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"It was a fantastic afternoon. It’s weird. Keith Langford just told me in the locker room, it’s the same score as when we played at Stillwater last year: 79-61. Nick Collison, 24 points, 16 rebounds, seven blocked shots, and it was really eight, because the referee made a horrible call and called a foul on him when he blocked a shot early in the second half. That would have tied the school record on blocks. Other than at the free throw line, 4-11 there, I thought he was sensational. And Kirk couldn’t get the ball to stay in the basket for him. But still ended up with 19. They’re as tough a competitors as I’ve ever coached, and in reality, they’re as good a kids as I’ve ever coached. "I thought it (Eddie Sutton running down to the KU bench to congratulate Collison and Hinrich when they were taken out for the last time) was sensational. If they had called a technical on him for being out of the box, our player would have shot it backwards. I thought it was sensational on Eddie’s part. He was a true gentleman. He’s a real class coach who has accomplished so much already. I can’t even dream about accomplishing what he’s already done, and still love the game as much as he does. On Media Day, I talked about how I hope the people around the league should appreciate Nick and Kirk for turning down the quick money and coming back to play college basketball. And how they should appreciate the kind of kids they are on the court and off the court. We saw it a little bit with Kelvin (Sampson) the other day, congratulating Kirk when he fouled out. But I think that says a heck of a lot in two areas. It says a heck of a lot for the respect everybody has for Nick and Kirk around this league. We should feel privileged to watch them play more. And it says a great deal about Eddie Sutton. "They are so good defensively. You know, Eddie played for coach Iba, and Mr. Iba did teach you how to play the man-to-man defense, and play it aggressively. Just good, hard, fundamental defense. Most times we’ve played them, it’s been that kind of game. Last year was the weird game, because we got off to such a great start, and I think we did shoot a good percentage last year. But I don’t think we’ve ever shot a good percentage against them, and we expected that today. We felt like we needed to emphasize the inside. We felt like we needed to get the ball in to Nick Collison, and give him some opportunities, and try to get them in foul trouble. It was their perimeter game against our inside game. Their big guys got in foul trouble, and our perimeter guys got in foul trouble. It was a heck of a basketball game. Just a hard fought game. "Jeff had trouble finishing, and turned it over a couple of times on those passes on the perimeter, but I thought defensively he was really good. Even the play that he got hit and got his nose bloodied, I thought it should have been a charge, and he’s the only guy on our team that saw the drive. He was important for us early, making a basket, making some free throws, but other than that, his rebounding and what he did on the defensive end of the floor was really big. "Bryant Nash came in, and I’ve been on his case about coming into a game and shooting the first look that he has from the three-point line, because he was shooting 5-25 from there. Two or three games in a row he hadn’t shot it any, and today he shot that one and made it, and he came over to the bench, and I looked at him and smiled and said, ‘That was really a good shot.’ Because I’ve told him, if you’re going to shoot the dadgum thing, you’ve got to be tough enough to make one every now and then. But without Wayne, Jeff and Bryant have got to be big for us. "“I don’t think anybody left (during post-game ceremonies). It’s the greatest place there is. Kirk said something about the kids camping out, and they end up sitting in the end zones, and I wish we could get them even better seats. I wish we didn’t take seats away from them sometimes to help out other causes. But the fans were great."