Jim Calhoun Care Quotations

I don't care who we are playing. We have so much to gain. It's a wonderful opportunity for these kids. I would hate to leave the floor and not have given it our very best.

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.

I've watched him grow as a person, but he's still been able to maintain his wit, his optimism and that ever-ready smile. A lot of kids would have spit the bit at different times if they weren't starting. All he wants to really do is play and win and that's exactly what he's done. He's as comfortable in his skin as any kid I've ever had. I'm telling you right now ? and hopefully it will be five weeks, six weeks before it's the end of his career ? I will miss him for his personality, along with obviously his basketball game. He's a terrific kid.

Sometimes the NCAA Tournament can overwhelm a team. Others come in and see the great opportunity and play with a sense of looseness, even better than what they had. ... George Mason was never scared off by the NCAA. As a matter of fact, they were inspired by the NCAA.

Denham had arguably the best performance of his career at a great time.

We're going to have to take care of the basketball; we're not doing that. We have to start blocking shots around the rim to change games. We're not doing that in this tournament. And then, just defense.

Back in 1990, the (league) championship was a mad, mad celebration. It never affected that team because it was a magical year. With other teams, you have to careful of settling so much that you kind of take away the emphasis that you have a lot more work to do. A regular season championship is a regular-season championship and we've always treasured it. It's important to us. Is it the most important thing? No.

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.

The national championship in 1999 took me back to my career at UConn. This has taken me back to my life, to where it began, my brother and four sisters and how meaningful they have been, to my family, my parents, my friends, my players, my assistant coaches. It's pretty deep.

The thing that scares me always the most and the thing I caution our players on is that next week, you go home. You go home for the Big East tournament. And then next time you go home, we pack up the uniforms. And this team is good enough to get to Indianapolis. Will it get to Indianapolis? I have no idea. ... Maybe the first round of the tournament some team gets up, plays us tough and we don't execute.

It's an important game for them and for us it's an important game, too. You've got to make sure you take care of the home court and stay aggressive.

I think we showed up like a team that had glanced at our record and saw we had beaten Syracuse handily both times. My point is that in a tournament, no one really cares what seed you are or whether you beat someone before. It's the 40 minutes you're playing today that's important.

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.

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.