Feb. 27, 2006
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
On the Mountain West Conference perceived as a mid-major conference:
"We don't consider ourselves mid-major in the Mountain West Conference. We had the national player-of-the-year, the number one player taken in the NBA draft last year and as you know, the 17th pick playing, I believe, for the Pacers. In our league we had Utah make it to the Sweet 16 last year. We've had multiple bids every year except for one I believe. I think if you want to talk about a mid-major, I think you're talking to the wrong guy."
On the team and MWC's postseason chances:
"We are, like everybody, hoping to win that next game to add to and pad our resume. We've had a wonderful season as have several others in our league and hopefully the committee, when the process unfolds, will act accordingly will all the information they have."
On if the team will be distracted by the fact that they can win the school's first conference title since 1978 on Wednesday night against Wyoming:
"I would sure think and hope that the kids would be intent on one thing only and that's winning our first outright conference championship. I know that 1978 was our last conference championship and we're hoping we can finish it in fine fashion at home with our home fans. I know Wyoming will be thinking about how the last one got away and will be doing everything to prevent it, but I don't think anything will get in our way in terms of knowing what we really need to do rather than looking ahead and talking about all the other stuff; if you win, it takes care of itself."
On responding to the BYU loss:
"You can't dwell too long on your last victory or your last defeat. We got spanked by BYU. We couldn't make shots and I think that contributed, as much as anything to their ability to get run outs and good looks. We got (Marcus) Slaughter and (Mohamed) Abukar in foul trouble and they played a little tentative, which allowed us to be manhandled inside and that's a lethal combination when you play anywhere, especially when you play on the road against a team that's playing very well right now."
On whether or not winning the conference will hold more weight than SDSU's RPI:
"I would hope that if you win a league as good as ours is, that would be strong in terms of what happens in the selection process. We're also hoping that we can do that on Wednesday and we're also hoping that we will go and compete and play well and win the Mountain West Conference tournament like everybody is so we'll just wait and see and hopefully we'll be able to talk about that on Monday a week from today."
On scheduling South Dakota State before the MWC Tournament:
"We had South Dakota State on the schedule and it was originally in a December slot and we found out that we were going to have the bye game on that last Saturday. They were able to move it, so we chose to move it with the incentive of staying in somewhat of a routine and didn't have a long layoff so we made that decision looking at the schedule that we have wanting to do it that way. That was our thoughtful decision."
On the thought of giving others playing time while resting his starters during the South Dakota State game:
"It'll be our last home game where we have traditionally started our seniors so it'll put Davis, Camara, and Sharper in the starting lineup. Obviously, this is a team that will be focusing on after Wednesday. We watched them against Kentucky and they gave Kentucky all they wanted for a good part of that game so we will be intent on winning the game."