But I think Gerry, who has struggled to score against us, has increased his game. He?s a much better ball handler and a much better point guard. He seems to be very comfortable.

We're incredibly happy to be a No. 1 seed. We were 13-3 against top-50 competition. We were 7-2 against top-25 competition. These kids are deserving of a No. 1 seed.

Facing Syracuse up here is obviously a task. They looked very good against Cincinnati. They wore Cincinnati down.

Very few players are able to maintain the pace he's on. I don't think anybody I've ever had can get as hot as he can get. Ben (Gordon) and Ray (Allen) are probably better shooters, but nobody gets as hot as he does. He's done that against a whole bunch of folks. It's not the first time.

If he plays well, then we've got a chance to win it. If Marcus were to sprain an ankle in the first 10 minutes against Albany, then we'll struggle but we would probably win. After that, it's 50-50 if we'll win a game or not.

I believed the character they showed against Pittsburgh would come back, ... even if it was three weeks ago.

We'll tire ourselves out where we need more people in the game. But anytime your eight goes against our eight, we think we have a great advantage.

We have to keep reminding them they?re the No. 1 team in the country to get them to truly believe how good they are. I mean, I spent two hours against Albany trying to get my team to truly believe that. Let?s put it this way: For 28-3, we?re not an overly confident basketball team. On the contrary, this is a team that sometimes has had crises of confidence.

I thought our big kids were terrific. Blocking shots does have a wear-down effect against certain teams, sure. But it sometimes hides bad defense, and that was my concern -- that Syracuse was able to penetrate.