March 14, 2010
New Mexico Coach Steve Alford
On playing in San Jose, being a number three seed and playing Montana:
“We’ve got some California kids, so that makes it special, too. But no matter what your matchup is, we have to get to work quickly on Montana. Anytime you get to this point in the year, everyone’s good and every matchup is tough but we are very excited about the seed and where we are going.”
On scouting Montana and other possible opponents:
“We will do the same as we do in tournament play. Coach (Ryan) Miller will have Montana as a scout and Coach (Wyking) Jones will go to Marquette and the other staff guys will take Washington.”
On the Fans in The Pit:
“It speaks volumes about what kind of fans we have. 7000 people here just to watch a 30-minute TV show, it speaks volumes about what kind of fans we have.”
On Montana’s senior guard Anthony Johnson:
“We know he’s very talented. Just watching basketball, he hit 40 (points) the other night. He’s a very potent scorer. We will gather as much tape as we can on-line and really get to work on putting some scouting report together. Playing Thursday we’ll leave Tuesday, it’s a fun time.”
On Four Mountain West Conference teams earning bids to the NCAA tournament:
“You want the respect and our league got respect, I think we had a 10, 8, BYU 7 and we’re a 3. Our league got four teams all under 11 seed or better which speaks volumes about what our league has done in the past few years.”
Senior Forward Roman Martinez
On making it to the NCAA Tournament:
“The past two years we made it into the NIT and it was heart breaking for us but finally we made it into the (NCAA) tournament. The big games mean a lot to us and it’s a special feeling. It’s been a magical year and we’re just grateful for everything.”
Junior Guard Dairese Gary
On making it to the NCAA Tournament:
“It feels good. It feels good just to be in the tournament. The last two years we didn’t get picked and it hurt a lot. Finally getting a chance to be in the tournament feels real good.”