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SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEDecember 4, 2012Beth BurnsCOACH BURNS: First, I'd really like to say it was just a really, really exciting experience for our team. We had about 800 Girl Scouts strong, which you can count on sounding like about 8,000; one thing you can count on with Girl Scouts is they are going to scream whether you're going well or you're not doing well. Appreciate that Rocky chose to make us his recruiting weekend and brought about 50 guys over to the game to kind of have a semi‑show. And really, you've heard me say this many times, I think basketball has about as great a home‑court advantage as there can be because of the proximity of your people, so I think without question our team felt it. The building felt different when we were coming out to warm up. I couldn't have anticipated or hoped that we would have played as well as we did but we did and appreciate that, in the first of Lee really big games, at Washington tomorrow night and then back here at University of San Diego on Saturday. So we are obviously in a good place. Tuesday a week ago, everything that could have gone wrong, did, in terms of sprained ankles and broken hands and all kinds of things, but eight was enough on Saturday, and hopefully eight will be enough coming up this week. Q. I know you're really worried going into that USC game, but you pulled off the win. What were the really big positives you took from that game with your team? COACH BURNS: Well, I think that when we've had preparation time, which obviously we did for Auburn, we did for SC. We're starting to figure out what makes us good. This team is really different from a year ago and I think that people will assume because we have some key parts back, they are just really different. You know, we are not‑‑ we don't have the speed that we had. But we are strong and we are long and we are physical, and we still can be successful. It's just a little bit different. And I think that with preparation, you know, we held them in the low 40s, and I think that our guards are starting to understand that the kind of things they can do defensively to help us win have gone a long win. So being able to process and scout was a huge part for us. They have a really good inside game. They have young guards. It's interesting because Washington is the diametric opposite of SC; they have all guards, run dribble drive and try to have a crazy phrenetic tempo. So I think we took away that obviously if we are prepared, we get confident. So I feel the same way going into Washington. And I really liked our execution. You know, SC really kind of laid back and challenged us to make shots, and I still thought we had pretty good discipline. Just about anybody could have taken a lot at any time and I thought we had pretty good discipline and took the right shots and did the right things. Q. I know it's still a year away moving to the Big West, but is there anything you do this season to prepare for that move? COACH BURNS: No. Q. Nothing at all? COACH BURNS: No. Q. What about in terms of your non‑conference schedule next year, will it be any different? COACH BURNS: You know, it's just about impossible for us to schedule, so maybe now it's become impossibler, is that a word? You know, we don't‑‑ I've rarely had the schedule that I'd like. We do the schedule that we have to have, and I think that people don't want to play us, they don't‑‑ when you're in a non‑BCS conference, and knock‑on‑wood, reputed to be a pretty good team, they don't want to take the low RPI of everybody else in your league. So it was really difficult for us to schedule this year. You know, I added the UCLA late, which our tournament at Christmas already has some Top 15 teams in it. So I don't know how I could schedule any different, unless Muffin and Geno are bored and they want to come out and play. I mean, we schedule really difficult. No, I think there's so much going on, that you're silly to forecast forward and playing for it. All you're going to do is set yourself up, so just live in the moment, who are we playing today, and we're in the Mountain West, we've got to try to win the Mountain West Conference. Q. Is there anything you do, maybe it's an off‑season thing, but when you're in a league where you know all the teams and you know how they play for the most part and now you're going to the League where also you might not know how they play, how do you prepare for that long‑term? COACH BURNS: Well, you don't right now. You don't worry about it right now. It is what it is. Q. Can you talk about Corey Clemens earning Mountain West player of the league honor? COACH BURNS: Yeah, back‑to‑back week. I'll tell what I told her yesterday, go for three; try to go for three in a row. She had a late start. She and Chelsea had a late start and I think that's why our team had a bait of a late start. But she's figuring out the work that made her what she was a year ago is the only thing that's going to help her even more so with the target on her back, and I think that she's real‑‑ what I've seen in games is what I've seen of late in practice. She has not been practicing that hard and now he's figuring out, if I want to get after it, I'd better work hard and make shots and do all the little extra things that I've done in the past, and I think obviously with people who can score, the basket gets bigger and bigger, the more success they have had. And I think it depends on who you play. We have had three opponents now that are playing the odds and letting her take shots. I hope they continue. But I wouldn't expect that. So she's feeling really good. She's strong; challenge with Ahjalee out is she had to play a lot of point the other night and she's going to have to for the next two, three weeks. And I think she's done a great job as a scorer, with the scorer's mentality, to continue to be that aggressive. I said, look, you're playing the point. You can't all of a sudden just try to facilitate for somebody else. You've still got to look for your opportunities, and I thought she did a real good job at that against SC. Well, I know no one's going to be on that flight to Seattle with me this afternoon, but it's a short road away to, what time did we decide our game was on Saturday, they moved it around a little bit? Who knows what time we are playing USC on Saturday? We are playing at 3:30 on Saturday at USC, so whether you're playing blue or whether you're wearing red and black, please support women's basketball and come out and give us a little bit of a house, that would be great. Thank you, everybody. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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