A lot of teams play us in a grind, not in a wide-open game. That played to our depth and our experience. |
A lot of times games are built up and they don't fulfill their promise. This game more than fulfilled its promise. Villanova may be, pound-for-pound, the toughest team that we've played anywhere, any time. Early in the game, we had to match their toughness. They were getting every offensive rebound. They were hustling like crazy. Unless you have a tough team, you cannot win this conference. It was like an old Big East backyard ball amongst two really good teams. |
A No. 16 seed is going to beat a No. 1. The gap is closing. |
Albany gave us every single thing they had. I hugged Coach Brown, who I don't even know, and said to him very simply, 'You guys are special.' And they were special. |
Albany was magnificent for 30 minutes. We were equally, if not better or more magnificent, the last 10 minutes of the basketball game. |
All of a sudden the game changed when Jeff Adrien got in it. That was something for a freshman to express his emotion the way he did. |
All of a sudden the game changed when Jeff came in. When he got a rebound, nobody was going to try to grab it away from him. For a freshman to come in and make that kind of stand, I think is very significant. It won't show up [in the statistics]. It does show up in nine rebounds. But I think it was very significant down the stretch that Jeff could come in and impose his will. |
All those numbers will tell you that we did not do what we are capable of doing. We have to accentuate what we do well. |
All those numbers would tell you that we did not do the things we're capable of doing at all times. We didn't do some of the things I know we're capable of. We had moments, but not enough. |
Am I finding a team with more resolve and more focus? Yeah. No question. You don't need 100 tough guys. You don't need 100 warriors. You need a couple leaders that can get you that. It becomes contagious. |
And the Elvin Hayes-Jabbar game at the Astrodome, that was something I was thinking about for days. |
Any team that's won 20 games, we're going to have respect for. |
Any team that's won 20 games, we're going to have respect for. They have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. But you know what? We have a lot to gain, too. We're really excited about it. I like this time of year. I hope my kids like it as much as I do. |
As a friend and as a colleague, it's only fitting that we go in together. ... The way he's maintained excellence through all those years, Jim's had an incredible run. |
As far as we're concerned, we're incredibly happy to be a No. 1 seed. Obviously, I don't think anything we did changed us from being the overall No. 1. I think it's what Duke did. |