Rick Pitino previews NC State

Transcript is available here, but highlights include:

--NC State is as athletic team as there is in the country. They beat us by 9 at the Yum Center, and that doesn't happen too often. They're very physical inside and they have great guards, so we know we have our hands full.

--After watching the Northern Iowa tape, it was even better than I thought. It was the most complete game we've played both offensively and defensively.

--People who call into radio shows and say that Louisville is better off without Chris Jones are just showing their ignorance. Why not give people credit for doing a good job instead of always looking for someone to blame. I can guarantee you the person who called in is not successful at what they do and has not accomplished very much in the world of sports.

--The maturation of a few players and guys cutting down on their mistakes has been the biggest key to our success.

--Wayne Blackshear never gets the credit he deserves, he's been great all year. Mangok looks awful in the stat sheet and sometimes awful on lay-ups, but he does a lot of little things for us, he's always in the right place on defense and brings so much energy.

--Richard (Pitino) talked to the team about body language and little things to the team before the UNI game. He told them he'd cut his right arm off to be sitting where they're sitting right now. He'd kill for that at Minnesota, and he was trying to make the guys understand how lucky they are to be in this position.

--I would have voted John Calipari for Coach of the Year. So many guys have done a great job, but when you're undefeated and nobody's beaten you, it's clear-cut who the Coach of the Year is.

--Cat Barber is a great defender. He probably draws the offensive foul as well as any player in the country. What happened with his recruitment here was not a big deal. We just went in a different direction. Can't clarify exactly what happened.

Here's the video: