Jim Calhoun Played Quotations

My fear is being flat (for the start of league play). When we lost to Boston College last year to start the Big East, we couldn't raise ourselves to that level. Having not played that kind of competition recently, I have concerns, but we have to play these two games first.

I don't find it unusual for Kentucky, with its incredible history and a great coach like Tubby (Smith), for it to turn into that type of game. I thought Kentucky played awfully good.

I don't think we shot well (38.7 percent), but I think we played well and yet it took us 30 minutes to shake them, maybe 35 minutes to shake them. That's just by their tenacity and how hard they played. Providence has a young team. The three guys who I think played really well for us happened to be seniors and that makes a difference in college basketball.

I don't think we played an ounce of basketball after that.

Regardless of our success over the years, whatever it may be, Providence has always played us close. Providence has given us a lot of problems.

I think depth has played a role for us. In this game, it won?t.

I thought it was a good win for us. I don't think we played as well as we should have. ... Overall I think we did a decent job on defense, but the thing that is bothering me a little bit is we were inconsistent.

Overall, I thought it was a good win for us, but I don't think we played as well as we're capable of.

I think it's the very charm of exactly what this tournament is about and I truly believe that. We played Gonzaga in 1999 and everybody in Phoenix was attached to them. That's a very natural thing.

We didn't shoot well (39 percent). But we played well. We played better than we did in our previous two wins over St. John's and Louisville. Providence was young and tenacious and gave us fits. But we were more athletic and more experienced.

Will it hurt us? Sure. Jeff has been a factor in every game he's played in. Hopefully the depth that we have will come into play in this game.

We haven't played defense really well the past couple of weeks and that was just highlighted there.

We caught them when they were playing terrific basketball. And we caught them off guard. I could see it on tape that they just didn't expect us to be as good as we were. That may have been, at particular points, as good as we've played offensively. We really, really played well.

We played them twice this year and on both of those occasions we were able to physically dominate them inside. We did a tremendous job last Saturday, won by 18 points and dominated them again. They turned the tide on us tonight. They physically dominated us in every aspect of the game.

We really played our best basketball. It was one of the few games I can say you could just enjoy. It was just really a tremendous basketball game for us and hopefully it's a peek into what we're capable of. Seasons are really funny. But I think those things are good. We jump right now into a hot stove.

We are lucky to have him as a part of our staff and this promotion is a well-deserved acknowledgment of the part that he has played in the phenomenal success of our basketball program.

Could he have played (Friday)? Probably. But obviously we didn't need him.

We've played in spurts, not always a full 40 minutes.

It was tough, Albany just played great basketball. My hat, my gloves, my shoes, I'm going to tip all of them to them, because they were absolutely terrific.

The other night, if we had played him 28, 29 minutes, he would have had over 40 points. And I'm not sure he would have missed a 3.

On the way down here, it was just a really happy team. They really felt they played well. ... It's going to be a different kind of game (tonight). Over the next 24 hours, at the team meeting (Sunday) and at the shoot-around (today), we'll get an opportunity to really tell them. With only six games to go, there is significance to the game.

Coming off a Villanova game where he played 13 minutes and didn't score a point, I started him the next game to tell him we've got to get him back. For us to win, we've got to get him back. ... Thank God we got them back.

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 lot of teams play us in a grind, not in a wide-open game. That played to our depth and our experience.

In my opinion and certainly by the big scoreboard, the way the game was played they were the team that deserved to win.

In those 11 games, we did all kinds of things. We played and got better during this period. And I don?t know if we ever peaked, per se, nor did I want us to.

It was one of the most disappointing losses we've had in an awful long time, mainly because we got off to such a poor start. We played like a team that had a 25-point lead at the Carrier Dome and then beat a team by 23 at our place.

It's the first time he's done that in his entire career. It's the first time he's been able to maintain that. He played exceptionally well, I was really happy for him.

It reminded me of a Big East game, probably back in the early 90s. (St. John's) took us out of our offense early, played us very physical and did not allow us to get into a flow.

They played some big games last year without Curtis. They can still win the league but it's going to be tougher. They scare me because of the way they spread the court and make you play small ball.

They gave us fits. I don't think we shot well, but we played well.

It's a tribute to the hard work the kids put in because they played in the best league in the country. I think our kids should be honored. We have an awful lot of good players in this league. I couldn't be prouder of our kids.

It was really fitting that Denham had such a great game. He was a horse out there, as far as handling the ball, especially when Marcus played such a poor first half. We sat Marcus down, talked about the Dow Jones and some other things. He came back and got us going.

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

I don't think anybody I've ever had could get as hot as he can get. The other night, if we had played him 28, 29 minutes, he would've had over 40 points and I don't think he would've missed a 3-pointer.