He'll do whatever it takes

VCU guard Joey Rodriguez's high school coach Reggie Kohn on his toughness:

“Whether it was a real game or just three-on-three, Joey was willing to dive headfirst into the bleachers. For a guy his size, you have to be tough. He has that willingness to fight for every possession and for every ball. His mind-set is ‘if there’s a loose ball, I’m getting it 100 percent of the time.’ Whether he has to push you into the bleachers or tackle someone. He’ll do whatever it takes.” -

Attitude adjustment sets Butler on another magical Final Four ride

Great article in the Chicago Tribune about how Butler overcame a tough losing streak during the season through a change in their overall attitude:

Butler's frustration mounted so high that Stevens sensed the need to do what good coaches do. He let his players take ownership of their team in a way necessary for it to grow. But before turning over the meeting that changed their season, Stevens told everyone he needed to improve too. That's when senior Zach Hahn actually shouted at his coach. "I had had enough at that point and yelled, with a few choice words, 'It's not about what you guys are doing, we've got to be better,' " Hahn said. "

Everybody agreed.

" Everybody agreed that a team built on attitude needed an adjustment and that the mid-major powerhouse had developed a major ego problem.


"We kind of got the big head a little bit," Mack said. "We had to get people back to doing things we'd been doing."

Butler hasn't lost since.

"Our whole thing when you come to Butler is it's not about you," guard Ronald Nored said. "The focus is sacrificing everything for your teammates, your school and each other."

Butler Way isn't just an access road in front of some academic buildings. It's the aw-shucks, almost corny method Stevens has used to attract fundamentally sound players and build a program special enough to be the first non-power-conference school to reach back-to-back Final Fours since UNLV in 1990-91.

"It's not brain surgery," Stevens said. "You can buy a book, you can read about it. People know what the critical components of success are. Everybody in every business and every industry talks about values, mission and vision. The key is holding to them."

The line at the souvenir store inside Hinkle Fieldhouse snaked out the door. One older couple made sure to remind me that the Milan High team immortalized in "Hoosiers" lost in the 1953 Final Four the year before winning the state title. That's the script they see their Bulldogs following this weekend. On the court, as players met the media, fans of all ages took pictures and sought autographs considered priceless in a state that loves God, corn and basketball — not necessarily in that order.

"One of our core principles in our locker room is humility," Stevens said. "If you don't have that, you're not here. You've got to respect everybody."

Somebody mentioned to Stevens that he has gained enough respect to be compared to Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams. It's deserved praise but dangerous too. Around here, they would take losing Stevens harder than losing to VCU.

"That's nice for people to say, but like I tell our team, 'You're only good if you're good today,'" Stevens said. "We also say, 'You're good if you play good. You're great if you do that every day.' "

It would be great for college basketball if Butler won it all playing by these rules, especially in a sport where so many coaches make their own rules.


When Stevens reflected on the pivotal Youngstown State loss, he remembered telling Howard that the three-game losing streak would be "the most valuable thing you took from Butler."

Stevens also recalled the cartoon his coach at DePauw University, Bill Fenlon, sent to encourage him through the rough patch. It's an image of a dejected superhero sitting alone under a palm tree on a deserted island. The thought bubble read, "Oh, yeah, I can fly."

"That was kind of the way we were," Stevens said. "We had the ability but we were down. We weren't far from being good. It's easy to get caught up in the negatives, but they didn't. That is the most rewarding thing about this team."

Manu Ginobili plays with reckless fire, energizes Spurs

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili is the heart and soul of the Spurs drive for another championship. Ginobili displayed his toughness in Game 3 against Dallas when he suffered a broken nose and returned to action five minutes later. Says Coach Popovich:

"Those are the players who you know are really special. Every team has to have some of those. We're fortunate Manu's on our team."

Popovich called him a great competitor after he scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3 with a broken nose. What makes his competitiveness different from other players?

"That's hard to articulate," Popovich says. "It's just something that shows in a variety of situations. They do things in certain moments of the game. ... Their understanding of what's going on and their drive to do what most players wouldn't even dream of makes them different.

"He's angular and almost looks helter-skelter, but it's helter-skelter with a purpose and a plan. He combines some incredible ball skills with great desire, great passion and an unbelievable will to win, and that's what makes him special."

Duke is Digging in on D

Good article from espn.com on how Duke looked themselves in the mirror and saw a fairly soft team and couldn't win in a grind-it-out type game. What did they do? They changed their mindsets and practice habits:

These Blue Devils like to play defense. And they're really pretty good at it. Good enough, in fact, to just turn the tide on Purdue, the stingiest team in a Big Ten that prefers to score points only on the solstice.

Duke out-down-and-dirtied the Boilermakers, 70-57, to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2004 -- a hiccup by most programs standards, but a Dust Bowl Era drought by Duke's.

Think that's a coincidence?

"Probably not,'' Brian Zoubek admitted. "The reason we're here is our defense.''

The most maligned top seed in this NCAA tournament now remains as just one of two No. 1s to survive to the Elite Eight. Maybe along the way they've even silenced a few critics.

"We're a lot better,'' Jon Scheyer said. "In the past a lot of people said, and it was accurate, that we would have a hard time because we were smaller and too much of an offensive team to win games, especially games like this one. This team now has a lot more toughness.''

The toughness comes in all forms: not blinking when they can't score, outrebounding Purdue by 21, and yes, setting screens that serve as brick walls, a la Zoubek on Chris Kramer.

But Duke has been clamping down on everybody this season. This isn't a flash in the pan cooked up for the tournament; this is a decisive change in scheme.

Mike Krzyzewski has been preaching defense at his teams forever. It just hasn't always sunk in. It didn't always have to. Duke long has been able to mask its defensive inefficiencies with its offensive prowess. This group looked in the mirror and saw a team that could score but wasn't necessarily prolific.

They looked around the locker room and instead of a sea of guards discovered a forest of big men.

More they saw the memories of their greatest achievements stretching further and further in the rearview mirror.

"Why the change? A lot of tough experiences, a lot of losses,'' Zoubek said. "Losses because of our defense. We knew we weren't tough enough on defense and we had to start doing all the little things, the dirty work to get better.''

So the Devils turned practices into rugby scrums. They put on their knee pads, thigh pads, mouth guards and dug deep for the tenacity they knew they were lacking. They played team defense and worked separately, big men at one end of the floor, guards at the other. Regardless of the setup, the attitude was the same -- 100 percent all in.

"We wouldn't have won this game last year, I don't think,'' Singler said. "Now, this is just who we are. We're a more complete team. We can find a way to win.''

The Grit of the Wildcats

Good article in the K.C. Star about Kansas St. guard Jacob Pullen and the toughness that he brings to his team. Here is a little from that article:

Toughness is winning as often as talent.

“I try to be that,” he says. “I don’t know if I want it more, or it’s the way I grew up, but I think our team is one of the toughest teams out there.”

Maybe you could see Jacob Pullen’s toughness all the way back at 5 years old, as he rode his bike around his family’s Chicago suburb. His Huffy had training wheels when his best friend rode by without. Unacceptable.

“Take ’em off,” he told his dad.

Maybe you could see it a few years later, when he started playing ball in the driveway with his older brothers. They had four and nine years on Jacob, and fouled the little guy mercilessly. Basketball became like hockey, Jacob being checked into the garage, pulling himself off the ground and coming back for more.

“He never cried,” says Jerome Pullen, Jacob’s father. “He’d come in, get a band-aid, a cup of Kool-Aid, and he’s right back out the door to play again.”

Maybe you could see Pullen’s toughness one specific afternoon in that driveway. He was 10, and just took another hard foul that put him on his back. A few plays later and Joe went up for a layup. This time, the older brother ended up on the ground, baby bro looking down with a sparkle.

“No fouls, right?” Jacob said.

Maybe you could see it as a sophomore in high school, when Pullen matched up against Marcus Green, a senior with a scholarship to Purdue. Green made a move to the hoop, got Pullen on his hip and knocked him over before hitting the shot.

Next play, Green got the ball in his hands and a mischievous look on his face. He tried the same move, but this time Pullen stood his ground, took the bump and sneaked in for the steal. Pullen raced down the court, hit the layup and looked at Green in time to see him smile.

“That was me being tough, and also me being smarter,” Pullen says. “That made him understand, ‘This kid’s for real, he can play.’ I felt like it was a big deal.”

Or maybe you saw it during Pullen’s freshman year at K-State. That was Frank Martin’s first year as head coach, and he wore Pullen out. Michael Beasley and Bill Walker were the stars, but Pullen seemed to get most of Martin’s attention during practice.

There were curse words, extra sprints, angry glares, enough that Charlotte Pullen sometimes wondered whether this was the best place for her son. But Jacob always told her, “He’s passionate, mom, just like me.” Pullen listened to what Martin said and ignored how he said it.
The surest sign that Pullen was getting it came against Kansas, when he scored 20 points as the Wildcats ended their 24-game home losing streak to the Jayhawks.

“Guys who aren’t tough and aren’t confident sometimes question themselves when you get on them,” says assistant coach Brad Underwood. “And if you’re like that, you can’t have games like that.”

This is the way of college basketball now. Talent comes and goes, usually quickly and to the NBA. Toughness sticks, and as proof, some point to K-State and West Virginia making the Sweet 16 and Kansas and Villanova falling short.

The Wildcats might be the poster team for this trend. Playing with the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft, they made the 2008 tournament as a No. 11 seed. Playing with more grit than flash, they’re now a top-10 team in the Sweet 16.

“There’s no question,” says Rex Walters, the coach at San Francisco often credited with bringing a hard edge to Kansas during his playing days. “You’re now seeing very talented players, talented teams, losing because there’s teams tougher and more together. You have to have talent, but you have to have toughness.”

Pullen brings that to K-State, and in bunches. In a lot of ways he is the personification of how Martin wants his teams to play: tenacious, gutsy, consistent.

Pullen is good enough to play professionally and may end up as K-State’s all-time leading scorer. But if you ask him what he’s most proud of from the BYU game, he’ll say his defense on star Jimmer Fredette without mentioning the 34 points.

When the Big 12 postseason awards came out, he told his dad about making the all-defense team without mentioning making the all-conference team.

Ask him what he wants people to see in his game, and he uses words like “play hard,” “competitor,” and “toughness.” People inside K-State’s basketball program use a lot of the same language to describe what they want to be.

It’s a good fit for the personality of the coaches there, and a good fit for what plays in college basketball. Much of the talk about what killed Kansas’ season dances around the edges of toughness, and so does much of the talk about what is boosting Kansas State into the nation’s elite.

Talk to five coaches, and you’ll get five different answers on how they judge toughness. One might say offensive rebounding, another free-throw attempts. One might say he wants guys willing to push back, another that he looks for those willing to dive at loose balls with their nose and not just their hands.

It’s impossible not to notice that Pullen shoots the most free throws on the team that leads the nation in attempts and that he always seems to be the first on the floor after loose balls.

Pullen’s kind of toughness is more important in college basketball than ever.

“One-hundred percent,” Underwood says. “It’s our culture. We’re creatures of our culture. When we go to AAU events, the kid who plays the hardest always stands out. Fifteen years ago, everybody played hard, and the kid who didn’t play hard stuck out.

“So now you’re looking for kids who are tough, who work, who can handle coaching. That’s an important part of what we do, to have guys who want to be coached and do things they haven’t been asked before.”

Jacob Pullen takes pride in all of this. He should. Moderately recruited out of high school, his hard work and K-State’s coaching have him positioned as one of the best players in school history.

His identity fits, too. He’s more hard-hat than sun visor, more work boots than dress shoes. He’s the guy who likes to draw the midcourt charge, or jump into defenders trying to draw the foul — physical consequences be damned.

Martin has said his guard is more banged up than people realize, but maybe that’s just the admission price for being the leader of K-State’s first Sweet 16 team in 22 years.

Intensity & Toughness Look Like...

Good article from TeamArete on what intensity and toughness look like on the basketball court.

Intensity Looks Like

*Beat the ball down the floor in transition and conversion.
*Rebound position every shot—back, space, pinch on free throw.
*Play defensive in a stance.
*Help and then recover.
*Help the helper.
*Close out with hands above shoulders.
*Dive on loose balls.
*Protect the ball when you have it.
*Rip through on pivots—strong with the ball.
*Chin rebounds.
*Meet every pass.
*Change direction and speed on cuts.
*Take a charge.
*Steal passes that are thrown too far.
*Sprinting from spot to spot in practice.
*Contest every shot.
*Ball Fakes.
*Deflect passes.

Toughness Looks Like

*Verbal response and applause for good plays (regardless of shirt color in practice).
*Encourage a teammate after an error or a missed shot that was a good shot.
*Help a teammate up off the ground.
*High fives and back slapping.
*Huddles on the floor.
*Never criticize a teammate.
*Bench stands when a player leaves the game.
*Acknowledge a player being substituted for in practice as he leaves the floor if you are also on the sideline.

Harriman Brings Toughness

From the World Herald on Bluejay forward Casey Harriman:

Harriman is lauded for this toughness and energy that he brings to his team. "Just the way I was brought up," Harriman said. "Work hard, play hard."

That simple philosophy has earned the 6-foot-5 junior his teammates' respect.

“He's one of the tougher guys we have,'' center Kenny Lawson said. “For being only 6-5, he's a guy who's not afraid to go get the ball on the offensive and defensive end. He takes charges. He brings toughness and energy to this team, and you rarely see Casey taking a play off.''

Regardless of where Carter plays, head coach Dana Altman said, Harriman's toughness is going to get him on the court.

“Toughness is measured in a lot of different ways. He is our most physical guy right now. He's taken over for Josh Dotzler, who was our most physical player a year ago. He's been doing a good job of putting a body on somebody and being physical.''

Tom Crean Notes

General Philosophy

1. Passion is critical to success

2. Be honest with yourself

3. Analyze what goes right as well as what goes wrong

4. Learn from the good and bad

Assistant Coaches

1. Have ones that want to be head coaches

2. Make your boss Coach of the Year

3. Everything you do leads you to be a head coach-make your boss become better (take problems away from him)

Teach Your Players

1. Unselfishness

2. Giving

3. To be a great teammate

4. Camaraderie

Championship Teams

1. Execute under pressure on both ends

2. Find a way to get the most easy basketbs (off reb, turnovers, fastbreaks)

-Everyone knows who takes the bad shots, who won't pass, etc... but most selfish act is not running back on defense every trip

-All practices test how you play through fatigue

-Crean feels that in the 40 minute college game: 35 + deflections a game + 42% field goal % = 85-90% win percentage

Tough vs. Dumb

From Coach Kevin Eastman:

In the Chicago – Boston series, both teams have very competitive players, staffs, and organizations. Both teams want to win so badly. Both teams are pretty evenly matched. So, without a doubt, emotion enters the equation. But it is important that it be intelligent and positive emotion. It is positive emotion that helps your team get over the hump. It can’t be bravado emotion that only registers with those who don’t understand the game anyway.

Both teams have to make sure that they make tough plays and not dumb plays. Tough plays are plays that are made of hustle and grit; often times they don’t even require skill. But they are definitely within the rules. Dumb plays are those made doing something that looks tough but gets your team nowhere and often times hurts your team. Players need to understand this if they are going to be champions. Championship teams make sure they protect their turf but they do so in an intelligent, disciplined, and tough way!

Truth be told, players today have to understand that in a run for a championship, often times the tough play is the one where you don’t retaliate to something done by the other team. Instead, you beat them on the scoreboard. The toughness comes in from the discipline that champions have to be bigger and smarter than the moment.

Team Attitude

"I think the guys on this team have been extremely tough and played through injuries," Pritchard said of the root of the success. "That's No. 1. No. 2 is the character of our team. Everybody in this locker room is a good guy. It's off the charts. Are there small things? You bet. But never has there been a big issue."

-Portland GM Kevin Pritchard on Portland's success

Villanova sends their message early and often

Article from espn.com on how Villanova set a physcial tone early in their game last Saturday against UCLA. There was nothing dirty or malicious in their intent, they just wanted to play hard.....


Twenty-six seconds in, Darren Collison drove to the hoop. Scottie Reynolds met him at the door, knocking Collison hard enough to bloody the UCLA guard's lip. Collison walked away with a smile. Reynolds stood his ground.

Three minutes in, Josh Shipp drove to the hoop. Dante Cunningham met him at the door, slamming Shipp to the ground. Shipp walked over to ask the official about the severity of the foul. Cunningham stood his ground.

Four minutes in, Corey Fisher went end line to end line. Nobody stopped him. The Villanova sophomore spun in the lane and directly to the hoop, sending a rainbow layup into the basket.

The score was 9-6, but Villanova's message to UCLA was abundantly clear: You're not on the West Coast anymore.

Maybe Scottie didn't score a lot of points, but that first play, that set the tone for us," Villanova coach Jay Wright said.

Honestly, if I'm out there and a team is that forceful from the jump, not even worrying about fouling, just going out there like it's a free-for-all, I'm like, 'Whoa, whoa,'" Cunningham said. "I think it would be hard to get your bearings back."

For Villanova, which will head to its fourth Sweet 16 in five years, there is more to this victory than just embarrassing UCLA. When Wright arrived eight years ago, he built his program on defense, offering up offensive freedom to his players in exchange for defensive intensity.

He established an Attitude Club, in which players are awarded for hard-nosed plays like taking charges and diving for loose balls. Players will tell you winning Attitude Club at the end of the season means even more than finishing as the team's highest scorer.

But in February, the Wildcats forgot who they were. Villanova still won, but the Cats fell a little too in love with their offense, scoring 94, 102 and 102 points in succession -- and worse, giving up 91, 85 and 84.

So when Wright gathered his team before this game, he challenged them to play "40 minutes of Villanova basketball," coachspeak for an entire game of withering defensive pressure.

"We had gotten away from that," associate head coach Pat Chambers said. "We were scoring all these points but that's not who we are. That's not who we want to be. I think we really recommitted ourselves before this game.

We wanted 40 minutes."

If you get to the foul line, you win games

Article in the N.Y. Times today on Connecticutt's ability to draw fouls and get to the free throw line. A philosophy for coaches is that they want their team to make more free throws than their opponents attempt. Not only are they getting to the foul line, but they are also keeping their opponents off the free throw line, committing the fewest amount of fouls out of any tournament team:

When it comes to fouls in college basketball, not all teams are created equal. And this season’s UConn team has been called for fewer fouls than any other (12.1 a game in the regular season) while getting fouled more than most (20.6).

That foul differential of 8.5 is far larger than any other team’s. It allowed UConn, the top seed in the West Region of the N.C.A.A. tournament, to shoot an average of 14.5 more free throws a game than its opponents.

“Every game we’re coming in, we’ve got 8 points built in the bank on foul shots,” Calhoun said in a phone interview on Sunday. UConn averaged nearly 10 more points a game on free throws, actually. “That’s unusual. But it’s a great advantage.”

Seven of the past eight national champions have had differentials of at least 2.6. (The exception was Kansas last year, at 1.1, which beat Memphis — 2.7 — in overtime.) Only 11 of this year’s tournament teams have differentials that high.

“Ours is, without question, a concerted effort to try to get fouls,” Calhoun said. “For example, if one of our kids tries to take the ball to the rim and avoids the foul by trying to scoop the ball, we would be all over him. We want him to initiate contact. Nine times out of 10, around the basket, if you’re trying to complete a shot, the call’s going to go against the defensive player.”

Glue Guys

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated comes out with an All-Glue Team every year in college basketball. These are the players that do all the litle things, many of which go unnoticed, that help their team succeed. This year he chose J.T. Tiller (pictured above-right) of Missouri as his captain of the team. I will be posting several of Davis' glue-guys over the next several days. These guys symbol all that is right with college basketball:

The Atlanta Celtics are one of the most glamorous programs on the amateur basketball circuit, which is why Mike Anderson, then UAB coach, watched them play many times during the summer of 2005. But instead of locking in on mega scorers, Anderson instead found his gaze drifting toward J.T. Tiller, a 6-foot-3 guard from Marietta, Ga., who was drawing scant interest from other high-major schools. "He was one of those kamikaze guys who did all the little things that add up to winning," Anderson recalls. "He played so hard and gave everything he had, and he had a huge impact on the game just from a defensive standpoint. Most guys don't get after it defensively during the summer, but this kid had no ego. He was all about winning."

Though Tiller is not technically Missouri's point guard, he is ranked in the top 10 of the Big 12 in both assists (3.6 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.33-to-1). Tiller is also arguably the league's best perimeter defender. He is ranked second in the conference in steals (1.89) and has shut down many of the Big 12's biggest scorers.

Every coach asks his players to do the subtle, unglamorous things that don't show up in a box score, but Tiller is one of those rare players who specializes in doing just that.

There are just so many intangibles he brings to the table," Anderson said. "He's the catalyst for a lot of things that take place, whether it's blocking a shot, deflecting a pass, getting loose balls, taking a charge, making a pass that leads to an assist. Then you throw in his character, he's a good student, he's become a good leader. He's just all about winning."

"I thought of myself as a defensive player coming out of high school. I thought that would be my way out," Tiller said. "Everybody else wanted to be the offensive threat, but I felt like for me to be seen I had to be the defensive guy stopping those offensive-minded people. I thought coaches would like that hard-nosed style."

As for the Tigers' postseason prospects, Tiller is trying not to look too far ahead, but he knows full well they will only go far if they stick together. That, he knows, is his responsibility. "I believe we can go far as long as we come with the right mindset," he said. "My role on this team is to be a leader on the court, be a high-energy guy and do whatever I have to do to propel this team to the next level. I'll take that role any day as long as we're winning."

'The Butler Way'

Good article this morning in the Chicago Tribune on the Butler men's basketball team, who despite being a 'mid-major' have made 8 NCAA tournament appearances in the last 12 years including 2 Sweet-Sixteen appearances.

So what is 'The Butler Way'? According to Matt Howard, who turned down several major schools such as Purdue, Indiana, and Xavier so he could be a part of Butler's program, it's all about accountability.

"It's just being accountable on every possession," said sophomore forward Matt Howard, voted Horizon League player of the year. "We feel like each guy has a job to do on every play, and you count on teammates to do that job every single time.

"The other thing is playing unselfish. You never let the 'me' get over the 'we.' It's so important, and that's a big part of what we do."

Says coach Brad Stevens:

"You just concentrate on recruiting the right people to represent you, not only on the court but in the classroom also," Stevens said. "There are values we try to adhere to, and you want people who are willing to think and work in terms of those values."

Championship caliber teams focus on the little things

Article in the Boston Hearld on how newly accquired Celtics guard Stephon Marbury is adjusting to playing on a championship-level team:

As Marbury spoke, he still was breathing hard even though he’d been on a diligent workout regimen all year. But this was, he was realizing, quite different. This was Celtics abuse.

“Oh yeah, but it’s good,” Marbury said, summoning the energy for a brief smile. “It was a hard practice today defensively. Defensively this team is amazing. They work at it. They get after it. That’s what it’s about. That’s why they won the championship.”

For now, the road is not smooth for someone anointed as a star/savior in all his other basketball stops.

“I know I’m going to have hiccups,” Marbury said. “Adjusting to these guys is difficult because they play at a high level. It’s not a level where I’m used to. I haven’t played at this level. I’ve never played at a championship level before, so for me, adjusting my style of play, adjusting how I prepare . . . it’s all the same as far as going in with a mind-set, but doing things the way they do things is (what’s) very important.

Paul Pierce offered a knowing nod.

“Even though it was just one day, I think he got a chance to see how we practice, how we get in here early, get our shots up, how we lift the weights - our preparation,” he said. “I think that’s key. A lot of teams, when you’re not winning, you know, the preparation and doing the little things isn’t there. But when you’re a championship-caliber team, you start looking at all the little things from the time you get in the gym to practice and the things you do after. I think him and Mikki (Moore, who is also newly acquired) are starting to see that.”

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

Making a Stand on the Road

Here is an article from the Kansas City Star about Kansas' win Wednesday night over Nebraska. It was a hard fought game with some chippy play coming from both sides. Nebraska guard Cookie Miller and Kansas guard Mario Little got into a jump ball situation that almost got out of hand with both players refusing to give in. Says Little:

“We aren’t gonna take nothing from nobody,” Collins said. “There’s going to be more games like this. Teams are going to come out and be overaggressive. We’re going to stand as one. We’re going to stand together.”

Little played 30 minutes — his previous high was 14 — and for the first time he understood what it meant to wear a Kansas jersey.

“Everybody’s got their own opinion about us,” Little said, “saying that we’re soft and all that. Guys are trying to out-tough us, trying to talk that talk, just trying to scare us. It’s just talk. We can get through it.

As the referees conferred over Little and Miller’s situation for several minutes, the Jayhawks huddled and regained their composure. The huddle felt different than it had minutes before.

“That just brought us closer as a team,” KU center Cole Aldrich said.

Coach Bill Self had an idea on how they pulled out a win. He has been saying that Little makes the Jayhawks more manly, and this was a man’s game. Little had four points, seven rebounds and two assists.

“Probably not his best game,” Self said, “but still I don’t think we win the game without him.”

Little wasn’t trying to prove anything by posturing to Miller. He was just being Mario.

“I’ve never played soft, I’ve never been soft,” Little said. “We just gotta install that in the rest of the guys.”

Defining Toughness: By Jay Bilas

In an earlier post this month I wrote about Jay Bilas' (pictured left) toughness list. This is an more expanded view from an article on ESPN.com. I don't think I've seen a better written definition of toughness:

I have heard the word "toughness" thrown around a lot lately. Reporters on television, radio and in print have opined about a team or player's "toughness" or quoted a coach talking about his team having to be "tougher" to win.

Then, in almost coordinated fashion, I would watch games and see player upon player thumping his chest after a routine play, angrily taunting an opponent after a blocked shot, getting into a shouting match with an opposing player, or squaring up nose-to-nose as if a fight might ensue. I see players jawing at each other, trying to "intimidate" other players. What a waste of time. That is nothing more than fake toughness, and it has no real value.

I often wonder: Do people really understand what coaches and experienced players mean when they emphasize "toughness" in basketball? Or is it just some buzzword that is thrown around haphazardly without clear definition or understanding? I thought it was the latter, and I wrote a short blog item about it a couple of weeks ago.

The response I received was overwhelming. Dozens of college basketball coaches called to tell me that they had put the article up in the locker room, put it in each player's locker, or had gone over it in detail with their teams.

Memphis coach John Calipari called to say that he had his players post the definition of toughness over their beds because he believed that true "toughness" was the one thing that his team needed to develop to reach its potential. I received messages from high school coaches who wanted to relay the definition of toughness to their players and wanted to talk about it further.
Well, I got the message that I should expound upon what I consider toughness to be. It may not be what you think.

Toughness is something I had to learn the hard way, and something I had no real idea of until I played college basketball. When I played my first game in college, I thought that toughness was physical and based on how much punishment I could dish out and how much I could take. I thought I was tough.

I found out pretty quickly that I wasn't, but I toughened up over time, and I got a pretty good understanding of toughness through playing in the ACC, for USA Basketball, in NBA training camps, and as a professional basketball player in Europe. I left my playing career a heck of a lot tougher than I started it, and my only regret is that I didn't truly "get it" much earlier in my playing career.

When I faced a tough opponent, I wasn't worried that I would get hit -- I was concerned that I would get sealed on ball reversal by a tough post man, or that I would get boxed out on every play, or that my assignment would sprint the floor on every possession and get something easy on me. The toughest guys I had to guard were the ones who made it tough on me.

Toughness has nothing to do with size, physical strength or athleticism. Some players may be born tough, but I believe that toughness is a skill, and it is a skill that can be developed and improved. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo always says, "Players play, but tough players win." He is right. Here are some of the ways true toughness is exhibited in basketball:

Set a good screen: The toughest players to guard are the players who set good screens. When you set a good screen, you are improving the chances for a teammate to get open, and you are greatly improving your chances of getting open. A good screen can force the defense to make a mistake. A lazy or bad screen is a waste of everyone's time and energy. To be a tough player, you need to be a "screener/scorer," a player who screens hard and immediately looks for an opportunity on offense. On the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team, Bob Knight made Michael Jordan set a screen before he could get a shot. If it is good enough for Jordan, arguably the toughest player ever, it is good enough for you.

Set up your cut: The toughest players make hard cuts, and set up their cuts. Basketball is about deception. Take your defender one way, and then plant the foot opposite of the direction you want to go and cut hard. A hard cut may get you a basket, but it may also get a teammate a basket. If you do not make a hard cut, you will not get anyone open. Setting up your cut, making the proper read of the defense, and making a hard cut require alertness, good conditioning and good concentration. Davidson's Stephen Curry is hardly a physical muscle-man, but he is a tough player because he is in constant motion, he changes speeds, he sets up his cuts, and he cuts hard. Curry is hard to guard, and he is a tough player.

Talk on defense: The toughest players talk on defense, and communicate with their teammates. It is almost impossible to talk on defense and not be in a stance, down and ready, with a vision of man and ball. If you talk, you let your teammates know you are there, and make them and yourself better defenders. It also lets your opponent know that you are fully engaged.

Jump to the ball: When on defense, the tough defenders move as the ball moves. The toughest players move on the flight of the ball, not when it gets to its destination. And the toughest players jump to the ball and take away the ball side of the cut. Tough players don't let cutters cut across their face -- they make the cutter change his path.

Don't get screened: No coach can give a player the proper footwork to get through every screen. Tough players have a sense of urgency not to get screened and to get through screens so that the cutter cannot catch the ball where he wants to. A tough player makes the catch difficult.
Get your hands up: A pass discouraged is just as good as a pass denied. Tough players play with their hands up to take away vision, get deflections and to discourage a pass in order to allow a teammate to cover up. Cutters and post players will get open, if only for a count. If your hands are up, you can keep the passer from seeing a momentary opening.

Play the ball, see your man: Most defenders see the ball and hug their man, because they are afraid to get beat. A tough defender plays the ball and sees his man. There is a difference.
Get on the floor: In my first road game as a freshman, there was a loose ball that I thought I could pick up and take the other way for an easy one. While I was bending over at the waist, one of my opponents dived on the floor and got possession of the ball. My coach was livid. We lost possession of the ball because I wasn't tough enough to get on the floor for it. I tried like hell never to get out-toughed like that again.

Close out under control: It is too easy to fly at a shooter and think you are a tough defender. A tough defender closes out under control, takes away a straight line drive and takes away the shot. A tough player has a sense of urgency but has the discipline to do it the right way.
Post your man, not a spot: Most post players just blindly run to the low block and get into a shoving match for a spot on the floor. The toughest post players are posting their defensive man. A tough post player is always open, and working to get the ball to the proper angle to get a post feed. Tough post players seal on ball reversal and call for the ball, and they continue to post strong even if their teammates miss them.

Run the floor: Tough players sprint the floor, which drags the defense and opens up things for others. Tough players run hard and get "easy" baskets, even though there is nothing easy about them. Easy baskets are hard to get. Tough players don't take tough shots -- they work hard to make them easy.

Play so hard, your coach has to take you out: I was a really hard worker in high school and college. But I worked and trained exceptionally hard to make playing easier. I was wrong. I once read that Bob Knight had criticized a player of his by saying, "You just want to be comfortable out there!" Well, that was me, and when I read that, it clicked with me. I needed to work to increase my capacity for work, not to make it easier to play. I needed to work in order to be more productive in my time on the floor. Tough players play so hard that their coaches have to take them out to get rest so they can put them back in. The toughest players don't pace themselves.

Get to your teammate first: When your teammate lays his body on the line to dive on the floor or take a charge, the tough players get to him first to help him back up. If your teammate misses a free throw, tough players get to him right away. Tough players are also great teammates.

Take responsibility for your teammates: Tough players expect a lot from their teammates, but they also put them first. When the bus leaves at 9 a.m., tough players not only get themselves there, but they also make sure their teammates are up and get there, too. Tough players take responsibility for others in addition to themselves. They make sure their teammates eat first, and they give credit to their teammates before taking it themselves.

Take a charge: Tough players are in a stance, playing the ball, and alert in coming over from the weak side and taking a charge. Tough players understand the difference between being in the right spot and being in the right spot with the intention of stopping somebody. Some players will look puzzled and say, "But I was in the right spot." Tough players know that they have to get to the right spot with the sense of urgency to stop someone.

Get in a stance: Tough players don't play straight up and down and put themselves in the position of having to get ready to get ready. Tough players are down in a stance on both ends of the floor, with feet staggered and ready to move. Tough players are the aggressor, and the aggressor is in a stance.

Finish plays: Tough players don't just get fouled, they get fouled and complete the play. They don't give up on a play or assume that a teammate will do it. A tough player plays through to the end of the play and works to finish every play.

Work on your pass: A tough player doesn't have his passes deflected. A tough player gets down, pivots, pass-fakes, and works to get the proper angle to pass away from the defense and deliver the ball.

Throw yourself into your team's defense: A tough player fills his tank on the defensive end, not on offense. A tough player is not deterred by a missed shot. A tough player values his performance first by how well he defended.

Take and give criticism the right way: Tough players can take criticism without feeling the need to answer back or give excuses. They are open to getting better and expect to be challenged and hear tough things. You will never again in your life have the opportunity you have now at the college level: a coaching staff that is totally and completely dedicated to making you and your team better. Tough players listen and are not afraid to say what other teammates may not want to hear, but need to hear.

Show strength in your body language: Tough players project confidence and security with their body language. They do not hang their heads, do not react negatively to a mistake of a teammate, and do not whine and complain to officials. Tough players project strength, and do not cause their teammates to worry about them. Tough players do their jobs, and their body language communicates that to their teammates -- and to their opponents.

Catch and face: Teams that press and trap are banking on the receiver's falling apart and making a mistake. When pressed, tough players set up their cuts, cut hard to an open area and present themselves as a receiver to the passer. Tough players catch, face the defense, and make the right read and play, and they do it with poise. Tough players do not just catch and dribble; they catch and face.

Don't get split: If you trap, a tough player gets shoulder-to-shoulder with his teammate and does not allow the handler to split the trap and gain an advantage on the back side of the trap.

Be alert: Tough players are not "cool." Tough players are alert and active, and tough players communicate with teammates so that they are alert, too. Tough players echo commands until everyone is on the same page. They understand the best teams play five as one. Tough players are alert in transition and get back to protect the basket and the 3-point line. Tough players don't just run back to find their man, they run back to stop the ball and protect the basket.

Concentrate, and encourage your teammates to concentrate: Concentration is a skill, and tough players work hard to concentrate on every play. Tough players go as hard as they can for as long as they can.

It's not your shot; it's our shot: Tough players don't take bad shots, and they certainly don't worry about getting "my" shots. Tough players work for good shots and understand that it is not "my" shot, it is "our" shot. Tough players celebrate when "we" score.

Box out and go to the glass every time: Tough players are disciplined enough to lay a body on someone. They make first contact and go after the ball. And tough players do it on every possession, not just when they feel like it. They understand defense is not complete until they secure the ball.

Take responsibility for your actions: Tough players make no excuses. They take responsibility for their actions. Take James Johnson for example. With 17 seconds to go in Wake's game against Duke on Wednesday, Jon Scheyer missed a 3-pointer that bounced right to Johnson. But instead of aggressively pursuing the ball with a sense of urgency, Johnson stood there and waited for the ball to come to him. It never did. Scheyer grabbed it, called a timeout and the Blue Devils hit a game-tying shot on a possession they never should've had. Going after the loose ball is toughness -- and Johnson didn't show it on that play. But what happened next? He re-focused, slipped a screen for the winning basket, and after the game -- when he could've been basking only in the glow of victory -- manned up to the mistake that could've cost his team the win. "That was my responsibility -- I should have had that," Johnson said of the goof. No excuses.

Shouldering the responsibility. That's toughness.

Look your coaches and teammates in the eye: Tough players never drop their heads. They always look coaches and teammates in the eye, because if they are talking, it is important to them and to you.

Move on to the next play: Tough players don't waste time celebrating a good play or lamenting a bad one. They understand that basketball is too fast a game to waste time and opportunities with celebratory gestures or angry reactions. Tough players move on to the next play. They know that the most important play in any game is the next one.

Be hard to play against, and easy to play with: Tough players make their teammates' jobs easier, and their opponents' jobs tougher.

Make every game important: Tough players don't categorize opponents and games. They know that if they are playing, it is important. Tough players understand that if they want to play in championship games, they must treat every game as a championship game.

Make getting better every day your goal: Tough players come to work every day to get better, and keep their horizons short. They meet victory and defeat the same way: They get up the next day and go to work to be better than they were the day before. Tough players hate losing but are not shaken or deterred by a loss. Tough players enjoy winning but are never satisfied. For tough players, a championship or a trophy is not a goal; it is a destination. The goal is to get better every day.

When I was playing, the players I respected most were not the best or most talented players. The players I respected most were the toughest players. I don't remember anything about the players who talked a good game or blocked a shot and acted like a fool. I remember the players who were tough to play against.

Anybody can talk. Not anybody can be tough.

Tough teams work close to the rim

"You must collapse the defense (post entry, penetration, offensive rebounding) versus good teams. You can't win just by shooting three's. Those that play closest to the rim, win games.

-Mike Dunlap

Defense Wrests

No longer intent on just scoring, Gonzaga is dialing in on D—and better equipped for a deep run in March:

Good article from Sports Illustrated on Gonzaga's willingness to get it done on the defensive end this year, which has not happened in quite a while:

FORMER GONZAGA All-America Adam Morrison, who led the nation in scoring in 2005--06, used to wear a T-shirt that his coach, Mark Few, wasn't crazy about. It read IF IT WASN'T FOR OFFENSE I'D PLAY DEFENSE. Like many jokes, it contained an element of bitter truth.
The Zags went 29--4 that season and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. They were a scoring juggernaut, ranking first in the nation in offensive efficiency (1.15), a measure of points scored per possession that stats guru Ken Pomeroy calls the best indicator of offensive success. But that team also ranked 223rd in defensive efficiency (1.04), which may help explain its third-round loss to UCLA. This season Gonzaga is again riding high—it was 6--0 at week's end and ranked No. 4 in the latest AP poll—but with an altered identity.

The Zags' goal every year is to allow fewer than 0.90 points per defensive possession. "We've never been below that in the past 10 years," says Jerry Krause, the Zags' 71-year-old director of basketball operations and resident efficiency charter. (He's not related to the former Chicago Bulls G.M. of the same name.) The goal is not an arbitrary benchmark. Since Pomeroy began tracking efficiency in 2004, every national champion's defense has been sub-0.90. Against Indiana last Saturday the Zags allowed just 0.78 points per possession in a 70--54 win, and on the season—which already includes wins over Oklahoma State, Maryland and Tennessee—they were averaging 0.82, eighth best in the nation, while the offense was ranked 63rd, at 1.08.

How did this sea change occur? Gonzaga now overwhelms opponents with an oversized lineup, which features 6'8" senior guard Micah Downs, a long-armed stopper on the perimeter ("I feel good when he's on somebody, because he can really move his feet," Few says), and 6'11" sophomore forward Austin Daye, an eraser in the paint. ("He has a ridiculous amount of blocks [15] for someone who [only] jumps three inches off the ground," says 6'5" guard Steven Gray, the Zags' valuable sixth man.)

Everyone contributes to the lockdown D, though. Senior point guard Jeremy Pargo and freshman backup Demetri Goodson extend the pressure on opposing ballhandlers, and 6'11", 260-pound center Josh Heytvelt anchors the middle. "We don't have a weak defender out there," says assistant coach Leon Rice.

The Zags keep the heat on by using a nine-man rotation and a variety of defenses, which include man-to-man, a 2--3 matchup zone and a multitude of presses. Together they've held opponents to just 34.4% shooting, fifth best in the country.

Heytvelt, a redshirt senior who arrived in 2004, said the old Zags "liked offense too much." They also haven't made it past the Sweet 16 since 1999. The new Zags are better equipped for tournament play, and their confidence was evident during a tight battle with Oklahoma State on Thanksgiving Day. As the Cowboys hit a barrage of threes to keep the game close, Krause leaned over and told Few, "Hang in there. We're going to win it with our defense."