Tom Crean Quotations

We still need to sign guys. We have workable depth, but we need more. The more guys you have that can handle the ball -- pass and shoot and create -- the better for everyone.

When you've got a team like that that's just trying to get to New York, it's a great league. The old adage that we beat up our own, that's what everyone has to take into account.

We're just trying to make sure we keep having great practices and a lot of energy, get ready for each individual game and if it happens, it happens. We know it doesn't get any easier. To start talking about a bye could turn into a distraction for these guys.

This ranks as one of the best wins this season. The more meaningful games we win in February will hopefully help us play more meaningful games in March.

Louisville played excellent and they played hard. It was a very hard, intense battle, one of the most intense battles I've ever been associated with. They had a couple more big plays than we did at the end.

Look what Syracuse did; they couldn't have played any worse against DePaul a week ago and they just won four great games. Anything can happen this time of year.

Maybe 10, but I'm biased. When you go against Seton Hall, you see Cincinnati. When you see these teams on a day-in, day-out basis, you see how good they are.

He understands positioning, he can hold his spot in the post. He may not get a ton of rebounds, but he can keep his man from getting rebounds.

He's comfortable down there; he's improving all the time. The big things now are to improve his balance, his footwork, his skills and confidence down low. But he's a hard worker and when you work that hard you have a chance to really gain expertise in certain situations that much faster.

He's getting better all the time. He impacts at both ends of the floor.

He's phenomenal at the end of the game.

He'll be playing at the Bradley Center again.

This was a great college basketball game with two teams who have a lot of respect for each other.

Jack and Jackie gave Jim a great value base. He saw how Jack did it and how Jackie supported it. Jim is such a natural leader and a natural competitor. He feels a responsibility to lead people. That's what led him to be a head coach.

Joe has worked so hard on his shooting, as has Dan, and we feel like it's going in when they get the ball. We are very confident with those guys on the floor. It makes a lot of difference for us to be able to play five guards and not have any drop-off when you go to the bench.

I thought our team learned something over the (Rutgers loss). They have learned to be honest when they don't play up to their standards.

I think the way he attacked and the way he went to the rim, especially in the second half, he played with just a fierce energy which was really good.

Last year after Travis went down, we didn't have any options. You never want to be in that position, especially as we go into the Big East. In this league, you've got to have five or six guards that can play. We're not there yet, but we're getting closer.

Our players are building mental toughness. It's really hard with a young team. It's very hard to close teams out in a close game. The more that you get experience at it and the more you learn from the experience is when you don't do it is where it can really help you.

Our fans have been fantastic. Our home crowd is huge to us and we haven't seen it in a while.

Playing 40 minutes of defense was the absolute key. We thought last week that we played about 20 minutes of solid defense, and we lost our defensive intensity in the second half.

I think rivalries don't just happen anymore. They've got to be created on the floor. I think a couple coaches could get together and manipulate the situation but that would be short-lived. I think what happens on the floor creates the rivalry: a buzzer-beater, a double-overtime game, a couple games down to the wire.

I think he can poke fun at them and they can poke fun at him. I don't know if it was always like that but he's grown into it; he's learned to trust and respect and they've learned to trust and respect him.

I was proud of the way our guys hung in there and battled back, even though we were unable to finish it off.

We couldn't have gotten a better look and we couldn't have had a better guy taking the shot.

We have to make it a defensive game every time we turn around, that's the Big East. You've got to take advantage of your possessions.

What I told my team after the game was first thing, that I've been a part of some great wins and some great teams. (But) I've never been around a group of guys that sold out for each other like they did in the second half.

You can't be too high when you win, you can't be too low when you lose. You've got to move on to the next thing.

To start us out with one of the most storied college basketball programs of the last 15 years, I guess that?s good. My players would see right through me if I told them it was just another game.

This was an unbelievable conference win. This is a special night in the program's history. We beat a premier program in our first game in the Big East.

This was a big deal to him. I think his focus today was Colin Falls, and he did a great job in defending him.

You have to incorporate these things into practice. It takes a lot of courage to make free throws, and that?s often what separates really good teams from average teams. You have to make it a point of emphasis.

We got our second wind under us when we started to make those shots.

I've never been around a group of guys who sold out for each other in the second half. It was one of the most amazing things I have seen a team do.

As far as the end of the game, we got every look that we wanted. Two weeks ago (Novak) hit a shot with a second to go to win the game. Today he took a shot from a different place, and it just didn't go down.

They're unbelievably battle-tested. You're not only going to have to play to the final minute against Notre Dame, you're going to have to play to the final second. Notre Dame's got the second most efficient offense in college basketball, right behind Duke, averaging 119 points on every 100 possessions.

They had a good game plan of grabbing and holding and keeping Steve from getting open looks. The credit goes to them. They played a great game.

It's just a matter of time with Steve. If Steve were to stop shooting, you'd see him coming out of the game.

It's just a matter of time with Steve. If he were to stop shooting, you would see him come out of the game because he would have lost his aggressive mind-set.

It was something special to see that team grow. I think the tone of our program was already moving forward, but that kind of put it out there for everybody to see.

It's the depth of the league. Teams can go to their bench and there's no drop-off. It's really impressive.

It's great to see seniors and freshmen and everybody else in between playing well. Our players are building mental toughness.

Dan's very instinctive, which leads him to making good decisions. He can get into the lane and make some plays, and the other thing about him is his defense. He can move his feet very well -- that's his soccer background -- and keep the dribble in front of him. As times goes on, he'll be able to guard smaller, quicker guys.

The biggest key was to defend Quinn and Falls at the three-point line.

The best teams in this league have depth. The best teams are not putting players out there to hold their own. They're putting players out there who make their teams better. We had a lot of good players in Conference USA, but there wasn't nearly the depth in that league that there is in the Big East.

It was one of the most intense battles that I have been associated with as a coach. I'm very proud of the way our team played. à They won the game, but it isn't like we lost it.

It's very hard to come back on this team.

It was just a matter of time for Steve. If Steve would have stopped shooting, he would have come out of the game ... He has a very short memory when it comes to his shot, and that's what a great shooter has to have.

They've learned that the game comes down to three or four possessions on offense, three or four possessions on defense. We're trying to teach our team all the time that momentum comes down to execution, that we build our breaks by the way we execute.

Not only does he care about the basketball team and the athletic department but he cares about the entire school. Every time I've been with him I have felt honored to be around him and he takes his role with the team very serious.

I'm giving him the ball and telling him to give it back when he's finished.

I like our schedule. There's 17 teams that went to the post-season, and when we looked at it there's a potential 21 that we could face with the teams in Alaska and the Blue and Gold Classic. Then we open against Connecticut and Cincinnati. I'm jacked up, there's no question about it.

I never get into comparisons. And I don't know his father's game well enough to make a comparison. His bloodlines are obviously very strong. But he's his own man and he's developing his own game.

I'll cherish it forever. This is a special win.

In the last 4:19 we scored one point. We didn't create contact. We certainly would have liked to go to the foul line, but we didn't create the contact.

I never underestimate our young guys and what their abilities are.

He's missed one free throw in 14 months. We like to have the ball in his hands.

For our guys to be a part of history like that was important.

For our guys to be a part of history like that is really important. It's important to understand history and realize they have the ability to make it.

You've gotta get in the bonus at some point. We only shot three free throws in the first half ... You don't get to the free throw line, at home or on the road, taking a lot of jump shots and playing fast. You gotta grind it out some; you gotta run your offense.