March 10, 2003
SAN DIEGO -
Jim TomeyWomen's Head Basketball CoachOn the possibility of pulling off an upset in the conference tournament: "You play the game for a reason. We've never entered a game thinking we couldn't win. It'll be the same with this game. We just don't have the skill level that a lot of these teams have that we've played in this league. It's a very deep league. There are programs that are established. There are programs that have developed, skilled players. Programs with tradition. That's an uphill climb for a program like ours when you think of the last five years. So it's a tough climb for us to think about beating New Mexico, but it's not the opponent we're going to be focused on. I'm going to go in there and try to get our kids eager to play another game. We've got a couple of days to do that. Every game we've approached the last five or six of our games, for the first 12 minutes of the game, we've been right there with teams, but they've had the ability to find another level of play and we haven't been able to match that. In fact we'll fall a little bit. That tells me that we've got our team pretty eager and ready to play. Our problems come when we have to step it up to another level. So we're going to approach it the same way we've approached them all and hope for different outcome."
On how long before SDSU Women's Basketball becomes a conference power: "This is a conference San Diego State should be successful in. It's going to take me some time to get some players in here that can compete at the level the conference commands. We, right now, do not have the type of players that will allow us to compete in this league. We need to get out there and recruit some players to this great university who have the skill level and the thoughtfulness to play with the upper echelon teams in this league. That's going to take more than one class. I think we will be a much improved basketball team next year and then we'll be able to build on that. But it's going to take some time. You got to have players that are confident, feel good about their abilities and are coachable. We have to bring our players in. Remember I inherited 15 players. I was given a team of 15 players and we have coached them as hard as we could and worked with them on a daily basis to the fullest and it hasn't been enough. So we have to bring in players that we think can be competitive and going through the league once, I know what it's going to take. I know what kind of player we're going to have to have to compete with the upper echelon teams. We just need a little time to do that. We've been at it since April and we feel like we've made great progress with the kids we've got coming in. We're in great shape with the '04 class. I'm optimistic. How long is it going to take? I don't know. I hope it doesn't take long." On the transition from coaching the men's game to the women: "From a coaching standpoint, the adjustment was not as big as one might think. It's a very pure game, the women's game. For someone who is a traditionalist and a purist like myself, it was an easy transition. The women are very coachable. They're eager to learn. They come to work everyday the same, from a mental standpoint. In that area, it's been terrific. The transition has been very good. For us, we need to find some players that we need and feel will allow us make that transition to the next level of play in our league. It's been an enjoyable experience. Outside of the losing end, I've had a great time. These kids have given everything they have. It's very positive, very bright."
On his first year coaching: "It's taught me, first and foremost, patience and how to deal with frustration at a daily level. I've been a part, over the last 18 years, of successful programs and this year has not been a successful year with this team. Dealing with it on a daily basis and trying to keep players motivated and eager and fresh mentally when you're not successful can be difficult. I think I've learned how to handle that this year with this group. I think we've done a good job with this group in terms of keeping them as eager and fresh as we could keep them game to game."
On inheriting the team: "We inherited seven true freshmen and we played three or four of those throughout the year and it's difficult. It threw the whole recruiting thing out of whack, not only for this year, but for the up and coming years. That's been difficult. We haven't had a whole lot of experience on the floor. Out of the five seniors we brought back, only one had played significant minutes, and that was Jamey (Cox). To me it was really like playing with eleven freshmen. In a league like ours, you're going to struggle."
Steve FisherMen's Head Basketball CoachGeneral Remarks "We're going to hope the old adage, 'third time's a charm' is going to work in our favor when we play UNLV for the third time. For those who saw in person, they saw two pretty good teams. One, definitely a little bit better, but they don't have to be on Thursday. We're excited about conference tournament play. We will review, remember and it will have a millimeter of impact of what we did last year and say, 'close your eyes and dream about it happening again,' then we'll need to have reality play in and we'll have to go out and play. To be honest, we're going to have to play better than we played at the defensive end of late, if we want to be successful. But we're capable of doing that. That's our mission. We need great play from our seniors and we're counting on that. It starts with Tony (Bland) and goes on to Deandre (Moore) and then to Mike (Mackell). If we get that along with the added bonus we've been getting from Evan (Burns) offensively, I think we'll have a good chance. I think six teams are going to have a chance. Some better than others to cut down the nets on Saturday night and we're looking forward to doing that starting Thursday."
On Thursday's game vs. UNLV: "Colorado State was like a dam, it didn't have leaks, it just burst on us. The UNLV game-they are good. If you look back when they played Colorado State at UNLV, forget the USC game, they maybe have played better than anybody in our league. They had two losses, overtime at Utah and a hard-fought, 3-4 point loss at Wyoming. So they're good. You can't give them opportunities to get a spurt on you. We played to good to be down nine at halftime. We're ahead 28-27 and they go on a 9-2 run. If you want to beat a team like UNLV, you cannot let that happen. You have to find a way not to draw up a play during a timeout, to make a play to dig a ball loose, to make a basket, to prevent a basket. If we're to win, we have to able to do that. For the most part, they made some hard shots. I thought the first two 3-pointers that Jermaine Lewis got weren't easy. We're all over him and he shot long three-pointers. We got to hope they don't shoot it great from long range. And we have to not let (Marcus) Banks beats us between the elbows."
On the team's confidence: "Most of our players feel like they can beat anybody, but you lose to a team twice and you go back and say is it truly a fact. I thought we played with confidence on Saturday. We played as if we were a team that felt we should win. Not could win, should win. They played better than we did. Anytime we made a run at them in the second half, they wouldn't let us get that next basket or wouldn't let us get that next stop so the basket would be more important. That's a sign of a good team."
On what the team needs to do to compete: "They shot 63 percent for the game. You're not going to win if teams shoot that way against you. Some of them were easy baskets, but they were created by a great play by (Marcus) Banks to set up the easy baskets. If you don't help, he's going to make a lay-up. You help, he drops it off to a guy. If we want to win, we're going to have to find a way to make consecutive stops and get ourselves a 9-0 run or a 12-2 run. They had both of those against us. We're ahead 15-10 and they go on a 9-0 run. We're 28-27 ahead, they went on a 12-2 run. We have to be the people that are also having a few runs."
On finish of the regular season: "I'm disappointed that we've not been stronger-minded to where we could fight through success and adversity maybe a little bit better. We knew Colorado State we would be playing lights out. Senior day for three of them, they lost seven in a row and they were really good. We didn't match their toughness, mentally and physically. I think part of it was a letdown from winning the game in Wyoming. You can't do that. Our effort was good at UNLV. It was unlike the first time we played UNLV here where we were bad in every regard. We've had a couple of games where we just stunk from the neck up, but most games we played pretty hard and been there. We haven't always played well, but we played hard most of the time. As we close the conference season, we're not as good as we were last season. For all of Randy's (Holcomb) warts and blemishes, he had a will, a will that willed others. Al (Faux) too, but Tony (Bland) should be able to provide that, Deandre (Moore) is a senior and Mike (Mackell), so that's and excuse when you start looking at that. If you're not playing well, our league is good enough where you can't win if you don't play well. There are no easy outs especially on the road, but there are no easy outs anywhere."
On Evan Burns: "I thought Evan has come on with a willingness to try things on the offensive end. Early on, he was a little bit hesitant about trying new things, but now he is really playing, which I like, and he's had some really good games. He is 8-for-12 against UNLV, made some difficult shots but made some shots that only an athlete, like that, can make. To be honest, he (Burns) still struggles defensively - he's more of a 'help' defender than a 'guarding my man' defender."
On Tony Bland: "I'm disappointed for Tony that he didn't make All-Conference. In my mind, he's one of the two or three most valuable players in this league, and yet I can't fault anyone they've picked for the team. I think that if you win, you should get more recognition, which is probably why (Utah and Rick) Majeris should have had somebody on the first team, instead of three guys on the second team; it's subjective and I don't know...I voted for Tony. You can vote for your own player, but you can't worry about that. If you win you get recognition and if you win big you get more than others - that's probably the way it should be."
Tony Bland Comments
On All-MWC selections: "Obviously I'm very disappointed. I think I'm better than second team, but we have some good players in this league, so if some people think otherwise then that just credits to how good this league really is."
On this year's team: I think we have more depth than last year. Our starts do what they need to do, and our guys can come right off the bench and pick up the slack. We have more versatility with players like Evan (Burns) and Travis (Hanour), and others that can play more than one position. We have 3 teams to play, and this is the last go-around; and if they, or we, don't pick up our game in the tournament, something is wrong. Is this destiny or being driven? It all boils down to this point. All seniors should be playing, better regardless of where you're playing. I think that's a positive for all of us."
On the upcoming MWC tournament: "It's a good feeling to know that every team I've been on has been a winning team, I've never been on a team that has a losing record, and when I started playing I've been blessed to play with players who have a lot of ability and talent; as well as strong coaches to support us. This year I feel that we're in a strong position to win some games. We're right in striking distance to win some games, we just have to glue to the team and go to war. Last year wasn't easy, we had to make some key shots and key plays in order to get to the tournament; this year is no different. Hopefully, we can get back to the NCAA tournament, but if we don't I've had a good career here and had fun."
On the team's recent defensive struggles: "It's the whole team defense. You might have a couple guys playing well on defense, but if you have all five not playing together as a team, then the defense is not going to work. You have Mike Mackell and Deandre Moore busting their butts and then you have myself, sitting in the back waiting to help or not; and that's not going to work. So we need to work defense as a team. We can't play in spurts, we have to be able to play strong defense in both first and second halves. If we do that, then we might have a great chance to win."
On Saturday's loss to UNLV: "I don't think our team has lost confidence at all, I think this second time around, losing to UNLV, gives us more of a reason to beat them in tournament. I think our team is more than capable of beating them; I just think that we just need to stay focused, stay on the same page and then we should be able to beat them." I just think UNLV, BYU, Utah, or whomever it is in order to win a three-game tournament, you have to beat the best teams in conference, so we have to beat them regardless of the situation we're in. We don't have a lack of confidence, we're not extremely excited, we are just ready to play whoever."
Evan Burns:
On earning conference Freshman of the Year: "To be honest, it's a great honor and I was really wasn't expecting it. I'm just more focused on our team and what it is doing right now; but when I got word of it, it was a great accomplishment and honorable gift."
On what the accomplishment means to his future: "I think that in the back of every basketball player's mind, they want to be the best at what they do. But right now, I'm trying to do what's best for the team in building myself up for this tournament. In the summer, I'm just going to work hard and try to improve my game."