S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , we are talking with two players from the Sdsu women's basketball team as they head to the NCAA tournament. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Have you filled out your brackets yet ? March madness is here , and if you are making picks for this year's NCAA tournament , you will find multiple San Diego schools made it in this year. Both the women's and men's teams from UC San Diego and San Diego State made it in. And although Sdsu men's basketball team lost their first four matchup last night against North Carolina , Aztec fans still have a team to cheer for. San Diego State's women's basketball team will be appearing in the tournament this year for the first time since 2012. Senior guard Meghan Faso and freshman guard Kaitlyn Hamilton join us. Meghan , welcome.
S2: Thank you so much for having us.
S1: Kaitlyn , welcome to you. Yes.
S3: Yes. Thank you. So glad to be here.
S1: So glad to have you both in studio. Okay. So you qualified for this year's tournament with a dramatic triple overtime win in the Mountain West tournament against Wyoming.
S2: Honestly , it was a lot of anxiety. Like , I just remember covering my face the whole time like , oh my gosh , the tears. It just made everything. I don't know in that moment. It made everything just come together. And we were just all so excited , like the way the game was going , it was so back and forth and we knew that it was going to be a long game , because Wyoming is a really good team , and it just came down to who was going to be able to keep going for however long and.
S1: Yeah , yeah. Okay , Lynn.
S3: I would just say it felt surreal. You know , my first time playing in the Mountain West tournament at all. Yeah , on the college level. Um , and I was just saying , yeah , it was really surreal. And , um , I almost cried like three times.
S1: Almost tears. Three times. Tears.
S3: Tears. Okay.
S1: Okay.
S3: Went back into my eyes. I was like , oh wait , it's another overtime. Okay , another overtime series. Don't cry. You have to be ready to go in just in case. Seriously.
S1: That is so exciting. Um , well , I mean , congratulations to you all , and I can't wait to see what you do in the tournament. But , um , like Megan , you were on last year's team that also made it to the final of the Mountain West tournament. But. But you all lost. And that must have been so disappointing for the team.
S2: We knew we could be a championship level team , but I think we knew what work we needed to put in in order to get back in that spot and be successful in that spot. And so I think this year , our older group really tried to take pride in building culture and bringing in our new ones with us really smoothly , because we knew that we needed every single little piece. And that's essentially where we got our motto for the year , we over me. And so we really saw that come into fruition from really last year. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. That's great.
S3: You learn so many things as a freshman , a baby coming in basically. Um , but the pace , the strength of these girls , these girls are not high school girls. They're grown women. And you kind of just have to , you know , uh , learn and grow from the people that are older than you and have more experience than you. And one of those people. Megan has been that for me. I have learned a lot from Megan and just all of our older girls. They've really set the standards , so I'm learning from them and also getting bigger and stronger to be able to handle the big girls out there.
S1: Well , I mean like , okay , so Megan , like one interesting thing about this year's team is that there are many senior players but also key freshmen players.
S2: I feel like having the experiences that I've had throughout life , throughout my basketball career has allowed me to , like , have a lot of compassion and empathy for freshmen , especially with that transition. I also have a little sister who's playing , um , at Oregon right now. So also just like helping her in those ways. So I think approaching it as like a mentor standpoint and also like a teammate and a friend and everything , because like I said , I just have the most compassion. I think that's something that our older people really wanted to do. I know me and my group of people. We really wanted to set the standard that we wanted to have continued throughout the years after us.
S1: And Kayla , I know that's something you've as you mentioned , you've been really kind of trying to follow in the footsteps of. Yeah. So here's a question , because with so many seniors on the team , um , talk to me about the dynamics of that. Do you think that that contributed to the win that you all got ? I mean , how many years you guys have been playing together for four years ? And so you really get this , this kind of cohesion and gel with the team. Tell me about. That.
S2: That. Yes , definitely. I'd say the dynamic I think just having experience and you don't know until you have that experience how important it really is because there's just you just see things maybe a little differently , or you just have a different feel for the game or something. I think that has definitely carried us throughout this year. Our experience and also just our willingness to bring along our freshmen and the mentoring like I mentioned. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And so hearing you both talk about basketball , I think it's really interesting how important your mindset is.
S3: But every day it's a it's a process. Um , you kind of just have to roll with the punches and not take everything to personally in basketball because sometimes the ball is going to go in , sometimes it's not going to go in , and you kind of just have to know that the preparation that you put in to basketball is going to help you in the long run.
S1: Like not just in basketball , but life in general.
S2: Megan , the mental side for me has definitely been the biggest part. I think coming in as a freshman , you don't really understand what is ahead of you or like real life expectations , you know ? It's very different from what people think and like it in a way kind of can become a job if you let it get to that point in your brain. And so the mental side for me has been so important. And just like building confidence , knowing that I am more than an athlete , like knowing that what I put out onto the court doesn't , um , doesn't make me who I am. And I think , yeah. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And it's like two you got to learn how to , like , block out the noise from outside because I feel like , you know , if you're playing a good game and you get all these atta girls , right ? And then you have one bad game , and now all of a sudden , all those atta girls are erased. And it's like , you just have to , like , keep your head above all of that.
S3: Always has confidence in yourself. Yeah.
S2: Continuing to ride the wave and like , not even in basketball , but just that's a life lesson that I've learned as well , because there's always going to be something like life stuff , basketball stuff , whatever. It's just learning how to like maintain yourself and keeping one foot in front of the other is something that I've really taken away from this.
S1: That's great. And so Sdsu isn't the only San Diego school playing in this year's NCAA tournament. Both the men's and women's teams from UCSD also qualified. It's their first time in the tournament.
S3: Um , for them to be a second year , D1 , uh , second year on the D1 level , that's very impressive.
S2: And I think it's just bringing so much more attention to San Diego for things outside of just it being a location , you know , like people are coming here or just recognizing now that , you know , this isn't just a nice place to vacation. Like , we can actually win some championships out here too. We're building good culture in all , all over San Diego , as you can see. And I think it's really exciting because we have also two people , two freshman on our team who are from San Diego. And then being able to be little hometown heroes has been really cool to see. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , now you are heading to Baton Rouge , where you're set to play LSU in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday. How are you preparing for that matchup and for the atmosphere that comes with March Madness ? Megan.
S2: Yeah , I would say we're preparing like how we prepare for any other team. Really like the way that we're approaching. It is the same way that we're approaching to play Wyoming , you know , because they are a really great team. They're a great program. They have obviously all these accolades they have. They're at a different level than us. But I think the preparation has to stay the same , because all we can do is continue to be ourselves and put our best foot forward. And , you know , hopefully that is successful for us.
S3: Caitlyn um , I would say the preparation is the same just because like our expectation is the same as well. Like even though they are on a higher level , um , we're expected to go out there and play as hard as we know how to play and trust the coaching behind us , trust that we're all going to go out there and work hard and have fun. So I think , yeah , that's our preparation.
S1: We'll keep hey , keep that confidence , okay. And , uh , I mean , I'm wishing you all the best out there. Thank you. I've been speaking with Megan Fazio and Caitlin Hamilton from San Diego State's women's basketball team. They play LSU this Saturday and this year's NCAA tournament. Thank you both again for being here. Congratulations and go Aztecs.
S3: Thank you so much. Go ahead. Yes.
S2: Go ahead.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
