March 16, 2010

Head coach Gary Williams

Opening statement:
"This is a great thing, playing in the NCAA Tournament, especially for the players. I've been there a few times but for the players I think it's special each time you do it and it's special for me. Here we go. We're looking forward to it. We're playing a Houston team that's won six out of eight. They beat UTEP, a Top 25 team, in the conference championship game. So we know they're playing their best basketball. They're a team - as you watch videotape of them - that shoots the three. They like to run and they're very aggressive after they get a rebound. It's a little different lineup than what we're use to seeing in terms that they play four guards quite a bit of the time. They're not worried about mismatches or size they just put their best players on the court regardless of position. They come after you so it should be a good basketball game."

On what's most special about this team compared to the 2002 national championship team:
"Well the championship team had been to the Final Four the year before. We had a great deal of confidence going into 2002 based on what we did the year before. This team has had to fight this year to get to where they could be the four-seed in the tournament. We weren't there probably until February. I think that's the difference. That team in 2002 we were good from the start. We were a very good basketball team. We've had to fight to get there [this year]. You have to prove yourself every year."

On how the NCAA Tournament is different than the rest of the year:
"Well this is all different. You've heard everybody talk about how this is a different season. It's true; you play teams you're not familiar with. They're not familiar with you. You play a conference team whether it's the ACC tournament or the regular season, everybody knows exactly what everybody does, knows their plays. This is the time of year if you execute well you might really be able to generate some things from your plays because the other teams just aren't that familiar, just like we're not that familiar with Houston's plays. So playing well is really key this year. If you play your level - whatever got you to the NCAA Tournament - you don't have to play over your head to do well, but you do have to play to your level."