March 9, 2010

Steve San Diego State News Conference

Quotes from Monday's San Diego State men's basketball news conference.

Head Coach Steve Fisher:

Opening Statement:

I try to do as I say to do and that is to not worry about individual praise or negativity but to talk about the team, the team, the team. I am sure you have talked about all-conference and I just want to make sure I go on record as saying that for me, and I had a vote, that our most important player is DJ Gay. I have said that before. He has a two-to-one assists-to-turnover ratio, he guards the opponents' best perimeter player, he's been asked to play 40 minutes a game the last few games, he plays with great intelligence and he is our most important player. I almost wish they wouldn't give these individual awards. Kawhi made first team, Malcolm made second team and Billy and DJ made honorable mention. But DJ is invaluable to us. I think the rest of our team knows that but I just wanted to make sure that I made that statement.

Questions are asked (about other topics) but the most important thing is CSU and not worry about who you would rather play next and not play next. CSU is a tough opponent. We have beaten them twice. Very close game at their place and at our place we got a spurt, got a lead and maintained it. They are a good team. They are now a postseason team. They are 16-14 and it will be the first time in a long time that they will have an opportunity at postseason play. So they are going to come in very excited, as will we. As you know crazy things happen at tournament time. We are hopeful that we will go out and play with the same type of toughness and success we had the first two times we played them. We are going to Vegas with the thought of winning three games. We can do that, but we are going to have to play great basketball in order to make that happen. It starts and ends right now with CSU.

On status of injured Tyrone Shelley and Chase Tapley:

Tyrone had the stitches out today (Monday). He says it hurts more now than when he broke it, but I think that's just a temporary thing. I believe he will be ready to play. He said he could play on Saturday and we suited him up and I said emergency only and we didn't use him. He thinks he'll be ready to play and I do too.

Chase is a different story. We've done nothing. They have fashioned a smaller version of what he had been wearing this weekend. We are going to try today and see if he can dribble the ball, catch and shot but he will not do anything live even if he can do that, but that's the first step. So a big question mark on Chase.

On mindset of players knowing they might have to win all three games to make it to the tournament and if it will affect their play:

I don't know. I hope not. I hope they go out and play. I think like you see anytime, if you are a prohibitive favorite and you look up and are behind or the scores close, then there's a tendency to press a little bit. But I don't think we have the luxury of saying we are a prohibited favorite over anybody, so I don't think that will be the case. If we don't play well or shoot well I don't think it will be because of the stress or pressure that we have to win. I don't think that will be the case. I know we are going to play hard. We have played really good defense and your hair should be on fire anyway when you are playing defense and that will help us from that stand-point.

On if it helps to have just played CSU as opposed to if we saw Utah who we played a couple weeks ago:

It's the same for both teams. It won't take much remembering to think about last Wednesday when we had our last regular season home game and what happened and the game plan and the game prep. Same thing for them. So it's probably easier to prepare for that game but it's likewise the same for Colorado State.

On whether last year's NCAA tournament miss motivates you to prove your worth this year:

It probably doesn't because there are so many new faces. If we had the same team back it might have some significance but we have D.J. and Billy who are the only two to play last year that are playing this year who went through that and thought they were in and thought they were out, then in and then we are out. We just need to go play and if we win it will take care of itself.

On how the success of the MWC is viewed nationally:

Our league, not unlike football, has grown based on how people in the state of Florida, the state of New York or the state of Washington view our league. It was enhanced most by New Mexico, BYU and Vegas. That helped elevate what people feel about us. When you do what New Mexico has done, that gets attention. I think our league has been talked about. They are saying that this is some doggone good basketball when you have two teams in the top 20 and in the season three teams at one time were in the top 20; and we were right there a notch below. It definitely helps the league. It will help more if people could get in and then win. We go to BYU and they talk about what's wrong with BYU because they haven't won a NCAA tournament game since the 90s. They have been in every year though, but they haven't been able to get a win. So hopefully they will win, New Mexico will win, Vegas will win and we'll get in and win. That will be pretty good if that could happen.

On if the higher ranked teams in the league help SDSU's chances of a tournament berth:

It helps because there are two teams in the league that are ranked now. That enhances everybody's perception and all these things they talk about that they put in to the RPI. I saw yesterday that our RPI is pretty good, 33 I think. We have got a higher RPI than Vegas. I think New Mexico is now seventh and BYU is 13th or 14th. That's pretty good. Better than the Pac-10 Conference. Better than most leagues right now. We have never gotten four in though. Can we break that trend and get four in this year? I think there are four deserving teams and we are hoping that we get four in.

On what changed with Kawhi Leonard:

I think Kawhi he became more of a basketball player where he is aware of his surroundings and everything that was going on around him. I think he's a smarter player who passes the ball a lot; the things that don't show up on the score board. He knows how to find that open man and find that open area, he's guarding a whole lot better, he can play longer stretches without having little mental fatigue and he's very skilled obviously, very talented. His perimeter shooting is getting better even though it hasn't shown a lot in games. He did make two threes in our last game. He's working very hard on his 15 to 20 foot shot and that is getting better. But the most improvement, I think, is just him being more aware of everything from time and score, early on. I'll use the Wyoming game as an example; we are 14 ahead with five minutes to go and he came down and first touch he shot it. He would never ever do that know. He knows enough to give the ball up and have the clock be your ally and those kinds of things he has really grown in, in terms of his game.

On Kawhi's game and if he came in as more of a scorer than anything:

Well I don't know if I would say just a scorer. Obviously he's always been a dynamic rebounder and I think he's always been a pretty good passer. Kawhi came in here an unselfish player. I think early on he didn't want to ruffle feathers and didn't want to try too hard to do things and eventually he said, `I can play here with anybody and if I get a shot I am going to shoot it and if I get an opportunity I am going to take it.' That also helped his game.

On Kawhi being willing to not take the shot and not try to be the star: I think that's just him being a good person. He's a guy that will always look you in the eye and not say a whole lot but say, `yes', `ok', `I understand.' He'll do what we ask him to do. So if you say don't take a shot, as much as he would like to take the shot, he won't take the shot. But that's more him than anything.

SAN DIEGO STATE STUDENT-ATHLETES

On Kawhi's Freshman of the Year award:

Kawhi Leonard: Very excited. I feel kind of lucky. Other freshmen in our conference were doing a lot of work for their team. I am just excited and surprised about the award.

On how he thought the year would go and if he anticipated doing this well:

LEONARD: Not really. I came in at the beginning of the season not scoring as much so I thought that's how the remainder of the season was going to go for me and that I would just progress a little bit. I knew that this conference was very talented but I didn't know how it was going to play out.

On if there was a time or a player where he felt he could play at that level:

LEONARD: It was just my team giving me confidence throughout practice and pushing me. I just started getting more comfortable in games. I just started to play harder and things just came out good.

On if he knew Kawhi would play such a huge role in the season:

D.J. Gay: I think Kawhi's being modest. Nobody is surprised on what happened. He has played a big role for our team this year. Rebounding and scoring, he has been a go to guy for us this year. To be a go to guy on a successful team results in freshman of the year happening. It's a blessing to have him on our team. I am glad he's on our team and I am not playing against him. Congratulations to Kawhi.

On Coach Fishers' role in his progression:

LEONARD: Coach Fish has a big role at practice. He pushes me to go harder in drills, stay longer and focus. He's always pushing everybody on our team, not just me, but everybody. We all just look up to him and do what he says.

On what award means more to him:

LEONARD: I guess the freshman award. That's who I am going to be competing with in the conference so that is the biggest one to me. The all-conference team is surprising too because other players in our conference are doing a lot of things for their teams too. Seniors and juniors should get it because they have been in the conference doing more work than me.

On being named to the second-team:

Malcolm Thomas: I'm happy that I was named to the second team. I feel like there were other players doing more than me like my teammate here to the left, D.J and Billy, but I am excited and happy.

On chances of getting into the NCAA tournament:

GAY: We just have to win. If we lose, odds are going to be against us. We are watching every game to see who's winning ad who's losing. If you want to get into the tournament we have to go into Vegas and just win. That's how I look at it. We win the tournament and we are in. If we don't, it could go either way. It's a coin toss.

On the road they are heading on into the MWC tournament:

GAY: CSU is a good team though and we can't underestimate them. I am happy we get a chance to play them again. It will be a hard fought game.