the perimeter and guys that can make shots and score points. We'll see how things play out tomorrow, but I think you've got two teams that play in a similar fashion."