As players see themselves getting better through skill sessions, they will want to get in the gym more.

If I can’t expect someone to be accountable off the floor, how can I expect them to guard a pick and roll? Or get a rebound?

If you don’t feel you have something to prove every day, you’ll never improve.

You can do one of two things: You can humble yourself or life will humble you. I think it’s a lot easier to find a way to humble yourself.

I knew both teams played sound defense. I thought whoever could attack better had the best chance to win this game.

I still feel like the kids in our program could get a whole lot better and could improve. And I think another year in college for those guys, or two, would prove to be valuable to them, rather than someone taking a chance or an opportunity, and those guys sitting on the bench and not having a chance to develop.

Everybody talks about the end result. You're playing for the national championship. I think the only experience I tried to use from 2000 was, you've got to want this night to last as long as you can. You've got to want them to put more time on the clock. You've got to love playing.

When he's letting it go and shooting with confidence like that, it makes us a different team. Some days, it might not be his night, but we need for him to continue to be aggressive.

I do not believe there is any clear-cut favorite right now. LSU has been the most impressive in our league, but you're dealing with depth issues for everybody, you're dealing with fatigue issues, you're going to have to deal with foul trouble, you're going to have to deal with playing three games in a row.

He needed to have a game like this. I was happy for him. The last week or so, I think he's been doing some soul searching, just trying to find a way to come up with some answers to help our team. He helped out big-time tonight.