He was the fullback on our state (championship) team. He'd be the tailback for 90 percent of the teams in the state. He's the same size (6-0, 210), and he runs very well. We'll see how he runs at tailback.

I don't know how many teams down (16) in the state championship game would have put out their lips, but that wasn't going to happen to this team. Until the last foul, they had no doubts they were going to win. I'm proud of them for that.

You would think that his lifelong dream was to coach a team that won a state championship, but he wasn't really thinking about basketball when he started here. Once he took the job, he got so serious and watched and learned. His teams pride themselves on defense, which makes them fun to watch.

Michigan State is the favorite. After that, there's a lump of teams.

There aren't many teams in the state that could come back from 15 down against that Washington team and have a chance to win with the last shot of the game.

I'm proud of the fact that about 90 percent of the guys on this team have never won a championship and now they can say that they have won their first championship.