March 8, 2004
SAN DIEGO -
Head Coach Steve Fisher
Fisher on opening comments:
"I am firmly of the opinion that we are going to play exceptionally good basketball against Utah and, if we do that, we'll have a great opportunity to win. That's the glass-is-half-full opinion in me, but I've been with this team all year and I like our team. Obviously, our last three games we have not played well enough to win. Prior to that, with maybe a half-game exception, we have played well enough to win every game and I think we're going to revert back to old form. I do believe that we will compete hard, make plays and put ourselves in a position to win. We obviously did not do that on Saturday against the team we're going to play on Thursday, but I'm convinced that we not only can, but will. I'm proud of the fact that Aerick (Sanders) was an all-(Mountain West) Conference selection. He was also named to the USBWA all-district team, one of four non-Pac-10 players named to that honor. He has done things individually to get honors that are well deserved. They aren't given as often when you have a mediocre record as opposed to when you have a great record and our league is indicative of that. Had we won three more games, Aerick would have been first team unanimous all-conference. Instead he's probably a close miss, so he's second team all-conference. He's a terrific player, an example of what you hope all your kids are like in the program you're a part of."
Fisher on playing Utah for a third time:
"We're well aware of the fact that we just got beat for the second time against them, soundly. Game one we could have won. We played them there and had a great opportunity to win and we didn't. We need to obviously play with a little greater urgency and maybe a little greater degree of knowing time and score. We were down one point when Aerick went to the bench with his third foul with 4:30 to go in the first half and they went 9-0, 11-2 to finish the half. They got too many lay-ups, too many easy baskets. We've got to make sure to take those away. They did a good job of handling our help in the low post and passed out of the low post pretty efficiently for baskets. Their big guys made us pay with their length. They had a couple baskets just because they were so long. We were there but couldn't get the ball from them. We're going to talk about what we didn't do and we'll look at a lot of fresh tape from the last game we played on Saturday."
Fisher on the attitude of the team:
"I talked to most of them since the game, since they had time to get away and think. I think that for whatever reason, the stress they had, maybe going to New Mexico, carried right through to the last game here. I have a sense that that has kind of dissipated a little bit. I think I'm right more than I'm wrong on the moods of the team. I think we will come in genuinely believing that we're going to win the game. I'm not going to worry about the attitude and confidence. I think we'll be confident."
Fisher on what the team has to do to win the MWC tournament:
Got to win the first one and I believe we'll win the first one. We'll just wail away at that one and see what happens. There's not a great difference between one and eight. Right now, if you had to, with truthfulness, say who's playing the best, rank them one through eight, we'd be ranked eighth in terms of who's playing the best right now. I'm more worried about who's going to play the best on Thursday and I believe we're going to play like gangbusters on Thursday."
Fisher on the altitude having an effect on the tournament:
"I don't think it will have an effect on the first game. Hopefully we'll be able to find out whether it affects you in game two or three. I don't know if it will or not. People say it does and will, but we'll find out. I think it will affect everyone pretty evenly. People say, well they're from that altitude and they'll be able to deal with it a little better. It will be interesting to see what happens with that."
Fisher on if luck is involved in winning postseason tournaments:
"I would say yes, but if you don't play well, luck won't matter. If you play well, you can put yourself in a position at the end of a game, then you get a lucky bounce or you get a call or you make a play. I think you have to factor in: first you better play well to have a chance for good fortune to slip in and help you win. I watched Santa Clara and Gonzaga last night and saw a Santa Clara team with great energy and emotion with a home crowd and they just couldn't hold them off. They didn't get lucky down the stretch and you saw a really good team that felt like they would find a way to come back, in Gonzaga, find a way to come back and win."
Fisher on making the NIT:
"They don't take anybody unless they have a minimum of a .500 record, which means we have to win at least two games. So we're either going to be conference champions or playing for the conference championship to have a chance for any kind of postseason tournament. If we play for the conference championship and happen not to have good fortune, then I would be on the phone trying to get us with a .500 record into the NIT. But in all probability, we're going to have to win three games in order to play someplace after this weekend."
Fisher on three MWC teams making the NCAA Tournament:
"I haven't had done my normal chart to see how many people are on the proverbial cusp of getting in. I'm going to say that it's going to take someone other than Air Force winning the tournament to have any hope of getting three teams in. And the best thing that could happen is for us to win the tournament. Air Force is going to get in and I think both BYU and Utah are deserving, but I don't know if both of those will get in. If one of those two wins the tournament, then maybe the other could sneak in also.
Fisher on what gives him such confidence entering the tournament:
That's 35 years in the business, believing in a group of guys that I have seen play well. I have been with other teams that when the least is expected, the most is given. I'm hopeful that's what we'll see when we go to Denver. This is not pie in the sky. I genuinely believe that we're going to play well and by playing well, we'll have a chance to win. It will not guarantee a win, but we will have a chance to win. I do believe that with three minutes to go, we're going to have a chance to win."
Senior Aerick Sanders
Sanders on how it feels to be named second team All-MWC:
"It feels pretty good. It probably could have been different, as it is a reflection on our record. But it shows how far I have come in terms of basketball. Right now though, I am trying to put that aside and just focus on the tournament."
Sanders on how to defend Utah's big men:
"We have to get them out of position early and get them off the block. They are bigger than us so we have to move them off the block immediately. In the game sometimes we settled just playing behind them instead of attempting to front, which was the game plan. I think after we see on tape how our defensive rotation was late, and our help side defense was late that we will recognize that those little things will be the difference in winning and losing."
Sanders on if playing Utah so soon is an advantage:
"I think so, but they are probably thinking the same way. By this time everybody knows everybody's tendencies, plays, and out-of-bounds plays so it is just a matter of going out there and making plays and not making as many mistakes as we did last game."
Sanders on what it take to win the tournament:
"It takes someone that is unexpected, other than the guys who usually put stats up on the board, to come in and have a great game or just come out of nowhere and do something that no one expects them to do. The reason I know that is because I think I did that my sophomore year against Wyoming when I had a pretty good game to help us get over the hump into the championship game and then the other guys took it from there. We are going to need our bench to step up and play three games straight."
Sanders on what he has told the freshmen:
"Just play as hard as possible. Give it your all because eligibility goes by quick and before you know it you will be raising that jersey up on senior night, just like I was last Saturday. Work hard and the rest will fall into place."
Sanders on if there is an urgency in the tournament to extend the season:
"To reach the postseason is a must for us. Our backs are so much against the wall there is no more room to back up. We are just trying to go out there taking one game at a time. I don't want to be remembered as a guy who was good but didn't lead his team to postseason play. There is a sense of urgency for everybody, because nobody wants the season to be over. I would rather have spring break playing basketball rather than watching basketball."
Sanders on if he subscribes to the theory of not being able to beat a team three times in a season:
"We will take anything positive to go into this game on Thursday. We didn't play great basketball, San Diego State basketball, when we played them the second time. We just need to go in with nothing to lose and go all out, get the game plan from Coach Fisher and go out there with reckless abandon, yet controlled at the same time."
Freshman Brandon Heath
Heath on how he thinks the team will play at the tournament:
"I believe we will play really well. We are only a couple points away from winning a lot of the road games we played. I think if we just come together and play the way we know we can, we will put something together and win this tournament."
Heath on his confidence level:
"My confidence is still there. I know I had a tough stretch of games, including a couple games where I didn't score at all, but as far as my confidence, it is still there and still strong. I just have to come out and play and not worry about coming out of the game or worry about making a mistake."
Heath on how the playing time and experience has helped the freshmen this season:
"I think the experience has helped us mature as far as making decisions on the floor. Now next year we will be able to be the guys called upon to make plays and decisions down the stretch."
Freshman Marcus Slaughter
Slaughter on how he thinks the team will fair at the MWC Tournament:
"It is a neutral site and earlier in the year we went to Maui and did pretty well on a neutral court, so that gives us some confidence entering the tournament. In road games we didn't fair so well, but this is a neutral site. We have been in Denver and know that the air is not a problem. We have played Utah twice and we know what they are going to do. We have a lot depending on this game and I know we are going to be excited going into this game."
Slaughter on if the team can win three straight and win the tournament:
"That is the hard part going to a tournament, winning three straight games. We haven't been able to put a three-game winning streak together away from home, so if we are going to start one this would be the perfect time to start. We are just going to take it one game at a time starting with Utah and go from there."
Slaughter on what Aerick has taught him this season:
"Aerick brings that work ethic to the table. I learned that if you want to be something great, you just have to work day in and day out on the practice court. It could be a bad day for you in class, but when you get on that court, you have to forget about everything and go out there and play hard. He has taught me a lot about being smart, but not thinking too much. He taught me to be relaxed and just go out there and play, that we got here for a reason so just go out there and play."