Chris West, our strength coach, said it was our best workout we've had in three months. It was no nonsense The time was short, but the attention-getting was there.

Hilton Armstrong was the best player on the court. He changed everything in the middle. He had big baskets. He was immense from the foul line.

He's the best passer I've ever coached. I think he took that as an affront because then he responded with 21 and 20. That shows what kind of player he is.

He's the best natural scorer of all the big kids. He's not the biggest by any stretch, but at any time he can take up space, he can move people without pushing, just by using his body, and you can't move him. He's a very difficult kid to move, especially with his hard work and passion for the game.

If he's not one of the best two or three kids in the country, then I guess I've lost my judgment about how good a guy can be.

He's one of the best assistants and one of the best evaluators of talent that I've ever been around, ... I think in the next week or two we are going to try to name him associate head coach because he's been that good.

This is my favorite time of the year. I love it. I just hope we come out and play the best basketball possible. Win and advance: that's all we think about. It's one game at a time. We don't talk at all about Indianapolis or Washington, D.C.

This proves that you can't just show up in postseason play, because instead of going to practice and preparing for a game tomorrow, we have to wait a week. Next time we lose, we're going home.

We're going backwards. I'm real concerned about that. We've been taking all kinds of time at it, and we're getting worse at it.

If we're not playing defense and I call time out, I can tell you right now it's going to be X-rated. I'll go after some people or make some changes. It's not like this is the middle of the season and we can get it done next time. We're all here and it's a perilous journey. It's a wonderful journey, but the band plays on if you lose.

I can feel the emotions start to build, ... I've had conversations with my first recruit at Northeastern, with eight kids from my Dedham High School team that won 21 straight games, a lot of phone calls from my former players ... it's an exciting time for me.

I think a lot of credit has to go to Louisville when you have a leader out. I'm not sure how well our offense would have been if we didn't have Marcus Williams. Marcus is not the scorer, but he is the runner of the team. He gets the ball to the right people in the right time at the right spots. They didn't have that tonight. They worked like crazy.

I can't remember the last time we were up three with 11 seconds to go and lost. We got beat by that shot by Gerry. Anything can happen in overtime. We made the decision of who would have the assignment. Gerry made a better play and hit a great 3.

I think as we've gotten down to the time of the season where you're playing for a chance at a Big East championship, playing to get a bye in New York and, obviously, playing for seeding in the NCAA Tournament, there's no room for experiments or getting young kids some experience.

Over the last 15 years, the type of players we've had here, the fortune to be successful, we've had the bull's-eye. Now there's the added bull's-eye of a new league, being No. 1. They just pile up. That's exactly where you want to be. You want to be playing from the top. I hear guys say they like to be the underdog. But there's a reason you're the underdog. I'd like to be playing from the top any time I can.

Marcus is not the scorer, but he is the runner of the team. He gets the ball to the right people in the right time at the right spots.

This was the first time Hilton's taken over a game in his entire career. He's had good starts to games before. Tonight was the first time he's been able to maintain it throughout.

Both of our NCAA Championships (1999, 2004) came in years where we won the Big East Tournament. Time will tell if that's an automatic correlation. There are no good losses. No moral victories. But I do know this team is one to be reckoned with at the NCAA tourney.

The second half would have been a good night to play against anybody. Every time you made a change ... You pressed us? We dunked it. You zoned us? We 3-pointed it.

There's got to be an adjustment on that. I don't think it's as productive as it should be, in a true sense of competitiveness ... just because of the time aspect about it.

The thing that scares me always the most and the thing I caution our players on is that next week, you go home. You go home for the Big East tournament. And then next time you go home, we pack up the uniforms. And this team is good enough to get to Indianapolis. Will it get to Indianapolis? I have no idea. ... Maybe the first round of the tournament some team gets up, plays us tough and we don't execute.

Any team that's won 20 games, we're going to have respect for. They have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. But you know what? We have a lot to gain, too. We're really excited about it. I like this time of year. I hope my kids like it as much as I do.

This is the time of season when you really need to get your act straight for the crunch run.

This is the time for a tremendously talented guy to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity. I see nothing but greatness ahead for him. There's no question that Rudy will fulfill the promise that those people who draft him have in him.

It?s a time we have to play. I don?t think for college kids it makes any difference. I talked to players today and asked them, ?How?d you sleep last night?? They said they went to bed early ? they were in bed by 1:15 a.m.

It's back to the Big East of old, to some degree. There are no easy games. This is a Georgetown-Syracuse weekend, which we've faced on a number of occasions. It's an important time for us.

It's a great opportunity for us and a great opportunity for Albany. I think coach (Will) Brown knows what a win can do and his kids know what a win can do. It's a great time of the year.

It's the first time he's done that in his entire career. It's the first time he's been able to maintain that. He played exceptionally well, I was really happy for him.

It's always good to be No. 1 in anything but it's not great at this time of year. I want it at the beginning of April, but I'll take it now. Being No. 1 isn't a goal of ours like the Big East championship or the national championship, but we feel we're one of the better programs in the country for the last 15 years and being No. 1 is another notch for us as a total program.

It's an important time because no one wants anyone else to get off to a 7-0 start. The league is off to a good start.

That's something you really have a difficult time answering in the sense that you can't get inside the team's mind.

It's considered serious by me. I don't think it's punishable by expulsion. I believe Marcus will be back some time this year. I don't know about A.J. The only reason I don't know now is medically. And I don't know the ramifications of everything else.

I just believe 100% in Marcus Williams and he's reinforced that belief every single day. This is a happy time for him because he's going on to a future that he's ready for.

I just hope we have enough time to recover.

Chris West, our strength coach, said it was our best workout we've had in three months. It was no nonsense The time was short, but the attention-getting was there.

He's the best natural scorer of all the big kids. He's not the biggest by any stretch, but at any time he can take up space, he can move people without pushing, just by using his body, and you can't move him. He's a very difficult kid to move, especially with his hard work and passion for the game.

I don't know if there is another player as complete or as poised all the time with the basketball. Bottom line is that he's a terrific basketball player.

You can?t predict this thing ... two, three, four all gone. How do you predict these things? The whole idea that No. 1 gets the easy route ... there are no easy routes. Those teams at 16 are really good, and they have incredible desire to win. By the time you get to 8-9, you?re facing really good teams.

This is my favorite time of the year. I love it. I just hope we come out and play the best basketball possible. Win and advance: that's all we think about. It's one game at a time. We don't talk at all about Indianapolis or Washington, D.C.

When I walk down with Cousy I'm walking in as the face of New England as the face of so many people who weren't fortunate enough to get into what I got into.

People will fall in love with Jeff Adrien. All he does is come to work, put the hard hat on, just keep getting balls off the glass. Hopefully, as we move up in caliber and size, he's still able to do that.

People were watching to see history being made but history wasn't. Albany was magnificent for 30 minutes. But we were equally magnificent for the final 10 minutes.

My understanding is the athletic director is going to now, hopefully, put it on the front burner this year. In my personal opinion, they were going to fix football before they fixed basketball. I know a couple of the people are basketball people who gave money to football and that's fine. They gave money to the university.

Only two of the six kids have college degrees - my brother, who is a cardiologist, and me, ... We were a large Irish family, and in those days, the boys went to college. My sisters gave me $50 here and there and came to my games. They all gave me something. When people love you and believe in you, it instills confidence. Confidence comes from the people around you.

If we're not playing defense and I call time out, I can tell you right now it's going to be X-rated. I'll go after some people or make some changes. It's not like this is the middle of the season and we can get it done next time. We're all here and it's a perilous journey. It's a wonderful journey, but the band plays on if you lose.

We just have superior numbers of people. Not even superior people because Robert gets them to play as well as any guy in this league. What he's done is instill, in my opinion, a work ethic that's as good as any team in our league and almost any league in the country.

He makes your offense start not at 19 feet, but at 26, where most people won?t shoot the ball. It?s difficult to make post passes from there, it?s difficult to ignite your offense from there.

I think a lot of credit has to go to Louisville when you have a leader out. I'm not sure how well our offense would have been if we didn't have Marcus Williams. Marcus is not the scorer, but he is the runner of the team. He gets the ball to the right people in the right time at the right spots. They didn't have that tonight. They worked like crazy.

He's a terrific kid who made a dumb, dumb selfish mistake. He's not the first and he won't be the last, unfortunately. Hopefully, it's not going to be on my watch. I'm a great believer that people should be allowed and are allowed a second chance.

I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't see some different teams in the semifinals than what people are predicting. And I wouldn't be surprised to see someone play four games in four days. That's just the way this season has gone.