Being just nominated is a great honor. To have your name mentioned with some of the greats of Illinois basketball is something you really don't expect.

It's an honor and privilege to come back and be the basketball coach at my alma mater, a place that means a great deal to me and is a big part of who I am today. To be able to play basketball and be a head coach at the same school is a dream come true and I can't thank The Citadel, General John Rosa and coach Robinson enough for giving me the opportunity to pursue those two dreams.

Matt hustles a lot and is just a great athlete. He doesn't have outstanding basketball skills, but he's a great baseball player and a winner. He knows how to get the job done and gets his share of steals and rebounds.

We're thrilled to get that basketball tournament.

Julius never really went out anywhere unless he had a basketball with him. You never expect to hear anything like this about one of your kids.

Basketball is always a game of spurts. And as a coach, it's my job to coach the team to stop the spurts. And that's what I told the team at halftime. We knew it would eventually be a much closer game, maybe single digits.