On how Brook Lopez compares to some of the players he coached, including twin big men Jason and Jarron Collins:

From a standpoint of talent for a guy his size, [Brook] is unique. He can really shoot the ball. He’s got great feel . . . He, like the Collins twins or some of the bigs I had, he’s big. He’s a big — both of them are big strapping kids. He’s very skilled.

I think probably . . . Jarron and Jason had a little better knowledge of the game at this stage. They were very smart players, knew how to play very well together. But you know with as good as the league is, there’s not a big guy that’s comparable to Brook in terms of his ability to control the game as he does. And he’s starting to do that more and more.

I think emotionally, they’ve [Brook and Robin] got a ways to go. They’re just not as mature emotionally. But that’s part of the process of being in college, just growing up.

On how the Pac-10 today compares to the competitiveness during his 18 years:

It’s very good right now and the reason it’s arguably better than it was during any time in my tenure is because of the bottom of the league, not the top of the league. Everybody’s talking about this team and that team, but it seemed like we always had a team that was No. 1. We were No. 1, Arizona was No. 1, UCLA was. We always had real quality teams at the top.

What the league has now, is that it’s much deeper through nine teams . . . But somebody’s going to finish ninth in this league and they’re going to be pretty doggone good. In my mind, that’s what always made it such a good league. It wasn’t the teams at the top, we always had that, it was the teams at the bottom.

I think it’s the best that I can remember from top to bottom.

On how he empathizes with football coach Jim Harbaugh, after having to rebuild Stanford’s reputation as a big-time basketball school when he took over in 1986:

It’s going to take time. He’s got to get seven really potential all Pac-10 type players this year, and then next year seven more, and then the next . . . he’s got to build it up so that its quality is much greater in terms of talent level . . . You know, some continuity would be really good. Jim seems to have a charisma about him with these kids that they really relate to — his having been an ex-NFL player and all that stuff. There’s a lot of things that are most positive.

On working with different admissions directors and managing recruiting:

There were five or six different admissions directors when I was here. Each one has a different way of doing their business. I think that athletics has a place here, and there’s always been resistance to that, trying to make sure there’s a proper perspective where athletics fits into a university like this. And I think the people have done a great job of understanding that athletics can be positive for this place, in terms of visibility, fundraising.

Our athletics are excellent just like the rest of the place. I think it all fits in. I think there’s been a pretty good understanding. But every time you hire someone new to make those decisions, they may have something different in mind.