Assistant coach Jim Rosborough: “It never occurred to us that we could win it. Maybe in the back of our minds after we beat Kansas. We’d played North Carolina before, beat them the first game of the year. But nobody talked about it, I can guarantee you that.”
Guard Miles Simon: “I always thought our team could win at a high level. Mike Bibby, Mike Dickerson, Jason Terry, Bennett Davison — there was no doubt in my mind we could win at a high level. But that was the only expectation I had.”
Forward Donnell Harris: “The first two days back at school, we had an open gym. I called my mom and said, “I don’t know how good we are, but we’re good enough to win. My mom recently reminded me of that.”
Forward Bennett Davison: “AJ (Bramlett) and I were dominant forces on defense. I look back and wonder if I’d have picked a different school, maybe I could’ve been more of an offensive player. But look, every team has a Kobe and a Shaq, and great role players. You’ve got to have your Shane Battiers, your Rick Foxes, who go out and do the dirty things no one wants to do.”
Forward Eugene Edgerson: “I can’t single out one guy from that group. Collective effort. Everyone carried their own weight and more. Today, if you’re ever around us, spend time with us together, you’re going to see a bond that will always be there. It was a team. You don’t see that nowadays. It’s a lot of individuals trying to do their own thing, who don’t understand if everyone does their role, everyone will get a piece of the pie. Those days unfortunately are gone.”
Rosborough: “If you were at our practices, you saw things develop. We had a great, great defensive team; Bennett Davison was probably as good a defensive player as anyone I ever coached. He could guard anyone one through five. A.J. Bramlett just got better and better. Jason Terry, Miles Simon, who was a proven guy, Michael Dickerson, no one could guard him. We had some tools.”
Simon: “All of us were so different in how we played. Bibby is such a great passer and became a great shooter. He was a sneaky good defender, especially off the ball. JT (Terry) was just a monster all around, a future Player of the Year off the bench? He could change the whole pace and tempo of the game. He could take their best player out of the game. Mike Dickerson, as explosive a scorer there has ever been. I remember an assistant coach, now a friend of mine, said we were the hardest team to prepare for. We just ran motion, and all the guys were so smart. We were always moving, and in different places.”
