Aird earns top Aggie honors
Utah Statesman: This is the second Athlete of the Week honor that you’ve won. How important is that to you?
Ali Aird: Well, actually our two wins are important, and what is even more important is if we win on Thursday and Saturday that puts us in third place all alone. And those are two games that we should win.
US: In your win against Cal State Northridge and the loss to Pacific, you had identical double-doubles with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Are those the kind of numbers you try and get every game?
AA: No, I play to crash the boards a lot. That is one of my personal goals, especially offensively. A lot of teams have a weakness of not boxing out. But I don’t have a goal on how many points to score.
US: You guys are 2-12 overall but have won two of your last three, is your team now starting to come together?
AA: We’re a lot more of a team now than we were at the beginning of the season. We can read each other a lot better and anticipate what the other person is going to do. We have a long ways to go, but we have come a long ways since our first game.
US: What are your plans after college?
AA: Right now I’m in elementary education, but I also want to be a coach somewhere.
US: Has basketball always been your true love?
AA: Yeah, I’ve always had a spot for basketball. I never really thought that I was going to go this far, but it has been a dream come true for me.
US: What first got you into basketball?
AA: We had a basketball hoop in my back yard, so that was the first thing that got me into basketball. I would always go play with my older brothers and sisters.
US: You have the highest field-goal percentage in the Big West. Do you take a lot of pride in that stat?
AA: Well, you never see me shoot outside now, do you? It’s hard to miss layups. It’s not something I brag about that’s for sure, I do shoot a lot of layups inside, and play with my back to the basket.
US: What brings you to Utah State?
AA: I came to Utah State because of the coaches, and it was a first-year program and I wanted to be a part of that. It was close to home and I have a sister and a brother-in-law that live up here and had a sister that went up here. It’s just a good school.
US: What was your dream growing up?
AA: I still don’t know if my dream now is to be a basketball player, I have a lot of other things that I love. Basketball is just one of those fun things on the side that I love to do.
US: If Bill Lambeer from the Detroit Shock knocked on your door and wanted you to play for his team, what would you say?
AA: I would probably go play for a few years. Having a family is important to me, so it depends on where I was with that.
US: Who was your favorite player to watch growing up?
AA: You’re going to laugh, I really like Shaq. Just because my high school coach, he compared me to Shaq, not talent-wise, but he thought that I should be a powerhouse inside. So ever since then I’ve tried to be strong, physical, and just be a tough player. Guy coaches always try and make their players inside tough, so I’ve always really liked Shaq.
-kcaustin@cc.usu.edu