I think we've solidified ourselves as one of the teams to beat in the country. We just have to be disciplined enough to play our system and disciplined enough to stay out of the box.

I think they beat a lot of great teams last year. They were knocking on the door to make it to state ... they should be pretty salty this year.

We practiced with [UMSL] over break, and a lot of guys know guys on the other team. It's one of those friendly rivalries that could end up not being so friendly in the end because we're both after the same thing, and we both have a legitimate shot at it.

Conditioning is a big thing. We have this tendency to play 30 minutes of a 36 minute game. ... Half of it is conditioning, but then half of it is just the mental intensity to play the entire game.

We've all committed ourselves to having a good team, and we have a lot of individual talent. I think one-on-one, individually, we're better than any team in the country.

I think we are capable of defending that championship, but there are some very good teams to beat to do that. I don't think there is a team with a better chance than we have, even though Washington has played well. One of the biggest surprises is USC has really stepped up. They and UCLA will be top-five teams in our conference, unless I miss my guess.