Ed DeChellis Three Quotations

Really, the pressure was on Illinois. No one gave us a chance to win, except for the 12 players on our side and three or four coaches. They had 16,000 on their side.

No one thought we could win except the 12 guys we have and three coaches. There was more pressure on their side.

Three of those guys are fifth-year guys. We're not that. Sometimes experience plays a critical part in this thing.

Basically we've started to change the view of our program nationally. We've had three or four bad years, and then I think we've changed the perception of that.

We were in pretty good shape at that point. But they got in a rhythm and have the experience over us. Three of those guys are fifth-year seniors. We are not that. They've got some experienced guys who stepped up and made some big plays. They just shot over us and made some big baskets.

I thought defensively, we were very, very good this afternoon. We've been off for eight days, but I thought our kids played with a lot of confidence tonight. We've had three very good days of practice, and they were looking forward to the tournament.

There was no pressure on us; we're just coming down and playing. No one thought we could win, other than the 12 guys we've got and three or four coaches. There were 16 thousand people who thought Illinois would win.