March 23, 2011
Wednesday Photo Gallery (News Conference/Open Practice)
San Diego State Quotes in PDF Format | Connecticut Quotes in PDF Format
THE MODERATOR: We will take questions for San Diego State.
Q. I'm curious, what would a win against UConn do for your program? If you beat a team against Northern Colorado and Temple, that's fine. At the same time, UConn is a team that everybody knows. Everybody across the country knows their tradition and their history.
Malcolm Thomas: I think a win is a win no matter who you play. Every team in the tournament has earned their way into the tournament. Beating UConn would mean a lot because everybody knows them, like you said, but I feel like winning in the tournament is all that matters.
D.J. Gay: A win against UConn, I think, in the image for the city and the people that have been watching us would be huge. But for us as a team, like Malcolm said, a win in the tournament against anybody is a big deal. I think, you know, the politics behind it, it would be a nice thing on the resume.
Billy White: Like they said, we are just here to play. You know, it would be a huge win for our school. We'll just be excited, just ready.
Kawhi Leonard: I think it would be a win. I don't think it's going to do anything for our program. Next year people will still look at us as San Diego State, so we've got to win a game and keep going on.
Q. D.J., I know you've played against Jimmer (Fredette) three times in person this year, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of Kemba on tape. Can you compare, contrast the two of them?
D.J. Gay: By comparing and contrasting, it won't do him justice because I haven't played him in person but from the film and playing against Jimmer, I think the difference is that Jimmer is more of a 3-point threat. As for Kemba, he gets to the basket at will and his mid-range game is close to perfect. Both are very hard guards to play against, both very good scorers, but one, you're picking up at the half-court line and the other one you constantly need help within that 3-point range.
Q. D.J., can you talk about what this win getting back into the Sweet 16 means for Steve Fisher? It's been 17 years and he kept talking about that in the locker room after the last win. You guys were all but one or two when he was in the Sweet 16. Can you get a sense of what this means for him?
D.J. Gay: I think it's very exciting, very special to him. You know, it's also exciting to the program. It's been a long time for him, and a first for us. We're lucky to have a coach that's been there before, been in this situation and knows how to handle it. I think he's grateful for the opportunity that he's been given, and we're just blessed to have a coach like that.
Q. D.J., did you expect when you first got there -- I think you've played in more winning games than anybody in the history of the program. Did you expect this program to be where it's at now? Is this something when you signed on that you said, okay, this is where we want to be in four or five years?
D.J. Gay: I saw major potential when I first got to San Diego State, and that's the reason why I came. If you would have told us we would have been in the Sweet 16 my senior year, I wouldhave told you that I wouldn't doubt it. I thought we would have the opportunity to get there, but there is no greater feeling than to be in my senior year and to have this opportunity. I saw an opportunity here, but it became reality.
Q. D.J. and Malcolm, do you think it's an advantage playing this close to your school? And talk about the overall fan support you've had this season?
D.J. Gay: Absolutely, I think that playing this close to San Diego we're expecting a very large following, and the fans, they've been here all season long, sold out more games ever in the history of the program. For them to follow us and support us the way they have, we call them our sixth man, and we couldn't ask for a better sixth man from our fans.
Malcolm Thomas: I think it will help a lot. We play well at home, and if we can have a home game-type of environment I think that will have a big advantage for us.
Q. Billy and Kawhi, how much does the personality of a coach enter into your decision about where you want to play and could either of you or both of you seeing yourself playing for someone with a personality as different from Coach Fisher's as Coach Calhoun?
Billy White: Coach Fisher has been by our side, playing with him, he's been real for us, and he's a friend. I can talk to him on and off the court. I love playing for a guy like that. Ever since he's been recruiting me in high school I just knew that he was special, and I knew that I could trust him and everything, so I'm glad to play for a coach like that.
Kawhi Leonard: Like Billy said, Coach Fisher is a player's coach and he helps you out on and off the court. He makes you feel better and more comfortable playing with him in the game.
Q. Kawhi, Jim Calhoun came in here and said you would be a lottery pick and that he has to prepare for you early because of the match-up problems, how would you guard you?
Kawhi Leonard: Try to contest my shots, play defense and hope that I miss.
D.J. Gay: I'm not giving that away!
Q. Kawhi, following up on that, out of high school you weren't a highly recruited guy, but now you've got NBA scouts salivating all over the nation about your prospects. What's changed?
Kawhi Leonard: I just probably -- probably just me being in a gym, working hard, trying to develop my game and I got great players around me that make me look even better. They just make the game easier for me, and I'm just out there playing hard with them and I guess they see that I've been working hard and some of my skills developed to be a professional.
Q. Kawhi, you talked before in Tucson about you playing in this building before, in high school, won a couple of championships, do you feel comfortable around here? It's not exactly your hometown, but it's pretty close, within a freeway. Do you feel comfortable around here?
Kawhi Leonard: Yeah, you know, since I had some success in the building it makes me feel a little more comfortable playing here, but this is a different level of competition, and different players I'm playing against so I have to come in focused and prepare to play a good UCONN team.
Q. Guys, what role if any does tradition play in this regional? You've got UCONN and Duke and Arizona with extensive tournament pedigrees, you guys are just building yours this year. Talk about your thoughts on that.
Billy White: I think it doesn't matter. To us, we're just here to play. Doesn't matter who we play. We're just trying to better our own resume here. If we keep winning and playing hard it's going to take care of its own.
Malcolm Thomas: I don't think it plays a role at all. Every team wants to win. Every team is going to play hard. We're going to play hard no matter what team we play and every team just wants to win a championship, and I think that's the main goal.
Q. D.J., is there any team that you guys have faced this year that Connecticut reminds you of, from watching tape?
D.J. Gay: No, I don't think so. If I had to choose one, it would probably be BYU with Brandon Davies, they have big guys. They have that one scorer that can go off for a lot of points, and they have a shooter, a guy that can knock down shots at will and some role players that do their jobs very well. This will be a fun match-up, there's a team that likes to get up and down, a transition team, so if it would have to be anybody it would be close to a BYU.
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you.
COACH FISHER: I said this when we started our tournament in Tucson, that to have an opportunity to be playing at this time of year is what every player, coach, and fan dream about. This period of March is the most exciting of any in any sport, and it's always fun when you're not a spectator, when you can be in the mix and be a part of it. We have a team, and I'll underline "team," that has earned its way here, and we're excited to be a part of the Sweet 16. It's nice that we only have an hour and a half bus ride to get here and hopefully we will have the type of fan base that will let everybody know that we're an hour and a half away.
Q. Steve, can you talk about after your last game you were saying in the locker room, you know, I haven't been here in 17 years, the Sweet 16, can you talk about getting back here and what that's meant to you and if you thought maybe that wouldn't be possible again?
COACH FISHER: I knew it would be possible. We've been in the tournament, but we've not advanced past the first round since I believe 1994 was the last time that we did it. So to have the opportunity to be in it, you can't win if you don't get in it. This is our fourth opportunity at San Diego State, it's only the second time that we've been able to go back-to-back, that's significant for us, that has helped us and will continue to help us. I'm smart enough to know that it's a privilege to do what we do, and to have an opportunity to play in the tournament, and then rarely do you continue to move on. I don't care who you are, you have to be a bit lucky and you have to be good, and I think we're a little bit of both this year. I've said that all along, I voiced my appreciation to our team. We've got a wonderful group of young people who have found ways to win more games than anybody in the country except Ohio State and Kansas right now, that's saying a mouthful. So we've all said "let's enjoy it" and after we won the first game I told them, "we're good enough" and then when it came to the second game -- I made the comment after the game that they had a "pin" for the second game, had no idea they had a pin for the second game because it's been so long since I've been a part of it, and it feels good to be here.
Q. Coach, when you first made it to a Final Four it was under bizarre circumstances, obviously and the other couple of times you made it it was like a stream roller, you guys were great. Now you're here trying to get to that Final Four game, from your personal standpoint, what has it been like for you knowing that you're two games away?
COACH FISHER: It's been a wonderful, wonderful journey that we've had. I knew we were going to have a good team, I didn't know how good we would be. I knew that we had a team that I expected and our fans expected to make the tournament. Our previous seeds, the highest seed we had was an 11, so now we get a 2 seed and you're expected to win and you expect to win. So what's happened at San Diego State obviously hasn't happened before. So we've got the whole community upside down, excited about our team, and it's fun. We sold out every game of the season, 12,414, and it's an atmosphere that is no better than any of the other three schools playing here. We've got a great fan base and they have enjoyed it immensely, and so have I.
Q. Can you compare it at all to what you went through before?
COACH FISHER: Not really. Obviously it's the same game, same tournament but it's all together different.
Q. How?
COACH FISHER: I would say early on there were no expectations. We created the expectations. Where we were before, there were expectations, somewhat because of where we were, so I think more than anything else, it was that. Both places I loved immensely, I loved where I was before but I -- I can't tell you how much I enjoy being a part of San Diego State right now.
Q. Steve, as long as you and Jim Calhoun have been coaching, I wonder how well do you know him, and how much different you are personality-wise and how similar you are in terms of your basketball philosophy?
COACH FISHER: I've known Jim Calhoun since I was an assistant, which is a long time ago. He was a guy that didn't always gravitate to every head coach in the room, so I got to know him a little bit then; and then when I became a head coach, we would sit and we would talk. I don't know him all that well, but I do know him, I know him well enough to say he is a friend, and I've watched his teams play and I would think that we have similar feelings about what it takes to win. You have to be able to defend, you have to be able to rebound, you have to do it consistently. I do think that he's different on the court, on the sidelines and the demeanor that you see and what he presents to another coach in a social environment or off the -- off the track of the stress of the season. He's a little more laid back, low key, unassuming. He's very, very good at what he does and very demanding with what he does, and I've got a lot of respect for him as a coach and as a person.
Q. Coach, you talked about that fan base. How big of an advantage can that be being so close and where does that advantage show itself, when the team is down or when a team is ahead?
COACH FISHER: The big thing that's good for us now is we're an hour and a half up the road. We don't have to fly three hours and three time zones to play a game. We are going to have a lot of fans here. How much that will help us win games, I don't know. It did at home. At our home games when we got on a run our crowd kept us on that run. When we struggle a little bit, they allowed us to get back on the road quicker. We're going to have a good number of San Diego State people here, and they'll make a lot of noise and hopefully it will help us a little bit.
Q. Coach, do you like playing in this facility, being back here at Honda Center right now?
COACH FISHER: I'm Oh-fer right now, we got the same locker room that Saint Mary's beat us twice in, so I'm hoping we can change that. This is a nice facility in terms of the number of people we can put in here and great building, so hopefully we will play well and have a chance to get a win. But I think I've only played here twice, both times in the Wooden Classic, both times Saint Mary's and both times wishing we could have played longer.
Q. Coach, can you give us your impressions of UCONN, what you've seen on tape, their strengths and things?
COACH FISHER: They're big, they're very, very good rebounders, they run as well as any team we will have played and they have a superstar in Kemba Walker. That's a tough combination to deal with. You can end it with, they're playing as well right now as anybody in the country, the way they've gone through the Big East tournament and their first two games. They're very talented and very well coached.
Q. Coach, you had some fairly great players over the years, both at Michigan and here as well. Where does Kawhi Leonard compare?
COACH FISHER: Kawhi compares favorably with players we have had in the past who have had a reputation and then lived up to the reputation. He came in as "Mr. Basketball" in the State of California, and he, from day one, nobody worked harder. I've made the statement before, he is a gym rat who is constantly trying to get better, which is why from year one to year two he was significantly better and determined to get even better as he goes along. Huge hands, pursues the ball like none other player that I've coached. When he gets his hands on the ball he will usually get it. He's a hard guard because he can score on the bounce, he's good with the ball, he can post you up and he's just good enough to where you're hesitant to back off him and give him an open shot from the perimeter, he's a very, very good player.
Q. Coach, talk about Kawhi Leonard and his attitude. He's a guy that it's so clear he's a fabulous player, he's going to translate very well to the NBA, yet you never hear from the guy. Even in this press conference he's a very, very understated guy, very different from those Fab Five guys you had way back in the day. Can you compare his attitude and how is it going to help him make that transition?
COACH FISHER: He is a man of few words, "yes, no, maybe." He was that way recruiting him. You never knew what he was thinking. He has become much more open now with us when he gets to know you, he will smile more readily, but he would much rather be in the gym now on the court. We told him as we told everybody, enjoy this part of it, this is all part of the process. Enjoy it. Doesn't say a whole lot but he says a whole lot with his actions on the floor with how he plays.
Q. Coach, when you're up against a dynamic player like Kemba, does that change the way you normally play your defense when you go up against somebody like him? D.J. was saying you're going to throw everybody and the kitchen sink at him.
COACH FISHER: Well, he scores 35 or 40% of their points and takes about that many of their shots, so we better have a plan in terms of what we want to try to do. You can't foul him. He's a deadly free-throw shooter and I believe he's gotten 76 free throws in his last seven games. You've got to keep him off the line. He knows how to draw fouls. He's lightning quick with the ball. We've got to keep him on the outside, challenge his perimeter shot, minimize the number of throes and layups they gets. It's easy to say, hard to do. He's not scoring 26, 28 points a game for nothing.
Q. Steve, following up on Jim Calhoun, when he's on the court and fairly animated, do you think that personality intimidates the officials? Do you think there is something to be gained there and are you conscious in your relatively mild-mannered way that you have to do something to get that edge back?
COACH FISHER: I would hope not, I would hope not especially at this time of the season, this level. I think all of us, when we have regular season games, there are certain guys that you would prefer to have on home games, and others that you don't want to see on somebody else's home court. I don't think that factors in in this type of a setting. I think you've got officials who have all had experience doing what they do. I don't -- I'm not going to -- I don't spend time looking down to see what the other coach is doing, and I try to be just demonstrative enough to make sure that when I say something that they've got ears. I think if you're harping and carping all the time, pretty soon they tune you out, whether it be players or officials, but, no, I'm not worried about any type of things that another coach might do to help him get an edge on the officiating.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.
SDSU Locker Room Quotes
Chase Tapley
On UCONN: They're a good running team, so we'll have to stop the transition. We also have to get defensive rebounds. That's something Coach Fisher has established in practices because they are a big team. If we do that, then we'll take care of business. They're a Big East team, they know how to run. I mean they have a lot of long and athletic players, just like us, so something's going to have to give. It's going to end up being the team that wants it more on Thursday. We're going to try and beat them.
On the Aztec seniors: Having five seniors and three of those five starting does give us an edge. Their freshmen have been through a lot of tough games playing in the Big East, so it's inevitable for them to have some experience, too.
Tim Shelton
General comments: The biggest thing we've been talking about is transition defense. They're a good transition team and they get out and run. We also talked about pressuring the ball and containing Kemba Walker, because he's a great scorer. It's going to take multiple guys to get that job done. I'm just going to provide some good minutes off the bench and provide a spark when I can.
Brian Carlwell
On being so close to home: It's definitely an advantage. We feel like we took a trip right down the street. Hopefully a lot of our fans will get to come, a lot of people have told me they're going to make the trip so it's definitely exciting to know we're going to have so much fan support. Being at school on Monday was special because we heard so many people were going to be at the game. To know that fans and students are going to come along on this ride as along as we take them is more inspiration to us to hopefully give them the typle of miracle season that they want just as much as we do.
James Rahon
On intimidation: There are some great teams here and we're a great team also. We've been trying to prove people wrong all year long and this is our chance for us to put our name up there with those teams that are here with us.
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Calhoun. We will take questions for Coach.
COACH CALHOUN: To state the obvious, we're very happy to be here as I'm sure that 15 other schools in America are to be in at this point, 40 minutes away from a final 8 and obviously 80 minutes away from a Final Four is an exciting thing, we have had an opportunity to be here on a number of occasions, never take anything for granted, they're always fun and it's what you start out working for at the beginning of a basketball season.
We're a happy team. We understand that to get to Saturday we've got to beat a very good San Diego State team. They have terrific players who remind me a little bit of not a typical team in the Big East today, but a little more in the midpoint of this decade, 6'8", 6'9" athletes. A lot of them, up front, good guys, great players, well coached and just a great basketball team with a great selection at the 3 spot and they've won a ton of games. They're a good team, we know that, and we're looking forward to playing them tomorrow at either 4:15 or 7:15, whatever your psychic clock says.
Q. Coach, you mentioned you've been here quite a few times, can you talk about how does that help you in terms of preparation, not from a player's standpoint, but from a coach's standpoint, is there an advantage to having been here some times?
COACH CALHOUN: The biggest advantage is who you bring with you. A couple of years ago when we brought Hasheem Thabeet and A.J. Price who plays with the Pacers, and Hasheem played for the Houston Rockets and very good players and experienced team, very exciting, but that's an advantage.
In '04 when we brought Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Hilton Armstrong and Josh Boone, all went on to play in the NBA, they didn't need my wisdom. They just needed to play well. Bottom line is, if you can try as best you can, we do like playing Saturdays and Mondays in the Big East, and it's very difficult with all the hoopla in many, many ways to do that, but we try to treat it like that kind of a weekend, we need to, and we don't really get into deep thought of "This is it. If you lose you go home."
And I don't think our words would ever come out of our mouths, we just say simply we've got to get this one to get to Saturday. It's a great business trip for us to California and we try and take care of Thursday, and then we look into Saturday.
We know the other three teams and we know we don't have to worry about the other two until we see how well we can do against a very good San Diego State team. There is an advantage, no question, because I know if the first couple of years it was a little more difficult to try to navigate your way through the whole mess, and I've done that with just trying to bring it down to the San Diego State. I have no idea who is playing in the other regions, nor do I care.
If you can be that finite to bring it in, it has worked fairly well for us.
Q. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most shocking, how surprised would you have been that to be here on October 15th, looking back to October and somebody told you you would be here?
COACH CALHOUN: Well, you know, we've been here before, as I said before, I don't know if I would be a 10 as far as surprised. Happy. Elated. But I'm the same guy, even though I suppose I have a somewhat dour exterior, at times, well, a lot of the times, and I'm the guy who had 16 miles to go on a bike and had nine broken ribs and kept going. Point being, it's the story of my life to some degree that, Bob, I don't stop dreaming about going.
So I can't say it's a shock to me, because it isn't. We have now a kid who has evolved when I look at my players and this sometimes can be a conflict between them and myself, I never look at what they are, I kind of look at what they can be; and if you look at the kids who have had to go through our program, being a Ben, being an Emeka, these kids weren't big high school players, but I thought we had a chance to be something special but Kemba in my opinion had the chance to be something special, Jeremy Lamb, to come from a kid who's father beat us on a jump shot at Northwestern, to being a best freshman in the country, to other other doing so well and Shabazz being a 6' guard, you look two fold, you look at what things do we need to improve and worry about, and conversely, what things can they be. I'm happy. Elated. I can't tell you I wrote it down, because I usually try to write where I think we will be end of the season and we ended up at the end of the season losing 3 out of 4, tough one to Notre Dame in the last game, but caught fire in the Big East Tournament and won five games in five days and here we are. And we're playing the best basketball right now and everything that could happen good has happened good.
Q. Can you talk about Kawhi Leonard and what specific problems he poses for you and if you've seen anybody quite like him in your travels this year?
COACH CALHOUN: I don't know about this year. I've seen his kind of player before, he's multi dimensional forward who can do so many things. He likes to handle the ball. He can shoot it. He has double doubles. He's a Lowry selection in my opinion. He's a match up problem from day one. Hopefully on the other end we can match him a few times playing smaller and try to cover his post up ability, but he's probably one of those kids in America, the kid from BYU is a great player, great scorer, but to me he's the guy with maybe the bigger basketball future, he's really, really good. He can do so many things. You're 100% right what you hoped with, he's a tough, tough match up, because if you go power he's going to take you outside, and if you go small he's going to take you inside.
With the way that his teammates are playing, get a couple of double doubles themselves, he's a heck of a match up problem and can cause some sleepless mornings. I've been waking early in California, but the thought of him can instead of a 5:00 wake up, he's more of a 4:00 wake up.
Q. Coach, being across the country, did you even know much about the San Diego State program before this week, and have you learned anything that surprised you since the match up was set?
COACH CALHOUN: Well, first thing, I'm a basketball junky so I kinda watch everybody and try to figure out, you know, teams, and I enjoy watching basketball games.
I've seen 'em play three times, when they were on at 10:00 or something of that nature and watched them. I guess the thing I've learned the most is just how good they are. They would be good wherever they are, Big East, Big 12, they're just a really good basketball team.
The thing we don't bring into this is experience, except for Kemba, the thing they bring into it is four or five seniors, depending how many they play, and they're really good. These are really good basketball team. A lot of times you get an athletic group like them, and when they open up, they're great in space, they play well when they run.
But Steve puts them into situations where they can execute very well in the half court so they're a double edged sword to play because if a team is a wide open team you try to slow 'em down, and if they're a half court team you try to speed them up. But I think they play sometimes as well in the open court as they do in the half court set and that makes them very difficult.
The more we looked at them, the more we talked about them. They would be a legitimate team in any league in the country.
Q. Coach, can you talk about the challenge of playing a team so close to their campus, 100 miles or so and do you think that will be a distinct advantage for them?
COACH CALHOUN: We played UCLA in Oakland and they went on to win a national championship that year in 1996. We played George Mason on their campus, oh it was the Verizon Center, my bad, make sure I keep those advertising dollars coming through.
We've played an awful lot of people, it seems, we played North Carolina in the final 8 in Greensboro, that was the year they gave out stats at halftime with just North Carolina on it (Chuckles.)
No, that's a memory thing that happens to you occasionally. But we seemed to have an awful lot of that. I think quite frankly we've always opted to go away, it was the fourth or fifth time out west, and playing out west we've been fairly successful.
Three officials, 10 kids, playing basketball on the court, the house the first time we got to the Final Four was '99 against Gonzaga and Phoenix, and I swear to God if there were 18,000 in the building, 17,500 were rooting for Gonzaga, so we've been exposed to that before.
I don't know that it hurts you, I always think it helps the other team, though, if they get down a little bit, it helps the other team.
Q. Coach, I wanted to ask you, you and Steve Fisher I think are the two senior coaches left in the tournament?
COACH CALHOUN: What does "senior" mean?
Q. 68 and 65.
COACH CALHOUN: Thought I would clarify that.
Q. I wanted to know if it would appear to be stylistically you're a little different, have you had much contact with him over the years, how well do you know him and what accounts in your mind for your longevity?
COACH CALHOUN: My longevity is stubbornness, purely Irish stubbornness, won't give in, I don't know what afflicts Steve to keep going, but that's my excuse.
I think the love of the game, I think you do something you like and when you end up doing this after 39th year as a Division I head coach, and to be honest, one of the happiest years I've ever had in coach and go it hasn't been necessary well an easy year for me personally with some unfortunate deaths, my sister in law, and my college roommate who he was very close to, other factors.
But this team has made basketball so much fun. It's what I do. It's who I am in many ways. I am many other things. I'm a father, a grandfather. I hope I'm a lot more than just a basketball coach. But when it gets down to it that becomes yourself.
So therefore, I would assume it's the same thing with Steve. I would assume he continues doing this because of the love of the game and the love of the kids and for us to find a team like this, we were in the Final Four two years ago. I really liked that team. It was a fun team, Jeff, A.J., those guys, but this team with its seven freshmen, couple sophomores and Kemba. It's been the most fun coaching them. They have the most resilience of any team I've coached. I was upset with them early. We didn't lose a lot early, but when we lost I went into the gym I kept telling my assistants "they're too happy" and they weren't too happy. They were looking forward to getting better, and Kemba does help with that.
I know Steve fairly well, on Nike trips as much as anything else and I knew him when I was at Michigan, and I would think we have a good talk relationship. Beyond that we're separated by 3,000 miles and I haven't seen him that much he left Michigan.
Q. You just mentioned before that you think the kid at San Diego State might have a better future than the kid at BYU. Where does Kemba match up in that?
COACH CALHOUN: It's going to be bias, but Kemba's future is anyplace. We leave the Georgetown game in Big John, who I happen to be Kent Milbrook, when I got down in college, he was my roommate and he was the second year it the Celtics and he said "You know that little guy you have? He said that's Alan Iverson at times."
And you know what, with his 42, his 32, all the points he's scored, he does have that scoring mentality. His nickname in high school was "Easy Pass" because he was just a great distributor of the basketball, and he's proven that in other games with double figure assists.
At 6 feet, 185 pounds there isn't anything he can't do and the greatest thing he can do is lead a team and impose some of his will on his teammates. Most people can't transmit that. That's a hard thing to do and I've had great players, and some can. But Kemba can do so many different things to me defensively on the ball, pressure, rebounding, he averages 6 rebounds a game.
I think he's the most special of three really great players we just talked about. I think he's the most valuable by the way, too, because of the guys around him don't have a lot of experience he has given them an awful lot.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much.
Q. Kemba, during the Big East tournament, one coach left you off the first team ballot and throughout that entire time we heard a lot about Hansborough, throughout this tournament we've heard about Jimmer, and I'm wondering why do you think you're getting overlooked?
KEMBA WALKER: I don't think I'm getting overlooked, and I'm not really trying to pay attention to that stuff.
I'm just trying to play basketball, win games and get bring that national championship back to Storrs, Connecticut, so as far as the accolades and stuff, that will come. I'm not big into that stuff.
Q. Kemba, Mombo Jones was telling us yesterday, he called you his "best friend." I don't know if you could talk about your relationship?
KEMBA WALKER: He's like my brother. We played against each other and with each other, we have a great relationship. He's like my little brother. Whenever he needed advise and stuff we talk and stuff like that, so, yeah.
Q. He said you guys were so close that you're one of the few guys that he doesn't talk trash to?
KEMBA WALKER: And that's surprising, right, he talks a lot of trash. I haven't played against him in a while and I'm pretty sure if we play against each other, you know, in the tournament there will be some trash talkin' between the two.
Q. Kemba, do you think San Diego State will have a slight advantage, big advantage being so close to their campus, 100 miles or so? How do you block that out when seemingly everybody is against you?
KEMBA WALKER: You know, I definitely think that they'll have a lot of fans, I don't know about an advantage. I'm pretty sure we will have a nice little fan base because our fans travel very well.
We're just going to play basketball. You know, we've been in some tough places this season, we went to Texas, tough place, we won that game, we pulled some big wins out on the road this year so as far as that, I think we'll be fine.
ALEX ORIAKHI: I don't think it's going to affect us at all. At the end of the day it's just basketball and we're not going to listen to the fans or nothing like that, so I don't think it's going to affect us.
Q. Kemba, can you talk about the importance of Alex's play tomorrow against San Diego State, particularly slowing down their frontcourt guys.
KEMBA WALKER: Yeah, Alex is very important for this team. He's been playing well as of late and when he's enforcing his presence in the paint, it makes it hard for teams to beat us and San Diego State rebounds the basketball very well. They are extremely athletic and if Alex and the other "bigs" do a great job containing those guys on the rebounding I think we'll be fine.
Q. Kemba, can you talk about the reason behind Jeremy Lamb's continued improvement over the season and his play particularly recent, what do you think is behind that?
ALEX ORIAKHI: It's hard work, that's a kid that is in the gym literally every day, working on his game, after games he's in the gym, so I think it's the hard work playing off. He's a good kid and he loves the game. He works hard.
Q. Kemba, have you seen Jimmer play? What's your assessment?
KEMBA WALKER: Yeah, I got a chance to watch him play a couple of times well, not really, just ESPN, really, I never got a chance to sit down and watch his game. But I know he shoots from half court, I know he don't miss. He's just he's tough to guard. I don't know, he's just extremely tough to guard, he's getting 50 points sometimes it's unreal.
But he's a great basketball player. I got a chance to be with him with the USA team and I got a chance to see him play at that time, so, yeah.
Q. Who is the underdog in this game, is it you because you're a lower seed, San Diego State because they have far less tradition, is it you guys because you're less experienced?
ALEX ORIAKHI: I think we're the underdog and that's the role we kinda like. We kinda like being the underdog and people are probably going to say we're the underdog because we're a lower seed and a young team but we thrive off of that and we use it to our advantage by playing harder.
KEMBA WALKER: I don't think tradition plays a role in this at all. As far as that, doesn't really matter, we're going to go out and play basketball. Everybody is saying we're a young team but, you know, at this point, we don't have any freshmen, we're all basketball players.
Q. Kemba, based on what you've seen on tape how do you think San Diego State would have fared if they had been in the Big East instead of the Mountain West this season?
KEMBA WALKER: Wow, tryin' to set me up! (Chuckles.) Man, I think they would do well. It's a tough call, they're a great team. I think they will be one of the teams that's at the top of the Big East.
ALEX ORIAKHI: I agree with him.
Q. Kemba, what's it like or what goes through your mind when the game is on you, Texas, Pitt, something like that, what goes through your mind?
KEMBA WALKER: As far as last second shots? I don't know, my teammates always tell me they give me a certain "look" it's like, "Kemba, win this game" just make this shot! So I'm just trying to, you know, stay poised and make sure and do everything perfect at that time so I can make that shot.
Q. When you do it once is it easier to do it again or somehow easier?
KEMBA WALKER: I don't think it's easier, it just happens, just happens, honestly. When we're in that situation, like I said, my teammates want me to take the shot, my coaching staff wants me to take that shot, my family wants me to take that shot, I want to take that shot, so I'm going to take that shot and I'm going to try to make it.
Q. Your coach was in here a few minutes ago talking about how much fun he was having this year. For those of us who don't know him well and don't see him a lot that's not the image he projects, cut when he's having fun and does he seem to be having fun?
KEMBA WALKER: He's definitely having fun, we winin'! There is nothing more fun than winnin'. He's extremely cool off the court. He is such a competitor and he has a passion for the game, that's why he's like that on the court sometimes. He doe what is best for his team.
ALEX ORIAKHI: I think he's definitely having fun because he always says winning solves everything and I'm happy we've just been able too win lately and this team just responded to him in a great way so we've been compete and go playing hard so, you know, he can't complain because we're leaving it all out there on the floor.
Q. Kemba, they were saying D.J. was saying a couple of minutes ago in a radio interview that they were going to have everybody running at you all game long, what are your thoughts when you hear that?
KEMBA WALKER: That's nothing new. I've been having people run at me all season, and I'm pretty sure there is going to be tough defense on me but I'm going to take my time, you know, just try to adjust to whatever defense they're playing and do whatever is possible to get this win. I'm going to have a great scoring night, great assists night, great defense, something. I'm just going to leave it on the floor.
Q. Kemba, thinking back to Maui, I know that's a long time ago, but did you guys surprise yourselves or did you have a sense of how good you were? How important was that? Setting up the season?
KEMBA WALKER: That was big time. We had a lot of confidence going into Maui. At that point we didn't have anything to lose, so I think that's how we approached every game. We had our first game against Wichita State and it was a tough game but we were able to pull out win and it showed us how great of a defensive team we can be at times and we took the defense into the next two games and we was able to come out with those two huge wins. Maui tournament gave us the confidence to compete with the big dogs in college basketball.
Q. Your coach was in here earlier and he said that Kemba might be the M.V.P. playing right now, and he talked about the seven freshmen and you have the ability to impose your will on the team. Do you feel the need to do that at times, and Alex do you feel when it's happening?
ALEX ORIAKHI: Definitely seeing how he competes out there and how much he wants us to win, I think we feed off of that. When he's playing great out there the whole team place great out there. We just feed off of Kemba's energy and we try to do anything possible to help him out there on the court. I just watch him score all the points.
KEMBA WALKER: I definitely at times feel it. For example, the Cincinnati game we were slows in the first half and the second half but I was able to bring a spark to the team and they just fed off me and we were able to come out with the big win.
Q. Kemba, Nolan Smith said you guys were tight, have you talked at all since you found out you were coming out here?
KEMBA WALKER: I haven't spoken to him yet but we're definitely good friends.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen, good luck tomorrow.
UCONN Locker Room Quotes
Kemba Walker
On if he can learn anything from how SDSU guarded Jimmer Fredette: No, I've seen every defense possible. Me and Jimmer are two different players, you know, Jimmer is shooting from half-court (laughing). But I am looking forward to seeing a lot of different D's."
On what advice he can give to the freshmen: I am telling the guys it's a great opportunity for us, and it's very possible for us to get to the final four and we need to take it one game at a time.
On relationship with assistant coach Kevin Ollie: He's helped me a lot, you know, with my shot, with the pace of the game. Him being around has been great for me, and for the other guards on my team.
Donnell Beverly
On SDSU Forward Malcolm Thomas: He played in the Say-No and I played in the Say-No (Summer League) so I've seen him a couple times. He is really athletic and tries to dunk everything. He's a beast in there and guys got to step up.
On the major contributions from underclassmen: Coach said from day one, there is no freshmen or sophomores once you step on this court everybody is just ballplayers, and I really think they took that and ran with it, just played basketball and not really worried about making freshmen mistakes and just being aggressive on both ends of the court, so that's really helped us this year.