Denham Brown Quotations

We are a very talented team, and depth is taken into consideration with Coach on the way we play.

We were determined to win. We look at ourselves as a championship team. When we come off a loss, we just have to bounce back. It can't take two or three games. It's got to take one game against a very good West Virginia team.

We were determined to win. We look at ourselves as a championship team. Coming off a loss, we had to bounce back. It can?t take two or three games to bounce back. It has to take one.

Obviously, we want to go to the Final Four. And something like this, a Big East tournament championship, would have been a nice thing under our belt to have confidence-wise.

On good teams, seniors need to lead. Maybe lead us all the way to the NCAA Final Four. We've been there before. We know how hard it is. We know how long that road is.

I would assume that if the coach is smart enough, they?d decide to guard Rudy differently than how they were guarding him earlier in the season. But he?s just got to make plays, regardless if he?s covered hard or not.

I don't think it was an emotional game. I think it was something we needed to fight for. They weren't going to play dead and just give us the championship. They knew what was at stake.

He hit that shot and it does a lot for the confidence. I think he was thinking about that shot.

I think it's basketball. These refs are trying to protect players from doing something they will regret for the rest of their college career and season. But at the same time, we are in the Big East. We are in an aggressive conference. You should allow guys to throw 'bows. I think that's what happened with Jeff. He shot an elbow. He was in the wrong, but I don't think he should have gotten ejected.

I think we?re tougher than a lot of people give us credit for. They think, ?You?re talented, but you?re not tough. You can?t have both. You?d be too good if you had both.? I think they read too much into that.

I think we're ready. Every guy is up, every guy is positive and ready to go. It could be the start of what could be the end of a great season for us. Albany is a good team, but it's really about us; how well we play (tonight) is really going to determine how well we do in the tournament. I just think it's important to get us back on track, get us rolling again.

I think today's game speaks for itself. We're just as tough as any team in the league. We just go out and play. We play hard. We play tough. We're a talented team.

Plays like that have to be made by myself to get the team and the crowd going.

Nah, I stole that. I'm not going to say it slipped out of his hands. I didn't know he was going to pass it, but I saw it in the air and I knew I could grab it, so I did.

We haven't started like that in a while. With me coming off a pick-and-roll with Hilton and him getting a dunk, I was like, 'That's what we're talking about.' Where was that for the past four or five games?

We had to regroup as a team. We knew that we played a lousy half in our eyes and we had to do something about that quick.

We didn't dominate them the way we're supposed to, didn't do the things we're capable of doing. We paid the price for it.

We are a championship team at heart and these are the type of games that are preparing us for down the road.

We seniors took it upon ourselves to lock him up and not let him get started.

We put so much work into it, especially this week, of really getting the game going, the tempo going.

We're tougher than a lot of people give us credit for. This was a game we had a bull's-eye on for the last two weeks.

We thought that getting into our fast break, our primary offense, would obviously be better for us.

This shows that guys aren't going to give up and that guys aren't going to lay down, regardless of what happens in the game. We're all sticking in this together.

This was a continuation of Villanova. We still felt that intensity, that fire of beating Villanova. We brought it right through to (Wednesday's) game. It died out, because they (South Florida) played tough defense.

Everybody goes through that. I think it was up to his teammates to pick him up, because it?s us who need him out there to do what he does and do what he does so well.

Early on, we were just out of whack. It looked like we didn't know what to do in the first half.

Rashad hit a big 3 to put us in overtime, and that was the end of that story.

Rashad and I saw early on what McGrath was capable of. So we took it upon ourselves to lock him up. Getting around all the screens they set for him was the hard part.

Coach has been telling us we?re the deepest team in the country. It showed.

This isn't good enough. Not with the caliber of team that we have.

They're trying to make history, and knocking off Connecticut is a big deal.

A lot of teams have played zone, been putting a lot of pressure on us, taking us out of our fast break. I think tomorrow will be a good game to get up and down the court.

They're not going to show us the 12 side, obviously. They're going to show us the 22 wins.

It might be the same mentality we had last year. We struggled our first game last year in the Garden with the same team.

It shows that guys aren't going to give up. It shows guys aren't going to lay down no matter what happens. If things on the court aren't going well, the other team's making a run, coach is down your throat, guys are sticking together and maintaining what we need to be doing on the court.

Everybody's got to pick it up. I can't put guys on my back like that.

They can keep their heads up because they took the No. 1 team in the country down to the wire.

They were calling themselves, ?The New Bullies of the Big East.' It shows what we did to them tonight. We played a lot stronger than we did at Villanova and it turned out good.

They know we?re a dominant team in the Big East. They knew a win against Connecticut would do a lot for them.

After the Marquette game, guys got tighter as a team. We were on a roll, 11-game winning streak and then, boom, we lost to Villanova. But we got even tighter. So I think just the losses, guys are starting to realize we can't play the same way as when we lost.

After we lost, I did a lot of thinking about dominating this game, getting the team going. Coach said this was just like any other game, but we really had bull?s-eyes on this one, circled it, had all the arrows pointed to it. We made sure we were focused.

That's coach. It's something guys come to expect. I think he expects so much from us, and he puts a lot into us energy-wise to make us better players, to make us great players. . . . You can't come to Connecticut if you're not going to have a strong mindset.

If I win a championship, I?m pleased. But If I don?t win an NCAA championship, I?m not pleased ? regardless of how well I?m doing. It is to make history out there. Two championships in four years? In this day and age, that?s unheard of.

I really put a lot of thinking into dominating this game, getting the team going and winning. I think the older guys put it on themselves to win this game. I think we're tougher than a lot of people give us credit for. They might say, ?You're talented, but you're not tough. You can't have both. You're going to be too good if you have both.' I think a lot of our guys are tough physical and mentally.

A loss to anybody would really set us off track of winning the Big East and being the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament.