Jim Calhoun Against Quotations

Right now, that guy would be Denham (Brown). In the last two games, it's been Denham against very good defense.

I thought our big kids were terrific. Blocking shots does have a wear-down effect against certain teams, sure. But it sometimes hides bad defense, and that was my concern -- that Syracuse was able to penetrate.

We have to keep reminding them they?re the No. 1 team in the country to get them to truly believe how good they are. I mean, I spent two hours against Albany trying to get my team to truly believe that. Let?s put it this way: For 28-3, we?re not an overly confident basketball team. On the contrary, this is a team that sometimes has had crises of confidence.

We know they have a very good defensive team. We know they hung tough against Villanova. We're looking forward to going down there and not having a letdown. We have much bigger fish to fry.

We'll tire ourselves out where we need more people in the game. But anytime your eight goes against our eight, we think we have a great advantage.

We worked on the 1-3-1 for three straight days this week and it paid off. It means a little something extra to go home with a win against such a great team. The enthusiasm of each shot is big when playing in such a hostile environment as we were today.

Very few players are able to maintain the pace he's on. I don't think anybody I've ever had can get as hot as he can get. Ben (Gordon) and Ray (Allen) are probably better shooters, but nobody gets as hot as he does. He's done that against a whole bunch of folks. It's not the first time.

We're incredibly happy to be a No. 1 seed. We were 13-3 against top-50 competition. We were 7-2 against top-25 competition. These kids are deserving of a No. 1 seed.

The second half would have been a good night to play against anybody. Every time you made a change ... You pressed us? We dunked it. You zoned us? We 3-pointed it.

Both against Albany and tonight, although in different ways, these teams forced Marcus Williams to make plays to beat them. And Marcus took advantage of the opportunity both times. He was magnificent.

Facing Syracuse up here is obviously a task. They looked very good against Cincinnati. They wore Cincinnati down.

But I think Gerry, who has struggled to score against us, has increased his game. He?s a much better ball handler and a much better point guard. He seems to be very comfortable.

They find a way to win. A lot of the things that happened against Washington were plays that players make. Guys who refuse to lose a basketball game, guys who are down by five with 30 seconds to go but don?t believe they?re going to lose. And that, as a coach, you don?t teach. Maybe you try to set the mood that we?re still here, but you can?t set the mood if you don?t have winners with you.

They're faster, quicker. Are they better? It's hard to convince me of that after the way Padgett played against us.

I believed the character they showed against Pittsburgh would come back, ... even if it was three weeks ago.

If he plays well, then we've got a chance to win it. If Marcus were to sprain an ankle in the first 10 minutes against Albany, then we'll struggle but we would probably win. After that, it's 50-50 if we'll win a game or not.