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 Ryan Mendez |
Roger Hoiles (Seattle, WA)
Ryan, congrats on a great comeback this year! Was that one of thegreatest challenges of your life - suffering a season-ending injury(especially during a year when the hopes were so high) and having tobattle back through rehab? What was your greatest motivation?
Ryan Mendez: You're expecting to play the whole year, and I only played first five orsix weeks of the season. All of a sudden you're wondering if you'll playagain or be on the court. But I think what it taught me was discipline -work out everyday, therapy, and focus mentally.
Gavin Grant (San Francisco, CA)
Ryan, what are your aspirations following graduation? Would you like tojoin Lee, Sauer and Van Elswyck and play overseas for awhile?
Ryan Mendez: I'm not sure as of yet. I'm thinking that I may like to go into businessfor myself. Of course I would like to play basketball, but if basketballdoesn't work out, who knows?
Jack Wright (San Diego, CA)
It's great to have you back this year. What do you feel was Arizona'skey to the win this past Saturday and what do you feel needs to be donein order to get them back in March?
Ryan Mendez: I think we rushed the ball too much in terms of shooting the first shotwhen we were open. I didn't think we did a good job on their big guys oreven their perimeter guys. But I think they just outplayed us. They hada little bit more intensity and a little bit more drive.
Matt Neill (Burleson, TX)
Hi Ryan!! We want to know what you miss most about Texas and Burleson?What are your favorite cookies & snacks? We would like to send you somegoodies. We really had fun when we were there. How did you get so goodat hitting 3 pointers?
Ryan Mendez: What I miss about Texas is the weather and the people. I really like hotweather and friendly down-home people. This isn't to say that the peopleare not friendly here, they are, but it's just a different crowd ofpeople.
Bill Margeson (Grants Pass, OR)
Is it hard to balance your tough school work and being on the number one basketball team in the nation? I have a hard time keeping up in highschool and I am only a freshman.
Ryan Mendez: It is difficult to balance, but you just have to set your priorities. Take care of the classroom and take care of the court.
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