Wayne Morgan — Iowa State

Q: How much more have Will Blalock and Curtis Stinson come together this season with a year of experience under their belt?

A: Will and Curtis are on the same page. They’ve not only gotten closer from playing every day, but they’re roommates and best friends, and they do everything together. I think as time goes on they’ll understand each other’s games even better.

Q: What newcomers to your team have impressed you the most this year?

A: Our freshmen have done a good job. Rahshon Clark has done a good job, he had a dunk [against Virginia] that brought everybody out of their seats on a pass from Will Blalock. The guy, if we could get him not to foul so much, that could help us the most and really excite people is Robert Faulkner. He has a chance to be a good player once he can acclimatize himself to play at this level.

Bill Self — Kansas

Q: With a lot of players heading to the NBA earlier, how valuable are seniors?

A: Coaches used to say that you’re only as good as your seniors allow you to be. That used to be true, now it’s not quite as true. If you can get kids to become juniors, you may have as experienced a ball club as anybody in America. It doesn’t make up for talent, but next to talent, experience is the best thing.

Quin Snyder — Missouri

Q: Is defense the biggest piece of the puzzle that hasn’t quite settled in for you yet?

A: It is the piece, I think. We don’t know who we are yet individually, and if that’s the case, you need to just throw yourself into defense. We’ve had it at times, but the consistency hasn’t been there. You have to learn to put the team first and that means playing defense because that’s the one thing everyone can do with focus and effort.

Ricardo Patton — Colorado

Q: Playing teams like California and Michigan, your team has probably taken the most aggressive road non-conference schedule in the Big 12. How has that helped you?

A: These places we’re traveling to will give us a pretty good resemblance of traveling in the Big 12. We’ve got to learn to play on the road. To be playing in March, you have to win on the road.

Q: But how much do these early losses hurt?

A: It’s frustrating, but it’s still very early. We have to make sure we show the right amount of patience with this group because it’s still searching for its identity. It’s just a matter of us settling in and realizing that when we put it all together, we’ll have a pretty good basketball team.

Jim Wooldridge — Kansas State

Q: How excited are you about this 6-0 start?

A: I would just tell you that we have a long, long way to go to prove that we are capable enough to move up in this league. We’ve got to get some players playing better, but we still have an optimistic viewpoint and we know it’s going to be competitive.

Q: What are your thoughts on the possibility of a fight breaking out in a college game?

A: As we’ve seen in college football this year with the problems that Clemson and South Carolina had, anything is possible.

Barry Collier — Nebraska

Q: After the fight in the NBA, would you be in favor of banning fans from storming the court?

A: I’m not in favor of that. If there’s a bigger thrill than having a capacity crowd rush the floor after a big win, then I don’t know what it is. We’re always trying to cover our you-know-what these days.