Morning after questioning on how I handled this question

[med latte]

I recently returned from a 4-day conference. On the last day, I had lunch with my POI & letter writer at the PhD program I will apply to next week. At one point he asked me if I am applying to any other programs. I answered honestly -- that I've looked at all the programs involved with General Field / Conference members, and since I really want to do research on ABC, I feel that School Name is really the best fit. As nerve wracking as it is to only apply to one school, I really want a good fit. I went on to explain that I could find one person at least remotely related to ABC at each program, but there are far more at School Name. 

I swear there was a little smile in his eyes when I said that. Now I'm wondering if overshared and said something stupid. Thoughts?

[TakeruK]

I think you are over-analyzing and this is fine. Depending on how you said these things, it might come off as a little bit of "sucking up" but it could also have demonstrated that you are serious about your application and you truly did your research. But either way, I don't think you need to worry.

[fuzzylogician]

I think this is fine and you have nothing to worry about because of this comment. 

As a more general note, I think there is a concern that your interests are too narrow, if there is only one school in the entire US that can support them. Where will you present your work? What journal will want to publish them? And who will want to give you a job, if you work on a question so small that no one else is interested in it? I think it's important to be a bit broader and also to keep in mind that interests change and evolve and you should make sure that the school you go to can support that, if/when it happens. 

[doubledogd]

What is the worst case scenario? Maybe there are more people out there doing that topic than you thought. Maybe School Name doesn't have as many people doing that topic as you thought or at least not in the way you described it to him. Maybe he thinks it's strange that you'll only apply to one school. 

I don't know your POI, of course, but my instinct tells me that you'd be more likely to get a confused stare or a correction if you truly said something "stupid" or made yourself look bad. I'm with TakeruK--if anything, he may have felt you were being a bit overzealous in your estimation of School Name, but I can't see how that would be a bad thing at all. Best case scenario? He was gratified by your response and excited that you are so invested in this particular school.