You’ve got to remember what was being said about them in November, December, and into January. What’s changed? OK, now what’s happened is the coach is stepping down. But they can play. They can make...

I’ll enjoy the experience as much as possible, but we’re here to take care of business on the court. But it is neat to be here.

We are so generic in our first practice,

I like to protect my players, but I don’t like to make excuses. (But) I think anybody that’s seen our guys knows that was way too quick (of) a turnaround. And, in all fairness to...

Not that I’ve seen. Maybe every once in a while our training staff just talked to him a little bit to make sure, ‘What are you feeling?’ But they’ve done that in the past with...

As I’ve been saying all along, they just have to play a little older,

They’re shooting the heck out of it. They got back to some true home games and got some confidence back. There’s something to be said for playing before your home crowd, in your familiar surroundings.

They’ve only been banging against each other, so I don’t know yet. It’s very important to have an inside presence. As the game goes on, speed fatigues, but height doesn’t shrink.

Honorable mention means that there are people that feel that he’s on the radar screen as far as the contributions. He made enough contributions to be on that list of the top 20 guys in...

It’s the same old story and I’d like to say it’s a different tune, but it’s not. People will say, ‘Oh, you lost this guy, lost that guy’. OK, that means there’s opportunities for some...

You know what they can do outside and they can do it with so many guys. That’s the dilemma. Gotta find a way to guard them.

When you have Dee Brown and James Augustine, two guys who have been through so much a post and a point. There’s a lot of coaches who firmly believe that … in basketball, if you...

My parents and sister can drive 15 minutes and see the game, so you can’t beat that. Coming back is great, but it’s really about our players getting a chance to play in the NCAA...

As I’ve been saying all along, they have to play a little older. Each guy is going to have to mature just a little quicker. Sophomores need to play like juniors and juniors need to...

It’s pretty much been the same practice plan on the first day for 20-some years as a head coach, and I don’t think I’m going to change.

I think they’re hungry and ready to go after another one and keep playing.

It’s the same old story,

He didn’t force anything, and he gets a double-double. That’s a good line for Brian. It’s a good line for anybody.

They’re good on the glass. They’ve been good all year and we needed to be better. When you let them have second-chance opportunities like that, it’s tough.

People that know basketball recognize effort opportunities that a guy takes advantage of and he’s done that every minute he’s been on the floor. Here’s a freshman that’s come in an really chipped in on...

It’s easier for them to know that if they do the right things, they’ve seen it happen where you can have some success. And people don’t jump ship as easily. They don’t get discouraged as...

Over the years we’ve wanted to bring in high school people-not just players-but people who are interested in our team and our program that can’t get tickets, they can’t see us in the Kohl Center,...

The way we were moving the ball, especially early, we had guys catching pneumonia they were so wide open. But then again, when somebody says, ‘Go ahead and let them shoot that.’ I’ve seen Brian...

You can’t play from behind. It’s very difficult. We talked about playing possession-for-possession. We are not athletic enough or quick enough to play from behind. That was our worst nightmare.

You look at some coaching staffs across the country,

Going into Indianapolis, playing Indiana, I guess bring it on. It’s what we’ve caught at the end of the year, and we’ve got to try to make the best of it.

Those are three really good testers for a team to show weaknesses and show how close we are with this group.

OK, that means there’s opportunities for some of these younger guys to jump into those minutes.

There’s not a lot of guys built like him, and he knows how to use his body. If the big man isn’t scoring, he’s not going to get the ball.

They’re attentive, they’re hungry, they have good instincts, they’ve had good coaching and hopefully they’ll continue to stay hungry and hopefully they’ll continue to get good coaching.

If that’s all part of it, so be it. What we know is that … we’ve just got to do things better than them in order to get it done, in order to play again...

Tucker has put himself into a leadership position, because of how hard he works in conditioning, in the weight room, in the hill, all the drills. Because of his personality, he works hard all the...

If you don’t show some patience against Northwestern, they’ll just eat you up. You’ll be scratching your head wondering what happened.

We just couldn’t figure things out in the first part of the second half. We figured it out, but couldn’t do it physically.

Just hearing you ask that question makes me feel good.

The three of us appreciate where we came from and how we got here,

Defensively he’s better. Passing, you know, he’s been able to catch the ball in the post or attack the paint and find people. He’s done a pretty good job of that. He’s stronger with the...

Highs, lows, it’s all part of being a teacher and a coach, … I look forward to every season with the same mental approach that I’m responsible for developing young men into being players and...

You take 22 years of basketball (away),

I like it for these players who are working so hard, to take care of these three against NCAA Tournament teams.

Don’t know yet. Sometimes it’s out of necessity that you play a freshman right away. Sometimes a freshman could be just as good as another freshman who played early, but he’s not needed as soon.

The guys try to do too much too soon after sitting because of foul trouble. You get a little out of sync.

Him being a leader returning means that he’s going to influence other young men into having better years they might not have otherwise,

Basketball is a streaky game. The best thing to do is get something at your end and we went some stretches where we didn’t do that.

These guys aren’t professionals by accident, … They’re very sound fundamentally, they execute well, they’re extremely hungry and aggressive in their play.

That was his shot in the 1920s and 30s.

We’re all relaxed talking to one another. There’s not a prince and princess thing working here.

He’s obviously a very good player who gives us a dimension where he draws attention from the defenses. His ability to score in some different ways is always something that will help the whole team.

We did a much better job today than other games getting in position and getting people off their feet. That’s how you get to the line, and then play with the lead.

And then you take a look at what we’re returning.