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Bruce Pearl and Clay Tucker Quotes

2003 NCAA Tournament - West Regional

March 17, 2003

Bruce Pearl on the NCAA Tournament:
"For us, it's just an honor to be a part of the NCAA Tournament for the first time. Then, to draw a great team like Notre Dame is great. From a standpoint of a memorable and accomplished opponent, it doesn't get much better than that."

On Notre Dame:
"I've been a big fan of Mike Brey for a long time. When I was an assistant at Iowa he was an assistant at Duke. I'm sure he is very familiar with our system and what we try to do."

"Notre Dame is a team that won't take us lightly, that's for sure. I know they have two very good guards who can handle our pressure and hurt you from the perimeter. They have a very good inside/outside game and they were one of the more physical teams in the Big East."

On His Team:
"We have some very good kids who came here and turned themselves into good players. We have some experience playing in big games and we've played in front of some big crowds at places like Wisconsin and Georgia."

"I just want to thank the committee for putting us in Indianapolis. We obviously won't have near the number of fans as a Notre Dame or Illinois but I'm appreciative of the fact that our fans will be able to drive down and see us play."

"We felt we would be an 11 or 12 seed so this is about right. I sat down and made a list of about 10 or so teams that I thought we would play and Notre Dame was one of them. I'm sure we were a team that they were possibly looking at as well."

Clay Tucker on Notre Dame:
"Notre Dame is obviously a quality program with great basketball tradition. They have good depth and have quality players at the one through five positions. We just have to play our game."

"There was obviously a lot less pressure on us than Butler since we got the automatic bid and they had to wait. Obviously Notre Dame is a very good team but I feel pretty confident about our this team and our chances."