Oct. 10, 2011
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State Head Coach Beth Burns
Opening Statement:
"We've really geared up and worked on a lot on our fundamentals (over the last week) and really allowed ourselves as a staff to get the feel of seven new players, who we think could (all be) impactful. That's really, really exciting. We had to get a sense for what they're good at and how quickly they can learn before we kind of decide on the things, especially offensively, that we could do going forward. With that, we have a returning player, last year's conference newcomer of the year, in (junior) Courtney Clements, who I think will be the one that, maybe to the eyeball test, looks the most different (from last season). She probably has lost about 10 to 15 pounds, has really leaned up and has learned a lot from a year ago. We have a healthy (sophomore guard) Kiyana Stamps, which we haven't seen yet, and a redshirt transfer in Chelsea Hopkins, who is our team captain and our point guard. They will both really be big difference makers for us even though they haven't ever been on the floor. I think that's our challenge. Every facet of a basketball game, we have to, in 22 days, have at least functionality, because we're going to have to start to play. There will be at least one, and as many as three people in the starting line-up who are new. (We could also have) up to five (new players on the court) at any one time. All of them can play and all of them will see time."
On her initial assessment of the team:
"I don't think you can compare this year to last year at all because you have really 75 percent of the locker room that's really different with different strengths. We went from two years ago, probably having as good a backcourt as there was on the west coast, maybe in the country in Quenese Davis and Jene Morris, to, unfortunately with the loss of Kiyana Stamps a year ago, a very good front line with very few ball handlers. We had to change and become a half-court team. We had to do what was best to take advantage of Paris (Johnson) and Jessika Bradley. Now we're back to probably more Aztec basketball, where we can play 95 feet. We have very good athletes, but we aren't big on size. We (have players who are) 6-1 or 6-2 and have two freshmen who are 5-11 and 6-feet, who can grab the rim. We're a lot more athletic than we were a year ago. We can put it on the floor a lot better than we did a year ago and we're going to be able to defend in the full court a lot better. We're just not going to have those two big shot-blockers behind us (in Johnson and Bradley). I tell our guards on a daily basis, `we better pressure the ball into full court, because you have two freshmen running into each other behind you and it's not going to be pretty.' Everything's going to be a matter of youth, but we really like our upside and we think this team could really be good."
"I just think the mental to physical (aspect of the game) is four is to one and at this level, everyone's trained and everyone's practicing. I think Courtney had to realize that the mental part of the game was where she really had to change her approach. Everybody learns at different paces, that's what we have to learn with these new kids. She had to go through it. Sometimes you have to get hit in the head to realize that there's someone or something in your way and I think that's what happened to her. To her credit, she took a step back, listened, reassessed and has hit it hard.
"We won't know (how she's improved) till games start. It's easy to be successful now, because everything is pretty black and white and pretty stop and go. We haven't had to do a lot of thinking yet, but we'll see. She is a great shooter, but she needs to (become) a great competitive shooter. She is a perfectionist. She'd rather spend 30 minutes and shoot 85 percent and I'm trying to have her spend 15 minutes and shoot 58 percent. Everything is about tempo. Her mechanics are as good as anyone I've ever had, ever. With her improved fitness, conditioning, and mental approach, we expect that she should be able to have a good year. Also, she's a catch and shoot player. Catch and shoot players (find it) hard to have success, when we didn't have a lot of ball handling a year ago. She's great in a draw and kick game, but we had to do everything off screens a year ago. I think when you add the speed of Chelsea Hopkins, Kiyana Stamps, a new freshman that we have in Ahjalee Harvey, who's going to be very good, and a returning Sajoyia Griffin, we can put the ball on the floor and spread people out and find her [Courtney Clements]. I think that will help her, too."