It feels good because last year it was a terrible feeling to come home with the silver medal. We all sat in the locker room and said we were going to do what it takes to win the gold.

That's a very attractive home game, and we don't want to lose that. But we don't always know what's happening in New Orleans and how it will affect us.

It's still early in my recruiting, so I don't have any leaders or favorites. We're trying to make that better than the old (Michigan) Fab Five.

That just showed me what (Dixon) told me was true, that he was about to sign the longest extension in Division I basketball. He's a pretty stand-up guy. He doesn't have nothing to hide.

I proved the critics wrong. And now we have the gold.

We had eight seniors last year, so leadership was taken care of. But this year was my time to step up.