Jay Wright Quotations | Page 3

Craig bruised his tailbone. It's pretty painful and stiff right now. He could be (out).

There's no way you can simulate it in practice.

There's nothing we can do about that, other than win every other game.

The timing of this is incredible. I know it looks like we really planned this well.

Is that with an asterisk? ... It's an honor because obviously the coaches have a high regard for our players. Now we have to go out and earn it.

The students are all yelling, 'Final Four, Jay,' ... It's fun. We're loving it.

I wanted him to understand we ran that play for him with the game on the line.

I wanted him to shoot more. I said, 'I'm not going to start you unless you shoot.' Believe it or not, he's unselfish.

I wanted to be here. This is the best place in the world for me to coach. This is my hometown; my wife went to Villanova; it's the greatest college basketball town in the country. This is a dream for me.

Teams play at another level against us, and we're learning to handle that.

Right now we're No. 3, so I like it.

Pretty cool. I think that all of us are pretty familiar with each other.

Offensively, in the first half, I thought we played all right. Also, we just couldn't control Quincy. Second half, I thought we spread the ball out pretty well.

South Florida was well-prepared and did a good job. It wasn't a case of us going out on the road and not being able to shoot well. Their defense had a lot to do with it. We just tried to tough it out and play hard for 40 minutes. That team is going to win some games in this league.

One guy, Speedy Claxton. He reminds me a lot of him. You ask how does a guy 5-10 make it to the NBA? That's the kind of things Speedy did. He's the only other person I've seen do that. That's why he's special. A lot of guys say, 'I'm a point guard. I set people up, that's what I do.' Kyle's a ballplayer. He says: 'I'll do anything I have to do'... The point guard is not supposed to do that. A good team can block out four guys. You're not thinking about blocking out the point guard, but he loves that. That's a basketball player.

Defensively, they're so big at every position. We tried early with Mike (Nardi) to stick with our four guards, but he got two fouls so we had to come with Shane (Clark). They were just too big. We couldn't rebound and they were shooting over us.

And then to see Randy carry the flag into that stadium with 80,000 people. I could see how much confidence he had. He was growing up right in front of my eyes and was ready to take on the season.

Are they going to give us an asterisk? ... Curtis is going to have surgery on Nov. 11. At first we were devastated but we just went back to work.

Anytime our guards got into their guards, there was always an outlet to one of their forwards. I was very impressed.

Allan's got that great scorer's mentality. He's different than the three of them. The four of them, tough, are very unselfish.

Allan looked great. He was right back at it and didn't show any signs of tentativeness at all. He was right back at it.

Allan has a serious injury and he's doing OK . . . That's all we can say at this point.

Allan has a serious injury and he's doing OK and being evaluated right now.

You're hit with that, and you say to yourself, 'Wow. This is going to be something to deal with at the end of the year'.

You're always concerned about how it's going to affect these guys.

This is as good a college basketball atmosphere as you are going to find in the country. It starts with the students and this is a very difficult place to play. Our guys love to play here and we feel like we have an advantage in here. It's hot, there are people on top of you and they're loud. It's just a great place to play college basketball. I've always thought its one of the best. I don't know if there's anywhere in the country with a wall of human beings like that behind one basket that can create that noise. We love it.

This is a new experience for us, being No. 1. For us, there is pressure. You don't want to be the first No. 1 seed to lose.

This is a tough night for Allan Ray right now. A tough night. But there's been great nights, too -- a lot of them. You have to take them both.

This is a tough night for Allan Ray. But you know what? He made a lot of great shots for us over the last four years. He made shots that probably shouldn't have gone in, and we took those. This is just part of basketball.

This is the first time we've been in this position. I know Syracuse has been through it a lot, but at this point we're enjoying it.

This is obviously a devastating injury for Curtis and our program. Fortunately, Curtis is incredibly strong, physically and emotionally. I know he will bounce back stronger and better than ever.

This is the best news we possibly could have gotten.

This could have been a very serious, almost catastrophic injury. They expect a full recovery.

This feels like a conference game. It feels like it's the middle of January and we've got BC next. I don't know if that's going to be positive or negative for us.

They've been through so much, they just don't fear failure.

They take the coaching out of your hands. It's unbelievable to have two guys out there who make the right decision every single time.

They take the coaching out of your hands. I never thought I would get another player like Speedy Claxton and I got two of them. I'm a lucky man.

A lot of times bigger players have to bang inside, they have to do the dirty work, they have to screen, they have to defend in the post, they have to post up. If a smaller guys doesn't mind doing that and actually enjoys doing that, he can play that position and that's what we have.

They know so much about the other teams. They don't know anything about themselves, about where they fit in. I talked to them about it a little bit yesterday. I said the freshmen were going to be sick of hearing about this team from me because what they did in this regular season was incredible ... But I don't think they realize where they fit.

They had so many pros and we've got work to do.

They are probably more skilled at every position than any Big East team that we play against because everybody can handle it, pass it, shoot it well. They remind me of Connecticut, but with their size at every position and with the way they push the ball at you, they are just a little more skilled at each spot.

There was never a time to relax. That's probably a positive, a sign of a great league. We never had to worry about our guys being ready for a game. You cannot relax one second.

They're playing like champions and we're out here cruising. I thought we started the second half relaxed.

There was a lot of security for our team, and the teams from Great Britain and Israel, ... We had armed security guards and soldiers with machine guns with us at all times. That was a wakeup call.

It's been something we've been asking him to do. He's so unselfish.

It's just a joy to be a part of games like this.

It seems like they're playing as well as anybody in the country. I hope I'm right. It not, we're in trouble the next game.

It was crazy. We're a pretty defensive-minded team. We take pride in that. We just couldn't stop them.

It was crazy. We are a defensive team. We take pride in that. We just couldn't stop them. I just never had the feeling that you can't stop anybody.

It was so difficult because we were a one seed and people were talking about making plans to Minneapolis right in front of our players and not even realizing what they were doing.

It?s a chance. He understands that. When we recruited him, he never said that he wanted to leave early. I think he?s as surprised that he?s in this position and had to make a decision as anybody. And that?s what was so difficult for him. He was not prepared to make this decision during the basketball season. He was not even thinking about it.

It's a calculated risk. We are confident we'll be able to do that, but it's still a risk. Until you get it back, it's never in the bag.

It's a great atmosphere, a great environment. Everybody says it's the closest thing you get to a bowl game.

I told him, 'We're going to go down with you shooting the ball. That's who we are.

It really served as a great learning experience for us this late in the season. I think it was perfect for this time of year. It woke us up, hit us with a dose of reality, and enabled us to go back to work. Our practices have been spirited and tough.

It's all great drama, it's all great TV, but we've got to concentrate on (Saint Joseph's). I recognize it all, but we're not really concerned about any of that.

It's not really a problem right now. In June it could be, but right now, it's not.

For a kid who's a scorer and a shooter, that can really affect your psyche.

It's the best possible news we could have had.

It means I won't have to answer questions from recruits.

It's going to be important for him to get back playing and just feel good. The only risk he has is the exact same thing happening, but that's the same risk as if it never happened before.

It's his choice. He looks great. His vision is a lot better.

It's basketball, man. We live and die with that. When the tough shots are going in, I'm not complaining.

It's unbelievable. If you look at him, he doesn't even have a black eye. He just looks like someone who got poked in the eye. It's a little watery, but it's not even swollen.

Connecticut was just really sharp; they clicked on everything today. They were more efficient in all phases of the game.

That's really what we've done all year. We just continue to find ways. I don't think we are ever going to be pretty. ... This is who we are.

That's something our team can do because of our depth. I have confidence in our guys, one through twelve, and we have good team quickness. That helps us create turnovers.

That's the beauty of this team. We have a lot of guys who have the ability to score, but give it up because of the other guys. And then when they're needed, they'll do it. Like tonight, we needed Mike and Kyle to score and they did. Randy gets 10 rebounds tonight and he's in foul trouble and he doesn't care because we won. It's a fun team to coach.

That's the advantage of having seniors, we know that Randy and Allen are going to make those big plays when we need them.

That's the guy the pros all wanted to talk about at the (World University) Games this summer. He's just an amazing player.

That's one reason why we're pleased to have Jason and Chris. We need big bodies.

That is definitely the impression. I'm not surprised, because I always thought that should be the perception all year.

That's a Big Five game, and as long as we play in the Big Five, I'm never going to have one of these games let me make decisions about my team. These games are crazy. I'm not going to be down on my guys based on what happens in these games. We just have to survive these games.

That just tells you how great everybody in this league is.

It's something we have been working on for a long time. I just thank God it worked today.

Everybody was crushed. I told them to just cry. Everybody let it out. It's supposed to hurt. I'm so proud of them. I know it hurts for everybody, but I really want to make sure this group feels great about itself.

The bad news is, he's still pretty ill. He's got a high fever. He's still feeling the effects of tonsillitis. We don't know when we're going to get him back.

That is nice for him, and last year in the tournament he struggled. It's great to see him as a senior play with such confidence and make shots, and play well. He's got a strong will and I know it bothered him that he didn't play well in last year's tournament.

It's incredible. We all saw what happened, we were there. I was prepared up until a few days ago not to have him for this game. I'm just amazed watching him do this. It's a miracle, that's all I can say.

It's definitely different. Our kids love the challenge. Everyone is making plans for Minneapolis. It's a completely different challenge.

It's amazing, I watch all the TV shows and I see them talk about all the great players in the country and they never mention him. He's so smart in everything. All the little concepts we tell him about, he gets it and can explain it on a player's level. That's what he does with the rest of the guys.

It looked ridiculous. Honestly, I am sitting on the sideline saying, 'We look like idiots.' Especially when they would go up and get an offensive rebound.

It looked a lot worse than it was. It's going to be day-to-day.

It looked a lot worse than it was. Al is going to be released. He has vision and it's going to be day-by-day prognosis now. But it's much, much better than we initially anticipated.

It kind of feels like a conference game to me. You know each other. You know what each of you is going to do. You just have to play the game.

It kind of feels like a conference game. This just seems like a Big East game to me. I feel we're in the middle of January and we've got BC next.

It's cool. That was an old school, split-the-house type of night. Thank God, (Lowry) plays for us. There have been a lot of great Philadelphia guards to play here. That's just a great thing to hear him compared on this night to some of them.

I've got to give Texas credit. The last three games have been against good teams in tough environments. I'm very pleased with our team, we just didn't execute.

They could both, individually, put up better numbers if they were by themselves. But could they be 27-4? No. They couldn't accomplish these things without each other, and they know that.

They did a great job of getting out and contesting our shooters. We've got very good shooters. I don't think it was a matter of not being ready to play or being on our game.

They came at us in the second half like they were going to show us that they're the No. 1 team in the nation, and we weren't ready for that. But then we responded.

They were so intense that we had to back off, but we accomplished what we needed. They had a very businesslike approach. They came to each workout with a purpose and that enabled us to accomplish what we needed to get done.

They were shooting over us. And you could really see them hitting the offensive boards as part of their game plan.

They were playing great early. I think that our depth just kind of wore them down.

They were on the top of every aspect of their game. We will learn from this. You've got to beat the best team in their own house.

They just don't fear failure. They've been through so much. They're going to play you for 40 minutes and whatever happens, happens.

On behalf of Allan, his family and our basketball family, I would like to thank everyone for the well-wishes and prayers Allan has received in the last 36 hours. Obviously Allan is very fortunate to have come through a potentially dangerous injury with these positive results.

Not once did they mention he's a good shooter. I thought that was such a breakthrough for him. He's made himself a complete, all-around player.

It?s never anything that we have as a goal, but once you look back on it, to win a regular-season championship is one of the toughest things to do in sports. Coaches and players know that. Fans usually get into tournaments and things like that. And that?s OK. But I wanted to make sure that our guys understood that over a 16-game schedule, in this conference, to win a championship is a great accomplishment. If we would have lost today and been 13-3 in this conference, that?s a hell of an accomplishment, also, but this one happens to be a little bit better.

It's really been an experiment to this point. So far, it's been working out.