Jay Wright Great Quotations

I don't ever think I used the word grind about a season and I found myself using it at the end of this one. There was never a time to relax and that's a positive for a great league. We never had to get our guys ready. I'd rather have it that way when every game was a big game.

This was a great college atmosphere. I had mixed feelings coming into the gym.

I could see this playing out at the end (as a storybook McNamara ending) with the way he was hitting the threes but I didn't want it to happen at our expense. I was pleased that he had a great game and that we won.

I don't think I've ever used the word grind, but I've found myself using that word a lot to describe this season. There was just never a time to relax this season. There was not one second to relax. But that's the sign of a great league.

I always wanted to be here. My wife went to Villanova. This is a great area for college basketball.

I always think we're gonna win. I have great confidence in these guys. I know they're gonna make plays.

He's always the one nobody talks about. Everyone talks about the four guards. Well if there's four guards, there's one other guy but we never talk about him. He does all the dirty work and he keeps a great attitude.

He's done an incredible job. I think what he's done a great job of doing is utilizing his personnel instead of worrying about what they don't have, he's doing a great job of taking advantage of what they do have.

I feel great right now. I didn't ask if he could play. I was more worried about his future. And they said he's fine.

Jason has gone through more injuries than any player we have ever coached. He has a great reservoir of faith and mental toughness. We are confident he will come back strong from this.

I thought it was a great start for us and I thought that we played with great intensity for 40 minutes and everyone contributed at the level we want to play.

I think we beat them on a good night. They're great. They deserve to be No. 1. They answered everything we did, we answered what they did and that's what made a great game between two outstanding teams.

I think in the back of our guys' minds, they always believe that can happen at any time and they have that great confidence. It's exciting as hell because in two possessions, you're making up six points. It's such a momentum-changer. It's fun to have those shooters.

I thought we were prepared. I just give West Virginia a lot of credit. They made more intelligent plays and executed better longer in a great game.

I thought we started the game really strong and were very focused, which is a credit to our guys playing at 10:30 in the morning. I thought Australia made a great adjustment in the second half by going to a smaller lineup which gave us trouble.

I thought we started the game really strong. But Australia made a great adjustment in the second half, credit to them.

When I saw (athletic trainer) Jeff (Pierce) walk into the office with an x- ray, I was preparing myself for the worst. But this turned out to be great news.

We know Monmouth a little bit. Hampton has had great success in the tournament, so we are going to get a good team.

I would never have known he had 32 points. He does so much for us. He's a great leader. I think he's one of the best players in the country.

Will Sheridan did a great job, he guarded him most of the time. Jason (Fraser) also guarded him, Dante Cunningham guarded him.

Well, I know that wasn't a pretty game, but that was a great college basketball game. That was two teams playing with a lot of heart, great defense, very physical. I really give a lot of credit to the BC team, their ability to execute. They were a great team.We are very, very fortunate and proud to beat that team.

That was an old-fashioned split the house like we all remember and that was a great way for the 50th anniversary to be played. It was cool.

That was a great college basketball game. It's difficult to take but we have to. It's part of life and you move on. We have to win the next one that's what's on our minds now.

That was a great college basketball game. We were very fortunate to get out of here with the win.

We ran into a team that played better basketball today. We're going to suck up this hurt tonight but I want to make sure my guys feel great about themselves. They gave everything they had.

We really haven't had a game like that this year where we just felt like we couldn't get things going offensively. I thought that Pittsburgh, once they got a hold of the game, did a great job of just controlling the tempo and hitting big shots.

To be a great team you have to be able to recover from that.

When both guys went with Al ... Kyle Lowry actually did a great job of offing to Allan and got it to (Sheridan). It was a great play by all three.

We want to shoot 3s, ... We have great confidence in Allan and Mike and Randy, especially. Those three are pretty deadly.

We want to shoot 3s. We have great confidence in Allan and Mike and Randy, especially. Those three are pretty deadly.

Villanova fans have seen a lot of great classes. For our staff, this class is going to always be special to us, no matter what they do this year. They really helped us establish what we wanted to do here: re-establish the tradition here at Villanova.

We loved being here. It was great being comfortable here.

There is definitely something God-given in him that enabled him from a young age to pick the right people to listen to. It constantly amazes me. ... Because of all those people, he's got a great perspective on life. He looks at the big picture.

Allan's got that great scorer's mentality. He's different than the three of them. The four of them, tough, are very unselfish.

We had about nine days to really get fresh. We had some great practices and it turned into good playing.

We have seen (Russia), they are very talented and a very tough, disciplined team. It should be a great battle.

This is a tough night for Allan Ray. But you know what? He made a lot of great shots for us over the last four years. He made shots that probably shouldn't have gone in, and we took those. This is just part of basketball.

This is a tough night for Allan Ray right now. A tough night. But there's been great nights, too -- a lot of them. You have to take them both.

This is as good a college basketball atmosphere as you are going to find in the country. It starts with the students and this is a very difficult place to play. Our guys love to play here and we feel like we have an advantage in here. It's hot, there are people on top of you and they're loud. It's just a great place to play college basketball. I've always thought its one of the best. I don't know if there's anywhere in the country with a wall of human beings like that behind one basket that can create that noise. We love it.

I know that wasn't a pretty game, but it was a great basketball game. That was two teams playing with a lot of heart.

I had mixed feelings. I wanted it to end nicely for him, but not at our expense. He had a great game and we got the win. We wanted to be focused, but there was so much going on. Our hotel looked like I spent a weekend in Scranton. My sons were wearing Gerry McNamara jerseys that the Scranton fans gave them.

I'm real proud of our team. To win the conference over a 16-game schedule is a great accomplishment.

(Smith and Dudley) are the kind of guys that when you play against them, it's tough to like them. But when you get to know them, they're great kids. You hate to play against them, though, because they kill you. They beat you up.

I'm proud of our guys, that our senior class can be called champions. Over a 16-game schedule in this conference, to win a championship is a great accomplishment. I think we're playing our best basketball right now.

That is nice for him, and last year in the tournament he struggled. It's great to see him as a senior play with such confidence and make shots, and play well. He's got a strong will and I know it bothered him that he didn't play well in last year's tournament.

Everybody was crushed. I told them to just cry. Everybody let it out. It's supposed to hurt. I'm so proud of them. I know it hurts for everybody, but I really want to make sure this group feels great about itself.

It?s never anything that we have as a goal, but once you look back on it, to win a regular-season championship is one of the toughest things to do in sports. Coaches and players know that. Fans usually get into tournaments and things like that. And that?s OK. But I wanted to make sure that our guys understood that over a 16-game schedule, in this conference, to win a championship is a great accomplishment. If we would have lost today and been 13-3 in this conference, that?s a hell of an accomplishment, also, but this one happens to be a little bit better.

The kid's the best. He's a great leader ... It's scary.

It's cool. That was an old school, split-the-house type of night. Thank God, (Lowry) plays for us. There have been a lot of great Philadelphia guards to play here. That's just a great thing to hear him compared on this night to some of them.

They did a great job of getting out and contesting our shooters. We've got very good shooters. I don't think it was a matter of not being ready to play or being on our game.

I just told him I loved him and there's been nobody like them. They've set the tone for what we want great players to be.

I know it hurts for everybody, but I really want to make sure this group feels great about itself. They love Villanova, they love that experience, and Villanova loves them.

I just got a report from the doctors at the hospital and it was great news. It actually looked a lot worse than it was. He will be released from the hospital and he has vision. He is a day-to-day prognosis right now. He will go home with us on the bus tomorrow.

He's such a warrior. I'm just so happy to see him on the floor. He's really tough, a great competitor.

They were playing great early. I think that our depth just kind of wore them down.

It's amazing, I watch all the TV shows and I see them talk about all the great players in the country and they never mention him. He's so smart in everything. All the little concepts we tell him about, he gets it and can explain it on a player's level. That's what he does with the rest of the guys.

I never thought we could get a player from a nationally renowned program. I knew there was a strong spiritual aspect to him and great intelligence.

There was a lot of security for our team, and the teams from Great Britain and Israel, ... We had armed security guards and soldiers with machine guns with us at all times. That was a wakeup call.

It really served as a great learning experience for us this late in the season. I think it was perfect for this time of year. It woke us up, hit us with a dose of reality, and enabled us to go back to work. Our practices have been spirited and tough.

It's all great drama, it's all great TV, but we've got to concentrate on (Saint Joseph's). I recognize it all, but we're not really concerned about any of that.

That just tells you how great everybody in this league is.

There was never a time to relax. That's probably a positive, a sign of a great league. We never had to worry about our guys being ready for a game. You cannot relax one second.

It's a great atmosphere, a great environment. Everybody says it's the closest thing you get to a bowl game.

We just got a report from the doctor at the hospital, and it is great news. It actually looked a lot worse than it was. Al is going to be released, and he has vision.

I don't think (the selection committee) looked at this season as a shock. I think they looked at from the standpoint that Villanova has done this before. They had a great year. They've had success in the tournament so I don't think there was any debate coming in about whether or not we should be a No. 1. They play in the best conference in the country. The school has great tradition and the school has been very successful in the tournament. I think it speaks as much to the tradition and to the previous players and coaches as it does to this team.