In this league, this year, you have seven or eight dark horses. I felt the new teams would make the middle of our league much more powerful than ever before, and I think that's been proven. That's where it has improved our league. It's not top-heavy.

Their press forced us to rush in the second half. It changes the whole game when they are able to press and push the tempo on offense.

The middle part of the league now is going to be so competitive. It is a bad thing record-wise, but it is a good thing for RPI.

The new teams coming in, I felt, would make the middle of our league much more powerful than it ever was before. And I think that's been proven this year. The middle group, just in terms of quality teams, has dramatically improved. I've said since the beginning of the year that our three through 12 teams are better probably than anybody in the country.

It?s a big deal. Even though he plays it down, it?s a big deal.

This league is nuts. It makes for a fun league, but it doesn't make for people feeling comfortable making the NCAA Tournament.

They don't have a lot of size, but they are quick. With their quickness, they are going to be able to beat a lot of teams and move up in the conference.

The teams coming into this league are really good, and that is a positive and a negative. They are going to affect the middle of the league. You will see a team finish fifth that will be 8-8 or 9-7 in the conference where before we finished tied for fourth and we were 10-6. That's a big difference.

I've been coaching 28 years, and with this team I never know what's going to happen. When we were up 21, I was sweating. Notre Dame is like us, inconsistent offensively. Teams get into offensive funks.

We've played well the last two games. But we don't see defenses like we'll see at Rutgers. We always have problems getting shots, and they turn us over more than most because of their quickness. Plus it's up there. It's going to be difficult.