Jay Wright Quotes (226 Quotes)

I thought it was a terrorist attack, ... I had no idea what was going on.

A lot of times bigger players have to bang inside, they have to do the dirty work, they have to screen, they have to defend in the post, they have to post up. If a smaller guys doesn't mind doing that and actually enjoys doing that, he can play that position and that's what we have.

That was an old-fashioned split the house like we all remember and that was a great way for the 50th anniversary to be played. It was cool.

They were on the top of every aspect of their game. We will learn from this. You've got to beat the best team in their own house.

When we had some tough times a couple of years ago, we were all concerned about the program. I never, ever worried about my job. We all worried about the program.

I didn't think someone would do it this year because of the depth of the conference, because of how much every game is going to take out of you. This is real impressive for both teams. It doesn't surprise me, any of the upsets, because we knew we could get beat any night.

That is definitely the impression. I'm not surprised, because I always thought that should be the perception all year.

I never thought about taking him out. I said to myself, 'We're going to go down with him.

We have more options. We can go a little bit more conventional at times when we have to.

It really served as a great learning experience for us this late in the season. I think it was perfect for this time of year. It woke us up, hit us with a dose of reality, and enabled us to go back to work. Our practices have been spirited and tough.

We will monitor Curtis' recovery over the next few months, ... We plan to be very cautious as we move ahead. This is an incredibly gifted young man and he will be given as much time as he needs to fully recuperate.

If I had four guards like this again, I would do it. But this was really born out of necessity.

They came at us in the second half like they were going to show us that they're the No. 1 team in the nation, and we weren't ready for that. But then we responded.

If we have seniors like this and I'm yelling and screaming at halftime, we're in a lot of trouble. They've got to take responsibility and they did.

We will sit down when the season is over and we will gather all the information, and there is no one that wants what's best for him more than any of us. I have been incredibly impressed with the way he has handled this.

I'm real proud of our team. To win the conference over a 16-game schedule is a great accomplishment.

Look at Kyle missing the first semester and coming back and being able to play because of his basketball IQ. Shane has not been on campus the whole first semester, and has been able to come in and pick things up rather quickly.

I definitely see the comparison. Both teams had key senior leadership and I can see the parallel between Rudy Gay and Marvin Williams and the impact that each has. I had never really thought about this before, but I definitely see it.

I'd rather just give Penn credit.

It's always a constant give and take. We're usually undersized so there's certain things and certain areas sometimes rebounding that we give up. But the game is a constant match, to see how they're matching up.

I think we kind of felt like the odds were against us all year, being small and playing with the four guards, and I think that's got to be the same attitude that we go into the tournament with. We have to go in hungry and wanting to prove ourselves.

I always wanted to be here. My wife went to Villanova. This is a great area for college basketball.

Billy (Donovan) has done an incredible job getting this group together. I think what we all see in them this year is an outstanding team. They just really play off each other.

I don't think we understand how hard people are going to come at us. These guys have never gone through a season like this, ranked early, getting so much attention. Everyone else wants to make their name off you. You can't imagine how hard people come at you.

For some reason in the first half, it was like our feet were frozen. I've got to watch the film to understand it.

I don't think I've ever used the word grind, but I've found myself using that word a lot to describe this season. There was just never a time to relax this season. There was not one second to relax. But that's the sign of a great league.

One guy, Speedy Claxton. He reminds me a lot of him. You ask how does a guy 5-10 make it to the NBA That's the kind of things Speedy did. He's the only other person I've seen do that. That's why he's special. A lot of guys say, 'I'm a point guard. I set people up, that's what I do.' Kyle's a ballplayer. He says 'I'll do anything I have to do'... The point guard is not supposed to do that. A good team can block out four guys. You're not thinking about blocking out the point guard, but he loves that. That's a basketball player.

I don't know what to expect. I don't think we've ever played anywhere against a player of this magnitude in terms of what he means to a program, in terms of what he means to college basketball. A player that's as loved as Gerry McNamara playing his last home game I don't know if we'll ever do this again.

That was a good experience for us. I think this game is going to really make us stronger.

Villanova fans have seen a lot of great classes. For our staff, this class is going to always be special to us, no matter what they do this year. They really helped us establish what we wanted to do here re-establish the tradition here at Villanova.

I'm at Villanova for life now. I'm happy as hell.

My wife and I talk about it all the time. We have three kids, and we're on them all the time, telling them what to do, who they should listen to.

That's a Big Five game, and as long as we play in the Big Five, I'm never going to have one of these games let me make decisions about my team. These games are crazy. I'm not going to be down on my guys based on what happens in these games. We just have to survive these games.

We want to shoot 3s, ... We have great confidence in Allan and Mike and Randy, especially. Those three are pretty deadly.

We're always prepared not to have him and it's been that way for four years. We're happy for him personally. He isn't in pain and he played 26 minutes that way.

That is nice for him, and last year in the tournament he struggled. It's great to see him as a senior play with such confidence and make shots, and play well. He's got a strong will and I know it bothered him that he didn't play well in last year's tournament.

I thought this was a home game for us. When they cut it to seven, (the crowd noise) shocked me.

He's always the one nobody talks about. Everyone talks about the four guards. Well if there's four guards, there's one other guy but we never talk about him. He does all the dirty work and he keeps a great attitude.

It's the best possible news we could have had.

We played extremely tough and aggressive. Our defense and rebounding kept us in it. ... Every time Louisville made runs at us (our) guys made big plays. Game number one in the Big East, that's what it's going to be like.

Do we pass up Mike to wait for Mustafa. That's what it came down to. We weren't going to pass up on Mike. We still tried to recruit Mustafa after that point and he told us that he wasn't interested.

It actually looked a lot worse than it was. It's much, much better than they initially anticipated.

We're pretty defensive-minded and when you look at Louisville's defensive percentage and the 3s they hit, you just feel terrible about how you played. Then you look and we hit 14 3s and that's unbelievable. That was just an incredible college basketball game with two outstanding offensive teams drilling big shot after big shot.

That is definitely the perception.

Obviously, we always want to have Allan on the floor. But to beat a good team, you've got to be able to recover from that.

We take the responsibility of representing United States basketball very seriously. You realize the enormity of who you are representing -- the best players in the world, the best coaches in the world -- and you just want to do it justice.

It's his choice. He looks great. His vision is a lot better.

This is the best news we possibly could have gotten.

Our coaches and our guys have a feel for that team. We know them and that should help us prepare for them. But, on the other hand, they know us too.

There was a lot of security for our team, and the teams from Great Britain and Israel, ... We had armed security guards and soldiers with machine guns with us at all times. That was a wakeup call.