I think that is something that probably some of our younger guys don't understand is that you're going to see everybody's best effort, and that is a compliment to the program but is also a challenge to our guys.

I visited with him and some of the upperclassmen. Then I visited with those guys themselves. Then I visited with Chris by himself. So he has to have whatever opinion he has, but it certainly hasn't been the case of us not listening to him.

I'm not sure you're going to see many front-line guys with that many steals.

I think we are capable of defending that championship, but there are some very good teams to beat to do that. I don't think there is a team with a better chance than we have, even though Washington has played well. One of the biggest surprises is USC has really stepped up. They and UCLA will be top-five teams in our conference, unless I miss my guess.

I just think that non-conference schedules can be so different that I'm not sure you get a good read on a team until league play starts. (Being at home all the time) doesn't give you a true picture of how you're going to do, especially with new guys. New guys will perform better at home because of the security from the support of the crowd.

There's a lot of new faces, a lot of younger guys, but I think they're building something great here. Once we get that chemistry together and that confidence of playing together, then I think we'll be a dominant defense. We still have a long ways to go, but we have great potential.