You can't give a team of that caliber that type of cushion and then try to fight back. They weren't working hard enough to score buckets.

We can't always fight uphill. Sooner or later... the ball is going to fall our way.

That was the Toledo team that was picked to win the [MAC] West. They played with an intensity, a ferocity. They were very good. They were picking us up from the time we got off the bus. When they play like that I would think they can beat anyone in the conference.

You just look at that team. The caliber of players they have. They're not going to be intimidated.

We definitely had the makings of a championship-caliber team — 1995, '96, '97, '98, all through there. Basically, until Lou left. We had the right personnel, the right mentality, the right manager. Unfortunately, we got a couple of division championship banners, which are great — at least we have some history now — but no World Series.

I think playing a team of that caliber really helped us figure out what we need to work on the rest of the year. We really picked up some things that we know we have to get better at to be able to compete with those type of teams and be successful the rest of the season.