Marcus Williams Quotations

When we get Rashad involved early, we are a way better team. He's gets aggressive and had a lot of heart.

We bounced back and came together at the right time. At tournament time, we played our best basketball.

We experimented a lot with it but we felt more comfortable with four guards in there. I think we nailed things down.

We're ready to play. It's the time of year where you have to put everything behind you. The regular season is over. We got the championship, but that's all said and done.

We knew they were going to play their hearts out. Before the game, they said they packed two suits. They were confident about going to Sunday. That right there should have shown us we needed to come to play.

We are almost where we need to be. It was last year at this time (the UA) started stepping on people's throats. That's what we have to do next.

We needed a break. Things hadn't been going our way.

We need to make sure we focus. A good team like Syracuse, I think they can capitalize a lot better than Indiana can. We need to keep them off the offensive glass, they're capable of having a big game.

We need to make Chris Hernandez take tough shots and do the best we can to slow him up.

No one has been able to stop him. We obviously didn't want to give up 30 points to him. It's everyone's job to get in there to do what we need to to stop him. He has phenomenal talent.

No one's really mentioned it. I'm not really focused on that at all. If they get there, I'm sure it'll cross our minds.

If we didn't win, I think our chances (of getting) in the tourney would be slim. It was a must-win, and that's basically what we put in our heads and in our hearts.

If we didn't win, I think our chances in the tourney would be slim. It was a must-win, and that's basically what we put on our foreheads and on our hearts.

If we have to win games late, well, we try to get them out of the way early. We try to build a lead early and execute offense late in the game. But if we have to win games like this, I think we can step up to the challenge and win them.

I got kind of tired in the second half. It'll probably take me a week or two to get into game shape. But I don't think there was any rust.

I gotta be a man. I gotta live up to my responsibilities.

I don't know anything about how that works, but we have to step it up. Three dudes beat us tonight.

I don't even have to think about it anymore. He's catching it and he's doing the right things with it, whether it's dropping it off to the other big (man) or dunking it or throwing up a jump hook. He's doing everything wonderful.

I don't know too much about them. But I think they might be a bit like Washington State since (Bennett) coached at Wisconsin.

I don't know why he doesn't do that all the time. He's probably one of the best ball-handlers on the team. He makes good decisions. He can create his own shot. When he does things like that, he helps me catch my breath. He kind of gave me a rest while I was on the court.

I felt good about it because I was shooting that bad and Hassan wasn't shooting that great, but we were still up. If we'd been making the shots we normally make, then this would have been a different game. We'd have had it in our hands from the get-go.

I felt fine (at the free-throw line). I never feel bad at the free-throw line. I'm not really nervous. I just missed them. They just didn't go in. I'm disappointed. They were obviously big things for us to win the game.

I don't think we were hurting with (Rodgers). He wasn't a poison to us. We like having that one-man press, creating that havoc. That's what we need. It's going to be good for him to jump on Hernandez on Sunday.

I don't think it was a takeover. Craig came in and played the point. I came off screens and was able to take the ball and make plays.

I don?t think it?s good at all. Sometimes we play not to lose rather than to win.

He doesn't look like an athlete, but the way he comes off screens and the range he has makes him tough.

He's a good leader, but people go about things in different ways. It depends on what's more effective. Some people are more vocal.

He's kind of jaded and he's a character who lives very much in his fantasies,

He just really taught us to play together. At the beginning, when we were losing a lot, we just weren't playing together. And now we're just playing together, playing good defense, and kicking people's butt -- and that's what we came to do.

He knows the situation is not how he wants it, but he still expects a lot out of us. He expects us to bring a ring from this tournament.

I was always around. I ended up talking to him a lot and got really cool with him. But the biggest thing with me was, I wanted to get away from home and grow and build myself up somewhere else.

Kirk came in and was great on the boards. He made shots. He was a good sixth man off the bench. He definitely helped me out (being in foul trouble).

I wouldn't say losing a guy hurts us. We're able to lose a guy and still come out with the same performance.

I wouldn't say I was surprised. At these kind of games, Jeff always comes through ... he's a man-child out there. That's normal. That's what I see all the time.

I think it made me grow up a lot faster than I wanted to, but I needed it.

It came down to me wanting to go into the league and be effective and walk in with a kind of confidence and swagger that I am ready to play at a high level.

I thought we were going to win. We were in the same situation to Friday night. We just didn't follow through.

I think when we really focus and dig down and pay attention, I think we can do some great things to teams. Then we seem to slack off. It's just a focus matter.

I think we had a solid season. We had 30 wins. That's a big season for us. We won the Big East. We got to the Elite Eight. It's a great season, but I think we could have done a lot more.

I think we proved that this team is still to be reckoned with in the Pac-10. Starting on the defensive end, we just stepped it up.

I think we proved that this team is still to be reckoned with in the Pac-10.

I think it's real big for someone like me. I write it down everyday. Every game he writes it, I write it down.

I think they were more aggressive than they were the previous two games.

I think that we know we're good. I wouldn't say it's 100 percent, but we're starting to see flashes.

I think sometimes it?s dangerous to come with an attitude of trying to not to lose rather than going out there and trying to get the win. We can take something from this.

I think some people need rest. We've got a couple people with injuries. I have a sore heel. Hilton (Armstrong) has a sore ankle. And a couple of us are tired from playing the tough games we had late in the year. I think it'll be good for us.

I was kind of overeager in some of those games, expecting to just get the ball and score. I just realized you have to play with the team. Everyone on the team can do really well, so you have to be patient and the shot will come to you.

I think so. When we come out clicking and we're all on the same page, we're a pretty good team.

I saw part of that game, where the guy hit him in the groin. I saw that game. Hope he don?t hit me!

I saw it was kind of long, so I tried to just drift to the other side. I've never had 10 rebounds. Ever. I never had 10 rebounds shooting by myself.

Play With Fire, ... there's no iBook in team.

Playing with Craig makes it a lot easier for me. And I think what's a lot easier for me is a lot easier for our team. When I'm coming off a lot of off-the-ball picks, it's more of a 4-on-3 game than it is 5-on-5, starting at the top and trying to set up the offense. When I'm coming off screens, I think I can make my teammates better because their man is going to have to step up and guard me. I think I can drop it off. If not, I think I can make plays alone.

Playing a No. 16 seed, sometimes you think they are going to lie down and give us the win. We need to go out and take the first hit.

People have questioned whether we can win on the road. We've got to prove that we can.

People may look at us as an underdog because we are not doing as well, but we have a chance to restart.

Staying poised. That's what really won us the game. Also determination in the second half.

Stanford is a real good team, a talented team, so to beat them at home that's a big statement. That tells you how well our team played. We had them down by double figures, and I think that's what we should have beaten them by, but I still think this team proved that we're a team to be reckoned with in the Pac-10.

Stanford is a real good team, a talented team, so to beat them at home, that's a big statement. That tells you how well our team played. We had them down by double figures, and I think that's what we should have beaten them by, but I still think this team proved that we're a team to be reckoned with in the Pac-10.

Some people assumed I would go from 12 to 20, that is what I was hearing.

Like I've said time and time again, we lost focus.

I was tired with 3 minutes left. That's about as tough as it gets. That was a physical game. I made those free throws because there were a couple of timeouts there that made it easier. I'm tired.

I think our team can take any challenge a team throws at us. If we get caught in a close game, I think we can make the right plays late in the game.

I think I'm prepared for it, just because of my personality and the way I am. I know there's going to be some harsh things, some funny things. I'm going to try and take it all in as a joke, go out there and handle my business.

I think I kind of realized in the second half that it was easier to penetrate, because they were overplaying so much. I think I just realized it too late. In the first half, I was just trying to get us in our offense.

I think he took that out on them.

I think it would be the same way if we were No. 4 or No. 20. I think Connecticut is Connecticut. They're going to want to take our heads off.

Just kept my hands in his face. Just staying on his hip, not letting him get any open looks.

That was probably the best half we've played all year. We were really unselfish, we hit the glass, ran the offense and locked up on defense.

Most importantly, ... I want to apologize to my teammates for the difficult position that I have put them through.

We just did a great job. The locker room hasn't been like this in I don't know how long. Our confidence is back now.

We couldn't get a stop. We just couldn't. That's only the second time a team has shot 50 percent against us ... They beat us on the glass. They went after every loose ball. They made big shots.

We feel good about ourselves and we're confident, but I don't think we know how good we can be. We showed some flashes (Saturday) and we showed some flashes how bad we can be. So once we know how good we can be, we should be good.

We can't get bigheaded. We can't just think every team is going to lie down after we get a big victory. We were thinking Syracuse was going to lie down after those first 30 minutes and they actually crawled back to get within two possessions. You can't do that.

We were up by 10 points in the second half, then missed four free throws in the final minutes. I think that has something to do with focus.

We played in the Big East. (The crowd) wasn't a factor.

We had a lot of ups and downs but I think we handled them well. There's a lot of maturity on this team. We handled things well. And we came together at the right time.

We've needed that all year, coming and not missing a beat, so whoever came in we knew it was the same intensity.

We're used to playing away games. Out of the 20,000 people that showed up, at least 17,000 were probably Villanova fans. It gave me a little motivation.

We're used to playing away games. It was loud in there. It was crazy. But we've been in situations like that before.

We just didn't do a good enough job.

We need to take advantage of these games and continue to win. They might be a little dinged up, but they are still a really good team. We can't have any slip-ups.

We came out with a lot of intensity from the get-go. In the first half, the rim kind of felt like a big bucket from 3-land, and I kind of got in a groove and just kind of fed off of that.

We haven't lost in them yet, the throwbacks. After we lost in the Big East, I know I told the equipment manager to pack up the throwbacks. We're not wearing the other ones again this whole season.

We've got 'Nova on Sunday and we definitely can't go in there playing like we did in the second half.

We definitely have to change that and make adjustments.

The experiences here at the University of Connecticut included ups and downs, but I think they have all made me into a better person and for that, I will always be grateful.

We knew we couldn't let up against them. We knew they would fight back. They always fight back.

We're twice as good. He's the team leader.

We came here and bounced back with a good, solid win.

We can't lose. We have a tough game Tuesday and a tough one on Sunday (against Villanova). When we get those two out of the way, we have another two left. That's it right there. We just have to bear down for four more games. Then the worst we can do is tie.

We are shooting an incredible percentage inside. When we got the ball in there we got easy dunks. Ivan got lay up after lay-up. We simplified the game.

We attacked the ball, and things happened good for us and bad for them. We made a statement that we're ready to go.

The only thing that was on my mind was D.C.

The play wasn't designed to go to me, it was just whoever got open. They tripled-teamed me and did a good job of getting their hands on it.

When you prepare hard, luck comes to you.

Without Hassan, it made me take a bigger role. I always could have done that, but when you have another great player with you, it's easier to distribute the points.

Without Hassan here, we need people to come in and hit big shots. When he's hitting shots and playing with confidence, it raises everybody else's level.

When we play, a lot of times we kick our own butt and make a lot of mistakes. I think maybe it comes down to stops, maybe it comes down to executing offense. But I think when we're playing our best, no one can beat us.

We had some rough edges, but we've smoothed all that out.

We see the bracket, but those other teams got there for a reason. They won the first two game just like we did. I don't think you can go out there and take teams lightly.