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... And Nothing But The Truth!

February 7, 2006

"I think everyone has a rivalry with Duke. When you're at their stature, everybody wants a piece of you. That's just the way it is. Duke is the standard. Duke is probably what Carolina was 10 years ago; they have a swagger, they have an arrogance in a positive way. They set the standard for how hard you have to play in this league."

"(The Big East) had awfully good schools before (recent changes in conference membership). Generally speaking, the ACC has been and will continue to be one of the very top leagues. The Big East has been and will continue to be one of the top leagues. ... People were wondering a few years ago when we only had three teams in the NCAA Tournament. Those things come and go in cycles. I don't see the quality of our basketball changing in a relative sense nationally."

"The thing that I would always expect from (fans), and maybe I'm naive, is to put yourself or a loved one in that young man's position (on an opposing team) before you begin to speak. You know, you have a good basketball team, your team's winning the game. If you can't get any joy out of it, then why are you at the game?"

"Every coach, if they're doing the right things, will use whatever's just happened to them to create a positive impact on their team. When you win, it sometimes overshadows a poor performance and clouds the idea that you're weak in certain areas. When you lose, there's more reality. There's a result that reflects you not having done things the way they need to be done. ...

"Our offense is OK, but our defense is how we're going to win. ... It's called discipline. It's doing what you're supposed to do, when you're supposed to do it, and the way you're supposed to do it. And we did not show that (against Georgetown)."

"There's this thing called Philly toughness, and (Virginia point guard Sean Singletary) has it. In fact, he's got a triple dose of it."

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"You know me, I'm not going to sit here and point fingers or wax overly philosophical about what's missing. Ultimately, I'm the head coach, and I accept the responsibility. There seems to be a lot missing."

"There's no question we dug ourselves a hole (at 0-3 in the ACC), and it's not like we're really out of the hole, but at least we're in the mix a little bit. We've gone on the road and won at a couple of very difficult places, which I think is quite an accomplishment and a recognition of the discipline and the focus that this team is capable of."

"How can (the Big Ten) be thought of as better than our league when they can't beat us in head-to-head competition? I don't understand how that works, but they do a great job of selling that they're a great league, and hopefully we can do the same thing."

"Mentally as much as physically, (the season is a grind). But, still, you've got to play. You can't cancel the last half of the season just because you're tired. You can't cancel the last half of the season just because things aren't going as well. This is what it's supposed to be like. Life's not supposed to be easy all the time. We've got a bunch of players that life has been pretty good to. Now we'll see how we react to adversity."

"Everything is different (on the recruiting trail). The kids, their egos and their perceptions of themselves just goes beyond anything you've ever seen before. ... In those five years I was away (in the NFL), the internet became an integral part of recruiting. It's just amazing to me. There's a lot of people making a lot of money off of these kids. And look at what's happening to the kids' egos. They eat this stuff up. The people who are around the kid -- relatives, parents and street agents -- all help to inflate the balloon."

"We'll get asked (about Tech's recent NCAA penalties on the recruiting trail). Then we explain it and don't hear anything more about it."

"I wish folks could see that side of Coach (Gary Williams). He's one of those guys that's caring at heart. And once the game is over and you get back to the locker room, he genuinely wants to know how you feel about things. ... I think what I appreciate more than anything is he has this intensity like he's getting ready to coach his first game. You'd think he would reach a point where he would realize, ‘Hey, I'm getting old, I should just mellow out.' But he still has that same intensity."

"You can never, never account for the shots J.J. (Redick) makes for other people, the way defenses play him. He supplies countless numbers of wide-open shots that we get."

"Representatives of Duke (always capable of going 1-11 against any schedule), North Carolina and Georgia Tech can leave the room. Everyone else stays for the lecture. Doesn't anyone associated with ACC football find this (2006 schedule) just a little embarrassing? In an era when half the teams in Division I-A play in bowl games, both Virginia and Wake Forest managed to locate four opponents incapable of playing in a bowl. Boston College was able to find four opponents with records at .500 or below, also a bit of a coup.

"Florida State and Virginia Tech, two of the ACC's ‘flagship' programs, opted for pleasure cruises over serious naval warfare, scheduling all four of their non-league games at home. While ‘Schedule Lite' has been an operating philosophy at Tech for many years, it's stunning to see Florida State with nothing to show but its mandatory game with Florida and three public workouts. Isn't FSU the home of Bobby Bowden's ‘Sod Cemetery,' where patches of turf from big-name opponents' fields are displayed like scalps? The only thing the Seminoles are burying now is their hard-won reputation for being willing to play anyone, anywhere, at any time.

"Not a single Big Ten, Pac-10 or Big 12 opponent appears on an ACC schedule. Several ACC schools won't place any of their non-conference games on television, for the good reason that only obsessive ‘superfan' types would want to watch them. When these Guaranteed Win Night games are played at home, however, those same fans will be paying full price for second-level entertainment. ... As long as fans keep signing checks and filling seats, they can look forward to more high-priced, low-intensity evenings in the company of Florida Atlantic, Florida A&M and Florida International. Class dismissed."