MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2005

Steve Fisher

Brandon Heath

Marcus Slaughter

COACH FISHER: I thought that when we came in at halftime down eight points, I said, This is the best I felt in any of the three games we played. Even though we were closer when we played them at home as poorly as we shot, to be only down eight points, I thought we dodged a huge bullet. And we cut it to four points, I think, with about seven points to go. I was positive that we were going to win. We just we weren't quite good enough. They made some plays that we didn't. They're led by a terrific player in Danny Granger, and he makes it hard on everybody. I am disappointed and proud of my team. We are committee to playing longer when we return next year.

MARCUS SLAUGHTER: Could you repeat the question?

COACH FISHER: You answered the question. You answered your own question. You said exactly what they would have said. Next question.

BRANDON HEATH: I am happy about the game but I am not happy about the way we finished tonight. There were times when we cut the lead to four. We couldn't get stops when we needed. I think this year we were in a lot of close games. I think the overtime losses and things like that, we will be better prepared for next year.

MARCUS SLAUGHTER: Yeah, we wish we could have finished better in this tournament. Beating Air Force was a boost for us. We felt we should have won this game. Things happened and we couldn't get it down. We just got to come back next year.

COACH FISHER: Our intent was to try to take the ball out of his hands a little bit more than we were able to do. We wanted to double him a little bit when he got the ball on a wing. I think the first time we tried it they kicked it out and hit a three, then we got nervous in doing it. He is good. He is very, very, good. I am not so sure even though Bogut will be the No. 1 player taken, I am not so sure Granger is not the Most Valuable Player in the league. He makes them so much better because of his unselfishness and his basketball ability. He is not just a big tall guy that can rebound, he is guy that can do everything. He is really good. He is hard on anybody. That is big reason why they were 26 and 6, whatever they are. Three losses without him and the team that I would have to say -- I will toot the horn for New Mexico. I pray that the committee will look at that team and say regardless of whether they win tomorrow night or not. They should be in the tournament. I am hopeful that will happen. The reason they would be in is Danny Granger. He is that good.

COACH FISHER: He made three or four threes last night. He shoots a high percentage. Seven-foot-four-and-a-half-inch jumper, he gets almost that high on his jump shots. He is a guy when you are so focussed on stopping Granger or helping when he goes inside. He shoots up, spaces the floor. He is shooting with great confidence. Obviously not a one-man team, but Granger allows those kinds of looks to come easier than they might normally.

COACH FISHER: I will be honest, Bill, I haven't. I learned from my mentor when I was first hired at Michigan as an assistant. He said, Don't think about what you don't have, deal with what you got, do the best you can with it. That is what we tried do. I never once thought boy oh boy we would have been better with Wesley. You play with the hand you are dealt. That is what we did. To be honest with you, I think we could have and probably should have been a little bit better with our record. Hopefully we will learn and come back a year from now and those close losses will be close victories for us.

COACH FISHER: I don't think we came in with a different spirit or different attitude. We just made some plays and were able to get a victory. This team, and I don't have to look at the stat sheet to know, I know I coach them every day. This team fought hard every game. We didn't always play well, but we fought hard every game. Against Air Force, we fought hard and we played pretty good. We need to be able to take the effort and energy and turn it into better basketball playing. That includes making shots and guarding. But I don't have an issue. Were we perfect? We were far from perfect. For the most part, and I have coached for a long time, for the most part, this team for the whole season, they came and practiced hard and they came and played hard. We didn't play as well as we hoped or you hoped. I am glad we won a game. It makes you feel better and not say we finished 11 and 18 and lost our last 7. It felt good to get a victory against a very good Air Force team.