They're trying to be the toughest, scrappiest team on the floor in every game they play. It's working.

They've caught some magic in my opinion and they're feeling really good about themselves. When a team feels good about itself they're really tough to beat.

They run very good offense. If you're not on top of your game, they've got guys on this year's team that can make plays. I think our kids are going to have to pick it up a level.

They've always been a team right on the edge. It's been a team that's given us very tight games at times. Other times, we've scored 123 points. It's been a funny series.

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.

They are barred indefinitely from all team activities, and their academic and personal activities will be closely monitored on a daily basis by the members of our basketball staff. They will continue to have complete access to all of the academic support staff so they can focus their energies on their studies.

It's nice for the team. On this particular team I would have to sit down (and figure out) who our MVP is, who I would put on the first team, who I wouldn't put on the first team.

The Big East championship means a lot. To go through 16 games in this terrific league with all its tough places to play and come out of it at 14-2, I couldn't be prouder of these kids. These kids sacrificed so much and became the epitome of what a team is.

It's contagious. Once a team starts missing, everybody misses. And we're not making foul shots right now.

No team has disrupted us as much on offense. Their effort was extraordinary. I thought they did an incredible, incredible job.

No team has disrupted our half-court offense as much as Washington. It was an incredible game by two teams who fought with everything they had. I don't think either team could have gone another minute.

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.

I'm not that impressed by my team very much, but we were very good tonight. I can't think of a game where we shared the ball so well and ran so well.

The two guards are just absolutely playing terrific.. Whitney has really become a force in this league. They're the kind of team that feels good about itself and those kind of teams you cannot give an opening to.

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

I remember how small it was, ... It was bigger than our locker room, but maybe only twice the size. It wasn't massive by any stretch of the imagination, but you have to understand that if you see the Wilt Chamberlain jersey, if you see Adolph Rupp, if you see the Texas Western team - the picture of them - that was all kind of awe-inspiring.

He's really becoming an incredible player. I think he's been overshadowed. He can rebound, he can defend and he's strong. I think when he gets away from a team that has so many wings he'll be a terrific two guard, and I think he can play at the next level.

I don't think the Big East or college basketball or the (selection) committee should feel any embarrassment if that team goes to the NCAA Tournament. (But) we were home and Denham, some of our veteran players, Rashad, etc., they made some terrific plays down the stretch.

I don't think there is a player on the team at particular points that won't be helped by Marcus being back.

Every team is flawed. There hasn't been a truly complete team in a while.

Sometimes you're blessed with teams that are incredibly talented, but there's chaos. But sometimes you're blessed, as I have been this year, to have kids who think the same way you do.

You can see a team that believes it's going to win. They had no doubt they were going to win. None. Therefore, that's the toughest guy to face all the time, the guy who believes he's going to win.

The first 10, 15, 18 minutes we were really special, the kind of team I know we can be. I actually think we're getting better.

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.

Whether it was 50 bucks being sent to me at school, traveling through a snowstorm to see me play, coming to a football game in high school, all those things gave me a sense of love and belief and those things inspired confidence.

What Louisville needed late in the game was experience. That's what we had, some guys coming down the stretch who know what to do. We turned our defense up in the last 4 1/2 minutes of the game, we took care of the ball, took good shots and made good decisions. This was a grind-it-out game.

We did it, but it's tough to get all the way through. It won't surprise me to see somebody playing a fourth game in four days, the league is like that this year. This was the most games that came down to last three minutes, at least our most in 10 years and yet we were 27-2, which means we were there to finish the deal. But in a one-game tournament anything can happen.

This proves that you can't just show up in postseason play, because instead of going to practice and preparing for a game tomorrow, we have to wait a week. Next time we lose, we're going home.

Now the game has taken me back to Springfield and I am so deeply honored and humbled to be in such a sacred place.

Obviously, we are disappointed that Jeff will miss the game at Providence, but the rule as stated in the rule book is very clear. Other players will have to step up and make up for his absence and I have complete confidence that will happen.

I have been a big admirer of Don Haskins for a long time. He is one of the top defensive minds in the game and he is good man, a real coach.

I felt bad for Rashad. He wanted to be so good. It's really unfortunate he didn't have the type of game he's capable of having.

For us to tell our kids that this is just a regular season game ... we've always set goals, to try to win the Big East championship. To back away from that a day before or two days before the game would be foolhardy.

I would say our defense got us going, but it certainly wasn't the key to the game because I thought we let up many, many times. They all elevate. It hides sometimes bad defense. That was my concern tonight, the fact they were penetrating, particularly in the second half.

I thought we would eventually take control of the game, and Kentucky kept fighting back. That was not in the game plan.

I thought our big kids dominated the game. The difference in the game was our power.

I think Craig will play more. That was just a game where we got into a flow with the big three kids. ... We thought we were going to use more guard play.

I said coming into the game that it was going to be a battle of ... can they keep us away from the paint. And generally speaking, they were able to get us on the outside, keep us there with double teams, and certainly the way this game was called and played, it didn't allow us to be a factor in the paint.

Overall, we just kind of overwhelmed them. When we play offensively like that we're very good. And this was their third game in five days so it made it very difficult for them to stay with us. Our depth is going to wear you out anyway. We didn't play great defense but we ran the court well.

Pittsburgh has turned into a rivalry game for us. They certainly have become a formidable opponent, an obstacle for us to get to a championship, or for seeding, or quite frankly just to get wins.

I think Indiana is a very good basketball team. I just think there were moments and minutes in that game where we were pretty special. It didn't matter who we were playing because we blocked everything, we ran out and we made good decisions. I'm very proud of my basketball team today.

John Thompson took something that could be perceived as almost menacing, because he was so big and was so serious looking, and used that to his advantage to create Hoya Paranoia, ... Every game they played, John was the underdog and yet he had Ewing and Wingate and Williams. That takes a masterful genius to do that.

That was the most physical game I have been involved in in a couple of years.

When that game ended, I knew I had tied Don Haskins in career wins. That was a special moment for me that I didn't share with people, but it was nice to know I tied him.

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.

Will it hurt us? Sure. I think Jeff has been a factor in every game he has played. So it will hurt us, but hopefully the depth we have will come into play.

We were 7-for-18 from the foul line. Coming down the stretch, a couple of those foul shots would have made it a one possession game and it would have been a lot more interesting.

We're a league of 16 now. It seems like the old wars of the '80s and '90s again. Every game comes down to 10 kids on the floor after loose balls, someone making a big play, someone getting a big rebound, someone making a stop.

Well, to state the obvious, we're happy to be here today. We survived an incredible basketball game between two incredibly competitive teams. I think that game could go up as Exhibition A of what this tournament has been.

We're not a team that breaks you down off the dribble. We have to do it in other ways, on the full-court break or with our power game inside. (Wednesday), South Florida took us out of what we should have run. We stopped setting screens, stopped doing some of the things we're capable of doing.