Jan. 9, 2008
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9- 1:14 PM
READ MORE BARCA BLOG – CLICK HERE
Good afternoon, Commodore fans. I had a chance to catch up with men’s basketball senior swingman Shan Foster at Monday’s practice as the No. 12 Commodores prepare for tonight’s conference opener against South Carolina. Foster has had an unbelievable start to his final year. He leads the league in scoring (21.1 ppg) and is shooting 53 percent from behind the arc. He’s also averaging a career-high 5.1 rebounds per game and Coach Stallings recently praised him as the team’s best defender.
At the same time, he’s making his climb to the top of the Commodore record books. With one three-pointer tonight, he’ll become the school’s all-time leader in three-pointers made (Ronnie McMahan made 296 from 1992-95). He’s also closing in on Matt Freije’s scoring record, standing eighth on that list with 1,637 career points. Freije holds the record at 1,891.
But before I get to the interview.. here are a couple of links with some nice pub for the undefeated ‘Dores:
Vitale: Surprise Undefeated Teams
ESPN Weekly Watch: Foster POW
Parrish: Foster Serious Candidate
Okay… here’s the interview with Shan:
Heading into Wednesday’s conference opener undefeated, you have to feel good about the position that the team is in right now. “It’s a great honor to be 15-0 right now, but we still haven’t played our best game yet. That’s something we have to strive for. The UMass game was a great game, but we still had 20 turnovers. We had some defensive breakdowns hear and there, so that definitely gives us something to work towards and continue to get better at.”
Even though the team is undefeated, you guys sound like you’re still focused on what you need to improve on. “Our main goal is to stay humble and hungry. We need to realize that although our record is perfection, that’s not the way we’re playing unfortunately. In a way, it’s good because we’re able to win in situations where we’re not playing our best basketball. As a senior, I’ve been here when we haven’t played our best basketball, and we lost. It’s definitely a humbling experience, and it makes us strive for perfection.”
It’s apparent that this team is very confident on the court, especially down the stretch. Did the ups and downs of last year help to build that confidence? “I think last year taught us that if we stay together, then anything is possible. Especially with four seniors and everyone that was on last year’s team, we take a great deal of confidence from winning in late game situations. We feel like we’re the best team in the country whenever the game is close, and that gives us confidence. Even when we’re not playing our best basketball or blowing opponents out, we have a great deal of confidence we’re going to win.”
Last year, Vanderbilt turned the season around by knocking off several ranked teams early in the SEC schedule. This year, the role is reversed and you’re ranked 12th nationally heading into conference play. Everyone else will be gunning for you every night. How does it feel to be in that position? “I think it’s good for us because it will force us to continue to get better and bring our `A’ game every night. Whenever you have teams going to play their best every night, it forces us to be better, both as a player and as a team.”
What steps do the more experienced guys like yourself take to help the younger guys adjust to conference play? “We keep on them and make sure everyone stays humble and keeps their eyes on our goals we set for our team. We need to keep getting better every single day. As long as we do that like we did last year, we will reach our potential whatever that may be. Things are looking pretty good so far.”
What do you tell them about the difficulty of playing in the SEC? “They can look back in previous years. For the last two years, the NCAA champion has been Florida. That should tell you right there how strong our conference is. It’s one of the toughest conferences in America. Every night is going to be a fight. There are no easy games or giveaways. Everything is going to be a grind from here on out.”
