Coaching up your teammates- no matter how difficult a season

Of all the things that have happened to Washington State basketball the past few years, something that took place last Saturday at UCLA will remain in Tony Bennett's head.

There was the 82-81 victory, of course. But when it was over, senior forward Daven Harmeling clambered up the steps at Pauley Pavilion and gave a hearty hug to his first college coach, Tony Bennett's father Dick.

"You should have seen Daven on the bench, just coaching [players] up, encouraging," Tony Bennett said earlier this week. "There's a bigger picture going on here."

Bennett would like to think Harmeling's actions, coming as he completes an exasperating senior season shooting only 18.8 percent in Pac-10 games and mostly confined to the bench, are representative of what the Bennetts have tried to bring to WSU.

Patience pays off for Notre Dame bench players

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In the search for motivational gambits, no copyrighted material is safe from a coach's grasp.

This includes vaguely co-opting deodorant slogans to manage angst over playing time, which is why Notre Dame implores its bench players never, ever to let them see you fret.

This, of course, is easier said than done.

"That's only natural — all the players want to play," Irish guard Jon Peoples said. "There's always some sort of frustration. At the same time you have to be happy for the guys out there and support them."

Still, despite the bench players' sporadic playing time, the Irish believe they have something in reserve. Peoples, Tyrone Nash and Luke Zeller have provided boosts recently as the team continues an NCAA tournament push Wednesday night against Rutgers.

The current contributions are the byproduct of staying engaged despite infrequent court time. But the role players endured. Why? Everyone said so.

"Kyle [McAlarney] pulls me aside sometimes and says, 'Ty, stay ready, because we're going to need you,' " Nash said. "That's one of your best players telling you that. If he's telling me to be ready, I'm going to make sure I'm ready.

"Luke Harangody, Zach Hillesland, Ryan Ayers, they stay in my ear: 'Be ready, Ty, because you never know when your name is going to be called.' "

Granted, career games like Peoples' 14-point, nine-assist effort Saturday at Providence are not the expectation. The bar is admittedly lower for a group that has scored 296 points combined — barely more than half of Harangody's total.

They, however, can caulk some holes. And as they do so, Irish coach Mike Brey cedes the credit to his regulars for making the reserves recognize their value.

"It's on the rest of the team to stay in their ear and keep them positive," Mc-Alarney said. "You need the team to convey that message: We need you."

Sense of Urgency

Big win for Duke on Sunday night as they beat Wake Forest 101-91. Coach K knew it was a huge game for his team calling it "as big of a game as we've had here in three years"

A master at mind games, Krzyzewski gave his team a message similar to the one he gave the U.S. Olympic team on its gold medal run.

“Instead of saying we had to win I told them we’re going to win it,” Krzyzewski said. “The anticipation of doing something should help you better than the expectation of having to do it.”

Scola gives team gritty consistency every game

He leads the Rockets in floor burns. Also in energy, passion, rebounding and defense.

Luis Scola is easy to overlook because he’s surrounded by stars, because he does things that don’t always show up in the box score.

There he was again Tuesday night, throwing in 13 points, grabbing 18 boards and handing out two assists as the Rockets beat Chicago 107-100.

“He was so active,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said

“He rebounded consistently all night long. He has really had a solid year. You can’t give him enough credit, and it’s all effort.”

In a season when Adelman has been forced to change his lineup and rotation seemingly every other night, Scola has been amazingly consistent, doing the same things, performing with heart, giving the Rockets the ingredient all good teams must have.

“He has been our MVP of the first half,” Shane Battier said. “No ifs, ands or buts about it. He’s just so solid. I’d heard about him before he came here, that he was one of the best power forwards in the world. I’ve seen it.”

Some of the same things that can be said of Scola can be said of Battier. They bring the same effort every night and do things that don’t show up in the box score.

“Luis maybe doesn’t run the fastest or jump the highest,” Battier said. “He’s just a great basketball player. He has grown so much in confidence since his rookie season.”

“He does everything,” McGrady said. “He brings toughness and energy, rebounds and steals. He’s a great defensive player. Winning teams must have players like him.”

“I just try to help where I can,” Scola said. “Sometimes if a teammate sees another teammate running hard it’ll maybe make them play harder. If the way I play helps, that’s great.”

-Houston Chronicle

Coach K & Coach Knight

Playing Older

Madison - As the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team has played through this roller coaster of a season, it has also been trying to defy the aging process.

But rather than the Fountain of Youth, the Badgers have been in search of the savvy that comes with age and experience.

Coach Bo Ryan calls it playing older and with five games left in the regular season, there are signs that his team has started to light a fire under Father Time.

"Playing older means playing with moxie and playing with the idea that you want to give yourself a chance to be successful and there is no question what gives you (a good chance)," Ryan said. "Play good defense, take care of the ball, hit the boards (and) you've got a chance."

"The little experience that some of the younger guys might have, they can learn a lot from it" sophomore Jon Leuer said. "I think some of those guys are starting to turn the corner and ultimately that has led to our success in these last few games."

Put Leuer in the class of the young and mature as well as sophomores Tim Jarmusz and Keaton

Nankivil and freshman Jordan Taylor. Those players have provided solid support for the team's small upper class.

During the Badgers four-game winning streak, they have averaged 7.8 turnovers per game. Their rebounding margin is plus-2, including plus-6.3 for the last three games. Defensively, the Badgers held two opponents (Illinois and Penn State) below 40% shooting, held Penn State's Big Three of Talor Battle, Jamelle Cornley and Stanley Pringle almost 23 points below their season average and forced Ohio State into 19 turnovers, one below its season high.

"They're feeling more comfortable in what they're doing and what they're reading and things like that," assistant coach Gary Close said of the team's young players. "But I don't know if there is any one thing I could point to; it's always a process. It takes time."

For different players, that means different things.

Taylor's emergence has helped improve the defense and the decision making. His ability to absorb the more detailed scouting in the college game has been important in that regard as has his attention to seemingly minor details such as grabbing loose balls and rebounds with two hands and his willingness to hit the deck for loose balls.

The last eight games, Taylor has a three-to-one assist/turnover ratio, and the game has slowed down for him.

"Early in the season, you're playing not to mess up and now I'm playing just to play . . . so I think that helps," he said.

Jarmusz has experienced a similar comfort level recently, which perhaps is reflected in his 8-for-15 shooting in the last five games after hitting just 27% of his attempts during the first eight league contests.

But more than points, Jarmusz's greatest strength is his ability to do a little of everything. His game isn't pretty, but he is so assignment-sound that he is trusted to play at the end of games.

"It's a mind-set. You've got to stay focused. You've got to pay attention," he said. "You can't have little breakdowns because the littlest breakdown can cost you a bucket, which can cost you a game."

Leuer, meanwhile, has made major strides in protecting the lane. It's a major accomplishment for someone whose defense was suspect at the start of the year.

Yeah, he's growing up, but the way he sees it, so are a lot of his teammates.

"People are taking on more of a leadership role and not just our seniors . . ." he said. "It's something I really can't explain, but you can see it. You can feel a different vibe I guess, on and off the court."

Raw Emotion

Just a great picture of teammates getting excited after a walk-on player made a basket. I love it!

Thoughts from Coach K

Duke has been struggling mightly lately compared to where they were at the beginning of the season. With recent losses to Clemson, North Carolina, and Boston College, they have become vulnerable in certain aspects of the game lately. The strong defense that carried the team in December and January was nowhere to be found. Gerald Henderson bemoaned the Blue Devils' once-stout defense.

“They scored (almost) every possession they had for the last five minutes,” Henderson said after Duke lost 80-74 to Boston College. “I don't know how many points we gave up in the second half, but it was way too many.”

Here is what Coach Mike Krzyzewski says Duke can do better:

Don't let a failure to score on offense affect the defense, too. “Maybe if you're not shooting well or you're not hitting well, you can take that mind-set to the defensive end, and that may stop you from talking as well,” Krzyzewski said.

Re-establish a defensive attitude and pride. “I think what's missing a little bit for us is a sense of urgency to stop somebody,” Krzyzewski said.

Return to fundamentals. “It could be something as simple as your stance, how the team is talking to one another,” Krzyzewski said.

Doing the Dirty Work

Article this morning on Marquette forward Jimmy Butler and his increased playing time due to him doing the dirty work for his team. He's listed at 6 feet 6 inches and 215 pounds, but both are probably a bit generous. He's not overly muscular, and isn't known for jumping out of the gym.

Yet every game he seems to be worming his way through a gap to grab a loose ball, or using good timing to tip an offensive board back to himself to keep a possession alive.

"He's stepping up and playing quality minutes, and he's providing something off the bench that nobody else can do: getting rebounds, playing great defense and knocking down open shots."

Earning more playing time has been no accident; Butler's insistence on playing his role and sticking to his strengths is what has endeared him to head coach Buzz Williams.

"The best thing about Jimmy is he knows exactly what he can do, and you rarely see him get out of it," Williams said. "He's really created a niche, and he's creating great trust in his teammates."

Butler's knack for snaring offensive rebounds has been especially impressive. Through 25 games, 52.6% of his boards have come on the offensive end (41 of 78). The result is often either a putback or free throws, and he's making 73.2% of those this season.

When asked about his penchant for rebounding on that end of the floor, Butler mentions coaching, film study, instinct and good old-fashioned hard work both in the weight room and in the practice gym.

"When it goes up, you just chase after it, and hopefully you come out with it," he said. "They give you statistics - where they shoot the ball and where it's going to normally come off, and you can usually tell if it's going to be long or short. And wherever I see Lazar, I'll take him getting a rebound in his area any day, so I'm usually going to the opposite area.

"Plus, I know my team, and I know who's shooting the ball, and when."

Butler's offensive game, meanwhile, remains a work in progress. Yet he has taken focus to a whole new level as far as knowing where his strengths lie.

Of his 110 points this season (average of 4.4 per game), 104 have come either in the lane or at the free-throw line. He remains capable of knocking down a pull-up jumper every now and again, as he did Saturday, but with McNeal, Matthews and Hayward handling most of the scoring, Butler is more than content to continue to do the dirty work.

"That's what I've got to do," he said. "That's what everybody's telling me I've got to do, so that's what I'm going to go out there and do. I just hope to keep that up."

Going against a shot blocker

Pittsburgh out-muscled and out-hustled Connecticut last night in a big road victory at UCONN. Pitt's 6-10 center DeJuan Blair faced off against UCONN's 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet, who is the best shot blocker in the country and has been an intimidating force all season.

When watching film on Thabeet, Blair noticed that he could take advantage of things that others were not willing to do against the intimidating presence of Thabeet. The result? A 22 point, 23 rebound performance that was one of the best this year:

He took time this past week to watch Connecticut on tape. Blair witnessed time and again how teams weren't going into Thabeet's chest, trying to knock him off balance.

"I did a little research and if you go against a shot-blocker, you've got to body him up and get him off balance so he can't jump,'' Blair said. "The only time he blocked my shot I was fading away and I got the ball right back and went right into his chest and got the and-one.''

Blair said he saw that Thabeet also will give opposing players room, and that's when he decided to go right at him, body him up and go "power, power, power and jump and use the rim, too.''

Tyrone Nash seeks consistency for Notre Dame

Article in the Chicago Tribune on Notre Dame sophomore Tyrone Nash. Nash was kicked out of practice last week for not giving his best effort. What resulted afterwards were three spirited practices, a better effort out of Nash, and a 33 point victory over # 7 Louisville to snap Notre Dame's 7 game losing streak:

"My job is not to score," Nash said. "My job is to play defense, work hard and, if I get the opportunity to score, then take that chance and try to score. My job is to rebound, make the right passes and screen, be the glue of the team. Keep things going."

Thus Brey raised a familiar specter: missing the physical presence of Rob Kurz, who has graduated to the NBA. Before practice Friday, Head Coach Mike Brey was set to show his team clips from Louisville in which, as the Irish coach put it, Nash "really crushes people with screens."

"That was a bit of the Kurz presence we need against those bodies," Brey said. "And we have a bunch more coming. If he can do that consistently, that can really help us."

Consistency is at the root of everything for Nash. He has 11 games of 10 or more minutes played and nine of three or fewer. Brey eventually may regret limiting Nash's minutes before the Irish lost seven straight — but then again Brey noted Nash hasn't always had his "engine running at the highest of levels."

Hence getting bounced from practice for having no bounce in his step. At the time, Nash returned to his dorm room to clear his head. Whether it keeps clearing a path for the Irish is the question.

"It helped make me realize you have to cherish every moment in practice because what you do in practice is what you do in the game," Nash said. "I don't hope it happens again, but if it has to happen again for us to play like that, I'll let it happen."

The Utility Player

Article this morning on Wisconsin senior Joe Krabbenhoft. Krabbenhoft, according to teammate Jason Bohannon, does all the little things to help his team win.

"He brings to the table so much," Bohannon said. "He gets those little putbacks. . . . He gets all those garbage points, all those extra rebounds."

Assistant coach Greg Gard:

"He's kind of the utility guy. You can play him at first, he can catch a little bit, he can play in the outfield. So he's kind of done whatever we've needed."

Here is some more from the article:

Passing is obviously one of Krabbenhoft's strengths. But so are free-throw shooting - he is at 84% against the Big Ten and 87.2% for the season - and rebounding, two categories that lead to easy chances.

He also knows how to throw his 220-pound frame around.

What's harder to discern is his movement and how that affects the offense.

"He has a pretty high basketball IQ, so he understands the hard cut may not get yourself open, but draws a lot of attention," Gard said. "Basketball 101 is, a hard cut will usually help get a teammate open."

That appeared to be the case in the first half of the Iowa game when Keaton Nankivil got a wide-open look for his only three of the game, in part because Krabbenhoft drew extra attention with a cut to the basket.

Consider it another example of Krabbenhoft helping the Badgers put the ball in the basket.

"He is definitely better than people give him credit for because he doesn't look for his shot at all," Hughes said. "He's looking for the best interest of the team and if it calls for him to score points, he will do so."

Team Defense

"It's not overwhelmingly difficult for a committed group of players with only average basketball skills to put together a very good TEAM DEFENSE. Many good defensive teams are far better than the sum of their parts. Certainly each player must decide that he is going to improve as an individual defender as the season progresses to help accomplish this, but he must also make a commitment to the team that he is going to do his part within the system to help his teammates."

-Del Harris

Routine Doesn't Change

"The routine doesn't change much. That is the nature of a routine. I will shoot in an empty gym. Got to make 10 threes from this spot. Got to make 5 midrange jumpers from this spot. In between, go to the line and make five. Nothing changes if you want to get better"

-Ray Allen

Live Within Your Team

Article in the Journal Star today about how Husker QB Joe Ganz is helping Husker forward Paul Verlander focus on the team concept:

Anybody who’s followed Nebraska basketball over the last decade knows, given this situation, what’s usually around the corner.

A big thud.

Instead of wilting in the spotlight amid growing expectations, these Huskers hope to get stronger.

How?

Senior Paul Velander said he’s heeding words from Nebraska football player Joe Ganz.

Live within the team.

“I just heard him say that one time, and I was really impressed,” Velander said. “That was well put.”

Hey, the Huskers are 3-0 since a pep talk from Tom Osborne, so why not listen to what Nebraska’s team-first quarterback has to say?

“If you focus on what’s going on within your team, and live within your team, nothing outside really matters,” Velander said, recalling Ganz’s message. “If we do that, we’re going to be happy with our results, no matter what they are.”

Zone defense key to ASU's success

Article this morning on Arizona State and their active zone defense that has been a big success. This season, ASU allows 58.4 points per game, which ranks second in the Pac-10. It also holds opponents to 40.1 percent shooting, including a 32.2 clip from 3-point range.

"It took us a week or two to figure everything out," senior forward Jeff Pendergraph said. "After that it was like trying to get it in your head that it's not a zone. Play it like it's man to man. We're not just playing back, daring you to shoot. We're pressuring the ball, trying to get steals, and then everybody else has your back so you're not on an island."

The Maturation of a Point Guard

Article this morning in the Detroit Free Press on the developing leadership of Michigan St. point guard Kalin Lucas, who coach Tom Izzo says could be one of the best he has every had. It is a great article about the coach and the point guard being on the same page. Here is a portion of it:

It was the spring of 2008 when Izzo caught the first glimpse that his young guard might be for real. Michigan State was playing rival Wisconsin in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. The game was tied. Thirty seconds were left. Lucas had the ball.

As he tried to pass, a defender slipped in, swiped it and raced to the other end for a lay-up. MSU lost by two. When the team reached the tunnel as it walked off the court, Lucas began howling:

"It's my fault. It's my fault." He collapsed as he stumbled into the locker room, sobbing.

"I had never seen that from Kalin," Izzo recalled. "Ever."

It was painful. It was enlightening. And he considered it Lucas' first defining moment.

Last week was the second.

MSU was playing Penn State at home. As in the Wisconsin game the year before, the Spartans had blown a big lead. Again, Lucas had the ball at the end. He was on the free-throw line. Twelve seconds were left. MSU trailed by a point.

Lucas missed a free throw to tie it. MSU lost. In the locker room, Lucas broke down, but not in the guttural way he had in Indy. This time he was seething. Partly because he'd missed a crucial shot down the stretch and partly because he hadn't kept a promise to himself he'd made in December, after MSU lost to North Carolina by 30.

The night after that thrashing, he and roommate -- and teammate -- Durrell Summers went to dinner and promised each other they would never be embarrassed again as long as they were at MSU.

Penn State had won by only four, but something didn't feel right about the way it went down. The team lost its way during a 6-minute stretch late in the first half. Championships teams didn't do that. Or if they did, they made plays at the end.

Lucas spent the rest of that day and evening in knots. Finally, about midnight, he pulled out his cell phone and sent a text message to Izzo: "It will never happen again."

Izzo returned his text the next morning: "I want you to trust me."

The coach called it the second defining moment.

After the Carolina loss, the Spartans had ripped off 11 straight wins. Now it was time to respond again. Three days after the Penn State loss, MSU blitzed Minnesota by 29 points. The team did it without Lucas' jump shot.

"I don't have an answer for what happened," he said afterward.

But he didn't need one. A year ago, he might've sulked if he had a poor shooting night. Against Minnesota, however, he shrugged it off, helped shut down the Gophers' starting backcourt -- holding it to 2-for-13 shooting -- and kept feeding Summers, who dropped in threes from all over the court. His roommate scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting. And Lucas had helped make it happen.

Offense shouldn't dictate defense

Good quotes from Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd this morning about the Mavs letting their poor offense outing dictate their intensity on defense:

"Sometimes we let our offense dictate our defense, and we can't do that," said Nowitzki. "When we're not making our shots, that's when we got to be even more solid on the other end and not give up open shots. If we're struggling offensively, we got to find a way to be more solid defensively."

Added Kidd: "If you don't make a shot, it doesn't mean you can't still be productive on the defensive end. It's something we have to address."

Better practice, better Bluejays

Story out of the World Herald today on Creighton Basketball and their improved work ethic in practice recently. Whether they bring the consistency everyday remains to be seen:

Dana Altman has long been an advocate that perfect practice makes perfect. That's one reason the Creighton coach has told anyone who would listen the last couple of months that his basketball team wouldn't overcome its inconsistent ways until it started getting more consistent in practice.

Altman acknowledged after Wednesday's 79-68 win over Drake that he has seen some improvement in his players' approach to daily drills. Several players also said they sense a greater devotion to practice.

"Guys are going a lot harder, guys are showing up earlier and staying late after practice to get it done," guard P'Allen Stinnett said. "The attention to detail, and the focus during practice is a total 180. A lot of times, Coach would have to tell us not to walk from drill to drill."Now, guys are hustling from drill to drill.

Guys are picking each other up, we're talking to each other more in practice and in the locker room. We're just getting along much better. I don't know if that comes along with the winning, but it's definitely much better."

No player understands Altman's expectations better than Dotzler, the senior guard from Bellevue West. He said there's still room for improvement in practice.

"At times, we've done a better job and guys are working hard," Dotzler said. "But Coach wants consistency, and if we're going to make a run at this thing, we still need to be more consistent in practice."

Road Warriors

Coach Eric Musselman has a great blog post today about Missouri having a "man's mentality" on the road, which helped them beat Texas Wednesday night.

The Lakers had that same mentality last night (as much as it hurts me to say that) when they defeated the Celtics in Boston 110-109. Lakers center Paul Gasol said:

"I wish we would have come here last year with this kind of attitude. Nobody backed down. We were as physical as anybody."

From the L.A. Times:

For now, though, it was the Lakers acting like the heavies when it was least expected, with their physically imposing 21-year-old center watching on TV back home in Los Angeles.

This wasn't 131-92, that's for sure.

"We came in this building and got beat pretty badly," said Kobe Bryant, referring to the Lakers' Game 6 loss to the Celtics last June."I think we kind of took the challenge upon ourselves coming in here and seeing how much we've grown since then."

Suns need a sense of urgency

I posted below how the Warriors are playing some good basketball right now. The opponent that they beat last night, the Phoenix Suns, are in a freefall right now, losing 8 of their last 12. The Suns are loaded with talented names, like Shaq, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire, Grant Hill, Jason Richardson, etc. However, they are still trying to find an identity and consistency on defense:

"I don't feel like we're competing as hard as we need to," Suns guard Steve Nash said. "I don't feel like we're hustling all the time. If you're not playing a hot team and not playing at their level, you can hustle and outwork them and we didn't do that. Same old. We missed (defensive) coverages. We didn't hustle as much as we need to. It's a lack of competition. It sucks."

"Gotta guard somebody," Shaquille O'Neal said. "I've been saying the same thing the whole year. It doesn't matter if we run or slow it down. We've got to guard somebody. We have principles on defense. You get broken down and you help. You better help the helper. You can't really get broken down all the time. We've got to guard a little bit better. Until then, who knows?"

Said Grant Hill:

"The effort wasn't there tonight. Quite honestly, you can't coach effort. They came out hard and we didn't. We've got to get this thing right. We've been saying that forever. I've thought about it a lot. I can't put my finger on it. We're not playing with passion. I'll accept responsibility. I wasn't good tonight. We just don't play hard all the time. When we do, we usually give ourselves a chance to win. When we don't, we don't have any energy or enthusiasm."

Warriors are thinking forward

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Someone might want to check the DNA of the Warriors' players and patent a vaccine from it, because they've somehow remained immune to a plague that would leave most teams dizzy and disoriented. Injuries, front-office turmoil, jarring trades and even locker room squabbles haven't dented their sense of well-being.

Certainly no team has suffered more demoralizing last-second losses this season, which has even created an undertone of caution among Oracle Arena's notoriously exuberant fans. And still, the energy of the entire roster -- including currently exiled rookie Anthony Randolph -- remains amazingly robust. Although the Clippers fold their collective tent the minute an opponent builds a sizable lead, the Warriors, with only a few exceptions this season, so far have refused to accept their bottom-dwelling status.

Case in point: Wednesday's 124-112 win over the Phoenix Suns, a triumph far more decisive than the final score. The Warriors led by as many as 25 points, and Phoenix never dropped the lead to less than 10 points after the first quarter. Stephen Jackson celebrated his first career triple-double (30 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists) as the Warriors tied their season highs for 3-pointers (13) and assists (29).

"We've begun to trust each other," Jackson said. "We're gaining confidence in each other."

All this a mere 48 hours after watching a double-digit lead disintegrate into an overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the Warriors' third home collapse in a nine-day span. But if "We Believe" was Golden State's rallying cry two seasons ago, "We Can't Remember" seems to be the current mantra.

"You have to have a short memory," said Kelenna Azubuike, who scored 19 of his 25 points in the first quarter. "We understand as a team there are going to be nights when it's going to be very disappointing. You just have to keep playing."

Illinois Motion Offense

Don't Forget This Loss

If you watched the Duke/Clemson game last night you saw the blowout that Clemson put on Duke. Coach Krzyzewski was asked if team are sometimes better off forgetting about bad losses and moving forward:

“Our players shouldn’t forget this loss. This is as bad as you can play,” Krzyzewski said. “You can’t say, ‘Oh, that’s OK.’ Not if you’re wearing a Duke uniform.”

“You never forget this loss,” Krzyzewski said. “Going into another game, we can’t hang on to it but you can never forget a game like this one.”

Duke melted against Clemson’s defense, which wobbled them with their full-court pressure in the first half then continued to bother them in the front-court with straight-up man-to-man pressure in the second half.

Kyle Singler had five turnovers. Nolan Smith had four. The total was 16 but it felt like twice that many.

“They know how to turn you over and you have to be strong with the ball,” Duke’s Gerald Henderson said. “You have to make quick decisions and value the ball. We didn’t do any of that.”

Getting out of a shooting slump

The Chicago Tribune has an article on the Illini basketball team going through a shooting slump. Here is a little from the article:

The Illini's three best perimeter shooters—McCamey, Trent Meacham and Alex Legion—are in shooting slumps of varying degrees the last five games, which includes road losses to two ranked Big Ten teams, Michigan State and Minnesota.

"There's a little hesitation, a little [lack of ] confidence," coach Bruce Weber said. "It's not cutting, getting to the ball, not being aggressive, that's important."If we can get Trent making some shots, get Alex on a roll here . . . we have to be tough to defend."

"Part of that is the offense, screening angles, cutting harder. The passer has to see open guys and attack more."

In the last five games, McCamey has made just 17 of 49 shots, 7 of 30 on threes. "Demetri really sets the tone," Weber said. "I'm not putting pressure on him, but the quick 'threes' [don't] help our team. If he gets in the paint, has seven assists and no turnovers and gets to the free-throw line, we're a much better team."

McCamey's solid 6 of 10 Jan. 24 in the victory over Wisconsin, in which he also made 11 of 12 free throws and scored 25 points, is part of the streak.

"Wisconsin was an effective game for him," Weber said. "He has a tendency to give in to the easier thing, and that's to put up a quick three."

Even though he starts, Meacham has taken only 24 shots in the last five games, and made only five, 3 of 30 on threes.

"I feel like I haven't hit a shot in a month," Meacham said. "Larry Bird said shooting is 80-90 percent mental. It's all about confidence. You have to forget about the last shot and think the next one is going in."

From the coaches at Santa Clara:

"Ball pressure buys you time"

If you always have good pressure on the ball then that will allow your teammates extra time to get through screens and recover to their man. You never want a passer to be able to sit back and put a pass exactly where and when he wants it. Even if you get caught in a screen or get back cut, if your teammate is applying good ball pressure, that may be the extra second you need to recover to your man and not allow an open shot.

The evolution of UCONN's new leader

Good article today on UCONN forward Jeff Adrien and his continued improvement on every aspect of his game:

Two years ago, Jeff Adrien would have kept his mouth shut, and Connecticut might have lost the game.

Adrien would have bitten his tongue as Notre Dame made its run. He would have sat idle on the bench and let his Hall of Fame coach do all the talking.

But Jan. 24, after Notre Dame countered Connecticut's first punch of the second half with a 12-4 burst, Adrien piped up during a stoppage with 8:46 remaining.

"He controlled the whole timeout," senior guard A.J. Price said after Connecticut polished off a 69-61 win, snapping Notre Dame's 45-game home win streak, just as Adrien had predicted.

"He said everything we needed to do: no fouls, play good defense, hedge. He was very talkative out there."

Speaking up has been the final step in Adrien's evolution as the undisputed leader of the nation's top-ranked team.

Buying In

"A game like this makes you trust in all those corny-sounding clichés. On paper you may not look as talented or as fast or as strong as your opponent, but if you get guys to buy into a system and fight to the bitter end, you can accomplish incredible things."

-Mike Vrabel, 3 time Super Bowl Champion after winning their first Super Bowl over the heavily favored St. Louis Rams

Defense powers UCLA

There is a reason UCLA has been to two consecutive Final Four appearances and are poised for a run at three in a row. All the right things are being said from the players and coaches about the importance of defense. Not only are they talking about it, they are putting it into action: Here is some from an L.A. Times article this morning:

Don't ask Ben Howland about the way his team lit up the scoreboard.Don't ask about the dunks and the fastbreak layups, the three-point shots.

The UCLA coach would rather talk about something else.

"I know it's boring -- I apologize -- but it's the truth," Howland said. "It all starts with our defense." (This is after UCLA put up 97 points)

The 97 points Saturday were the most scored by a Howland team in a Pacific 10 Conference game, yet even the players talked about finally understanding the effort their coach wants at the other end of the court.

"To be honest, there's no magic trick to what we've been doing the last two games," guard Darren Collison said. "We just raised our level of intensity on the defensive end."

They believe a simple equation -- turnovers equal easy baskets -- has pushed the Bruins (17-4 overall) back into a tie for first in the Pac-10 standings with a record of 7-2.

If nothing else, two big wins has brought life to a team that was licking its wounds after a loss at Washington only a week ago.

"After the Washington game, Coach told us we had to have the best practice we've ever had," center Alfred Aboya said. "That's what we did. After that, he said we had to keep it up every day."

"Everything that we tried in past games when we weren't winning or were winning by five, 10 points, we weren't getting enough stops," Collison said. "When we get a lot of stops, we get a lot of good things."