00:00That journey, though, tell us just a little bit where the school's been.
00:03You've got to be proud of what went on there.
00:06Well, I came there from Northeastern University, coaching a kid.
00:10You might remember the name, God rest his soul, Reggie Lewis,
00:14and leaving that team in Boston.
00:17And, you know, wanting to play, and Dan, you couldn't have said it better,
00:25against John Thompson, Raleigh Massimino, Louie Konaseka, P.J. Boeheim, I mean, Rick Pitino.
00:34So I went, and we got good fairly quick.
00:39We won the NIT my second year, which was a pretty big deal in Northeast.
00:45And then we started getting better players, and we branched out.
00:49The Big East was the Southeast Conference of football in one way.
00:54And we were basketball.
00:55Now, think about it.
00:57Six of the nine guys that I joined as a coach are in the Hall of Fame.
01:02Six out of nine.
01:03So every night, yeah, I crank it up.
01:05And there were guys like P.J. and Calissimo and other people that, you know,
01:11just couldn't – the league would not let you be great.
01:14Now, P.J. could have won a championship if they hadn't lost to Michigan on a bad call.
01:19But regardless, it was a special time.
01:23The state bought it.
01:25We're a little different because most of the other schools are small Catholic schools,
01:29and we're a state school, and we're ready to captivate the state,
01:32fill up the building night after night, and most important thing, get good players.
01:38Coach, what do you make of the current group here with Dan Hurley?
01:41How good do you think this UConn team, and how far do you think they can go this year?
01:45Well, funny situation.
01:47They're 20 and 1.
01:49Terrific.
01:50And the other night, I was coming down off the floor,
01:53and Danny was leaving the floor after an interview,
01:56and he kind of hugs me and says, what do you think?
01:58What do you think?
01:59And what's wrong with us?
02:01I said, let me – read my lips carefully.
02:04You don't have the team that had in 24.
02:07With three or four of those kids, four of those kids, by the way,
02:10are in the All-Star game playing the sophomore games, et cetera, et cetera.
02:15And in between Smith, the point guard, I mean, they were really, really good.
02:20And Klingon, big 7'3 kid, Cam Spencer, Danny, can he win it?
02:29Well, I'm kind of jumping here, but he can win it.
02:33The reason they're winning these close games, not playing particularly well,
02:37is because – and it's going to sound funny, but I truly believe it –
02:41you know what winners learn?
02:43How to win.
02:44And you know what?
02:45You know what?
02:46Losers, teams that continue to lose get beaten down, they learn how to lose.
02:52And everybody says, what do you mean learn how to lose?
02:54Oh, yeah, they're not going to follow that kid maybe with one second on the
02:58shot clock, let them shoot that three, get to a tie game, and lose.
03:02Or any other things.
03:04And I don't mean that derogatorily.
03:06I don't mean that usually it's a talent gap or experience gap.
03:11What UConn does have, the kid ball can really shoot the ball.
03:16Alex is a 6'7 guy who's – understand this now.
03:21In five years at school, he registered his freshman year.
03:24He can win three national championships himself.
03:27That's pretty special stuff.
03:29Wow.
03:30I like – I like our team, but the question I asked Danny when I go to practice,
03:37which I do quite a bit, you know, who do you want to have the ball when it's,
03:43you know, the time when you need that guy to make a shot or make a play?
03:49And I don't know if he said late – I think to some degree, you know,
03:54he has players, but they aren't quite the caliber of the guys I just named
03:59who are playing in the NBA All-Star game.
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