Dec. 10, 2009
SDSU Basketball Weekly Press Conference
Aztec Athletics Center
SDSU Head Coach Beth Burns
Coach Burns' opening statement:
"We aren't in a great place as a team. We are working really hard to change that and (we did) a lot of study yesterday over things that can (make) us better. The beauty of this game is we have a practice this afternoon and another opportunity Friday night to get it right."
On what she thinks is wrong with the team:
"This is what I would tell anyone who ever asks that questions: if you knew it, you would solve it, and you wouldn't ask the question ... We're searching for five people who can play defense, can play offense, and can do everything in between. Part of that is we, unfortunately, continue to have injuries to the same position [at guard]. Not an excuse, just it's a fact, because that's part of it. Part of the errors that you saw the other night is a lot of inbounding errors, a lot of passing errors. Who does that on our team 95 percent of the time in those situations? Coco [Davis]. And there was no Coco (on Tuesday). I think you have to remember Jessika Bradley [and] Allison Duffy haven't played in two years. Kalena Tutt hasn't played a lot and (Ashley) Duffy hasn't played at all. They're going to have to play and they're going to make mistakes. I think just getting more game experience (will help). So no one's doing anything wrong, I just think we have to find a group that works well together and we haven't been able to hit that rhythm yet. We really haven't performed ... whether we've won or we've lost, we haven't performed to that yet."
On Coco Davis' injury:
"A knee bruise. [Gabrielle Clark] and Kiyana [Stamps] are structural tears. Shanna Demus (two years ago) had the same thing and played, (because she was a senior), until (she) couldn't go anymore. A kid from TCU did it last year and was the reason they had the nonconference (campaign) that they did. She played with a torn ACL until she couldn't go anymore right before our game. In the case of Gabby, the season hadn't even started, and Kiyana played one game. They get their whole year back, so does it help our team now? No. But is it best for them personally? Yes. Coco [Davis] is structurally sound. She didn't do anything that is going to require surgery, but it's swollen and she can't bend it, and she's out. It's not going to change. It just gives us a little bit more time to do things differently. Competition in a stressful situation is a learned behavior, (so it's better if) someone has 100 reps (than) somebody who has 10 reps."
On what Coco Davis brings to the team:
"Just [that] she's a great passer. She's our best passer. Again, I'll go back to my track analogy, nobody can make a basket if someone doesn't them the ball. It puts an inordinate amount of pressure on [Quenese Davis]. We don't have Kiyana, who was our backup point guard. We'll go with Q or Jené [Morris] (at the point, and one of them) has to be on the floor. I think for us to be successful, Jené's going to have to play the point, that's just life, because they can't continue to play 40 minutes a game for 30 games. They won't make it and I think we saw some fatigue the other night. When Q sits down, Jené's the point, and when Jené sits down, obviously Q's the point, but we'll try to give them a little bit of rest. That might help us play a little bit better."