Feb. 9, 2009
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Weekly Basketball News Conference
Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl
San Diego State women's head coach Beth Burns
On win against Air Force on Saturday:
"We are excited to start round two and obviously pick up what is very critical in our league, a road win against Air Force on Saturday, which was a fabulous environment for those of you who were there. The entire freshmen academy came, so we had 2,000 people (in the crowd). It was good for us - a good atmosphere for us to compete in. I think everyone was competing with a lot of confidence, especially Q (Quenese Davis), who had a fabulous weekend, led us in just about every statistical category, and made sure we brought that one home. We put ourselves in a great position to play an undefeated team in Utah this Wednesday night. We are fortunate that we are in a position that we are. With the way the league tournament has changed this year our one and two seeds have byes until Friday [semifinals], which makes this game loom really large. I think the teams underneath us are still cheering for Utah, (so they can) try and still fight for the two-spot at this point. We only have three home games in round two so this one is big for us in that respect as well."
On what it took to get to 200 wins at SDSU:
"Two hundred wins at San Diego State means that I've been here a while, a couple times over. I really appreciate Dr. Tom Day and Dr. Fred Miller, who initially hired me as a head coach and thought that I had what it took to run a program, through Jeff Schemmel and President Weber who still think the same. That's a lot of players and many coaches and many people who've done a lot of hard work to make that happen. So it's special in that respect."
On if she's surprised at the way the team is playing right now:
"We have talented players who all chose to come to build (the program). And the difference when you choose to come to build, (is that) ready or not, you're playing. I think that's the advantage, but what you struggle with two years ago is your advantage right now. Q's (Quenese Davis) at Air Force for the third time, Paris (Johnson) is at Air Force for the second time. They have experience that a lot of maybe sophomores and juniors don't have so we believe we're talented and if talent works hard good things happen."
On both men's and women's programs doing well at this point:
"The way the league is without travel partners, this is only the logical way to do it so people can get normal rest. You never know when you're traveling or where you're going. Coach Fisher and I have a close relationship. He calls me at night after his game and I call him after our game; it is very cool. I brought him home the Albuquerque newspaper with the huge headline, "Double Aztecs Get Double Lobo Win." And we get to share in that. I think it's huge for both programs. Obviously, we're both locked into what we individually have to accomplish, but to me, Utah on the women's basketball side has been the standard bearer of excellence in this league. And as I look across to men's basketball and to football, you can say the same thing (about Utah). So it's a bit of a statement if you will. We don't want to beat an elite, we want to be an elite. And if you beat elites consistently, that's the way you do that."
On what a win against Utah would mean:
"I think confidence is the single biggest thing. The more comfortable and confident you play, the better you are. Everybody knows three weeks from now we're likely to meet again."
San Diego State Sophomore Center Paris Johnson
On both the men and women playing Utah for first place at the same time: "I haven't really talked to them (the men) about that. I've talked about going up against Utah. They're 9-0. We want to be their first upset in the conference, (the team) who gives them that one loss. That would be great in helping our program in the long run. I'm just excited to play them again."
On what a win against Utah would mean:
"It would help our program and to give them their first loss would be a big confidence booster for us. We're already confident, but that would help us to gain the momentum back from our loss the first time we met with them. Just to get into that game and get a win would be great."
On decision to come to SDSU when program wasn't doing so well:
"I feel great about it. That was the main point of why I came (to SDSU), to help build this program. Knowing what coach Burns did before, I wanted to come and be part of that rebuilding. And looking at where we're at now, I'm not shocked at all. We have great team talent. We do a lot of great things together and being part of this rebuilding (effort) is great and I'm glad that I made that decision to come here."
San Diego State Junior Quenese Davis
On what a win against Utah would mean:
"I think it would be a great win for us, just to keep our momentum going. It would help our record and our (spot in the) standings."
On decision to come to SDSU when program wasn't doing so well:
"I don't feel I took a chance at all. I knew this is where I wanted to be, playing under coach burns and playing under her assistant coaches. I think I made a great choice."