Rick Pitino

He knew I enjoyed the relationships of college basketball. All along, he was the wise one.

I plan to coach at University of Louisville for as long as I can maintain the passion I have for the game of basketball. I don't want to coach anywhere else. I don't believe in anything else as much as I believe in this university and this state. I want to coach as long as they will have me.

Basketball is my passion, and I love it, and I love to see my players succeed. I'm here for them and my children. That's my passion.

I can say that hands down from being in this business 32 years; we're going to be much better than we were last year just because there's eight new players that now have experience and Palacios will be healthy.

If I had one regret in life... it's that I was not more humble at an earlier age.

I'd learned how much happiness money can bring you. Very little.

I'm at the stage of my career when it's not only about winning and developing players, it's about having fun. That's a void in your life right now, but it's something you're going to have here.

I just don't deal with the negativity. I can't get involved in that side of it. I don't understand it, and you can't let it take away from your life and what you are trying to do.

The one thing I've always said: Let your family and close friends be the judge of who you are as a person. Don't worry about being judged by others who don't know you, because your family and close friends know what you're all about, good and bad.

What I've found in my life with our children is that often you can give them advice and tell them to eat the right things, stay in shape and wear sunscreen, and they don't really want to listen. But then they hear it from someone else, and they do listen.

I care what people think, but it doesn't change my opinion of how to do things.

If I didn't have a recruiting engagement, I was going to be here. I did everything possible to change the recruiting thing. I'm a very small part of this night, but I did want to be a part of it.