Jim Calhoun Kid Quotations

I didn't have any preconceived notions that he couldn't play. When a prideful kid comes in working like crazy, he doesn't realize how much better he's gotten.

From Caron Butler - and there's no validation this automatically has to happen - to Ben Gordon, it looks like Rudy is starting to make the move to where we think he can be. He is going to get there, there's no question. It's just that every kid gets there at different times.

He was very outspoken and talked about the kind of sacrifices he was willing to make for the team to win. You can't get a kid to do that unless it comes from the heart. And trust me it does.

He's a four-year stay. He's been involved with championships and a national championship. He's made as many big three-pointers as any kid I've ever had. ... Rashad clearly has been a special player for us. He's a special kid.

He's a terrific kid who made a dumb, dumb selfish mistake. He's not the first and he won't be the last, unfortunately. Hopefully, it's not going to be on my watch. I'm a great believer that people should be allowed and are allowed a second chance.

Jeff is probably the most emotional kid we have. He's just really an emotional person and I think he operates on that.

When you have a kid who's been with you for three years say that to you, whether it happens or not, at least for the moment you feel pretty pretty good. It's good to hear, even if he's lying to you.

I told him he has to be more assertive. He's an incredibly talented kid but a very young kid. I think at times he's unstoppable.

No kid in America has come so far to be a top-20 basketball player.

He's the best natural scorer of all the big kids. He's not the biggest by any stretch, but at any time he can take up space, he can move people without pushing, just by using his body, and you can't move him. He's a very difficult kid to move, especially with his hard work and passion for the game.

He's an incredibly talented kid but he's a very young kid. I said the other day I would like to keep him another year. I'd like to keep him another two years if I possibly could.

He's an incredibly gifted kid with great potential who probably needs to come back next year but can't, because he's going to be drafted in the top five, probably. He can't come back and pass on millions and millions of dollars. That's our system. I hate it, but I'm going to tell him if he's going to be in the top five, which I keep hearing, he needs to go.

I can still see Calvin Murphy getting 62 points, and I can still see flashbacks from the pictures of Wilt getting 100, ... You go from the biggest to the smallest. The wonders of the game, from the guys playing pickup to the kids shooting in Indiana to the inner city kid who finds a way out through the sport of basketball - and I don't mean necessarily to the NBA - are embodied in this game. It doesn't take wealth or pure size. It takes heart, repetition, talent. All that stuff is embodied in the game. When I walk through that building, it's embodied there.

He's one of the best. He's made as many big 3-pointers as any kid I've ever had.

He's improving every game. He's getting tougher every game. He's a kid who's just turned 20 and he's getting better right before our eyes. Rudy is starting to understand there are some great gifts he has and he has gotten to showcase them as he has gotten better.