“[Anthony Farmer] is banged up. He sprained his wrist [last night against Louisville]. He’ll miss today’s practice, and then we’ll evaluate him. It’ll be a day-by-day thing to see when he’ll be back on the floor but we’re hoping he will be back on the floor on Saturday.
“We really couldn’t see anything, how it got sprained or bruised. We’re just going to evaluate him and treat him and try to get him on the floor.
“He’s our captain, our leader at point guard so it’s tough not to have him out there. We have to try to get him healthy and see if we can get him Saturday.”
–Rutgers coach Fred Hill on Anthony Farmer’s wrist injury
“We go up to the Garden on Saturday. We’re playing a St John’s team that is very, very similar to us. Very, very good defensively, playing very hard. I expect a very hard fought defensive minded game Saturday up at the Garden.”
–Hill on the St. John’s game
“We want to win every game but we don’t put an emphasis on having to win every game. Our goal is to get better each and every game…We’ve played some real good basketball but we haven’t been able to put together 40 minutes.”
–Hill on starting out 0-6 in the league
“[Terrence Williams] has improved every year out. He’s added something to his game every year out. Right now he’s much improved with his jump shot. He’s probably one of the best players in America that people don’t talk about like [Stephon] Curry or [Tyler] Hansbrough. He rebounds, he passes, he’s the best defensive player on the team. He’s probably the smartest player on the team. I don’t think he’s even ranked in the Naismith award in the Top 50 players in the country. …and I think he’s one of the best players in the country.”
–Louisville coach Rick Pitino on Terrence Williams
“One-game win streaks in this league are something to be happy about. I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never seen anything like this coming at you for six weeks.”
–-Notre Dame coach Mike Brey on how tough the Big East is
“No one has the physical front lines that the Big East has. No one has our big guys. I looked at the front lines in the Big Ten and and the ACC…There is NBA size and physicality and strength on the front lines in this league. And it’s just different and I think better because of that.”
–Brey on the brutal front lines in the Big East.
“We’re not going to do anything different with our routine just because it’s ‘College Gameday.'”
–Brey on hosting UConn Saturday
“Terrence Williams has really become the driving force of Louisville.. I think there was a big question what happens when [David] Padgett leaves because Padgett calms the locker room down and I think Terrence Williams has been that guy.”
–-Brey on T-Will
“Game in and game out every game is a challenge for us. And I think until you get that first one the pressure builds and it makes it something that you don’t want to have mentally effect your team. A lot of the teams that are struggling right now have a lot of young players and …not having success effects them.”
–DePaul coach Jerry Wainright on seeking that first win
“I personally think all three of them are going to play for money….They kind of started as the group that was going to be the backbone for the program after Dwyane Wade left. Their imprint on the program is going to be everlasting.”
–Wainwright on the Marquette trio of Dominic James, Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal
“Actually I’m not looking forward to Notre Dame…Notre Dame really believes they’re going to win every game [at home].”
–UConn coach Jim Calhoun on Saturday’s tilt with the Irish
“Jay [Wright’s] teams really come at you. They attack you defensively and they have good players…..It was a war. It was a great win for us and a real tough loss for Jay’s team, which has in my opinion had the toughest losses in the league.”
–Calhoun on beating Villanova
“I don’t think Hasheem cares. I don’t think Luke cares. He was taken out of contest. Luke put 24 and 7 on us last year. Hasheem knows how good Luke Harangody is. I agree with you that he’ll get fans [yelling] as part of the deal. …Hasheem is really respectful of his opponents. He was misquoted, misspoke. He knows how good Luke Harangody is. He’s one of the best players in America.”
–Calhoun on Thabeet’s ESPN The Magazine quotes in which he said Luke Harangody was “not tough”
“Between Terrence Willams and Sam Young, those are two of the most difficult matchup problems in our league.”
–-USF coach Stan Heath
“Any home team winning a game is not a surprise to me. It’s not a surprise. Any road win is a good win.”
–Villanova coach Jay Wright on the Big East
“Teams get to No. 1 and they think they’re never going to lose again. It’s just hard to win on the road. Any road victory in our conference is a significant win. It’s very difficult to win every game, and to stay at the top you have to win every game.”
–Wright on what it’s like to be No. 1
