Cut Saint Peter's head coach Shaheen Holloway a little bit of slack if he's just dripping bravado right about now.
After his Peacocks shocked the world as a No. 15 seed entering the Sweet 16, Holloway displayed a verbal swagger that surely has passed on to his team.
Here are 16 of the defining quotes from the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament:
Gonzaga
Who said it: Leading scorer Drew Timme, on turning it on in the second half against Memphis
"I would like to stop doing that. I would like to do a better job in the first half because that's not a recipe to go far and win a lot of games. Credit to Coach, (guard) Andrew (Nembhard), everyone believing in me and continuing to push me and keep having confidence in me. It's just so easy to get shots off from a guy like him who controls the whole flow of the game. This dude didn't come out of the game one time and he's getting picked up 94 feet. The amount of shape you have to be in to do that, control a game and ice the game with two free throws, it's crazy. A lot of emotions from that game for sure."
Arizona
Who said it: Center Christian Koloko, on staving off an upset bid by No. 9-seeded TCU
"It's simple. It was win or go home. Win or go home. We knew we had to battle through adversity. That's not the first time we were down. We knew we've got to keep playing our game. Coach, he trusts us. And he told us we've got to hang in there. I think that's what we did. We didn't panic. We played our game and we came back. Just gotta give credit to my teammates and coaching staff. We have a good plan and we won. So that's amazing."
Kansas
Who said it: Forward Jalen Wilson, on Arizona State transfer Remy Martin after the former Sun Devil had 20 points off the bench against Creighton
"I mean, he was the player of the game with his energy. Him being able to creating his own shot, especially when we needed a shot late in the clock. For him to be so much of a good teammate throughout the year and show leadership throughout the year, no matter what was going on. And now for him to step up like this is huge. He makes our team go farther than what we could without him."
Duke
Who said it: Forward Wendell Moore, on Mike Krzyzewski's last NCAA Tournament run
"For us it's been like that all year. Every game we play has been Coach's last something, so we've kind of been able to adapt to it. We view it as kind of motivation for us because we say we always want to go out and do it for Coach, send him out on a high note. But at the same time, this is our season as well, too. Coach will tell you guys, he's probably told you guys before, he doesn't like the spotlight on him like that. He wants it to be about us. So we're all in this together. We're going to make it about us and Coach."
Villanova
Who said it: Guard Collin Gillespie, on advancing to the Sweet 16
"We're just happy to be moving on. We're taking it one day at a time. We're just having a growth mindset. We want to go back this week, watch the film. We can get a lot better from it. There's a lot of things we can do to get better this week and prepare for Michigan. We know how great of a team they are and the difficulties they present."
Purdue
Who said it: Coach Matt Painter, on a quick turnaround against a talented Texas team
"Just the preparation on a one-day prep to face somebody like Texas is really difficult. They don't let you run a lot of your stuff, a lot of your offensive sets. They really put you in a bind. We felt like we had an advantage on the interior and we really wanted to go inside, but we also wanted to open some things up and try to get Jaden (Ivey) in the open court, try to get him in ball screen action and just make the right reads. I thought our guys were quick to the ball today. Obviously we got out-rebounded by 13. We lived at the free-throw line and you can't ask for more. Our issue all year's been turnovers. So as long as we stay around 8 to 12 we've had a lot of success this year and we kept it at 12."
Gonzaga forward Drew Timme puts up a shot in the Bulldogs' comeback win over Memphis in the second round. "A lot of emotions from that game for sure," he said.
Texas Tech
Who said it: Guard Kevin McCullar, on advancing to the Sweet 16
"This is a March game. I'm so excited right now I can't put it into words. So thankful for my brothers on the team, Coach (Mark) Adams and stuff. It came down to defense. We knew we needed to get stops against a really good Notre Dame team. That's what we ended up doing. And we hit some big free throws."
Providence
Who said it: Guard Al Durham, after the Friars held off Richmond in the Round of 32
"We knew they were a comfortable team playing from behind, and they came back in the last five, six games. So we wanted to come out with a 0-0 mentality. We start the first half and then the start of the second half, just energetic, strong, and gritty. We wanted to keep the defense up, and our defense led to our offense, and I think that took a stride tonight.
Arkansas
Who said it: Guard Jaylin Williams, after the Razorbacks went 22 of 25 from the free-throw line against New Mexico State
"Free throws have been our identity the whole year and getting to the free-throw line and hitting free throws. Our offense wasn't clicking, so we just stayed aggressive and tried to get to the line. Every time we stepped up to the line, we stepped up there confident. We knew that Chris (Lykes) was going to knock down the free throws at the end. Everybody was. We just stepped up and hit them."
UCLA
Who said it: Coach Mick Cronin, on the status of Jaime Jaquez Jr.
"We've got until Friday to play. And trust me, if he can walk, he'll play. I know him. Most guys that have what he has would have sat the rest of the season out. So he's got some issues. Yeah, he's had so many sprained ankles, I don't know how much he can sprain it anymore. So we'll see. Fortunately, we got until Friday. We play through him a lot on offense. But I just told Jaylen Clark and Peyton Watson, these guys will tell you, these guys got talent and these guys are still playing. So, obviously, you want Jaime to be healthy. But if he's not, we got other guys we can play."
Houston
Who said it: Guard Jamal Shead, on playing for coach Kelvin Sampson
"He's an emotional coach, you know. When we win and we're happy, he shows it sometimes, too. I'm so happy to play for him. It's a joy to play for him. We love each other so much that when those emotions are high, we got to let βem out."
North Carolina
Who said it: Coach Hubert Davis, after UNC knocked off No. 1 seed and defending national champion Baylor
"Baylor is defending champions, they were a No. 1 seed and they are absolutely unbelievable. And you just had two teams that were fighting and scratching and kicking and clawing on every pass, every rebound, every cut, every shot, every free throw. And when that happens, at times, physicality happens. But it was a very competitive game, physical game, and two great teams played today."
Miami
Who said it: Forward Sam Waardenburg, on his team's style
"As we've shown throughout the season, our identity is a pressure team. When it comes to the bigs in the paint, (Auburn's Walker) Kessler, they're strong guys with height and weight on this. My job is not to better those guys whatsoever. My job is to front them. If they get into ball screen action, our idea was to, at the five, we were going to hard show β I mean, trap actually and put a lot of pressure. These guys do an amazing job of getting their hands on the ball, getting steals, forcing those turnovers. Charlie Moore is always down there. I think we did a great job tonight securing rebounds as well. Looking at nine rebounds from the smallest guy on our team, that's insane. We just had a great night tonight. It's what we can do every night. Super proud of these guys."
Iowa State
Who said it: Coach T.J. Otzelberger, on his players' focus
"Our players also have a tremendous amount of focus. You know, the ego part of it, we're asking our guys to do really hard things all the time and give multiple efforts. It's not just pressure the ball, it's pressure the ball, sprint to the gap, block out, rebound down continually. So we're asking of our guys to make four or five effort-based plays, a lot of times defensively in a possession. And you learn about your team when you come to practice and you see their level of focus."
Michigan
Who said it: Center Hunter Dickinson, after the Wolverines beat Tennessee in the Round of 32
"That's one of the reasons why I ended up choosing Michigan, was the pedigree and the tradition of winning, comes to football, basketball, hockey, we've got field hockey, just seems like everybody is winning at Michigan. And there is a prestige that comes with wearing that block M that I don't take lightly and something I wear proudly when I walk out here with Michigan across my chest."
Saint Peter's
Who said it: Coach Shaheen Holloway, on upsetting Murray State to reach the Sweet 16
"That's what we do all year. Y'all hear me? This is what we do all year. This is who this team is. This is a defensive team. This is why we came into this tournament with a seven-game winning streak because these guys understand that playing defense wins championships. Playing defense wins championships. And these guys bought in, and the rest is history."
