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 just didn't have any idea who each other was or how to attack this zone. In the past two years we've had six games with Syracuse. And we've had moderate success in that time.

To state the obvious, overall we were pretty good. We're now 5-0 in games decided by 10 and under. There's got to be something to that. That goes back to Maui. It's harder here (in the Big East) because now everybody is settled in.

This was the first time Hilton's taken over a game in his entire career. He's had good starts to games before. Tonight was the first time he's been able to maintain it throughout.

To get through this league is one of the most difficult walks you're going to have. I've never seen a league like this. I've never seen as many tough, tough games as this league has provided.

When you look out there and see Ray (Allen), Mec (Emeka Okafor), Johnny Gwynn ... any of those people. You don?t win the number of games we?ve been able to win or the championships we?ve won without those players,

We've probably had five complete games all year. I truly expect, though - and I hope it happens, and it needs to happen - for us to have a bust-out game where we put together a lot of longer stretches of the kind of basketball I think we are capable of.

I've said all along that Marcus is the best passer I've ever coached. I think he took affront to that, because he had back-to-back 20-point games (in the tournament). There aren't many better point guards in the country.

The sky's the limit with his ability and his vision of the game. I watch some of those NBA games and I happened to be watching Boston down the stretch, and I said, 'You throw him in that uniform and all of a sudden they'll be a different basketball team.' I believe that much in him.

Sometimes it can be the best thing in the world for you. A lot of times when you go through a down period, you find out a lot more about yourself than times when everything is flowing and you're winning. To some degree, Kentucky is already tournament-tested. They've been playing games with tournament implications for a while now.

Quite frankly, we've probably had five complete games all year. We've been a team of lapses.

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.

That's what this game is all about, getting ourselves ready for the next three games and then head on into our league games.

This is one of those games where I don't have an awful lot of complaints.

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 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.

It seems like there are more overtime games, more tough games and the reason is there are more good teams. Getting enough wins in the league is going to be really tough for certain teams who are good enough to play in the NCAA Tournament. Some teams are going to play really well and lose.

It's a bear. Three games in a row that will all be tough for different reasons. I just hope we're ready to go and we get through that.

It's one of the few games where you're going to have legitimate guys who can both put 20 on the board, double-figure rebound, both affect the other team's offense by being a defensive presence inside. Either one of these guys can really alter the game.

The Big East championship means a lot to us. If you can go through 16 games in this league and have to go to the places you do and beat the teams you have to beat, it's really tough. This is a terrific league and to come through it 14-2, I couldn't be prouder of our kids.

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.

I'm a big fan of the Big East but I won't watch the games on TV on Friday and Saturday. It would hurt too much.

The game asks that you work to improve, that you put something into it, and that you also give something back to it. The game is universal. It is a language that unites all of us.

The only difference between Providence and maybe somebody a little bit higher in the standings is the young kids. Providence is talented but they're young. Young teams make mistakes.

What this is for 64 teams is a great opportunity. It's a great opportunity for Connecticut. It's a great opportunity for us and it's a great opportunity for Albany. Both teams have something at stake. Both teams want to move on. There is no feeling like it. I've been a 16, a 15, a 1, and I've been all places in between. Each one is exciting.

We've taken the quality of teams and just increased them in quantity. I don't think anybody truly understands how difficult this league will be day in and day out.

On paper, we seem to be a deep, big and experienced basketball team that should be ranked in the top 10 teams in America.

I don't have any question that was a very well-coached basketball team. He's got complete control of the way that teams runs.

He makes you make plays you don?t want to make. He takes teams out of their offense by the ball pressure he puts on you. He?s really, really been a godsend to us in many ways.

He certainly has had his best year. I would have bit my tongue off last year if I said, ?Let's leave Rashad in for defense.' He's a weapon that very few teams can keep on the bench.

I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't see some different teams in the semifinals than what people are predicting. And I wouldn't be surprised to see someone play four games in four days. That's just the way this season has gone.

Our inside power is very difficult for most teams to handle. Today, we were able to get inside better than we did on Monday.

I think our bracket looks, superficially, to me to be the toughest. That and Oakland look very, very tough. We got a fair but very difficult bracket. What it's got is teams that have been there before. And there's something to being there before.

Well, 1,100 basketball games I've been fortunate to be involved with (and) I've never been quite involved with something like that. It was just an incredible game fought by two teams who gave it everything they possibly have. And I don't know if the teams could have gone another minute. I thought it was an incredible display of what competition is all about.

When teams feel good about themselves, you can tell. I get worried when we sometimes feel too good about ourselves. It's a fine line to walk.

You have seen somewhat the Connecticut you've heard about being disrupted in the tournament because teams do catch up. Teams find ways to catch you when you play 30-something games. We are 30-3, and I think (we) find a way to win.

This was an advertisement for how hard the teams in this league play. Increasing our toughness was one thing I thought we had to do. We knew we could score, but we had to show we could come up with that kind of game like we had other times this season.

This was an advertisement for how hard the teams in this league play.

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.

I've been in a (locker) room with some talented teams and some teams that bordered on greatness. But I don't know if I've been in a room before with so many kids that have sacrificed so much.

Teams do get into ruts. (Other) teams do play defense.

Some teams play loose, and better than what they have. They were never scared off by the NCAA Tournament; in fact they were inspired by it.

Some teams in their position are scared by the NCAA tournament. They were inspired by it.

That's where we are right now. We could have new teams in the Final Four every year.

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

It seems like there are more overtime games, more tough games and the reason is there are more good teams. Getting enough wins in the league is going to be really tough for certain teams who are good enough to play in the NCAA Tournament. Some teams are going to play really well and lose.

It was everything you could ask for in a college game. You had a special environment, passion on both teams and with both coaches ... I would have been disappointed if we had lost. We did enough things to win this game.

It was a rock fight and both teams got involved.

Everybody's talking about how many teams we'll send. Let's see if we can get out of the league first. My greatest fear is that we might beat ourselves up so much that records won't be indicative of how truly good a team is.