Basketball, Coaching, Leadership, Education

% Based Defense

2014-02-25T09:37:00.002-05:00

The NBA has some extremely talented scorers and great offense is going to score on great defense. A popular saying right now seems to be "good D, better O." There's several reason why you don't see shutouts in basketball, but the biggest reason is probably individual offensive skill levels are so high its impossible to get defensive stops 100% of the time. So what should defenses do? My answer is guard what is most likely to happen or take away their favorite/best moves/plays. Will taking away all left handed drives from a player who is left hand dominate keep them from scoring? No, but it can limit their effectiveness.

Watching the Knicks and Mavericks game last night had me frustrated with some of the defensive decisions in late clock situations. 1st scenario Carmelo (one of the most prolific scorers in the game) has the ball one on one from the wing with about 3 seconds left. Is Melo capable of driving all the way to the rim and scoring with 3 seconds? Absolutely, but what is most likely to happen? My first thought was one dribble pull up or step back jumper. I would have liked to see his defender crowd his shot pocket and play the pull up even if it means they are out of position to guard his drive.

Next scenario is end of game and Dirk has the ball in the middle of the floor inside the arc with about 3 seconds left. Dirk is about 13th on the NBA's all time scoring list and you don't get there by only having one go to move, but what is most likely to happen in that scenario? My thought Dirk tries to elevate without dribbling to shoot over his defender or he takes one dribble and spins into a fade away if the defender takes away his catch and shoot. Dirk's defender was active, in a stance, giving lots of energy and ball pressure, but he's giving up 3+ inches to Dirk. Dirk is capable of shot faking and driving in that scenario, but its not the most likely decision he will make with the game on the line. I would have liked to see Dirk's defender get a hand up in his face as soon as he moves the ball into his shot pocket. Active hands that stay around a 7ft shooters waste is not really going to bother his shot.

Understand you can't take away everything and playing great players the exact same way every time is not a great recipe for success either, but play the %'s and guard what is most likely to occur or get you beat first.

Social Media

2014-02-20T09:24:00.000-05:00

Rick Pitino recently sounded off about social media especially twitter calling social media "poison." All of Louisville players are banned from using twitter and specifically sending tweets. Pitino claims his players spend four hours a day on social media. If true that is an alarming amount of time. There's got to be something more productive to do with that 4 hours of time. Pitino's biggest issue with social media is its diminishing people's communication skills and worries his players won't be able to get in front of an actual human and articulate their passion for wanting a job.

We certainly had our issues with social media this season (twitter and instagram). Players upset and in the frustration of a moment announce via twitter they are quiting or wishing they had went to another school or giving other schools bulletin board material. Instagram videos of players rolling in the snow with no shoes or shirt, running on iced over water and throwing snowballs at passing highway cars. Such is the culture we are coaching in today. We addressed social media throughout the year with our team and cautioned against some of the negative results from using twitter, but it clearly wasn't enough to avoid several in-season distractions.

Our social media policy will be changing again next season as we hope to avoid situations that produce negative energy within our program. Whether you use social media or not, you must have a plan in place for your team.

Marcus Smart

2014-02-20T09:02:00.003-05:00

Marcus Smart had the opportunity to enter the NBA draft after his Freshman year at Oklahoma State and by all predictions would have been a first round selection. Instead he chose to come back to school for his Sophomore season and he's done so without regret. He said you can always go back and get your degree, but once you go to the NBA you can never be a student-athlete again. Its a refreshing point of view from a talented player who is willing to wait on the big money of the NBA to enjoy college life a little longer, but this season has been anything but a glory ride for Smart. Oklahoma State is currently on a 7 game losing streak, Smart has been suspended 3 games for an incident with a fan where he made physical contact with the fan and he's seen his draft stock drop. Still Smart doesn't regret his decision to stay and believes he will better as a result of going through this season and suspension. "It's brutal, just to see those guys out there struggling," he said, adding that "it's a learning lesson. It just shows you can never take this game for granted because it can be taken away from you faster than it was given to you."

Hopefully this season and most recent event will be a learning experience for Smart and others as well. There is no place for a physical altercation between fans and players. Having basketball taken away even for 3 games could have an incredible impact on a young man. I look forward to following Marcus Smart's journey from here.

Alan Stein

2014-02-19T09:34:00.002-05:00

Alan Stein is one of the most respected trainers right now and his opinion of players is valued all the way to the NBA. Below is an excerpt of Stein talking about the type of questions NBA talent evaluators want answered....

Every spring I get calls from dozens of NBA personnel inquiring about potential NBA draft pics. They know I have worked with most of the prospects before at events like the Jordan Brand Classic and Nike Skills Academies.

However, you’d be surprised at the questions they actually ask me.

Nearly every single question has to do with character, attitude or work ethic.

They never ask me about their athleticism or skills.

Why? If an NBA team is going to invest millions of dollars in a player, they need to know he is of high character, has an exceptional attitude and possesses an unparalleled work ethic.

Here are the most common questions I get:

What was your very first impression of him?
Did you see any red flags?
Did you enjoy being around him?
Was he always on time?
Was he likable?
Was he coachable?
Was he an energy giver?
Did he love to play?
Did he love to workout?
How was his attitude?
How was his work ethic?
Was he a gym rat?
What was the best part about working with him?
Was there anything difficult about working with him?
Was he respectful?
Was he self-motivated?
Did he act entitled?
Was he selfish?
Was he mature?
Was he competitive?
Was he a leader?

And this is my favorite question that I’ve ever been asked:

Would you let your daughter marry him?

And while these particular questions are the ones I get from NBA personnel about potential draft picks, they are also the exact same type of questions I get from college coaches when they are recruiting a high school player.

There is so much more to basketball success than shooting, passing, rebounding, defending and dribbling!

Character counts!

Next Play

2013-05-20T13:48:00.001-04:00

I'm thinking of making this our motto next season. "Next Play" will be a call to focus on the most important play (one upcoming) to our players.

We don't want to let the outcome (positive or negative) affect the outcome of future possessions. We have several players who need constant reminders after a mistake to move on and we also don't want to get caught resting or celebrating after a good play. "Next Play" will hopefully develop mental toughness with our young team and help them focus through emotionally high and low plays to stay on an even keel and give all of their attention where it should be.

Thibodeau Grinding

2013-04-23T15:03:00.000-04:00

Great article here: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--with-tom-thibodeau-grinding-away--bulls-even-series-with-nets-063051823.html

Talks about Thibodeau staying true to his personality despite the circumstances. Here are a few highlites:

"Most guys, from Patrick Ewing to Yao [Ming] to [Kevin] Garnett, they want to be coached," Thibodeau told Yahoo! Sports. "They want to be pushed. In all my years in this, one thing has never changed: You win with serious, tough-minded players. That never changes. - Awesome reminder to coach your best players hard. You can't reach your potential if your best player can't take coaching.

"That's the challenge now. Things are changing in the game. …Things are different. When you're putting a team together, I think of what [Bill] Belichick said: 'You're not collecting talent, you're building a team.' " - Winning does require your talent to be in the ball park, but seldom in the nba do you see the newly stacked team through free agency win it all in the first year. Winning takes more than talent. One of the biggest obstacles with many talented players is defining roles. Everyone wants to be the go to player down the stretch.

"People always talk about going on offensive runs," Thibodeau said. "But you can go on defensive runs, too." - The quickest way to take a teams will away is to get multiple stops. Teams aren't bothered by the other team scoring as long as they can score on the other end. You stop the other team from scoring and watch the dissension set in.

Thibodeau couldn't stop talking about him in the hallway, about how Mohammed kept practicing hard, kept preparing, even when the minutes weren't coming this season. "And the guys who take shortcuts, who aren't ready, they fail when their opportunity comes," Thibodeau said. - Great lesson for players of all ages. Reminds me of an Abraham Lincoln quote: I will prepare and some day my time will come. It would have been real easy for Mohammed to collect a check and watch Noah play 40+ minutes a night.

Willingness

2013-04-12T10:49:00.002-04:00

"People (players) seldom do things to the best of their abilities. They do things to the best of their willingness."

I came across this quote via twitter this morning. Its a reminder of why constant coaching is needed to maximize potential. Its human nature to do just enough to get back. We have to be pushed to maximize our talents. Don't let your players "get through" or "get by" during a drill, practice or anything else you have influence over. Be the consistent influence they need to become their best.

Its not what you Know...

2013-04-11T12:44:00.000-04:00

Rodney Gee sent out the following tweet quoting Doc Rivers: "Doc Rivers: It's not what you know, it's what you get your players to buy into!"

This is so true. I would add a statement from John Maxwell that fits well here "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." You can be the smartest X and O coach in the world, have all the perfect adjustments, analyzed the other team to nausea and know just what is necessary to win the game...it doesn't matter UNLESS your players know what you know and believe in what you know. For example if the other team's PG can't shoot a lick behind a ball screen and you decide to go under instead of hard hedging as you've done all year and your players don't believe in the plan, then the plan will not work. Their pg is going to make his first 3pt behind the ball screen and your players are going to be even more convinced this plan sucks.

Every team is different, but the goal never changes. You as a coach must sell your philosophy to your players constantly. A good starting point is usually the leaders, best players and oldest players. If they buy in then the rest of the team will typically follow suit. There are a lot of different ways to win a basketball game, but one strategy that will consistently lose is one the players aren't bought into.

How do you get player buy in?

Allow kids to Lose?

2013-04-11T12:27:00.000-04:00

Great article here: http://theweek.com/article/index/242542/want-to-raise-winners-give-your-kids-a-chance-to-lose.

Our little league culture is changing. Some no longer keep score. Some give everyone a trophy just for participating. I believe this creates a dangerous atmosphere and sets kids up for failure in life. The hardest thing for a parent is to see their child suffering. Sometimes its the best thing for them though. At some point we have to learn how to respond to failure. Its unrealistic to think we are going to win and succeed at every thing we try in life 100% of the time. Is it better to delay learning from a loss to later in life or learn the process early? Our actions will make this choice for our youth.

In our program we talk early in the preseason about embracing failure and how to deal with it. We want our players to know we are going to try our best to win every single game we play, but its also unrealistic to think we are going to go undefeated and waltz our way to a championship. Basketball is a very long season and will have some challenges. Teams must learn from mistakes, losses and disappointments throughout the season to reach our ultimate goal of maximizing our potential come tournament time. Every successful team I have been a part of can look back at a loss at some point during the season and say that's where we turned it around. That's where we handled adversity, came together as a team and turned the corner.

Will you allow your kid to fail?

Playing with 2 Fouls

2013-04-09T09:23:00.002-04:00

Trey Burke sat most of the 1st half in foul trouble. I'm sure Coach Beilein is being 2nd guessed this morning for not playing the national player of the year with 2 fouls in the first half. I'm not sure it would have made a difference as his replacement shot lights out and could not have played better during that stretch, but the issue I want to bring up is whether or not you will play your guys with 2 fouls in the 1st half. I think its important to have a philosophy (whatever it might be) and stick with it. If Coach Beilein never plays a player in the 1st half with 2 fouls then it is absolutely the right move to sit Burke for the remainder of the first half. Otherwise players will sense that you as a coach are in panic mode and it will cause their stress level to rise.

My personal belief is we play play our best players despite 2 fouls in the first half from game 1. I want my best players to play as many minutes as possible. Baskets aren't worth more in the final minute of a game. Lets say a player is going to make it 15 minutes before fouling out. I would rather get all 15 minutes and let them foul out rather than sit most of the game and kill their rhythm so they can be in for the final minute.

What is your philosophy?

Nebraska Gives Back

2013-04-08T09:04:00.000-04:00

Jack Hoffman is a 7 year old boy battling with brain cancer. Last year then running back, Rex Burkhead, visited with Jack and got to know him and offered him encouragement. This year Nebraska has decided to take Jack's encouragement and experience with the program to the next level. During a spring scrimmage they gave Jack a #22 jersey (Burkhead's #) and QB Taylor Martinez handed him the ball allowing him to run 69 yards with the help of several Nebraska blockers to the endzone for a touchdown. The entire team then surrounded Jack to celebrate with him. If you haven't seen the video its worth an internet search. Very cool moment for Jack and gesture by the entire Nebraska football program.

What does your program do to give back to the community?

Value of Guards

2013-04-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

College Basketball has reminded us this season just how critical guard play is in the NCAA tournament. The two remaining teams (Louisville and Michigan) have arguably the best guard tandems in the game this season so its no surprise they will meet for the national championship tonight.

Siva and Russ Smith for Louisville are relentless game changers. They are constantly in attack mode and defensively can disrupt a game plan by their individual ball pressure alone. They are the 2 quickest players with the ball in their hands I have this season making them dynamite in transition and getting downhill off ball screens to live in the paint.

Trey Burke and Hardaway Jr consistently make one big shot after the next. They are big guards with NBA ready bodies and games. They are the biggest reason Michigan has an insanely low turnover rate for the pace of play they like to employ.

Louisville relies so much on their defense to get deflections and steals to get out in transition. I would be surprised if Burke and Hardaway make poor decisions with the basketball in the face of Louisville's pressure. Michigan has already seen VCU and their intense pressure and handled it quite well. I don't see Michigan's bigs making bad decisions from the high post vs. Louisville's 2-3 zone either after how well they played from the area against Syracuse. However, I do think Louisville will spread out when the ball does get in the high post and force Michigan to make the free throw line jumper instead of the correct pass.

As always though with teams this good the game can be simplified to a make or miss game. Michigan is going to force Siva and Smith to make outside shots. Louisville is going to spread out to challenge the arc leaving Dieng to protect the basket and anyone who wants a midrange jumper will have space for a clean look.

I can't wait to see who steps up and makes big shots for their team tonight.

Pads

2013-04-05T15:00:00.002-04:00

One of the items shown in the surfacing Mike Rice videos is use of the hitting pads in practice. Nearly every college program and many high schools programs are now using these pads. I hope the video doesn't give these pads a bad reputation. When used properly they are a great way to add some stress and controlled contact to a drill (not abusive contact). Our programs have used these pads for years and never (knock on wood) had a player injured while using the pads.

A big part of culture we strive to create within our program is toughness, but these pads are not used to "toughen up" a player. These pads are actually softer than taking actual contact from another player. They serve as a stepping stone in a way for players to get used to playing through contact and maintaining balance and concentration during the process. Again softer contact than they actually take when playing live against other players.

Mike Rice

2013-04-03T13:00:00.001-04:00

Very sad to see the situation play out with Mike Rice. If you haven't seen the story here it is on ESPN http://espn.go.com/new-york/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9128825/rutgers-scarlet-knights-fire-coach-mike-rice-wake-video-scandal.

Mike Rice was a great clinician. His passion and fiery personality came out when he was speaking about basketball and he went out of his way to help anyone who asked. His behavior in the practice videos circulating the Internet are completely inappropriate and inexcusable. Just sad to see someone who loves the game and gives back to the game allow their passion to overflow into the abusive nature we are seeing in the practice videos.

Latest Defensive Craze: 2-3 Zone

2013-04-03T08:54:00.002-04:00

Syracuse and Louisville have made it to the final four. Syracuse plays nothing but 2-3 zone and Louisville plays more than most when they're not dogging you with their full court pressure. Their 2-3 zones are very different, but both very effective. The 2 things I like most about their zones are 1.) the amount of ball pressure each one applies and 2.) Decision to cover the arc and challenge the FT line jumper late with the Center.

The things I don't like about the 2-3 zone in general are 1.) the mentality most players have about what a 2-3 zone should look like from years of youth league standing in an area, not guarding anyone or boxing out and 2.) Its the most commonly played zone defense and thus the one teams are most comfortable playing against.

I don't believe you can be a great zone defensive team and man to man defensive team at the same time. I'm not saying the players from Syracuse aren't capable of playing m2m, but the emphasis, practice, and attention to detail required to be great at one defense means you have to commit to one or the other as a base defense. If you are a m2m base team then I would advise you to look elsewhere for a change of pace option and not the 2-3 zone simply because it is the most common zone out there. One example would be the 1-3-1. Its entirely different to play against. Teams shouldn't be able to use their 2-3 zone offensive package against 1-3-1 so they have to spend extra time preparing for it even if you're only going to show it a few possessions.

My guess is with the success of Syracuse and the attention their 2-3 zone is getting that we will see more teams playing 2-3 zone next year than ever. This summer might be a good time to refine your 2-3 zone offense.

Don't be a slave to the Scoreboard

2013-04-01T07:49:00.000-04:00

I'll be the first to admit I slip into a mini depression after a loss and let my immediate reactions and emotions be controlled be the scoreboard outcome (this is why I am a big advocate for holding post game comments until the next day). This is something I hope to improve on in the coming seasons. I want our program to play to a standard. Several of our games came down to the last few possessions. Its easy to think logically outside of the moment and see that we didn't necessarily play well if we made a shot at the buzzer to win a game by one or played bad if we missed the shot at the buzzer to lose by one. In both of those situations I've always found there are positives to build from and corrections to be made. Early in my career I focused only on the negative plays whether we won or lost. All film sessions I would use one mistake after the next as examples of where we can play better, but left out the positive plays. I'm still a ton more focused on the areas we can improve, but trying to incorporate some positive plays as well in our film sessions. I have 2 intentional thoughts for helping you incorporate good plays in your film sessions:

1 - group all similar plays together. For example, I now clip every opponent baseline out of bounds play (BLOB) together followed by all of our BLOBs. This allows us to concentrate on our execution in one aspect of the game before moving on to another one and it will contain clips of times we executed well along with the negative plays I used to only clip out.

2 - have highlite films. Late in the season we have 2 film sessions on every team if we have already played them. The first is more of a traditional film session reminding us of who they are, what they do well, adjustments we can make, etc. The next is entirely positive clipped plays that we show just before pre-game warmups. I think it helps players to see themselves playing well and gives them energy and confidence just before taking the floor.

Practice Habits

2013-03-28T12:34:00.000-04:00

The toughest and most reliable players I have ever coached have always been tremendous practice players. Our practices are not easy. We have always approached practice as an opportunity to put players in stressful situation that are more difficult than the ones the will face on game nights. As with everything there is risk/reward and unintended consequences to every decision. The risk you run with having tough practices is players can develop the mindset of "getting through" practice and can come to dread practice. This is a dangerous environment to foster and one we have to constantly combat as a coaching staff.

I think the most important thing you can do as a coach to prevent this situation is to gain the trust of your team and constantly communicate. They need constant reminders that what they are doing is going to be worth it (Nothing great worth accomplishing was ever done easily). The purpose of this individual drill will help us achieve what we really want down the road.

Players cannot get better and ultimately reach their potential by "surviving" practice. 10 minutes of game speed intense and engaged practice is worth more than 2 hours of "going through the motions" (playing just hard enough to keep the coach from snapping over effort).

How do you foster a practice environment that is competitive and engaging to your players?

Timeouts Continued

2013-03-26T13:37:00.003-04:00

If you have a timeout available to you what is your philosophy? Do you want to draw something up in the timeout or let your players play it out? One team over the weekend had a timeout left and didn't use it for either of the teams final possessions down one score. Another team had an inbound play down one score with 15 seconds left and elected not to use the timeout.

I think it depends on your players and the situation. 3 times we had the ball in late game situations and twice I let them play, but once felt like we needed the timeout. I will expand on two of them...

1 - we were up the entire 4th on the road and a team hit a 3pt shot with 7 seconds left to go up two. During the previous timeout we decided if the team scored we would try to inbound it quick to our pg (our pg was a scoring machine in transition, ended this game with 45 points) and let him make a play. We executed perfectly and had a great fast break opportunity and the official stopped the game to fix the net on the previous 3pt shot which forced us to inbound vs a set defense. I decided to let them play as long as we inbounded to our pg and the other team stayed in m2m. I didn't want to call timeout and let them double team him or change defenses so I told the official if anyone besides #2 gets the ball I want a timeout. They stayed man and we were able to get our best player the ball and he ended up attacking the rim and getting fouled. It was far better than anything I could draw up (he made both, sent it to overtime and we won).

2 - The game was tied with 30 seconds left and we had an inbound play under our own basket. None of our inbound plays had led to a score and we had turned the last 2 over. I did not have the confidence in any of the plays we had put in so I burned our final timeout to draw something up. It didn't work. We didn't execute still turned the ball over and the other team hit a 3pt shot with 5 seconds left. I was out of timeouts or I probably would have called one at this point, but to our team's credit we got the ball in quick to our best player and he made a 3pt at buzzer to send it into overtime (we ended up losing in double ot).

I think the point here is to have a plan, but be flexible. Sometimes you need to trust your best players to make plays and sometimes you need to stop the action and trust you will execute better out of a timeout than your opponent.

Extra Timeouts

2013-03-22T09:49:00.001-04:00

Replay reviews in college basketball are giving teams extra timeouts. I understand the desire to get it right, but I'm beginning to think the extra timeout is changing the outcome more than the result of the review. Yesterday 2 games going down to the wire had monitor reviews in one possession games where the offensive team was out of timeouts. St. Mary's had an inbound play on their own baseline down 2 points and was able to use the extra timeout to diagram a nice screen the screener play for their best shooter to get a clean look from 3 with a chance to win the game. During the flow of the game St. Mary's probably has to call a play they are comfortable with and Memphis has scouted. Later in the day Marquette is down 1 with 5-6 seconds on the clock (time remaining on the clock was the purpose of the review) and had to go 3/4 of the court. The review timeout allowed Marquette to space the floor with shooters and set up a flat ball screen for their best driver and remind him during the timeout to not settle and there was plenty of time for him to get to the rim. We'll never know if this extra timeout truly altered the outcome of either game, but my guess is St. Mary's doesn't get their best shooter a look that good and Marquette ends up settling for a jump shot.

I'm not suggesting replay be removed and I definitely see the other side saying what if a call is missed that costs a team an opportunity and at least with replay both teams are getting a timeout and have to execute. There was a game in OVC tournament play where the defense benefited from the review timeout. Murray State's best player was double teamed coming out of the timeout and unable to get the ball.

Where do you stand on replay and the extra timeouts its creating?

Grabbing Attention in a Multitask World

2013-03-21T10:37:00.001-04:00

Kids today are bombarded by stimuli. They get bored and lose focus quite easily. The question becomes how do you get their attention and then even more important how do you keep it. I've always tried to sell players on using basketball as their escape from the world. To forget about classwork, girls, family problems, etc. for 2 hours and give basketball their full attention. While reading Toughness by Jay Bilas I came across a message that contradicts the multitask world we now live in...

You're committed to playing basketball so you might as well devote all of your attention to it. It didn't do you any good to think about school while you were playing. It didn't get you any closer to getting your school work done and it didn't get you any closer to playing your best...

Student-Athlete is a natural fit and the two words are used together frequently, but its not an effective multitask. Worrying about your Algebra homework while shooting freethrows does not help your shooting percentage nor will it get you any closer to completing your homework. Likewise, thinking about the scouting report for the next game while you're doing homework doesn't help you accomplish an understanding of either.

Student-Athlete should be separated and managed well through planning. Give a few hours for basketball practice without worrying about school and then when its over move on to the task of completing homework. Devote all of your attention to the task at hand, complete it and move on to the next task.

Go to work...Everyday

2013-03-19T09:46:00.002-04:00

The following comes from Jay Bilas' new book Toughness.

"Every day my father got up and went to work. I learned about work ethic not from my father talking about it, but from watching him...I never heard my dad complain about working or about how difficult a particular job was....When he was sick or hurt, my dad went to work. When he faced a difficult task, he performed that task to the best of his ability."

I'm just beginning to work my way through this book, but the highlighter has been extremely busy. I anticipate many other good nuggets to come from this book and would recommend it to anyone.

What a great example Jay had to learn about work ethic. I had a similar experience growing up. I never heard my dad complain or take a day off. He took pride in his work and instilled a work ethic in me without ever saying a word. I hope my players and future kids are seeing a work ethic in me that I would be proud to have them emulate and pass on to future generations.

Bubble Teams

2013-03-18T08:27:00.002-04:00

Every year at this time there is screaming from the teams and their advocates who didn't get in the NCAA tournament field. A total of 68 will compete for the NCAA championship and while the 8 or so teams around the bubble each have arguments against them and for them being selected for one of the at large births I don't want to hear the whining for anyone left out and my team was one of the ones left out this year.

Everyone of these teams had ample opportunities to play their way into the tournament. When we're arguing over the 68th and 69th potential teams in the tournament how big of a deal is it really? Take Tennessee who I would love to see in the tournament. I think Coach Martin has done a great job and I wish the committee would have selected them, but Tennessee needs to look no further than the mirror to cast blame on why they are not in the tournament. They could have been like Ole Miss and won the SEC tournament to guarantee themselves a spot in the tournament. Also looking back at losses in back to back games to Georgetown and Virgina where they held Georgetown to 37 points in a one point loss and held Virginia to 46 points. Multiple losses to Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss also hurts. Find a way to win 2 of these games and you're probably safely above the "bubble." Teams need to handle their own business so its not in the hands of a committee comparing resumes.

Unwanted Tooth

2013-03-12T09:52:00.003-04:00

Brad Waldow of St Mary's had his front tooth knocked out in a recent conference semifinal tournament game against San Diego. Mr. Waldow is one tough player. After getting his tooth knocked out he attempted to quickly hand it off to one of his coaches and continue playing (Brad Waldow recently had successful surgery to fix the lost tooth). As you can tell from the picture above the tooth was not well received. No one wants to handle another person's recently lost tooth and the right course of action would definitely have been for the officials to stop the game and let a trainer with gloves on take possession of the tooth. I wonder what message it sends and effect it will have on St. Mary's recruiting if any moving forward though. Recruiters go into these players home and tell parents they will care for their son among other selling points for selecting their program.

Would you expect your son's coach to take his tooth?

Jon Gordon - Good to Great

2013-03-11T12:59:00.001-04:00

Jon Gordon is an inspirational writer/speaker. His most famous work is probably The Energy Bus shown above, but he also sends out a weekly newsletter via e-mail that if you don't subscribe to is worth checking out (learn more about Jon Gordon here http://www.jongordon.com/tools.html). The following excerpt can be found in this week's letter....

· Good leaders get people to believe in them.

· Great leaders inspire people to believe in themselves.

· Good leaders say “Watch what I can do.”

· Great leaders say “Let me show you what you can do.”

· Good leaders catch fish for others so they can eat today.

· Great leaders teach people how to fish so they can eat for a lifetime.

Having worked with countless leaders over the years in businesses, schools and professional sports I’ve realized that great leadership is really a transfer of belief. Great leaders share their belief, vision, purpose and passion with others and in the process they inspire others to believe, act and impact. Great leaders are positively contagious and they instill confidence and belief in others...

March Maddness is upon on us and there were 4 buzzer beaters yesterday alone (still can't believe the one Alabama pulled out). We will see many thrilling games and several upsets as the tournaments play out, but one thing is certain none of those upsets happen unless a coach has transferred belief to their players. Transferring that belief can be made more difficult in the world we coach in today. Many media outlets talk up how great and unbeatable teams are and will attempt to crown champions before the bracket is even set.

How do you transfer belief to your players?

Recharge

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Our season is over and if you're anything like me the late season grind will leave you feeling like the picture above. My mind starts racing about all the work that needs to be done for next season...How will we play, who needs to work on what during the off season, what will our weight program look like, where will we go for summer camp, etc. But its important to take some time off and recharge your batteries. I think most of us are programmed to go go go all the time and make sure we're giving everything we have to our program. No one wants to be outworked, but take some time to recover and reflect before diving into the off season. It will help prevent burn out and keep you from emotional decisions following a heart breaking conclusion to your season. It will also free up some time that your family would love to have with you.

What will you do to recharge for next season's grind?