Press Conference Quotes
Courtesy: Stanford Athletics
Release: 03/10/2002
March 10, 2002
Stanford Head Coach Mike Montgomery
Q. Accounting for how the other teams in the conference were seeded, do you think the 8-seed is accurate?
A. I think we paid a price with our performance in the tournament game against USC. I think it cost us a few spots. If you go in to the NCAA Tournament finishing 2-0 with a sweep in the desert and being second in the conference, it changes. I don't think the Pac-10 Tournament changed anything for Arizona, but maybe it pushed SC up and pushed us and Cal down. We're in the tournament and playing a team [Western Kentucky] with 28 wins that hasn't lost in three months, but all of the tournament is tough. Rather than worry about seeding, we just need to go about our business and get ready to compete.
Q. Will you prepare differently as an 8-seed than you did as a No. 1?
A. Every year we just prepare to win a game. You can't afford to not do that. The year we went to the Final Four, we were down to College of Charleston in the first round. You like your chances when you're a one or two or a three, but your odds diminish the lower you are.
Q. What is your mindset?
A. The toughest thing for us all year has been our mindset. We've had a mindset that we don't have to scrap because we've always been good, but what they don't remember is how we got good. We need to roll up our sleeves and play some blue-collar basketball. We need to compete every single second.
Q. Can you learn anything from the SC loss?
A. The lessons that come out are for the future. We need to get our team ready to play Western Kentucky on Thursday and reestablish the things that helped us win the 19 games that we did win this season.
Q. How will playing in a dome affect you?
A. Western Kentucky will be in the same dome, so however it affects us, it should happen to them to. We play in so many big arenas now, so I don't think it will be much of a factor.