Seton Hall quote book: Villanova

Kevin Willard on Seton Hall's relentlessness:
"I'm so proud of this team, I'm so proud of what we've accomplished and where we are. I'm also excited about if we play that hard next week, I'm excited about next week -- I really am -- and that's what I told the team. That's a good basketball team out there cutting down the nets, they deserve it. They fought hard and got some big stops, but I love the fact that my team fought and we had a chance to win it, and I'll take him (Myles Powell) shooting the last-second shot every day."

Myles Powell on his game-winning attempt:
"I thought it was going to drop. Shooters usually aim for the back of the rim, and it just hit off long. We got another opportunity off of it and we tried to throw it up to Sandro to see if he could tie it, but we just didn't have enough time."

Willard on Anthony Nelson:
"Ant played phenomenal. Q (Quincy McKnight), as many minutes as Q's played, when he pivoted on the offensive end, he kind of slipped and tweaked his groin, and then he sat for a while -- and it's hard to sit for that long and then jumping back into it -- and Ant, I thought, played phenomenal, he played with great confidence and I thought he played really well defensively, but Q will be fine."

Powell on Seton Hall's NCAA Tournament confidence:
"We feel very confident. We're playing our best basketball right now, it's the best time to play your best basketball, and we're just going to get through tomorrow, see where we wind up going, who we're playing, and we're just going to get back and pick our heads up, and keep fighting."

Willard on Villanova's rebounding:
"We knew going in that their offensive rebounds were going to be critical, and early in the game, it kind of got them going a little bit. They got two big offensive rebounds for threes, and then they got two big tip-outs late in the second half that kind of kept their possessions alive, but it's a two-point game and we have a shot to win it, so I thought we did a good job of not turning the ball over, I thought we did a great job of turning them over. That's why it was such a close game."

On how Seton Hall has matured:
"I can't talk enough about how proud I am. This team has been -- I told them -- this team has been so much fun to coach and so much fun to be around, so much fun to battle with. This one hurts because I think both teams just laid it out on the line and everyone had a big, big shot to win it, but I think it shows more about the heart and the character of these kids. We've gotten down and down, and these guys just keep fighting, they keep believing no matter what's going on within the flow of the game. They seem to fight everything and stay together, and just keep making great plays, and it's been an absolute pleasure to kind of be along for the ride with them."

On the clock running in the final minute, and whether he was aware of it:
"The clock continues to run on a made basket until it hits a minute. I'm not going to say anything about the refs, so who knows? That's their job, they stopped the play. We had a 15-minute delay the other day to fix nine seconds, so I think towards the end of the game, that's their job, so no, no one on the bench did (tell me)."

On his technical fouls in each of the past two games, and whether he received any explanations:
"No, those were the first ones in three years."

On Powell's performance this week:
"I think it's exciting. I think the country already knows him, but I think they're going to get an even bigger taste next week on the national stage. It's more fun being around him, to be honest with you, than watching him play, because he's a better kid off the court than he is on it. He's such a pleasure to be around, he's such a pleasure to coach, he listens, and I think that's why he's come from a good player to a great player."

Powell on significance of Saturday's championship game:
"We had a good opportunity to make history tonight, so we're definitely hurting from it. Everybody was comparing us to the 2016 team and we just wanted to match their legacy, so when you come up short like that, it kind of hurts. But we have a lot to be proud of. We fought, and at the end of the day, that's all you can ask for."

On using Saturday's loss as fuel for the NCAA Tournament:
"We made it here. Everybody didn't expect us to be here. We believed in ourselves, our coaching staff believed in us. We could play with anybody in the country, so we just beat Marquette twice, 'Nova last week -- and they were the top two teams in our conference -- and today we gave 'Nova a hard fight, so we know we can play with anybody in the country when we're playing our basketball, so we're going to be ready for the Tournament next week."

Willard on significance of four straight 20-win seasons:
Powell: "He should have won Coach of the Year."
Willard: "Thanks, kid, I really appreciate that vote of confidence. You're the best."

"I'll be honest with you: The reason why this program's on solid footing is because we had an unbelievable recruiting class to come in: Isaiah, Angel, Khadeen -- I love when I talk about Desi -- Desi, Ish, Michael. I think the career Michael's had is unbelievable, and those guys came in with the attitude that they wanted to put this program on the map, and they deserve the credit because they worked hard. And then they passed on the legacy to this young man (Powell), and he's taking it by himself and singlehandedly kept it going, so I've just been lucky I've got a great group of kids over the last four years, and that's kind of why we are where we are."

Willard on his confidence in Seton Hall entering the NCAA Tournament:
"I've learned a lot from that year (2016) -- I mean, that was such an emotional ride -- we went out west and I left too early. I've learned a lot, and I have so much confidence in this group. I know they'll be back -- tomorrow? I know they'll be back Monday ready to work, and as long as they come back the way they did after we lost a tough one to Georgetown, after we lost a couple in a row during the year, I know -- and I have such great confidence in this team that I know we'll bounce back -- and to be honest with you, I'm more looking forward to the NCAA Tournament. I have more confidence in my team than I think I ever have."