Quotes on Courtney Paris

2006-07 QUOTES
--
Gary Blair, Texas A&M Head Coach
at Big 12 Media Day
"The thing that makes Courtney Paris so good, I think, is the charisma that she has off the court. I think she is going to be one of the best ambassadors for Oklahoma, like an Adrian Peterson or back to the Selmon brothers and that type of kid. She is going to be that for Oklahoma, just like Cheryl Swoops was for Texas, and Sophia Young for Baylor."
--
"I just hope she declares for the draft pretty soon."

Doug Bruno, DePaul Head Coach
after loss to OU on Nov. 12
"I'll say it, I believe she is one of the great players in the history of the women's game. Courtney just keeps getting better and better I have said this before and I'll say it again. USA basketball has to find a replacement for Lisa Leslie and Courtney really has a chance to be that replacement."

Kurt Budke, Oklahoma State Head Coach
in Daily Oklahoman on Jan. 17
"OU has the best player in the country. I'm a huge fan of Courtney's."|
--
in postgame press conference on Jan. 17
"They've (OU) got every piece to the puzzle and the greatest player (Courtney Paris) in America."
--
in postgame press conference on Feb. 4
"People have to respect her as the best player in the country. I don't know if any one of you in this room were wondering what was wrong with Courtney when she was getting 20 points and 15 rebounds. That is ridiculous. That is ridiculous when you are wondering why she is having a bad night when she is getting 20 and 15.

"She is the best player in this country. I have been saying it since the first day I saw her and nothing changed my mind tonight. I love her and she is a great luxury to have for a coach."

Van Chancellor, WBB coaching legend and head coach at LSU
during ESPN telecast on March 19
"The Shaquille O'Neal of women's basketball is Courtney Paris and I think she might be a better scorer than Shaq. I know she is a better free throw shooter."

Bill Fennely, Iowa State Head Coach
at Big 12 Media Day
"I can't imagine in the modern era a kid that has impacted the game and is as hard to cover as she is. It's impossible to guard her."

Cedric Golden, Austin American Statesman
in Statesman column on Feb. 1
"Give Paris credit for being the best player in the country, with apologies to Duke's Lindsey Harding and Tennessee's Candace Parker. The sophomore center shrugged off a sluggish first half to finish with 25 points and 18 rebounds, her 48th straight double-double and her 53rd in 56 career games.

"That's insane. If you thought that was something, consider that with her 20 points and 13 rebounds over the final 20 minutes, Paris earned her 18th double-double in one half."

Andy Gray, SIonCampus
in The Vent on Feb. 14
"We've said it before and we'll say it again. Paris is the most dominant big person in college (that includes the men, too). She's averaging 23 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks per game for the No. 14 team in the nation. Yes, Candace Parker can dunk and Ivory Latta has a flair for the dramatic, but nobody in women's hoops is better than Paris. Nobody."

Nick Groke, Denver Post
in column on Jan. 19
"Occasionally, a player comes along who turns a sport on its ear.

In the 1977-78 NHL season, the league's top 10 scorers averaged 101 points, with Guy Lafleur leading at 132. Just eight years later, the top scorers had increased their output, averaging 131. The difference? Wayne Gretzky arrived and changed the look of the league. He led the NHL in the 1985-86 season with 215 points. By then, Gretzky's NHL was radically different than Lafleur's.

The same can be said for a select few in other sports: Bird, Jordan, Magic, Namath, Tiger.

And Courtney Paris. "

Tiffany Jackson, Texas forward
after Jan. 31 game
"She (Courtney Paris) is unstoppable one-on-one."

Kathie McConnell-Miller, Colorado Head Coach
in Jan. 20 Colorado Daily Camera
"I've watched other posts in the conference and in the country try to handle her (Courtney Paris). I don't think you can handle her. You do the best you can to contain her, to not allow her to exceed her averages or `career' on you."
--
in Jan. 20 Rocky Mountain News
"Courtney Paris is unequivocably the best right now - and the best I've seen in a long, long time."

Bernice Mosby, Baylor forward
at Big 12 Media Day
"The player she is, I don't think you can stop her game. You can just slow her down a little bit. She has so many weapons. She's going to score her points. That's the given thing."

Cindy Stein, Missouri Head Coach
at Big 12 Media Day
"I would say that Courtney Paris presents a problem with every team ... because she has got great feet, great hands and great size. And so I think the key with Courtney is obviously try not to even let her touch the ball. Once she touches the ball, she will be extremely hard to stop."

Iva Sliskovic , South Carolina forward
after loss to OU on Dec. 7
"If you leave her open with one player on the block she is going to score every time."

Charlene Thomas-Swinson, Tulsa Head Coach
after loss to OU on Dec. 2
"Courtney is a phenomenal player. Her strength, her stature in the paint, her ability to block shots, outlet a pass, run the length of the floor, retrieve a pass and finish the shot make her unique."

Bill Tubbs, legendary OU Head Coach
during halftime interview on Nov. 29
"Courtney Paris is the Wayman Tisdale of Oklahoma women's basketball."

--
2005-06 QUOTES
--
Fox Sports commentator Debbie Antonelli
"From where I sat on the sidelines of Sunday's Baylor-Oklahoma battle, one very simple fact became abundantly clear:

Courtney Paris is on track to be one of the most dominant players in our game."

Connecticut Head Coach Geno Auriemma
"Courtney (Paris) is not getting a lot of attention from the national media. All they want to talk about is kids that can dunk, but right now she might be the best center in the country. She might be the best freshman out there right now."

Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair
"You can't guard her one-on-one - she's the best doggone post player in the country."
--
"All you can do is try to slow her (Courtney Paris) down because you cannot stop her right now. She might be the best post player in the country right now, after only two months. I`d hate to see her as a senior."
--
"Give (OU guard Britney) Brown credit. She was the whole difference in the ballgame today (Jan. 28). We've faced quick point guards in (Texas Tech's Erin) Grant and (Missouri's LaToya) Bond, but none were able to do what Brown did tonight."
--
"She's (Courtney Paris) got the most incredible hands I've ever seen in my life."

Milwaukee Head Coach Sandy Botham
"She's (Courtney Paris) got great hands. She runs the floor extremely well. She's power, but yet finesse. She can just do so many different things. I swear she's got eyes in the back of her head too."

Oklahoma State Head Coach Kurt Budke
"I've had a lot of great post players. I've had probably five or six in the WNBA in the last five or six years, but she (Paris) just finishes everything. If you run a double team at her she going to find the open person every single time. She might be the best passer on the team in addition to being a great scorer and a great rebounder.

To me, she's the ultimate team player. I think maybe 10-15 years from now she's going to be the one everybody looks back on and say she's the best women's player in the history before it's all said and done. She's special."

Columbia Tribune writer Angela Busch
"Courtney Paris, a midseason Wooden Award candidate, showed why she is possibly the best player in the country. In 26 minutes, she finished with 27 points, 16 rebounds and six assists. She went around Missouri's defenders as if she were maneuvering past statues."

ESPN's Doris Burke
"Courtney Paris has a presence and confidence about her that belies her age."

ESPN.com's Charlie Creme
"The sky is the limit for Paris. If Candace Parker (Tennessee) wasn't playing right now, no one would be able to stop talking about Courtney Paris."
--
"I honestly think she (Courtney Paris) might be (the best player in the country). Her season was crazy good and is the chief reason that we are even arguing about OU's seed. If they gave me a vote she would be my choice and I honestly think this is a simple case of age discrimination that she's not in the conversation more. I love Monique Currie as a player, but I had her in the group of three with Augustus and Pondexter and Paris' season has been MUCH better than Currie's."

OU Head Coach Sherri Coale
"Courtney's mentality is the biggest part of her game. She has a great feel for the game. She's the best I've seen at taking conventional coverage and exploiting it."

Dallas Morning News writer Brian Davis
"In 18 games, the 18-year-old from California has established herself as a statistical freight train. She (Courtney Paris) is chugging toward one of the best freshman seasons in NCAA history. It is possible OU fans are settling in for a four-year journey led by someone on track to become one of the best women's players ever. "

Texas Tech Senior Center LaToya Davis
``She's an awesome player. I feel sorry for everyone when she gets to her senior year. She's big and she's aggressive and she's very good for a freshman.''

Fox Sports' Kevin Eschenfelder
"OU has not only one of the best freshman in the country but one of the best players."

Iowa State Head Coach Bill Fennelly
"She's (Courtney Paris) Shaq. That's who people will compare her to -- the Shaquille O'Neal type."
--
"I have started a petition that the WNBA can draft kids early.

"There is no way to guard her . There isn't. If there is, I don't know anyone that has found it."

"She is as good of player as I have seen or coached against."

New Mexico Head Coach Don Flanagan
"We tried everything we could on her (Courtney Paris). Not only was it her ability, but it was her team's ability to get her the ball. She creates problems because she posts up so well."

Ohio State Head Coach Jim Foster
"A lot of times, the high school player of the year is who you played for, a mirage or rumor and not a reality. This was a no-brainer. Courtney is a child prodigy. She's 6-4, big, strong, fast, great hands and very difficult to guard around the basket."

ESPN's Nancy Lieberman
"Courtney (Paris) will own every record at OU by the time she's done, and it's absolutely remarkable what the twins might be able to do. They are program changers."
--
"Years from now, Paris' photo will be up there with Cheryl Miller's, showing some 8-year-old kid watching ESPN what she can aspire to be. Paris might be setting records right now, but she's etching her name into history."
--
"It doesn't compare to one of the biggest snubs in the history of women's college basketball: Paris should have easily won the Big 12 Player of the Year honors... But it seems Paris is being penalized because of her age. If she was a junior, instead of a freshman, Paris would not only have won Big 12 Player of the Year, but would also more prominently be in the running for national player of the year awards."
--
"She has the feet of (San Antonio's) Tim Duncan and the hands of (performer) Elton John. She's a female Charles Barkley. She's big and skilled and will only get better. Randy Moss gets paid millions to catch passes in the NFL, Courtney has just as good of hands as he does."

Kansas Head Coach Bonnie Hendrickson
"There are very few young women right now who have her frame, her agility and her skill, and also who can get up and down the floor and compete every possession. I think she's really worked hard to make herself a complete player."

ESPN.com writer Melanie Jackson
"Baylor's Sophia Young set the Big 12 record with her 55th career double-double. No disrespect to Young, but at this rate, (Courtney) Paris could possibly double that by the time she has wrapped up her collegiate career with the Sooners."

BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins
"She is the Shaq of women's basketball. Players are afraid to drive on her, she is as good an outlet passer as (former Baltimore Bullet) Wes Unsel. "

Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey-Robinson
"Nobody can (stop Courtney Paris)."

Oklahoma City Hornet Chris Paul, also known as CP3
"Her stats are unheard of for a freshman. She is putting up numbers like a professional playing in college."

SMU Head Coach Rhonda Rompola
"They're not a good team, they're a great team. I know right now they're ranked 25, but that's a team you're going to see jump in the polls. They'll certainly get my vote."

Daily Oklahoman writer George Schroeder
"She (Courtney Paris) is a bowling ball with moves like a beach ball."

Texas Tech Head Coach Marsha Sharp
"I don't only think she's (Courtney Paris) the best freshman in the country, but she may very well be the best low-block player in the country."

"Oklahoma is the most complete offensive team (in the Big 121), and (Paris) is the centerpiece of that. She's really made them difficult to handle."

Missouri Head Coach Cindy Stein
"I'm just hoping the WNBA calls her and tries to get her out of school early because she's an incredible talent."

Fox Sports' Brenda VanLengen
"The more the nation gets to see her the more they will understand she is establishing herself as one of the best players in the country."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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