Richard Pitino
Darin Haugh
- It's difficult on the senior glass because there's not much time left on the hour glass. Akeem has acclimated very well. He's a leader on the team. He was a terrific addition. Darin hasn't played a whole lot, but I gave him a scholarship and I think that shows what I think about him as a person. He's always ready in practice and he's been terrific as well.
- It's not as easy as people think when you bring in a 5th year guy. It's not going to work if they're not playing, and I don't blame them. You wonder why they're transferring and what the deal is. Akeem's coach was fired. I really connected with him on his visit and liked him a lot. You have to get the right 5th year senior. There's probably a lot that have not worked. We're lucky that Malik and Akeem have worked.
- I think people forget that we're one of the youngest teams in the country. It made sense to bring in Akeem.
- I remember when he first came and at practice I told him to sit out to watch a play, and he looked like a pro who had just been traded. He came in and was able to do it right away. He's a likable kid too.
- What makes me most proud of this year is our guys earned it. Those fans are our fans. They weren't great crowds at the beginning, and I don't blame people. They earned them back. I tell them to be proud. The common fan may not respect Penn State, but to get that crowd for Penn State is a testament to our guys. This building is the biggest advantage we have -- over practice facilities and everything else we have, Williams Arena is our biggest advantage.
- There's a pride thing with Williams Arena. I always equate it to Wrigley Field, Fenway Park. I don't know if the raised floor has anything to do with the advantage, but it seems to.
- I think people tend to forget that we were pretty close last year. If you were paying attention, we were close in a lot of games, and we had transfers and a good recruiting class coming in. I still felt like we'd get there. I saw the transfers in practice, I knew Bakary would get better. I just thought it would be a much more complete team.
- Reggie didn't do anything different against Penn State. It's nothing I can take credit for. Whatever he did, do it again.
- Reggie gets a lot of his fouls when he gets tired. He also gets a lot of his fouls because he's an unorthodox shot blocker. He blocks shots on the ball, but because he does that it puts him in position to get more fouls. I usually tell guys to block balls off of rotations.
- The team's aware of the double bye, certainly. But there's so much at stake regardless. Every win helps with seeding. My point to them is to beat a very good team in Nebraska.
- I've been lucky to be around some great NCAA Tournament runs, been around it my whole life. There's only one team that ends up happy. When the season's over, you always reflect back to the games and the practices. You have to enjoy that part of it. I'm not saying we'll never win an NCAA championship, but you have to enjoy the journey. Playing in front of a sold out crowd in February is fun. Our guys are excited about playing a good team, and they shouldn't worry about the rest.
- I think what was good with the players only meeting is they took ownership of their actions. With coaches it can be tough because it's kind of like throwing your players under the bus. You have to do it.
- Akeem's very vocal. He's the one talking first when going through the scouting report. He's very easy to coach. He definitely has an awareness of what's going on.
- Being in the running for coach of the year is such a 180 that we almost laugh about it a little bit. I try not to buy into it too much. If someone stops me and says something nice, I say thank you, or an email. It's nice. But other than that, you just go with the flow.
- Fans are frustrated everywhere. I talk to Tim Miles a lot. I consider him a friend. It doesn't make sense to me that someone would want him fired. They play hard, he's recruiting well, they're selling their place out, he took them to an NCAA Tournament. It doesn't make much sense that people are talking like that. We all go through it, and I think he'll be just fine.
- I remember the first time I played here, and it was just weird. It felt like an away game, having been at Milwaukee for so many years.
- I did my research and I knew that Minnesota had a lot of close games the year before I transferred. I knew they had a good recruiting class and returned players. The year before we went to the Tournament at Milwaukee, we only won eight games, so the record didn't really play into my decision to transfer.
- Some people still say my last name wrong, they call me Springer. But I love the fans here. You never really know how it's going to be coming in. On my visit, I remember looking around the Barn and thinking it would be full and great, and it's way better than I even imagined.
- I could have transferred to Ole Miss, to other Big Ten schools, to places where three of us Milwaukee players could have played.
- It just felt like a family here when I visited.
- This year for everyone, me included, we're definitely playing with a chip on our shoulder. Coach says there's no pressure because we're not on the bubble, but we're all still chasing something. That's why we're all so locked in.
- Darin's the fastest guy on the team. He plays the 2 position and I always have to chase him. Coach yells at me and Darin just starts smirking.
- When you're in college, you're either really close with your teammates or hate them. We have a group that's really close. I think this is a group of guys that I'll be friends with forever. Even Darin asked me to go hunting with him.
Darin Haugh
- It was a dream come true when Pitino told me I was on scholarship. Best moment of my life. It was July 2 or 3.
- I was going to start paying for schooling on my own. I wanted to tell him that I didn't know if I was going to be able to continue paying because I needed to work. I was going to tell Pitino that and then he told me he was planning to give me a scholarship. I had a job lined up as a pharmacy technician.
- Joey King's watching all of our games at 2 or 3 in the morning at his time. He tells us how much potential we have, and that's big coming from the trying season we had last year.
- I know Amir, Eric, Mike, and Brady all think this is the best place in the world to play.
- Helping out on scout team and hearing guys speak highly of my role is good. It's what I'm here for.
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