Chandler's Defensive Mindset Gets Mavs Back on Track

Tyson Chandler, who is a NBA veteran in his first year with the Mavericks, has brought a defensive identity to a team that has struggled on that end of the floor in the past. Dallas has one of the best records in the NBA and is coming off a big win at Miami last night.

Here is Dirk Nowitzki on how Chandler's presence is felt throughout the team:

"I don't think Ray [Allen] or Paul Pierce were great defenders before K.G. got there," Nowitzki said. "But, K.G., with his energy, his defense, his mentality and his high-octane self, he kind of changed the whole momentum on the defense. I think that's what Tyson did here."

"It's just his overall willingness to defend," Nowitzki said. "He talks out there. He's always a loud communicator, pushing everybody in the right spots. I think that's what Tyson brings to our team."

Here is Chandler after last night's victory in Miami:

"We got away from that," said Tyson Chandler, who had eight points and 10 rebounds and helped limit the Heat to 26 points in the paint. "It seemed like the longer our winning streak was going, we started to take a step back and relax on the defensive end. It took that loss [to the Milwaukee Bucks on Dec. 13] to wake everybody back up, and now we're communicating out there and we're actually following Coach's game plan again.

"This has to be our identity. If we want to have a special year, we've got to think defense first."

Brady's Championship Preparation & Mentality

Great stuff on Tom Brady this morning from the USA Today:

"I locker next to this guy, and he never ceases to amaze me with how he continues to improve in his preparation and his teaching of the receivers to gain that edge," said Deion Branch, the ninth-year receiver reunited with Brady in an Oct. 12 trade after four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. "MVP honors don't do anything for Tom.

"You can see it in his eyes, his preparation and his play. Winning Super Bowls is his destiny."

How has Brady continued raising his game in his 10th season as a starter?

"He's always working on the little things that might come up on one play twice a season," says head coach Bill Belichick.

"He continually prepares at a very high level both on the opposing team's scheme and personnel. And he continues to try to have a better understanding of our offense, what options there are on certain plays and situations. He's always striving to get better."

"With any veteran, you naturally take on more responsibility," Brady said. "I do a little more mentorship and relate to what the younger guys are going through.

"My teammates elected me captain. It's something I'm very proud of and take very seriously."

Know your role, do your job

Another win for the Patriots in some tough weather conditions at Chicago yesterday. Coach Bill Belichick is always stressing to his players one thing: 'Know your role, do your job'

"Each week is getting better, and guys are finding their roles on the team and they're starting to step up,'' Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork said. "I just think everybody's doing their job, and they're doing it real good. When we need plays, it seems like guys make plays. This group of guys has grown up a lot, and guys are tuning in to exactly what their role is, and doing it the best they can. And that's pretty good.''

Duke's Talk System

Here are some portions in an article from ESPN The Magazine about the communication system that Duke has out on the floor & the importance of talking in their program:

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Eye contact -- they're big on that. Coach K does it too, from the first time he meets a recruit. Squaring up, he promises always to tell the kid the way it is, about his game, about his life, no matter what. And he demands that every one of his players at Duke do the same: Find the eyes; tell the truth.

It's disorienting and, frankly, a bit weird. But if Mike Krzyzewski says the point is to promote an open dialogue, you can't really argue, even if it can freak out a newbie. Let's be honest: If anyone outside of the team's practice facility were to address a player with such unflinching eye-to-eye contact, he'd likely be asking, "Do you know how fast you were going?"

But disconcerting or not, that's how Blue Devils interact off the court. On it, though, blinded by screens, pivots and defenders' waving hands, they can't rely on eye contact. So they resort to a mode of communication that is equally unrelenting: a steady stream of old-school chatter.

In games, practices and open gyms, the Dukies' yelping -- "Ball, ball!," "You're good there," "I got it," "Shoot it" -- is no different from what spews from your standard-issue pickup hooper. It's just way more intense. It draws attention to oncoming screens, but also affirms every pass and shot, encourages every defensive gamble. It announces their solidarity. "When you talk all the time, you will recognize a voice in a chaotic situation," Krzyzewski says. "It builds strength."

To a Devil, hostile invective, intrusive whistles and sneaker squeaks are white noise; teammates' chirps are the real sound track of the game. To opponents, that sound track is like a death knell. "The chatter empowers them," says Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg. "Combine it with their talent, and it's pretty imposing."

Krzyzewski calls this grating-to-others blah-blah-blahing the lifeblood of his program, one of its building blocks: offense, defense, talk. And of his four title teams, 2010's may have been the one most dependent on it. "Last year they talked better than anyone we played," says North Carolina's Roy Williams. "They also talked more consistently than any Duke team in the seven years I've been back in the ACC." All that verbosity was evidence of a veteran squad finally buying Krzyzewski's well-worn creed; "The beauty in our sport comes when five are playing as one, and five can't play as one unless they're talking to one another"

"You're teaching them a language," Krzyzewski says. "You just can't say, 'All you guys need to talk.' You have to teach them how."

"The coaches' thing is, if you're not talking, you're into yourself," Smith says. "Talking gets you thinking about the game." Problem is, extroversion isn't generally an instinctive response to screwing up. "Guys aren't good talkers inherently," Krzyzewski says. "By talking, you open up your inside to the team." Few All-Americas want to draw attention to an ego-shredding error, but Coach K will tell you that's when teammates need to hear you the most. "What talk does is return you to the moment," he says. "It clears your head."

Putting in the Extra Time

From the KC Star:

Larry Fitzgerald is convinced that he would be a better-than-average NFL receiver had his path never crossed that of Todd Haley.

He is equally as certain he wouldn’t be a four-time Pro Bowler and one of the NFL’s premier players if not for their two seasons together with the Cardinals with Haley as offensive coordinator.

“I was a good player when he got here, but I was far from a complete player. I never watched film, I didn’t study my opponent. We started at 8 o’clock. I was getting in the building at 7:55. We were done at 3 o’clock, and I was out of the building at 3:05. I came to work and did my job, but that’s about it.

“Todd made me understand that to be … a great player, you have to do more. You have to do extra. I’ve taken that to heart even since he’s left. I continue to do things he taught me: run routes after practice, catch extra balls.”

Matt Cassel showing leadership during tough times

Last Sunday wasn’t the best example of reality, at least after Denver zipped to a huge lead up (35-0 at half and up 49-17 late in the game), but that didn’t mean the Chiefs stopped paying attention to how some players reacted.

Coach Todd Haley said this week that his starters were given the option late in the game of calling it a night. That game was finished, and perhaps it was best to bid Denver adieu.

Not everyone saw it that way.

“We have to continue to fight,” quarterback Matt Cassel said this week. “You’re paid to play for 60 minutes.”

But in that game and in these early seasons of the team’s transition, Haley said the Chiefs need players who don’t quit, even when there’s every reason to.

“You just see who your leaders are,” Haley said. “He wanted to continue to lead the team.

“The leader’s got to go down with the ship occasionally.

“He felt like he was part of it from the start and didn’t want to not be part of it in the end,” Haley said. “It just reconfirms my belief and knowledge that Matt is a truly competitive, competitive guy who wants to be a real good quarterback in the league and wants to be the leader of a team that wins a bunch of games.

“He shows that every day out here (at practice), and he shows it in games like that.

“It just shows your teammates that you care and that it’s important to you. And you care about your team, in good times and in bad,” Haley said. “Sometimes it’s even better tested in bad times.”

Kevin Love on Rebounding

"For me, rebounding is all a mindset. My dad told me back in the day that there is no such thing as a selfish rebound because it's a team stat. If you have to fight one of your own teammates for a rebound, do it -- as long as you get it. Also, I studied the greats. Dennis Rodman had it figured out: he knew that most shots are going to come to the other side of the rim. So that's how I position myself. And Bill Russell always used to say that 80 percent of rebounds are below the rim. I'm not the kind of guy who's going to jump and touch the top of the square every time. I use my body for positioning, and I work relentlessly underneath the rim.

You don't have to be the most athletic guy in the world to get a bunch of rebounds, so I just try and take what my dad said to heart, what Rodman said to heart, and most importantly what Bill Russell said to heart. He's got 11 championship rings so I think he knows what he's talking about."

Boys or Men?

From http://www.cnnsi.com/

When Illinois players walk into their locker room, a simple question greets them on the greaseboard: Boys or men? The words were put there by Illini coach Bruce Weber last spring after his team's season ended ignominiously with a quarterfinal loss in the NIT. Weber recognized that his players had talent. What they lacked was toughness, physical and especially mental. That's why they folded down the stretch, dropping five of their last seven games to miss out on the NCAA tournament.

"Talent doesn't mean anything," Weber said. "When we played good teams last year, especially on the road, we just couldn't defend well enough to win. Part of defense is toughness and pride and just wanting to fight. We didn't always have that."

"We know we can score with anybody in the country," 6-foot-3 senior guard Demetri McCamey said. "Now we need to show we have that mental toughness where if times go bad, you don't put your head down and start thinking the game is over."

Singler leads through his play

Ny Times article on Duke preseason All-American forward Kyle Singler.

“I’m not really that cocky a basketball player, but I am very confident,” he said. “I just kind of feel like people get in trouble when they’re not themselves and they don’t act like who they really are as people and even as a basketball player.

“I’m not going to change as a basketball player,” he continued. “I’m going to act the same way I always acted, and I think people do respect that. I guess that might be a reason why I’m not that hated as a basketball player.”

Apparently, Singler does not talk trash or swagger, either. He reserves his commentary for teammates, and indeed he has had to work at becoming more vocal as a leader this season.

“He’ll definitely be more of a target this year,” Smith continued. “People are saying he’s going to be the player of the year, and he obviously has that capability, so guys are going to go at him a lot harder, and nothing’s going to change with him. He’s going to stay who he is, stay quiet and just continue to kill people.”

Putting the D back in Dallas

Good article on 'ESPN.com Dallas' about the Mavericks defense leading to a victory over the previously undefeated New Orleans Hornets.

DALLAS -- Is it possible that the Dallas Mavericks actually enjoy playing defense, and even find themselves challenging one another to rise up when games get down and dirty in crunch time?

"I think it would be better to ask the players that question because we identify defense as the No. 1 variable to us being a true contending team," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "If the answer is yes, then we're making some real progress. If the answer is something else, then we've got to take a hard look at where we're at."

"But," Carlisle continued, "I think our guys realize that hard, consistent defense and staying with a system is the most important part of our success and it's the most important part of continuing the success that we're having."

Monday night was another example that the answer just might be a resounding, "Yes." The Mavs trailed the previously unbeaten New Orleans Hornets by 10 points with 7:44 left in the game. From that point, Dallas' defense, which entered the game ranked third in the league in points per possession, allowed eight points on 3-of-16 shooting and turned stops into a 3-point barrage at the other end to pull out a dramatic 98-95 victory.

The fourth quarter was reminiscent of one week ago against Boston. The Celtics seized momentum, led 80-74 with 7:25 to go and then scored seven points the rest of the way.

These aren't Don Nelson's Mavericks.

"Yeah, well, we understand what it takes," point guard Jason Kidd said. 'We've seen, come June, the team that holds that trophy is one of the best defensive teams, so at some point you've got to believe that playing defense will win you a championship. I think everybody's in agreement that we have to play defense. Again, six minutes left in the game, you've got to find a way to get stops."

Against New Orleans, Dallas found a way with a mix of tough man-to-man defense and zone to combat point guard Chris Paul, who was hounded by J.J. Barea and held without a point and just three assists in the fourth quarter.

The Mavs didn't force a turnover in the final quarter, but they frustrated the Hornets into 7-of-23 shooting (30.4 percent), and Dallas commanded the boards 15-7. It led to a free-flow offense and a treasure chest of open 3-pointers that, after a long night of firing long-range blanks, finally produced rainbows.

New Orleans (8-1) scored 19 points in the final 12 minutes, which is nothing unusual for Dallas opponents in the first nine games. The Mavericks (7-2) are stingiest in the fourth quarter, allowing on average of 19.7 points a game. They haven't surrendered more than 24 points in a fourth quarter and Monday notched their fifth sub-20-point final period.

"I love it," Barea said. "And with a guy like Tyson [Chandler], you get a stop and he starts screaming and going wild. It's awesome. And then we know when we get stops, hey, we're going to score on the other end fast. That's what we've got to do. If we get stops, we're going to be a great team."

But, that's the same line as every player used almost daily last year: Get stops and we win. Carlisle came to Dallas three years ago preaching defensive demeanor. It didn't stick. The Mavs opened last season 19-7 and talked of yet another recommitment to defense. After a 131-96 beatdown in Los Angeles by the Lakers on Jan. 3, the Mavs' defense might as well have been in Maui.

"I think we're starting to take pride in [defense] because that's the next step to being a championship-level team," said 7-foot tag-team center Brendan Haywood, who was acquired in a February trade. "Look at the teams that have won championships in the last couple of years. They've all been teams that at some point could play very good defense. Look at Boston, the Spurs, Detroit. That's not by accident. That's what has to happen. You have to be a good defensive team to win. That's something coach has stressed from the preseason until now and we're going to keep getting better defensively."

When Trevor Ariza knocked down a 3-pointer to tie it at 95-95 with 40.8 seconds left, Carlisle called timeout.

"We just said we've got to stop these guys," Terry said. "The team with the most stops was going to prevail in this game. New Orleans is the second-best defensive team in the league right now and we're No 3. So, defense definitely wins games."

Terry came out of the timeout and buried an 18-foot jumper for a 97-95 lead with 34.9 to go. Then a scrambling, trapping Mavs defense took over on a wild second-to-last possession for the Hornets. David West missed from short range and off the rebound Ariza missed two 3-pointers.

Dirk Nowitzki gave New Orleans one last chance after he missed the second free throw to make it a 98-95 lead with 0.7 seconds left. Emeka Okafor wound up with the ball and didn't come close with a last-gasp 3-pointer.

And through nine games, the Dallas Mavericks are buying into the concept of team defense.

"Haywood and Tyson help with that. Dirk is believing in it. Jet. J.J. Whoever is out on the floor," Kidd said. "We always feel we might not be quick or we might not be able to jump high, but just playing team defense is a big thing in this league and again, you look at San Antonio or Boston or L.A., they play great team defense.

"I think we're believing in that."

Mark Sanchez's cool demeanor

From Last Week's New York Daily News :

You don’t have to be a body language expert to notice that Mark Sanchez has kept his emotions in check the past few weeks. He was the sketch of cool after his 74-yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards last week. Moments after firing a 52-yard completion to Santonio Holmes in overtime that set up the game-winning field goal, Sanchez simply clapped. He credited his calm demeanor to the new Bad Body Language fine system put in place by the rest of the quarterbacks.

“It’s a fun thing, but also a good coaching point from (Mark) Brunell,” Sanchez told me. “So I jumped on board right away. It’s really showed up and it’s kept us in some of these games.”

“Sometimes the hardest thing is to fight your emotions and deal with the rollercoaster of the game,” he added. “If you can show that even keel demeanor to the team, that stuff is contagious. When our team can see that from me, it resonates. They know, ‘Hey man, don’t mess with this guy in a tough situation. He’s ready.’”

Sanchez has done a good job of "staying in the middle," with his emotions the past couple weeks

“That’s the kind of demeanor that you want to have and the message you want to send to those guys,” Sanchez said. “Because you’re going to need it late in the game. You don’t want to get too excited off a 21-point lead, because it’s never enough. If you throw three picks in the first quarter, you can’t tank. You still have three more quarters to play. Who knows? These are long games. Crazier things have happened. So it’s just about staying in the middle. That’s the biggest coaching point.”

Seymour is changing the culture

Good article on cnnsi.com about Pro Bowl defensive end Richard Seymour and the influence he has had on a Raiders organization that has not seen its share of successes in the past several years. This year the Raiders have gotten off to a 5-4 start with Seymour helping lead the way through his words and actions:

Greatness. It's a term that's easily understood but difficult to quantify in athletics. Is it measured by championships? Personal accolades? Individual statistics? Or is it something with broader context, like being able to improve the performance of those around you?

In the case of Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour, the answer is "all of the above." He won three Super Bowls in four appearances during his eight seasons with the Patriots; was voted to five Pro Bowls and four All-Pro teams during that time; and recorded 39 sacks with the team, tying for sixth most in franchise history by a defensive linemen.

Still, his greatest achievement may be the impact he has had on teammates since joining the Raiders before the start of the 2009 season.

"I can speak personally about it," says Pro Bowler Nnamdi Asomugha, one of the game's top shutdown cornerbacks. "Once he came in I felt like I had to step my game up. Before, it was like -- you never get complacent, you never get content -- but you get, I don't know, kind of comfortable when you're 'the guy' year after year after year.

"But when someone else comes in that's the guy, that has won championships, you're like, 'OK, I've got to step my game up even more.' It wasn't a thing of competition. It was: I have to do better than I was doing for him to trust me and respect me. I have to do more because of whom I'm surrounded by, a guy who is studying, a guy who really wants to be the best. Richard did that for me and didn't even know he was doing it. Anytime you're around greatness, you just want to be greater."

There are similar tales from the Raiders locker room, where Seymour, 31, has come to be viewed as a mentor, friend and standard-setter. During fellow defensive tackle Tommy Kelly's first six seasons, he was known as a player with great potential but limited discipline. For every sack or quarterback pressure, there were two offsides or a mental lapse.

Yet Kelly has been a consistent force this season. In Sunday's 23-20 overtime win over the Chiefs, he had three tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hurry, and a forced fumble. The week before against the Seahawks, he had three tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hurry. Slowly, he is shedding the underachiever label that has dogged him for much of his career.

"Big Rich brings the example," says Kelly. "He don't talk it; the résumé talks it. You already know what he means because of the Super Bowls and Pro Bowls. He commands respects, and he gives you respect. So it's easy to follow the example of somebody like that."

For the first time since 2002, the Raiders are playoff relevant in November in part because their effort and work habits are starting to match their talent level. At 5-4 they are above .500 this late in a season for the first time since going to the Super Bowl eight years ago, and many of the players point to the 6-foot-6, 310-pound man with the slow words and Southern drawl as a big reason.

During Game 1 of the World Series on Oct. 27, Seymour and Asomugha sat behind the Rangers dugout and spoke about nothing but football for almost 30 minutes. Even when third base Juan Uribe launched a fifth-inning three-run homer to push the Giants' lead to 8-2, setting off fog horns, water cannons and mass delirium in AT&T Park, the two never flinched. Their conversation was too deep and meaningful.

"Everyone is standing up going crazy, and we're just sitting there talking Raiders football," says Asomugha. "We're talking about our futures, our careers, where we've come from in the league, and how we've met on this middle ground. We're talking about him not having five, six, seven years left and wanting to get back to the Super Bowl before he retires, and me wanting to win now, me needing to win now, after some of the most difficult years of my career."

The conversation seemed unthinkable at the start of last season. After being traded to the Raiders on the Sunday before the season opener, he failed to immediately report. There was speculation that he wanted no part of the losing and dysfunction that had taken place in Oakland the previous six years, during which the organization employed five head coaches, signed free agents to megadeals only to cut them after one season -- or sometimes, in the case of cornerback DeAngelo Hall, after only eight games.

After a few days the Raiders sent a letter to Seymour threatening to place on a reserve list that would prohibit him from playing at all in 2009 if he did not report within five days. The truth, says Seymour, was that he was caught off guard by the deal and needed time to prepare his family for the change. Some of his kids had just started a new school and decisions had to be made about whether he and wife Tanya would uproot the family for what might be one year in Oakland, where Seymour would be in the final year of his contract.

"There was never a point that I wasn't going to play football," Seymour says. "But there was a lot going on. My family comes first. I may be a football player, but that does not define me. Once I got to Oakland, I saw that the Lord was really leading me out here for a reason. He was taking me out of one place and putting me in another where I could really have an impact on a lot of young guys. That's something that I've always wanted to do my whole career, what I believe my calling was. I feel like I'm at a place where I was designed to be, so this is fulfilling. I feel like I'm at that place right where I need to be.

"From the outside, people can look at it and say he's going from a team that's won the most games this decade to one of the teams that has lost the most. But I think it takes a special person that can move from that environment and still have a positive effect on others without being discouraged himself. Now I'm not saying they've all been great days. We've had our share of road bumps and issues throughout the way, but that's a part of growing.I'm a firm believer that people can say things to you or do things to you and think that they're putting you in a position to fail, but at the end of the day that situation can be a blessing. And this has been that for me."

It's also been a Godsend for coach Tom Cable, who has a respected, proven winner to carry his message into the locker room. It's interesting now to hear Oakland defenders not only talk about the importance of the little things -- like practicing with tempo, being in the right gaps, playing with effort on every snap -- but actually do those things.

When the Raiders trailed the AFC West-leading Chiefs 10-0 late in the second quarter and appeared to be on the verge of surrendering a back-breaking touchdown just before the half, Seymour gathered the players and told them they would be defined by the moment. In the past it was just the type of situation where the Raiders might have buckled. After all, losing has a way of becoming habitual when it's all you've known during your time in the league. But Seymour looked guys in the eyes and told them that if he were a general manager, this was the type of situation that would tell him about players. Would they fight when times were hard, or would they quit.

The Raiders forced an interception.

"He always says to just make sure you're always playing hard, no matter what the situation is," says rookie defensive end Lamarr Houston. "Don't ever get comfortable or complacent."

"From the first time he got here, he brought an air of, I've been through a lot of battles and I know how to prepare and I know what it takes to be successful," says Cable. "His role is constantly teaching in that locker room what it takes to be successful -- not cutting corners, staying through the course. It's a lot of hard work; there are a lot of setbacks that you go through. But you keep plugging until you get it right. I think he's brought that mentality that you just go to work."

CP3's Leadership

New Orleans Hornets General Manager Dell Demps on the leadership of Hornets PG Chris Paul:

"I was amazed how he works with the young guys," Demps said. "He's a natural leader. And the guys, they believe in him. He's not only helping guys out; he's also asking questions. I see him asking Trevor and David where they want him, what they see out there. He's one of those leaders that listens to input. But he also motivates guys. Guys see that he's playing at a high level."

Leadership

Warriors coach Keith Smart on newly acquired all-star forward David Lee:



“A leader leads by doing things when no one pays attention. David does that."

The Harbaugh Brothers

Good story in Sports Illustrated on the Harbaugh Family Coaching Tree. John Harbaugh (pictured above) is the current head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Jim Harbaugh is the head coach of Stanford University while their father Jack coached for numerous colleges throughout the country.

The article takes about the competitve environment that the Harbaugh brothers grew up in along with their passion and work ethic to be the best they can be. Here is a good excerpt:

It is a ruthless world, and the Harbaughs love it that way: There is no faking success, none of what their mother called "mediocrity—let's not let anybody be better than anybody else." John, whose Ravens are 5--2 and leading the AFC North, keeps a plastic armadillo in his office because he thinks people need thick skin, and he often asks his players, "You got your baby-deerskin on today? Or do you have your armadillo skin?"

Full Article on Harbaugh Brothers

Meyer wants practice ramped up, no excuses

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Coach Urban Meyer spent last week analyzing every play of Florida's season and came to these conclusions:

It's not the play-calling. It's not the players.

It's not the effort. It's not the energy.

Florida's struggles are directly related to practice. Yes, practice.
Although Meyer has a long list of problems for his offense, which ranks ninth in the Southeastern Conference and 89th in the nation, he attributes all of them to practice. Simply put, poor practices have made the Gators (4-3, 2-3 SEC) imperfect.

"When there's a lack of execution, how does that occur?" Meyer said. "The answer is not to say, 'That guy, that guy, that guy.' Is it because we don't practice it enough? Is it we don't get them in that situation enough?

"We're not into excuses. We're not into, 'This happened because.' It's, 'Fix the issues.' It doesn't look like us out there. It doesn't look like, 'Bang.' We all want that. How do you get that? You recruit it. You develop it. You coach it and you make sure you practice the mess out of it, and that's kind of where we're at."

It's probably not what frustrated Florida fans want to hear. They're calling for personnel changes, blame assessed, maybe even an offensive overhaul. They're expecting anger, finger-pointing, maybe even some promises.

Instead, the Gators believe better practices -- as well as healthier players -- will make a difference Saturday against rival Georgia (4-4, 3-3).

Injuries certainly have been an issue.

Running backs Jeff Demps, Mike Gillislee and Emmanuel Moody are banged up. So are offensive linemen Xavier Nixon and Jon Halapio. And quarterback John Brantley has played with bruised ribs, a sore shoulder and a sprained thumb on his throwing hand.

But the offensive woes have been a problem all season, even when those guys were healthy.

The Gators rank 10th in the league in rushing, eighth in passing and ninth in scoring. They are last in yards per play (5.0), and have twice as many negative plays (58) as touchdowns (26).

The result is Florida's first three-game losing streak since the end of the 1999 season. The Gators managed just two field goals at Alabama, put together two decent drives against LSU and scored a lone touchdown against Mississippi State.

"I don't think anyone wants to lose three in a row," Brantley said. "We're facing some challenges, but we're really going to be able to rise from it. We're sticking together. That's the biggest thing we want to see. We're just going to keep getting better. It's going to turn around."

With more practice, right?

"You practice like you play," center Mike Pouncey said. "It's something that we've been trying to key on this last week, executing a lot better than we've had and finishing. If you practice at half speed, that's how you're going to play. Obviously, we've got to get better in practice."

Meyer partly blamed his revamped coaching staff -- he had to hire four new assistants following the Sugar Bowl -- for practice inefficiency and said those issues were carrying over to games.

"Fundamentals don't improve for a lot of reasons," Meyer said. "No. 1 is you don't practice them at game speed. No. 2 that you're not taught very well. No. 3 is that the player is not good enough. No. 3 is not allowed around here. ... There's no trade or waiver wire. It is what it is, you got what you got, let's get them better and find out what they can do."

"We've obviously had some severe issues here the last three weeks that have been very damaging as far as the won-lost record," Meyer said. "The issue is not finding the blame, but it's finding a solution. That's what we're going to do this week."

Point Guard Duties

"At the end of the day, people want to talk about stats and the numbers. But the most important thing as a point guard, you control the tempo, you control the team. So can you get those guys together and win basketball games?"

-Brandon Jennings
Bucks Point Guard

Durant is changing the culture

Here is a Sports Illustrated article on OKC's Kevin Durant:

Kevin Durant bows his head, raises his hand, and a franchise circles him like a maypole: teammates, of course, but also coaches and trainers, the general manager and assistant general manager, the scouting coordinator and communications director, folks from the video room and the equipment room, guys from the Development League affiliate in Tulsa and undrafted free agents who won't even make it that far. They try to reach the 6'9" Durant's outstretched hand, but no one can, so they settle for the wrist or the elbow or the space around him. They are too tired to lift their arms for long. "One, two, three, family," Durant says, in a haggard breath. "Family," the group pants back, in unison. Then they walk together across the field, over the ditch and up the Hill for the last time.

The Hill, as it is known to the Thunder, is a misnomer. Central Oklahoma does not really have hills, but it does have floods, which require drainage basins the size of parking lots. Run up the side of a basin and you might as well be scaling a sand dune. Twice a week every September, when NBA teams are technically still on vacation, most of the Thunder meet early in the morning at the practice facility, pile into pickup trucks and roll into a brick subdivision alongside a creek in nearby Edmond, Okla. The basin that borders the creek has been covered with grass, lined with sycamore trees and turned into a neighborhood park. The smell of fertilizer hangs in the air. Residents walk their dogs and wonder if summer will ever give way to fall. They look down at their park and shrug at the sight of professional athletes racing each other 60 feet up steep inclines while tossing medicine balls in the sky. "They're just part of our backyard now," says Angela Vaughn, who lives in a house across from the park.

Durant was not supposed to run the Hill this year. Only 21, the silky small forward led the U.S. to its first gold medal in 16 years at the world championships in Turkey, took one day off and was back at the Oklahoma City practice facility before his bosses even knew he was in the country. When he woke on the final Wednesday before training camp—the last time the Thunder would head for the Hill—he only felt like shooting. "Then I thought about it for a minute, and I couldn't do that to my guys," Durant says. "It wouldn't have been fair to them." The Hill does not afford preferential treatment. Front-office executives drop their Blackberries, swap dress clothes for practice gear and run suicides. Entry-level assistants join them. When they are all sufficiently gassed, they head back to the pickup trucks, Durant sneaking a spot in a bed before coaches wisely point him to a passenger seat.

Brandon Roy wants to be a better leader

Tremendous article from Sports Illustrated on how Brandon Roy wants to increase his leadership role:

On the eve of training camp, the Trail Blazers watched film of themselves walking off the floor. They saw how they staggered out of the playoffs in the first round two Aprils ago in Houston, and again last spring against the Suns, as opposing players celebrated around them. Then they were forced to take in a montage of playoff moments that occurred in their absence: Doc Rivers pleading for defense in a timeout, Phil Jackson asking for a stop in a huddle, Steve Nash directing, Kobe Bryant instructing, Kevin Garnett imploring. As Portland guard Brandon Roy listened to each of those renowned leaders, all he could hear were words he never said.

"I kept asking myself, What is the difference between those teams that made the conference finals and ours?" Roy says. "It's not talent. We had plenty of talent. It comes down to leadership. They had better leaders." Roy is the Blazers' best player, their top scorer, the face of their franchise. "But I was also the kind of guy who would leave work at work," he says. "Kobe is the kind of guy who is always thinking, What more can I do to help my team?"

Roy requested that the team arrange a meeting for him this summer with a sports psychologist, and in their first session the psychologist asked, "What do you want?"

"I want a championship," Roy answered.

"Do your teammates know that? Can they sense it?"

"They know I want to win. I don't know if they can sense it."

"They have to," the psychologist said. "Every day, they have to see how much you want it." Roy spoke with the psychologist for 90 minutes, and since then the psychologist has flown to Portland twice a month to see him.

"I thought I was a positive person before, but I realized I actually wasn't that positive," Roy says. "I'd walk past a teammate, and if he'd be down, I would keep going. A leader has to do more." Roy—who at 26 is entering his fifth season in the league—prefers not to identify the psychologist, but he makes it clear how counseling has affected him. He called trainers over the summer to check on the health of ailing teammates. He warned family members that he would be spending more time at the practice facility this season. He asked coaches to treat him like a rookie during camp. And he came up with a plan to integrate injured players into the practice schedule.

Last season Portland had 13 players combine to miss 311 games—even coach Nate McMillan ruptured his Achilles tendon while filling in during a workout—and many wound up commuting between their homes and hospitals. "This team used to be so close, we sometimes looked better than we were," Roy says. "But with all the injuries, guys got separated, divided, worrying about their own situations. We have to rebuild the brotherhood." Roy wants every injured player to stretch with the rest of the team before practice, go off to rehab and come back to join the huddle at the end.

Cliff Lee's Mindset

Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee struck out 13 Yankee hitters over 8 innings Monday night to give Texas a 2-1 series advantage. This quote sums up Lee's maturity and mindset. Most people would be satisfied with their performance and get 'fat' on their accomplishments, not Lee:

"I don't really look too far in the past or too far in the future," Lee said Monday night. "I look at what I can do today to prepare for tomorrow, and so forth. Most of the time, it's just to go out and have fun and execute pitches."

Jeter on Brady

Derek Jeter speaking on what he thinks of Tom Brady:

"I think of a winner, a champion....The [Super Bowl] that stands out the most is the first one he won [2001 versus St. Louis], leading the team down the field when time was running out. You could just see in his face that he remained calm. As a teammate, if you're looking at the leader and he's calm, it rubs off on everyone."

Jeter on Brady staying in the elite class of NFL QB's:

"The only way you can maintain a certain level of play is you can never be satisfied with what you've done. You have to look forward to the next challenge. That's what he's done."

Brady on Mental Toughness

"There's a sign in the locker room about 'mental toughness'. It's doing what you've got to do for the team. That's what we did today and I think it's something we can build on."

-Tom Brady after the Patriots came back down 10 in the 4th quarter to beat Baltimore 23-20 in OT.

Buzz Williams on Toughness

Good article in the Milwaukee newspaper this weekend on Marquette head coach Buzz Williams and his emphasis on building a 'tough' basketball team:

What does toughness mean to Buzz Williams and how does he measure it?

"It is difficult to quantify. When you have 15 players on a team, four or five coaches on a team, how do you quantify in a distinct way what Marquette toughness is?

"One of the things we used last year was we don't want to be just game-tough. We want to be road-team tough. We don't just want to be TV tough, we want to be everyday tough. It is a daily possession-by-possession, minute-by-minute goal of our program, of our team."

Williams bolted throught a catalog of specific basketball aspects of toughness.

"We do want to sprint to screens. We do want to sprint off the screen. We do want to pop our feet when we set a screen. When the shot goes up, we want to take up space, whether we are on offense or defense. Everything we do is battle for space. We never want to give teams space."

Williams started signing a line from a Graham Nash song, "Teach Your Children," performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young- "You, who are on the road/must have a code that you can live by."

His point: "That code is what toughness is"

Toughness for Williams is not merely a function of defense.

"Guys who are tough when they penetrate offensively, their eyes are always on the rim. Their eyes are not on the help side. You have to be tough enough to initiate offense in the channel in a half-court possession. If the pressure applied by the defense is making you go east and west, then you are not tough enough to do what you need to do. We are going north and south.

"It does apply on both sides of the ball, but more importantly it applies to the culture in which we work. It is in practice, in the weight room, in the film session, everywhere, no matter if a ball is included or not."

Boston Celtics Culture

Here are some notes that Coach Steve Smiley set out from this year's Pump Brothers Clinic:

Premiums in Boston Celtics:
1.) Talent
2.) Character
3.) Work ethic
4.) Discipline ourselves to be disciplined
5.) Competitive drive (motor)
6.) Focus

Culture- 7 day a week, 24 hour a day thing

Three Core Covenants
1.) Winning (success)
2.) Personal sacrifice
3.) Accountability to yourself and your team
-Once these are defined, communicated, and understood, then move on to standards.

Standards
1.) Professionalism
2.) No personal agendas
3.) Professional/respectful communication
4.) Thin of "now only"- this team, this year
a. We will commit to making sure everything we do is for the betterment of this team
b. Personal situations will take a backseat to team commitment
5.) One way- commit to the teaching and the system that we have, trusting the coaching, holding ourselves accountable to doing it the Celtic way.
6.) Efficient team
7.) Team of execution
8.) Never have a bad practice
9.) Responsibility
10.) Trust
11.) No excuses

Carroll rings bell 184 times from line

Here is an article in the Charlotte Observer about Bobcats shooting guard Matt Carroll making 184 free throws in a row. Click on the link above to read the entire article. Here is a good excerpt from Carroll about having a routine:

"Shoot as many as you can; the more you shoot, the better you become, plain and simple. You've got to get a routine, no matter what it is. Everyone has a different form when they shoot, a different technique. Whatever your routine, you've got to practice that routine. Don't shoot 50 shots 25 different ways."

Zito is not moping around

Good stuff on Giants pitcher and former all-star Barry Zito, who has been left off the 1st round playoff roster for their ALDS matchup with the Atlanta Braves:

Zito held his own this season. He went 7-4 with a 3.76 E.R.A before the All-Star break, then 2-10 with a 4.70 afterward.

In his final 12 games, he went 1-8 with a 6.14 E.R.A. The Giants started him last Saturday, when they would have clinched the NL West with a victory; he walked home two runs and lasted three innings.

Five days later, the playoffs started without him. Manager Bruce Bochy said that the first thing Zito did after being told he would not be on the playoff roster was to throw a bullpen session, so he could stay sharp if the Giants should need him, in the next round or in case of injury.

"He hasn't blamed anybody", said Giants president Larry Baer, "He hasn't offered sour grapes about anything. People respect that."

"I Had to Be All-In"

Good article from Peter King of Sports Illustrated on the resurgence of Jets RB Ladainian Tomlinson

For 13 weeks this offseason, LaDainian Tomlinson got his mojo back while working out in the pastures of New Jersey That's where Tomlinson spent about 13 weeks this spring, getting his strength and explosion back after nagging toe and high-ankle-sprain bothered him for the last two years.

"I lost a lot of strength in the past couple of years with those injuries, and when you lose strength, you lose explosion," Tomlinson said from a very happy team bus after running for over 100 yards in defeating the Bills 38-14. "So the only way I was going to get back to where I needed to be was to be all-in to the offseason program. I moved to New Jersey and was there the first day of the program and stayed all the way 'til the end in June. If I'd stayed on the West Coast (where is home was), I'd never have been able to build the kind of chemistry I've built with these guys right now.

Nash's Agenda is to make his teammates better

These are some quotes from Doc Rivers about how Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo can learn from Steve Nash. I believe this is from Coach Musselman:

"Every night Steve's agenda is to make his teammates better. And he does it every night. He does it some nights by scoring and passing. Other nights he decides to be a ball mover and does it. But that's what Nash does every single night. He always does that.

The on thing that Rondo can learn from Nash is Nash may not play well every night, but he doesn't have an off night. He has a great mental focus every single night. He does it every night. I've never seen him play in a game where he has no focus or low focus. Young players, in general, are up and down in that."

The Winners Manual

Here are some notes on Jim Tressel's "The Winners Manual"

Part I: The Game Plan

*Everyone in the program receives a winner's manual each year. He is always changing and adding things.

*Took his definition of success from John Wooden

*Two major goal areas: 1.) Purpose 2.) Goals

*Purposes include: personal/family, spiritual/moral, caring/giving

*Too many people define themselves by what they do and not who they are.

*The task for all coaches is to see the sport in the context of their entire lives. Develop purpose.

*There is a huge difference between inspiration and motivation.

*It is hard to get motivated if you don't have a purpose.

*Before you can become champions, you must master the things champions embody.

Kobe's Mentality

"I love competing, I love playing, I love working. I don't really need any outside motivation to get me going. I'm just wired that way. I'm here. I'm here to win, I'm here to focus and do my job. That's what I'm going to do."

-Kobe Bryant when asked if there would be a letdown after winning a championship.

Kevin Durant Video

Good video on the work ethic of OKC All Star Kevin Durant:

Durant Video

Billy Donovan "Coaching the Mindset"

Here are some notes from Billy Donovan about the mental part of athletics:

*A team can't play well if it is not in the right frame of mind.

*Examine body language as they come into practice.

*Live in the present: forget the past, play the next play to the best of your abilities.

*Never underestimate how important role players are.

*After 2006, wrote down all the things that could get in the way of the team being the best they could be- players being selfish, over-confident, not handling roles.

*Building chemistry isn't all on the coach, your best players have the best chance to improve chemistry.

*Leaders on the floor/ leaders in the locker room- often can be two different sets of people

*Approach/Avoidance goals:

- Approach goals: things the team wants to see accomplished
- Avoidance goals: things the team is hoping to avoid

*FOCUS ON APPROACH GOALS. Avoidance goals are too negative, makes teams play to not lose rather than to win.

*Watching film shouldn't be punishment. Be objective. You can be harder after a win, go easier after a loss.

Special Situations- Bob McKillop

Davidson's 7 Keys to the Game- used for everything they do:

1.) SEEING

-see the game

-makes you quicker

-see that you are denied and go back door

2.) TALKING

-families break down because they do not talk

-talk with your hands and your mouth

-ask for the ball with 10 fingers

3.) FLESH ON FLESH CONTACT

-set hard screens body to body

-box out physically

4.) BE DETAILED

-run to the ball as a teammate saves it

-do not dribble a loose ball. Pick it up and chin it

-sacrifice position for possession in the post

5.) ALWAYS BE BALANCED

-Defensively

-With the ball

6.) FINISH

-finish every play

-finish every shot you miss in practice

-the last part of the play needs to be the strongest

-finish your basket cut to the rim then space out to the 3 pt line

Mack Brown is a Winner

ESPN did a great all-access look into the Texas football team. There is lots of great stuff from Mack Brown and it is easy to root for a guy like him after reading this story:

All-Access Texas Football

More from Parcells

*You must be present in the training room to make sure it doesn't become a social club.

*It doesn't take athletic ability to hustle

*Parcells posted a memo in each player's locker saying "What will you do to help us win?"

*Each day in practice Parcells takes one game situation and teaches every player and coach who might be involved how to handle it.

*Losing may take a little from your credibility, but quitting will destroy it.

*On what sets disciplined people apart:
1. The capacity to get past distractions
2. The willingness to condition mind and body for the task at hand
3. The ability to keep your poise when those around you are losing theirs

"ERW Player" = a player who just eats, rides, and warms up (doesn't play)

*Excuses and alibis are the main enemies of accountability

*T-shirt slogans: "Who Says We Can't?" & "Take Another Step"

*A Parcells player says, "He gets everyone to think alike, from top to bottom. I think it's one of the biggest reasons we're winning. He gets everyone to come together for one common goal: to win."

*

Gill remains on even keel despite KU’s ups, downs

Good article in the Lincoln Journal Star about Kansas coach Turner Gill and his mindset of staying even keel. After losing to I-AA North Dakota State in game 1 and then beating #17 ranked Georgia Tech the following week, Gill is stressing that his players and coaches stay focused on what is ahead:

"We're trying to build over a whole football season. We're not letting one or two games, or three or four games, define who we are at this point in time. The main thing is we've got to get our guys to handle prosperity, and that's part of the process of the teaching of us as coaches to players, and players to players," Gill said.

One player who Gill stuck with was junior tight end Tim Biere. Against North Dakota State, the Omaha Westside graduate fumbled twice and dropped two passes. But Saturday, he made his first touchdown reception and played an important role in helping Sims hit the century mark.

"We just said one thing to him and then we moved on," Gill said in regard to Biere's opening-game performance. "We're trying to teach our staff and players that we're not going to spend a whole lot of time on negative things. We'll get it corrected and then we'll move on. That's what he did, and I'm proud of him."

Bill Parcells Motivational & Coaching Ideas

Here are some Bill Parcells notes that I recently went through:

Locker Room Signs

1. Individuals Win Games but Teams Win Titles

2. Blame Nobody. Expect Nothing. Do Something.

There are 3 fights that a team has to fight every day

1. Division from within (team chemistry, roles)

2. Competition (your opponents)

3. Outside influences (family, friends)

*Super Bowl XXV team's mantra: "Make the Other Team Quit"

*If they don't bite as pups they probably don't bite

*Losers assemble in small groups and complain abou the coaches and other players. Winners assemble as a TEAM and find ways to win.

*In a competitive atmosphere, to stay the same is to regress

*How to know when to back off conditioning in practice: pay attention to the two best conditioned athletes on the team. When they start showing fatigue, stop. If they're dragging, the rest of them are a lot worse.

*Because it's impossible to control every element of the locker room, he gets 5 or 6 players ("his guys") to speak his message for him and who are his eyes and ears and completely devoted to him.

All Access Villanova Wildcats (Low Video Quality But Good Stuff)

Staying Grounded

Michigan QB Denard Robinson is an early Heisman Trophy candidate due to has two outstanding performance early in the season. He is staying away from all the people that are hyping him up and trying to focus on how he can get better:

"Denard is probably the best person that can have all this," U-M center David Molk said. "He actually doesn't like it. He's not going to get taken (in.)"

NBA FIT: Chris Paul Workout

Sustained Success

"We have an opportunity to leave a legacy that's not just about one championship. It's how many can we win? Sustained success is the hardest thing in sports. It's human nature to relax and feel you've arrived. In reality, you have to sacrifice and dedicate yourself even more."

-Drew Brees

Communication on the Floor

Here is a piece on Team USA and their desire to communicate more on the floor. From NBA.com:

"In the last two ball games, you knew you were going to win and you wanted to really fast forward into the medal round," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after practice. "And what happens is you stop talking to one another on the court. And then you're not as animated. It's still a game of being connected, and you're connected primarily when you're talking to one another."

Communication on defense is always critical. But it takes on extra importance in international play, where the best teams run offenses with five players and the ball constantly in motion. A defense that does not talk will quickly be a defense that is lost.

"These teams are well-coached and they run all their sets all the way through," Kevin Durant said. "They have a lot of shooters that stretch the floor, so if you don't talk, you can get burned."

Defensive communication goes well beyond calling out screens. All five players must be talking and working together, so that the roll man is picked up quickly and the shooters aren't left alone. Rotations must be quick, and being a step slow will cost you two or three points.

Of course, the importance of communication is not limited to the defensive end of the floor. The U.S. offense has been stagnant at times, in part because they weren't talking as they brought the ball up the floor.

"We've been coming down, just dribbling the ball, and waiting to call a set instead of running some motion," Krzyzewski said, noting that early offense was another point of emphasis on Saturday.

Many of these American players aren't used to being vocal though. Along with a lack of international and big-game experience, that's one of the challenges of bringing a young team to the World Championship.

"It's different roles and situations that you're put in when you play USA Basketball," Tyson Chandler said. "So we've got to get guys out of their comfort zone."

"I know for myself, I was a little nervous when I first got here to talk it up," Durant admitted. "But as time goes on, these guys make it easier."

Krzyzewski puts a positive spin on the lack of communication, saying that it's also a result of players focused on doing the right thing individually.

"It's not meant like 'I don't want to talk,'" the coach said. "It's like 'I am talking, and I'm talking to myself. Here's what I'm supposed to be doing.' And we need to get them outside of themselves. And they will do that. They'll be a very enthusiastic, hungry group when we play Angola." (Who they beat by 56 points)

Being Open and Honest

Good article in the Lincoln Journal Star about the open communication between Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson and his quarterbacks. While the media and public did not know who was going to be the starting quarterback for the season opener last Saturday, all three QB's were well aware of where they stood in the pecking order:

Shawn Watson isn't big into secrets.

That might draw a sarcastic chuckle from any Nebraska fan who lost sleep over the past couple of weeks, wondering who'd be starting at quarterback. Secrecy practically drove an entire state nutty.

Of course, the answer is now clear. But before pointing to redshirted freshman Taylor Martinez early last week, Watson kept all three players involved in the race well-informed.

Openness, it seems, is one way to prevent disgruntled players.

"It'd be a lot worse if everything was secretive, and then all of the sudden, ‘Bam! Here's the starter.' But it wasn't like that," said sophomore Cody Green, the No. 2 quarterback.

"We knew (Martinez) was starting and the reasons why he was starting. It wasn't like, 'Oh, well, we're just going to pick Taylor.' We knew all the way through the things he did, the things we had done, the good and the bad. It wasn't such a big surprise to us."

Green admits, though, he wouldn't want Watson's job of keeping smiles on the faces of three
quarterbacks.

How does Watson hope to do it?

Good, old-fashioned honesty.

"I don't like closed-door meetings, because I think that fosters secrecy, and that's not the deal," Watson said. "We wanted these guys to know, because we knew from the onset we needed everybody. We needed all three to win. We wanted to create an environment where there was just up-front honesty."

That's why Watson never held individual meetings. If he was talking to one quarterback, he was talking to three quarterbacks. Everybody heard the same thing at the same time.

"We knew exactly where we stood, exactly what everybody else did," Green said. "He doesn't hold anything back in the meeting rooms. He'll tell us, 'Taylor, you did this; Cody, you did this; Zac (Lee), you did this.' We all knew where everybody stood, and that's all you can ask for."

That, and equal repetitions in practice. Everybody got those, too, Green said.

"You do with those chances as you want to do, and if you mess up, then heck, you mess up," Green said. "But you got a chance. That's all you can ask for as a competitor. Give us reps, give us chances to go out there and compete. And that's what he did."

That doesn't make everything easy, though. Especially not telling last year's starter of 12 games that he's now No. 3 on the depth chart.

How has Lee responded?

"I think he's answered like a champion. He's been awesome," Watson said. "Zac, he's been helpful, he's been a resource to the two younger guys. He's been a real champion with those guys. He's been great."