Jim Calhoun Team Quotations

The only place down the road I want to see them is in Indianapolis at the Final Four. They come loaded and knock you down. That is a great team with heart.

Maybe it was subtraction by addition. I'm not sure of anything because I'm so stunned by the way my team played.

Obviously they're a tournament team. I thought they were a tournament team yesterday.

Obviously, the team was in very good spirits.

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'd like to congratulate the St. John's team for a terrific effort.

I don't expect us to play poorly, although I could feel entirely different a week from now. What we do know is that this team is a lot better; we've gotten better. Everyone has improved, and that makes us able to play a lot of different ways in February and March.

I don't know what kind of adjustments you can make when Allan Ray is hitting 28-footers. Villanova is a very unique team for anyone to play.

I can feel the emotions start to build, ... I've had conversations with my first recruit at Northeastern, with eight kids from my Dedham High School team that won 21 straight games, a lot of phone calls from my former players ... it's an exciting time for me.

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.

We just have to be hungry...and this team has done that. The crowd will certainly be into it (today) and I'm sure the kids will be into it.

We just have superior numbers of people. Not even superior people because Robert gets them to play as well as any guy in this league. What he's done is instill, in my opinion, a work ethic that's as good as any team in our league and almost any league in the country.

We've got to take away 3-point shooting and not get fatigued by the shot clock. They make as many shots under 12 seconds as any team you're going to play.

He's done a great job there. He has a team that puts constant offensive and defensive pressure on you. They're deep. They run. They're quick. They're just a relentless team. A lot of that has to do with his personality. That's how he coaches, and he doesn't accept excuses when it comes to effort.

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.

Our strengths were not our strengths today. We've been talking about the things we don't have. The things we do have were our biggest weakness today. We've never been overrated as a team. We've just been, quite frankly, misconstrued as a team at times. But we have great heart.

Overall, a tremendous performance by Albany. They were magnificent, but I'm really proud that it didn't knock our team out. It knocked us down, but not out.

Our 3-0 record and their 3-0 record is going to clash. Whichever team is able to impose its will and style on the other team is going to win.

Regardless of our successes, failures, whatever it may be, it seems like Providence always plays us close. I think it's 3-3 over the last six games. Our national championship team (2004), they showed up at 12 o'clock at the (Hartford) Civic Center and beat us pretty good.

I still felt right to the end we would win the game. This team is walking out 30-4. If we keep winning 30 games a year, I think we'll be in pretty good shape and we'll win our championships again. We didn't get there this year, but we'll do that.

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.

We have to keep reminding them they?re the No. 1 team in the country to get them to truly believe how good they are. I mean, I spent two hours against Albany trying to get my team to truly believe that. Let?s put it this way: For 28-3, we?re not an overly confident basketball team. On the contrary, this is a team that sometimes has had crises of confidence.

We're not a team that can score off the dribble and break you down. We need to find other ways if we're not running. If we're going to score in a half-court set, Hilton has to step up. We look to him now.

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.

We're not a team of breakdown individuals. We're much more a team of execution. We're going to have to work on execution tomorrow, the next day and continue. It's fine when we're running. It's not quite as fine in the half-court set. Yet I've seen us in the half-court set be brilliant. I'm not sure we truly have a guy we would run five plays in a row for.

We revised our scouting report on Kentucky because of the way Perry played. This will be one of the few times where we face a team that has the size up front that we do.

We have weaknesses; we know that. So we have to become an execution team, particularly on a team that comes up and ball-pressures us, a team that says 'beat me off the dribble.' And you can, but they're daring you and trying to take you out of your offense.

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We're coming in with a team that can arguably match up with any team in the country. Hopefully, we solved some of the size and physical problems we had last year. We, at times, can be very, very big.

We were a blizzard inside, too, in that second half. I'm not usually impressed by my team much. But we were really good.

This team is to be reckoned with in the NCAA tournament. This team has a chance to get itself to Indianapolis (site of the Final Four) and, just like everybody else, has a chance to go home.

What really hurt us a lot of times is another team playing well and us not playing so well.

We just shut the engine off. We just couldn't get it back. It's a hard thing to do in sports and I think all of us have seen it and unfortunately an experienced team like this, it shouldn't happen to.

Villanova is a unique team. Even with special preparation, it's a very difficult team to play.

Both of our NCAA Championships (1999, 2004) came in years where we won the Big East Tournament. Time will tell if that's an automatic correlation. There are no good losses. No moral victories. But I do know this team is one to be reckoned with at the NCAA tourney.

Everyone's talking about how many we'll send, let's see if we can get out of the league first. People who are good are going to rack up a lot of losses. ... I'm afraid we will beat each other up so much that records won't be truly indicative of how good a team is.

There's no one in the country that has guard play like them and they're a very difficult team to stop.

These are two giant tests. I told our guys at a team meeting that we're 22-1 and 9-1, but we still have more tests. We've got to keep proving it and proving it.

The team really has been automatic every day in practice. We've only had one lousy practice.

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.

Terrific defense. They are trying to be the toughest, scrappiest team in every game they play, and it's working. You can see it on tape.

Right now, we have to prepare ourselves for a team that feels very good about itself. We have to tighten our defense.

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

Providence has given us lots of problems and Timmy (Welsh) has prepared his team well. I think the only difference between Providence and maybe somebody a little bit higher in the (Big East) standings, quite frankly, is that these are young kids.

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.

Any team that's won 20 games, we're going to have respect for. They have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. But you know what? We have a lot to gain, too. We're really excited about it. I like this time of year. I hope my kids like it as much as I do.

Any team that's won 20 games, we're going to have respect for.

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.

(Albany) didn't knock our team out, they just knocked us down. We were able to finish the game, though. On Sunday, we start again at 0-0.

This is our team and it's a pretty good one. When Rudy didn't play well, Denham stepped up. There were other guys, too. We appear to be a pretty good team with a lot of answers.

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.

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.

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.

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.