March 11, 2002
Quoting Head Coach Steve Fisher
Opening remarks:
"This is fun chaos. It's been hectic for Marty Malano, our administrative assistant, who mans the phone when you call, but it's been great. We've not had time to do anything but move to the next page, but we've been excited about it. We know the thrill of having the opportunity to be in the NCAA tournament. We've experienced that. We did that yesterday. Hopefully our players have allowed what I said to sink in and when they got up this morning, they had to start preparing themselves for classes, and for Illinois in the tournament. And hopefully we'll all be able to do that. It's nice to see a little more of you here today. It's good for San Diego State basketball, its good for me, it's good for our team. And yet, you wouldn't be here if we weren't in the tournament. So we want you there on Saturday, and you won't be if we're on our way home. So my hope is to be as accommodating as we can, and yet know that there is a time to go to work and when we have to work, that is our job too."
On getting prepared mentally:
"We've got a veteran team in terms of age. We've got Randy Holcomb, a fifth year senior, and on and on. We've got guys who have been to the tournament before, Tony Bland, two times with Syracuse. Brandon Smith at Michigan, and myself, who's been involved with the tournament. What you've experienced before gets you ready for the next one. For instance, Thursday, we have an open 50-minute practice at the United Center in Chicago. I don't want to do that. It serves no purpose for me other than to be there. But that's the obligation, part of what you have to do to be in the tournament. Then you have mandatory press conferences for the players to go to as well as the coaches. I know how it works. I think I'll be able to set the table for myself and the team and not fight it. Not say why do we have to do it. But just say here's what we have to do, here's the job description. Let's be good, but let's make sure our off-site practice is the most important thing we're going to do that day to get ready for Illinois."
On the player distractions:
"What they have to do is mute their cell phones and if it's not their mom, don't answer it. They also have to know they can't be on every radio show that calls them. And they're getting calls from everybody asking for three minutes here, two minutes there. And, try to tighten the microscope closer to what we're doing. They think they know a little bit about Illinois, but they don't. They know more about Illinois than Illinois knows about us, but we've got work to do. Today is going to be a light day for us. If you watch our practice today, we're going to have what we call skill development. So all we're going to work on is offensive skills and it's not going to be a long practice. We'll set the table for a long practice tomorrow, a hard, but short practice Wednesday before we go, and then it will be here. So they have to say this is the only opportunity that our five seniors will have. So do everything to make the most of it. Don't say a week from today, I wish I had listened. I wish I had done this different. So hopefully I'll be able to give them a little advice and also listen to it myself."
On the loss to Utah on Feb. 9 being a turning point of the season:
"I watched about seven minutes of the Utah game and got so sick I couldn't watch it. We were so bad. I think it appealed to their pride and may have been a reality check. All those things factored in. I think those things did have a play in the way we played against BYU. But now it's like playing on nothing but emotion. And emotion wears off pretty quickly. And the emotion of my being gone, the Utah loss, that Sunday practice before BYU has dissipated. That is gone. And what makes me feel good was the way they sustained it, built on it, took pride in it. That's on them. I think they deserve a great deal of credit for how they moved from that stage on Sunday to where they are right now."
On getting to the tournament after three seasons at SDSU:
"At Michigan, you were suppose to get there, and you are supposed to get there on no small part because it was Michigan. And whether that was right or wrong, that was the mentality of you, the media, to you the fan, to me the coach. You put stress on yourself on getting to the tournament because you have to get there, you're supposed to get to the tournament, and you've always gone to the tournament. And here, I put stress on myself and the kids a little bit early, buy saying we're good enough if we play well enough and we have a chance to get to the tournament, but if we didn't, nobody would be expecting it. So, getting to the tournament is just such a wonderful feeling for all of us. It's the first time you get there that makes it so much more enjoyable. Now, probably you'll say, next year if we don't get there, what happened. And I know that comes with the territory and I hope we get to that level."
On being sent to Chicago:
"I think there's purpose to what the NCAA did. I think it's a good storyline to get sent to Chicago. I read one article today that showed as a 13th seed, we could have been sent to Albuquerque. And where that 13th seed could have been sent to Chicago. But it makes for a better storyline, and it might get a few more tickets sold. It's probably the same reason Bob Knight is there. Putting him back in the midwest to some degree. I know I'm excited to go to Chicago where I know I'm going to have folks who have never seen San Diego State play and are going to be cheering for them because of me. I look forward to that."
On Illinois:
"Illinois has tough matchups every spot. Frank Williams is their headliner, but Cook may be their best player. Archibald was at our camp in Michigan when he was a high school player. I know him. Damir Krupalija committed to me from Rockford. I know him. He was going to come to Michigan. And Harrington who played at Elgin High School. He came to our camp. I know his dad. So I've got three players on their team that I have a relationship with. And I know they're good. Frank Williams is the guy who has the ball when they desperately need something to happen. And they're big guys. I've looked at their stats. Cook at 6-11 is a three-point shooter. He can step out and do things away from the basket. So it presents some matchup problems, but hopefully we'll be able to do the same to them."
On the MWC getting three teams into the NCAA tournament:
"Our league is good. I'm so pleased we got three of us in. I'm really surprised to be honest with you. To get three of us in next year, we need to win at least three games in this tournament. To prove to all those saying they can't believe we got three teams in, we need to win. Hopefully that will be us. We won at Wyoming, that's very difficult to do, we won at Vegas in the tournament with all the Vegas fans there. We won at The Pit, that's a hard place to win. We've won at Hawai'i, and they've got a really good team. So, we've won on the road, and sometimes played better on the road than we have at home. And I'm hopeful that we will do that on Friday. Illinois arguably is the second best team we've played to Duke. And yet, we are very capable of beating them if we play really good basketball."