Oct. 27, 2006
LAS VEGAS - MWC Media Day
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Aladdin Hotel; Las Vegas, Nev.
Steve Fisher, San Diego State Head Coach
Q: What does it mean to be picked to win the league title?
"When we were picked to win the league last season I made the comment that the poll had never been correct. I know for a fact the disparity in terms of first-place votes is not correct. I would venture to say the winner of our league will have more than three losses and we will go into the last two or three games with two, three or four teams still with a chance to win.
"For us, to be talked about as the best team in the league and have not only the returning player of the year of the league but two players on the first team is good for our program. It creates a buzz in San Diego and in Southern California that we have not had enough of. Rather than discard it, we are going to embrace it and say we are going to be good but this league is maybe going to be the best it has been since its inception."
Q: How good can this league be?
"In my opinion, what we have to do is not only play good teams, but beat good teams. For example, in our case Arizona, California and Washington State, we need to beat them. And if we beat them in non-conference, that will get you season-long recognition. I do think once the league starts we will be very, very competitive. There won't be anyone who goes through 16-0, 15-1, 14-2 or probably 13-3. We need to win the non-conference games and build credibility nationally and if we do that we will have multiple bids. And if you get multiple teams in, eventually we are going to have success like Utah did a couple of years ago.
"It is a league that has an opportunity to make some noise. We are all playing some pretty good non-conference teams, if we can beat them, that will alert everyone that this league is good."
Q: How do you feel being picked to win the league?
"I think based a lot on last season's success and with four starters back, we thought we would be picked fairly high. A year ago when we were picked first I said the media has not been right yet. I'm glad they were last year and I hope they are this year.
"I know that this league, from top to bottom, is significantly better this year. Maybe it's the best it has been in the eight years we have been in business. I think there will be three to four teams with two games left that can still when the league."
Q: Your thoughts on having the MWC tournament back in Las Vegas?
"I think it is good for everyone. I hope in two years we aren't saying that we can't have it there because Vegas has too much of a home court advantage. The sizzle that Vegas has will make the tournament significantly more appealing to everybody. Denver did a wonderful job, but it was flatline as far as enthusiasm went. I think it will be a great college atmosphere."
Q: Has the Aztec basketball fan base grown?
"Winning begets winning and everybody wants to jump on board if you win a little bit. We averaged almost 10,000 fans a game our last six home games last season so yes it is significant. Everybody expects us to be good. Our fans think we will go undefeated and that's good.
"We went from having no expectations, to maybe having unrealistic expectations. We have people thinking we are going to the Final Four and we have never won an NCAA Tournament game. I like it. I like walking in an arena and feeling that excitement."
Q: How does the perception of being the best team in the league effect the program?
"I like for people to have the perception that we have a pretty good team. I think we have an opportunity to have another good team. That feels good. We have not had that to the level of most of the teams in this league. It is something we are selling to our recruits, to our season ticket holders and our potential season ticket holders.
"Going into last year, we had not been the talk of the town or the league. I remember coming to theses events (conference media day) my first three years and Rick Majerus would hold court with the media because he had the best team. We would like to be viewed in that vain and we are far from that right now. But it is nice. It gives you a good feeling.
"And yet I have been there before, in another league, where everybody wants to beat you up. It will be interesting to see how we handle losing two in a row, if that happens. Will we be able to bow our back and say we are good?"
Q: Do you feel any extra pressure to win this season or make a national statement for the league?
"I'm not worried about that. I hope we are feeling pressure to play well because we have a good team. Last year we were picked to win the league and 10 games in people are saying we aren't very good and the same old San Diego State. What we did last year was play some good people in the non-conference and didn't beat any of them. Now we didn't have Mohamed Abukar and Marcus Slaughter got hurt, but nobody wants to hear that. That is what our league needs to do to get a little bit of a glow across the country. If we do that, we will create an RPI for our league where your RPI will not go down if you lose a game because the other team has a good RPI. Q: Could this be the best season ever for Mountain West basketball?
"I really do think it is critical that we win non-conference games to get credibility when the committee gets in the room to pick the teams. If we can do that, maybe we will have an opportunity to talk in the spring that we got the most tournament teams ever. And if we get them in, we have a better chance to win."
Q: Your thoughts as Brandon Heath enters his senior season?
"Brandon is everything good about what sports can help do. It is well documented that he didn't qualify coming out of high school and he spent a year in night school to get here and will graduate this semester (in three-and-a-half years). He doesn't miss class and is a model citizen. He won the school's community service award. He is one of my favorites ever because of what he has done and the style in which he has done it.
"He expects to win. Brandon has had a tremendous impact on the success and credibility of our program. I owe a lot to him. He believed in us and came in and toiled when we were not very good and fought and worked as our program gained credibility. I appreciate what he has done."
Q: What is the difference being picked to win the league this season in comparison to last season?
"Last year it was more of a new beginning for San Diego State. I don't think that had happened before. This year, going in, a lot of people said you have to be picked No. 1 because we won the league and we have everybody back. It's a swell that, whether it is legitimate or not, everybody starts to say they are better than they are going to be. And yet I think we are going to be good. If we can keep all of them healthy and on the floor, then we will have a good team.
"Our challenge is not to be picked to win the league for the second year in a row, it is to win the league for the second year in a row. That will be harder to do than to say."
Q: How much better will the Mountain West Conference be this season?
"A year ago we were picked number one and I had a guy that was a booster that said it somewhat tongue-and-cheek that I saw you were picked to win the league, it must be a bad league. Last year people were saying the league was not going to be very good. This year people are saying this might be a four-team bid league and this might be a league what the (Missouri) Valley did a year ago. I don't know if that is legitimate or not.
"What I do look at is there were a lot of really good young players last year, there have been some junior college players come in and some transfers that have come into the league that should make it a lot more competitive not only in the league, but non-conference wise as well."
Q: How will you be offensively?
"We should be a team that is hard to guard because we have five guys capable of scoring 20 points on any night. I do think we have the ability to score in a lot of different positions and in a host of ways. I am still concerned about our ability to make open three-pointers."
Q: What do you think about Jerome Habel?
"Jerome Habel is an intelligent, athletic, team player. Things that I saw when I watched him at the junior college level have proven to be true. He doesn't have to have the ball to feel good about himself. Has a knack for being at the right place at the right time. He will be a tremendous addition for us."
Q: What do you think of being the heavy favorite to win the conference title?
"I think last year we were picked number one by the slightest of margins and lots of teams had first-place votes, which is the way it should have been this year. I think there are seven schools in this mix that could win the league. Seven of the nine schools could legitimate say we have the talent necessary to be playing for the conference championship the last week of the season.
"I am well aware of what I can do and a buzz can do and I am not one to shy away from it. But, I am realistic enough to know that BYU beat us bloody at their place late in the season and they have a lot of those guys returning. Air Force beat us at their place and one-game behind us in the league and with the addition of Nick Welch could very well be better than they were last year. This is not a league where one team is head and shoulders above everybody else. This is a league that is top to bottom is probably the best it has been in the history of the conference."
Q: Your thoughts on the tournament moving back to Vegas?
"What it should do is continue to grow the talk about our league. It is going to get attention. It is going to get attendance. It is going to get excitement. We will have an atmosphere where there will be fans that come in droves because it is Vegas.
"For our fans, it is a cheap ticket whereas Denver was an expensive ticket. Denver did a great job on putting the tournament on, but it didn't have the excitement and sizzle that Vegas has in every regard. I think it's good we are coming back here."