Michigan St. Is Starting To Get It At The Right Time

Michigan State is coming together at the right time after beating Maryland yesterday on a buzzer beater by backup point guard Korie Lucious. Coach Tom Izzo always seems to get his teams to play together and to take ownership of their team at the right time of the year. After a season of ups and downs and players not playing up to potential, the Spartans are starting to understand what Izzo has been urging all year long. This is from the Detroit Free Press:

Attached to the Michigan State locker room at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena is a small room with cement block walls and a black table against the far wall.

At halftime of the Spartans second-round game against Maryland on Sunday, point guard Kalin Lucas sat on that table, his left foot wrapped in ice. He had been told moments earlier that his Achilles tendon was likely torn, and tears rolled down his face.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo would later say that what happened next was one of his "prouder moments" as a coach. One by one, Lucas' teammates lined up to enter that small room. Among them was Korie Lucious, the 5-foot-11, sophomore guard who would become the team's primary ball-handler and director with Lucas out. He hugged Lucas and repeated what many of the Spartans had told the fallen guard: "I got your back. All us here got your back."

A half of basketball later, Lucious was on his back on the court, his teammates and even Sparty, the school's faux-muscled mascot, piled on top of him. Lucious' three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Spartans an 85-83 victory and the school's ninth trip to the Sweet 16 in the last 13 years. But, as Izzo and his players would say later, the team won not because of a single shot, but rather because all the players finally believed what they said to Lucas at halftime.

"It's no secret that if you put us in this situation three weeks ago, we wouldn't have won this game," said forward Draymond Green, whose three-pointer with 20 seconds left was part of a dramatic finish that included four baskets in the final 35 seconds, including two brave drives by Maryland's Greivis Vasquez, all of which could have been game-winners. "It was a matter of us becoming closer as teammates and better teammates to each other. With us doing that you can pull off games like this."

Any discord was buried deep in delirium, and why shouldn't it be?

College basketball remains the realm of the juvenescent, where teambuilding and maturity are not just catchwords. Every team, every kid is a work in progress, even one coached by Izzo, with his long history of driving the Spartans deep into the Dance.

"I don't wan to get too dramatic -- it is the [second round] of the NCAA tournament -- but where this win really ranks high is me having been telling this team a little bit about why you have got to be a better teammate and why you have togetherness," Izzo said.

Summers, the talented but at times undisciplined junior guard, scored 26 points, including 6-of-7 on three-pointers, but his finest moment came when he approached Izzo postgame. "I still got a long ways to go, Coach," he said, and his coach smiled.

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In reading an additional article on Sunday in the Detroit Free Press, Summers actually requested a one on one meeting with the coaching staff to clear his mind. Summers has been in Coach Izzo's 'doghouse' all year for not giving a full concentrated effort this year. Even Summers and his teammates admit he has not been there mentally for much of the season. Here is the a little from the article:

"When a player initiates it, it's a big difference," assistant coach Mark Montgomery said. "Durrell wanted to get some things off his chest, off his mind. We sat down and talked about it. He wants to contribute. He knows he is more valuable on the court. His focus -- you could hear it in his voice. You can see it in his body language."

Montgomery said Summers has been a different player since, in "practices, meetings, walk-throughs." He did not have a great game against New Mexico State, missing 10 of 15 shots after a hot start. But as Montgomery said, "he was taking the ball aggressive to the basket, trying to draw contact. He acknowledged coaching. He acknowledged what Coach Izzo was saying. When your head is clear, you hear and think clearly."

Summers said his only real request of the coaches was to "just keep coaching me the way they have," which was like asking a rattlesnake to bite the exact same spot. Summers has not been a very coachable player this season. And maybe that's why he called the meeting: He wanted Izzo to know he still wanted to be coached.

Collins’ four years at KU have seen huge growth and change

This article will make you a huge fan of Sherron Collins. Great stuff about leadership and what it takes to be a great teammate. From the Kansas City Star:

OKLAHOMA CITY Several times this season, Sherron Collins has had to tell the Kansas Jayhawks what they didn’t want to hear.

They were winning lots of games, but Collins didn’t like the way they were winning. Teams that couldn’t sniff their talent level were hanging around for too long in games at Allen Fieldhouse. Collins became fond of saying the Jayhawks didn’t have a killer instinct, which felt personal, because everything about this KU team feels personal to Collins.

During a couple of film sessions along the way, Collins, Kansas’ lone senior, would speak up.

“Hey,” Collins would say, “just listen to Coach. He knows what he’s doing, and we’re gonna get better.”

KU staff members could only nod their heads and thank Collins for making their jobs way easier.

“That’s been big,” says Brett Ballard, KU’s director of basketball operations. “As soon as you do that, you’re opening yourself up to getting killed in the locker room for siding with the coach. That means a lot to a coach when your best player believes in what you’re doing.”

Collins believes because he has experienced how Bill Self’s way can work for him. Because Collins openly trusts Self and the Jayhawks trust Collins, they can more easily trust Self, too. It is a trickle-down effect that helps to explain why Collins, despite his scoring average decreasing from 18.9 last season to 15.6 this season, was chosen a first-team All-American by the United States Basketball Writers Association on Monday.

There is a special brand of charisma living in Collins that fans can see only in those very public moments when he galvanizes the Jayhawks to get pumped up with him and then punishes an opponent with a back-breaking run. But on the inside, the KU family feels Collins’ gravitational pull every day.

“He can change the weather with his attitude,” says Barry Hinson, the program’s director of external affairs. “When the weather gets stormy or when the game gets stormy, our guys drift to Sherron. I don’t think I’ve been around a player in all my years of coaching that absolutely not only accepts it but wants the moment of adversity.”

At some point, Self told the player that Collins had this power, this magnetism.

“Coach always says I can change the mood of a room,” Collins says. “I got enough to bring the room up, and I got enough to bring it down. That’s why, in practice, I can’t have a bad day. If I’m not feeling good, I still gotta be up and energized and smiling and talking.”

Over his four years, Collins has developed the ability to make those around him feel comfortable. It has been a process. He needed to feel comfortable in Lawrence first, and that took some time. But now, before each practice and game, the kid from the Chicago projects will bring his teammates into the huddle and utter a simple phrase that shows how his outlook on life has changed.

“Let’s have a good day,” he’ll say.
• • •

Anthony Longstreet knew Sherron Collins had it in him. As Collins’ high school coach at Crane High in Chicago, he’d seen the way five seniors fell in line behind Collins when he was only a freshman.

“When he came in the game, magical things happened,” Longstreet says. “Those guys, they connected, they gravitated. He made it happen, and I knew then, this kid is different.”
For Longstreet, Collins’ recruiting process wasn’t about finding a place where his pupil could star. He wanted Collins in a place that would nurture, nourish and eventually unlock this quality that made him different.

Longstreet chose Self, KU and Lawrence, the quintessential college environment, and told Self everything he would need to know about what was inside Collins, the good and the bad. Socially, the kid could be flashing that heartwarming smile and telling jokes one second and become quiet and withdrawn the next. In school, he’d do just enough to get by, but, unlike many kids from his neighborhood, he always managed to get by.

Longstreet also got in touch with Roger Morningstar, a former KU player whose son, Brady, would be rooming with Collins their freshman year. Roger heard about the life Collins knew in the Lathrop Homes project, and while Collins seemed like a well-meaning kid, Roger needed to be convinced.

“You just want to make sure,” Roger says.

Roger remembers the first time Collins came over to his house with Brady. The boys walked in, and the family’s 65-pound dog, a boxer named Mackie, immediately charged Collins.

“Sherron about freaked,” Roger says. “He stops dead in his tracks, runs back into the garage, slams the door and says, ‘Hey man, I can’t deal with dogs.’ ”

Apparently, Collins had been bitten by a Rottweiler as a child and had been afraid of dogs ever since. Linda Morningstar, Roger’s wife, tried to assure Collins.

“Well, you’re going to have to start dealing with dogs,” she said. “We don’t tie the dog up. The dog is a part of the family, and this dog doesn’t hurt anybody.”

Collins wasn’t going to give up the chance to hang out and eat Linda’s cooking at the Morningstars’ house. It was all so new and fun.

So for the next week and a half, Linda put Sherron through dog lessons. Mackie couldn’t be the boss; Sherron had to be the boss. Linda showed him the treat jar and made him stand still while Mackie sniffed his hand. When Mackie didn’t bite, Sherron petted him. Before long, Sherron was giving orders. Sit, Mackie. Shake, Mackie. Roll over, Mackie.

On campus, it wasn’t quite as easy for Self and company to break through.

Collins was not planning on being at KU for four years, and he felt he should have been playing more as a freshman. He seemed like a bright kid, but he didn’t think academics would be as important as basketball.

But Self had already passed Longstreet’s message along to everyone, including Scott Ward, who is in charge of academic advising for the program.

“Coach saw it really early, saw those characteristics,” Ward says.

Collins showed what he could do as a basketball player, becoming one of the most explosive players in the Big 12 as a freshman. But he didn’t let many people in on a personal level. When Collins was a sophomore and center Cole Aldrich was a freshman, Collins seemed downright unapproachable.

“I was scared of Sherron,” Aldrich says. “I was. I would go into the locker room, and he would say something to me, and I was nervous to say something back. … He was just a hard-nosed kid who tried to bully you a little bit.”

Collins bullied his way through an injury-ridden sophomore year and was a key part of two of the most memorable plays in KU’s national title-game victory over Memphis — the steal and three-pointer that cut Memphis’ lead to four and the pass that gave Mario Chalmers the chance to make the three that forced overtime.

Collins experienced adulation like never before. It came from every direction, and, since he was going to need knee surgery in the offseason, he decided he’d come back for another season. That meant more school, but Collins was OK with that.

“His freshman year and maybe a little bit into his sophomore year, there was just a lot going after him,” Ward says. “To keep his head above water, he had to worry about himself. There was a turning point leading into his junior year where he would always say, ‘I appreciate your help. I appreciate you.’ He really had that sensitive side where he does care.”

After two years, Collins was ready to open up, to start giving instead of taking.

“They’ve engulfed him with nothing but love,” Longstreet says. “Not to say he didn’t get love here, but it was the missing element in his life that could bring out that attribute.”
• • •

Junior year, Sherron Collins had no choice but to lead, and his teammates had no choice but to follow. He was the only returning player who had significant experience, and he was glad to bring along the rest of them. He called them his “young fellas.”

It was easy to lead when he was being asked to score as much as possible. He put the Jayhawks on his back over and over on the way to the outright Big 12 regular-season title (they didn’t even win the thing outright in 2008).

Collins’ big moment came on the road at Oklahoma, which was favored to win the league. He scored 26 points and nailed a couple of NBA-range three-pointers. His teammates started to get it.

“Every time we need something,” Hinson says, “he wants to be the answer. If he can’t be the answer, he’ll make somebody else the answer.”

That wasn’t so much the case last season as it would be this season. Collins came back for his senior year because he wanted his mom, Stacey Harris, to attend his Senior Night, and because he and Aldrich — the goofy kid from Minnesota who was once scared of him — had become close.

If Aldrich was staying put, so was Collins.

“When you got an All-American seven-footer that can go and be a lottery pick,” Collins says, “me coming back wouldn’t be a wrong decision.”

The Jayhawks returned their entire roster and added top NBA wing prospect Xavier Henry, the one piece they’d been missing. In the preseason, Self was hounded with questions. How could he find enough touches for everyone on the No. 1 team in the country?

Self never seemed as worried because he knew he had Collins on his side. During the first two months of the season, Collins had one 20-point game, letting Henry and emerging sophomore Marcus Morris get their bearings.

“A guy like Xavier respects the fact that if Sherron wanted to, he could average 25 a game, if that’s the style we wanted to play,” Ballard says. “Everybody respects the fact that Sherron wants to win more than everybody else. How can you not follow a guy like that?”

Collins exploded for 33 and 28 points in wins over Cornell and Baylor when the rest of the team was struggling. But, for most of Big 12 play, Collins’ outside shot was off, so he had to look out for others.

“Sherron’s very aware of what’s going on around him,” Ballard says. “He’s got an ability. He’s able to read people. He knows when they’re up or down. At times, in a huddle, he’ll suggest a play to get a guy a shot, like, ‘Hey, Xavier hasn’t gotten a shot in a while. Let’s do this.’ ”

Collins rarely stops looking out. He has various methods of keeping everyone happy. With his teammates, Collins will initiate horseplay and joking in the locker room. With his coaches and advisers, he’ll ask them how they’re doing instead of waiting for them to ask him like he would have four years ago.

“He’s always worried about you,” Hinson says.

How far has Collins come? Roger Morningstar is convinced. Roger can’t recall an exact moment when Collins sold him on his personal worth, but it happened around a year ago. Roger had watched Collins’ development as a father with his young son, Sherr’mari, how far he’d come in understanding the responsibility.

“Over time, you get to know a kid,” Roger says, “and Sherron’s like family to us. I’ve just seen it. I’m hard. I’m one of those guys, I want to see it and make sure it’s real. Sherron Collins has the ability to make it without basketball. He can communicate, he’s got a heart, he’s got feelings. Like any kid from that background, he just needs an opportunity.”

Now, it is easy for Roger to see why his son and the rest of the Jayhawks march to Collins’ drumbeat.

“Sherron became a believer,” Roger says. “When you really believe and you’re passionate about something and emotional about it, it’s real easy to convey that. People can read feelings, and I think the way Sherron leads is from the heart a lot of times. It’s the real thing.”

• • •

You can’t beat the real thing. That slogan has sold a lot of soft drinks, and Sherron Collins can only hope it’ll ring true for him during his final NCAA Tournament.

“If we don’t make the Final Four, it’d be devastating,” Collins says. “I think we should be there. I was a big part of the 2008 national championship team, but it’s even bigger now. It’ll mean more.”

A lot of people are rooting for Collins, of course. He has already won more games in a Kansas uniform than any other Jayhawk, and he could become one of a handful of KU players to play significant minutes on two national championship teams.

But to the people who have nudged Collins along to this point, his gang of loyal supporters, another NCAA title would only be gravy. The meat and potatoes of Collins’ story could be seen on Senior Night at Allen Fieldhouse, when the young man held 16,000 people captive with his presence and made them feel something.

“Put it this way,” Longstreet says, “if you had been around Sherron sophomore year of high school and left the country and then came back to Senior Night, knowing what you knew about him when he was a sophomore in high school, you would have thought it was somebody else.”

Collins’ speech had Brady Morningstar, who never cries, according to Roger, bawling on the fieldhouse floor. It had Ward feeling a sense of pride when Collins gushed to Self that everything he had promised had come true.

That promise belonged to Self and Longstreet. After Collins’ speech, Longstreet found him in a hallway, and the old friends embraced.

“This is the vision that I had for you, Sherron,” Longstreet told him. “Even when you didn’t see it, this is the vision I had for you.”

Players Coaching Themselves

Good article in the Detroit Free Press on Michigan St. forward Draymond Green. Green is one of head coach Tom Izzo's favorite players because of his willingness to take constructive criticism and be a coach on the floor to his teammates. Green, who is only a sophomore, was given the position of captain by Izzo because of his leadership qualities. Here is a little from the article:

Izzo loves this because he wants players coaching themselves as much as coaches coaching them. Following the Spartans' quarterfinal loss in the Big Ten tournament last week, Izzo sat back in his seat at the postgame postmortem unabashedly beaming at Green's uncompromising assessment of the Spartans' difficulties.

"I've said this a lot, but it's still true," Izzo said. "It's about ownership -- players taking charge and assuming responsibility for their own destiny. Any coach wants players who obsess about winning more than anything else, and Draymond is one of those guys."

Bill Self is One of the Best

Great article from Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star and cnnsi.com about Kansas Head Coach Bill Self. The article has some great stories on how Self got into coaching first as a graduate assistant under Larry Brown and then as an assistant coach at Oklahoma St. Terrific stories to read about:

Bill Self Article

Here are some good excerpts from the article that are good for players and coaches:

Self on Making Plays:

"To me, to be successful you need to respond to whatever the situation calls for. I tell our players that all the time. You win games by making plays. I know that's a cliche, but it's true. You don't win games with the best offense, because sometimes your shots don't fall. You don't win games with the best defense, because sometimes the other team just keeps making shots. You win games by making plays in that moment, responding to that exact challenge."

Here is a little on how Self communicates:

That's Bill Self too. He has an almost pathological need for there to be no misunderstandings. He cherishes confrontation. He demands clarity. He does not mind if his players dislike him -- that's part of the deal -- but he will be sure, damn sure, that they know exactly where they stand at him at all times. They WILL know. Self will gather them together in the locker room, and he will go around the room, and he will say to his players, plainly, directly: "You are too selfish with the ball ... And you don't trust your teammates enough ... And you try to take too much of the credit ... And you will slack off when you start feeling too good about yourself."

"That, to me, is a bit part of what coaching is about," he says. "I mean everybody does it differently. But for me, there shouldn't be any secrets. They have to know exactly what where they stand, what I think about them, what they have to do to become better players, what their strengths and weaknesses are. We have to be clear. If I hear a player say that they don't know where they stand with me, with our coaching staff, that would really bother me. Because I know how hard we work to make sure they know exactly what we think."

David Lighty: Glue Guy

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated recently came out with his 11th annual All-Glue team. Here is the description that Davis gives for a person that qualifies as a 'glue guy':

A Glue Guy is hard to define but easy to spot. You certainly won't pick him out by reading the stat sheet. He's the guy who sets screens, dives for loose balls and makes the extra pass. He embraces the chance to defend the opponent's best player and doesn't complain that he's not getting enough shots. He is a leader and a good teammate. He has an unusual combination of skills, like a big guy who can shoot or a guard who gets rebounds. And lest you think that tabbing someone a Glue Guy is damning him with faint praise, he also demonstrates at times that he could be a featured performer if called upon. Why does he suppress those abilities? Because that's what his team needs, and it's a Glue Guy's job to hold everything together.

Out of the 5 member 'glue team', Davis chose Ohio State's David Lighty as his captain. Lighty exemplifies everything that a good teamamtes stands for according to Davis:

During his first week of practice as an Ohio State freshman, David Lighty, a 6-foot-5 swingman from Cleveland, was so dominant in a full-court, zig-zag defensive drill that he nearly brought the exercise to a halt. "He was turning the guy over and over. The line of guys going next was all backed up," Ohio State coach Thad Matta recalls. Though it was early in Lighty's college career, Matta sensed the kid could be something special. "I told him right there, 'I've never seen anything like that. If you play your cards right, you could be the best defender who ever played at Ohio State.' " Matta says.

Lighty embraced Matta's challenge to be a great defender while applying a variety of skills to blend in at the offensive end. As a freshman, he played 32 minutes a game by doing a little bit of everything, averaging 9.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists. But it was on the defensive end that he made his mark, especially during the Buckeyes' run to the national championship game, when he showed he could blanket both bigger and smaller players. His signature performance came in the Final Four against Georgetown, when he held the Hoyas' 6-9 forward Jeff Green to nine points on five shots. "I still show clips of that game to teach our guys how to defend," Matta says.

Lighty missed all but seven games last season with a broken foot, but he has come back this season to lead Ohio State to a 24-7 regular-season record, a share of the Big Ten title and a chance at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. He is still not the featured player in Ohio State's offense -- we all know that is Evan Turner -- but he is excelling in all areas of the game, both tangible and intangible. For all of his varied and often unnoticed contributions, Lighty has been bestowed the ultimate honor for college basketball's unsung heroes: the captaincy of SI.com's 11th annual All-Glue team.

Lighty was called upon to produce more in January, after Turner went out with a back injury and Lighty had to assume many of Turner's point guard responsibilities. After his first outing, in which he had 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists in a loss at Butler, Matta said Lighty "literally played nine positions out there." During the six games when Turner was out, Lighty averaged 16.8 points (he scored 30 in a win over Cleveland State), 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Having proven the ability to score, many players would continue to seek those numbers even after Turner returned. But Lighty was happy to return to Gluedom, and the Buckeyes haven't lost a step.

"You can't be selfish and win games," Lighty says. "I guess a lot of players come out of high school and want to say it's all on me, it's my ball, but I tried to come in with the mindset to help my team win."

Lighty brings this winning attitude every day. He is the prototypical high-energy guy. Turner recalls a time when the Buckeyes were leaving their dorm for a pre-dawn workout, and while Turner was lying down in a hallway waiting to wake up, Lighty came bounding out of his room and lifted him off the floor. "He's always happy," Turner says. Buckeyes guard Jon Diebler calls Lighty a "loud guy" who "likes to scream and yell and have a good time," while Matta pays him the ultimate compliment by saying Lighty is "the best practice player I've ever had." Adds Matta, "You can't put a price on what this kid does for our team and our program."

Prior to this season, the one hole in Lighty's game was his three-point shooting. He averaged 32.7 percent from behind the arc as a freshman, and in his truncated sophomore season he made just 26.3 percent. Over the summer, Matta issued what sounded like a preposterous challenge: If Lighty could make better than 40 percent from three, the Buckeyes would have a chance to be a great team. Lighty spent countless hours hoisting shots in the offseason, and lo and behold he is shooting 41.5 percent in Big Ten games, which ranks sixth in the league. He is also again one of the top defenders in the conference -- he is ranked sixth in the conference in steals with 1.4 per game -- while averaging 12.4 points (on 49.1 percent shooting), 4.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists. When you're a Glue Guy, a little of everything can add up to a lot.

Badgers focus on ball tussles

Wisconsin has won 4 in a row and is playing its best basketball of the year heading into postseason play tomorrow with the start of the Big 10 Tourney. This is due to, as head coach Bo Ryan puts it, winning the skirmishes. In their win streak Wisconsin has outrebounded their opponent by 10 or more each game. Here is an excerpt from the Journal Sentinel out of Milwaukee:

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan stresses every day that his players must win what he refers to as skirmishes:
Win the constant battle for position near the basket. Keep your foe off the offensive glass. Out-hustle your opponent to loose balls, including long rebounds that are prevalent with teams that launch a plethora of perimeter shots.

"It's being more attentive and more alert," associate head coach Greg Gard said. "You can do the correct things to block out, but if you don't go hunt the ball down or just don't get it. . . .

"I think we've done a better job of that. They understand that is one of those things we can be good at that doesn't take talent. We need to make sure a large percentage of those (are) ours."

Marion's Breakout Game Helps Lead Dallas to 12th Straight Win

MINNEAPOLIS -- Just when Dallas needed it most, Shawn Marion returned to the high-scoring form that has been absent all season.

That's been the story of this remarkable run for the Mavericks.

Marion had a season-high 29 points and 14 rebounds and the Mavericks stretched the league's longest active winning streak to 12 straight games with a 125-112 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

"I've done that before," Marion said with a chuckle about his monster line. "That's easy."

What isn't so easy is the unselfishness he's shown this season. Marion has averaged at least 17 points a game seven times in his career, but he has taken a reduced role on offense this season in order to focus more on the defensive end. Marion entered the game averaging a modest 11.5 points a game and had a season high of 18 before Monday night's outburst.

"Every week I tell him how important he is to us and how much as a coach I appreciate what he's done this year in terms of changing his game around," coach Rick Carlisle said. "He's the guy that's made the biggest adjustment of any of the new guys that we've got and it's showing up in wins and losses."

On Monday, it was Marion's turn.

"I want to win," Marion said. "At the end of the day, you have to make sacrifices to win. ... Ultimately, I've done a lot of things in this league and I want to win a championship. I want to leave that as my legacy."

"It's been a true team," Carlisle said. "Somebody's down a little, somebody else picks him up. Guys are competitive. Guys have stuck together, cheering for each other in the games. When you get on a roll like this, those kinds of things have got to happen."

The Power of Unselfishness

From Boston assistant Kevin Eastman:

Two words that never seem to go together or work together are selfishness and winning. On the other hand, when we study the key characteristics of winning organizations we find that unselfishness is of paramount importance. It's a necessary ingredient that enhances other aspects of success in a team endeavor.

So why is unselfishness so important? What does it do to teams? It has been my experience with the Boston Celtics (and in particular, as a coach in our 2008 NBA World Championship run) that unselfishness alone was extremely important for us, but the ways this unselfish attitude created additional advantages for us was also very important to our success.

Below are some by-products of an unselfish approach:

• the sprit of our team was much greater

• the intensity of our play was much greater

• the willingness to move the ball created easier, high percentage shots for us

• it helped us plug holes in our defense; we covered for each other

• it created frustration in our opponents, as the power of the pass can never be underestimated

• it kept us juiced up for the next game (which is very important when you are playing over 100 games in a season); our guys wanted to come to work

• it gave us confidence knowing that we could survive a player's off night because the ball always found the open player (and therefore, the high percentage shot)

• it allowed us the feeling that one guy never had to carry the burden

• it gave us a sense that we could not be beaten because opponents had to beat all of us together -- not just one superstar on his own

• most of all, it gave us a feeling that we wanted to be out there on the floor every night and that we knew it was truly US against the opponent; we knew our backs were covered every minute of every game; simply put: we knew if we absorbed ourselves in the team that we would have a chance to succeed at the highest level!Is unselfishness important? Yes -- important enough that every champion has it as a vital part of its DNA!

The Process Is Important

"You don't just see teams turn it on once the playoffs start, the process is very important. It's like when you go to a boxing match. You don't just step out there and fight. You have to build up and practice by sparring. That's what the regular season is, you have to get ready."

-Paul Pierce

Finally healthy, Hill appreciates game now more than ever

Great story on 37 year old Grant Hill and his tremendous focus and work ethic. From cnnsi.com:

Another season is in progress. It should be his 16th. Grant Hill is sitting in another visiting locker room on another weeknight preparing himself for another game.

"We all have our routine," he said, as he detailed his checklist. "I come over to the arena early, get a little work done on the table with the trainer, Aaron Nelson. Go out and do my shooting routine. Come back in here and get some exercises. Get some heat packs on between 90 and 70 minutes before the game.

"At 60 [minutes], I put my shirt on. I eat my [energy] bar and I watch the game film and take in what they do and just get ready for the game."

He is a 37-year-old small forward for the Phoenix Suns, an old man excelling against younger, more explosive athletes. The wonder is that he does not appear fatigued. The details of the regimen do not bore him. On the contrary: He loves to arrange the entire day around the game that night.

"I usually come to the arena on the first bus," he said. "But if we're at home, a 7 p.m. game, I usually leave the house around 4:15 to try to get there about 4:45.

"It's the whole routine. The routine starts the moment you wake up. Come home from [the morning] shootaround. Eat. Sleep again. When I wake up from my nap, the first thing I do, I turn the heat up to 75 degrees. I turn on all the lights in the room. I don't know why I do it. I turn on all the lights and I open the curtains. I've been doing that as long as I can remember."

He is amazed to still be sitting here, to have another game waiting at the end of another day. Ten years ago, Hill suffered a broken left ankle that would require five operations to fix, including one in 2003 that almost killed him after an infection raised his temperature above 104 degrees. He missed 357 games over the next six years with Orlando, including the entire 2003-04 season. He was supposed to contend for championships with Tracy McGrady and qualify for entry into the Hall of Fame, but all of that receded behind the medical trauma and the pain.

Now, Hill is contributing 30.1 minutes per game and 11.5 points to a Phoenix rotation balanced with a half-dozen scorers in double figures. The Suns cannot win the championship -- small up front, porous defensively -- yet they are a game away from overtaking Utah for home-court advantage in the first round. He has fit in by expanding his range to the three-point line, which isn't easy for a star approaching the end of his career. Over six truncated seasons with Orlando, Hill attempted 40 threes and made nine of them. In three years with Phoenix, he has hit 83-for-236 (35.2 percent) from the three-point line.

"I haven't necessarily shot a lot of them during this season," he said, though he is converting a career-best 46.4 percent of the 56 threes he has attempted. "But I've put my work in, and I just want to get better. Iron out my weaknesses, and certainly that may have been -- or may be -- one of them. But you've just got to work at it.

"And that's the thing I enjoyed this summer: 'OK, let's work on something, let's improve on it, whether I got better or not.' It's just the fact that I'm thinking along those lines and able to put the time in to do it. A lot of guys who came in [to the NBA as rookies in 1994] with me who would love to be working on something for next season. A lot of these guys are done, so I'm very appreciative. Very appreciative."

Here may be the most impressive achievement of Hill's career: Over the last two seasons, he has missed one game. He played all 82 last season for the first time.

He still can't believe he's here, in this locker room, preparing for this night to come.

"I may have told you this before, but I used to laugh at Joe Dumars," Hill said of his early years with Detroit, when Dumars was continuing to play into his 30s. "I would tell him, 'Man, when I'm 34, I'm done.' I was a young kid and 34 seemed so far down the road when you're 21 or 22 years old. And maybe if I'd been healthy all these years and played all these minutes, maybe now mentally and physically it would just be over for me. But I missed a lot. I still love it, enjoy it, appreciate it even more."

When basketball should have been easiest for him, the game played hard to get. He chased it and fell in love all over again.

Facing Big Situations Head-On

Kansas State coach Frank Martin has some good stuff to say in the piece from the Kansas City Star as they gear up to play at #2 Kansas:

Faced with one of the biggest games in program history, most coaches would try to downplay the significance, worried how the added pressure would come down on 18-to-22-year-old players.

Not Martin.

The volcanic coach wants his players to understand exactly what they're facing. Wants them embrace the pressure. Wants them to be ready for the reward on the other side.

Martin has, after all, prepared them for this moment since the day they arrived in the Little Apple, through all those demanding practices, the screaming, those us-against-the-world speeches.

Martin told his players the truth about Wednesday's game because he knows they can handle it.

"Telling them this is the biggest game they've played, why is that negative pressure?" Martin said. "I look at as great pressure, that their hard work has paid off, that they've put themselves in that conversation that something great can happen to this basketball team."

It's not about making things easy. You make things easy, you're cheating them," Martin said. "You've got to make them difficult. You've got to be real with them. You've got to be honest with them. Life is about pressure. If you can't handle pressure, you're going to have a hard life."

Sleepover could be a defining moment for Michigan State

This is an article from the Detroit Free Press about the Michigan State players taking ownership of their team by planning a team outing:

LANSING -- Folks at Michigan State usually have big smiles on their faces when they turn the calendar to March. After all, the Spartans have gone 54-21 during March under coach Tom Izzo since after the 1997-98 season.

Izzo was more excited to discuss what his team did in late February while meeting with the media Monday.

In past seasons, Izzo has come up with something out of the ordinary -- having players wear football pads or smashing game tapes -- that is looked back on as a defining moment in the year.

The players might have created their own defining moment this season Friday when they suggested having a team sleepover at the Breslin Center as a way of coming together before the most important time of year. It was their idea, and everyone -- including Izzo and his staff -- bought in.

The idea emerged from a discussion with players Raymar Morgan, Draymond Green, Isaiah Dahlman and Kalin Lucas while watching film comparing their first game against Purdue this season with film against the Boilermakers from the previous season.

"Like Raymar (Morgan) said, there was no sound on the film and you could see there was more communication and togetherness" on the tape from the previous season, Izzo said. "Draymond said, 'We gotta do something off the wall.' "

Green then suggested the sleepover, but not at someone's house. He wanted to have it on the main court. Student managers, equipment managers, the players and coaches all showed up.
They played video games, checkers, ate pizzas and then went to bed around 2 a.m. in sleeping bags on the hardwood.

"It was one for my book if I ever write one 20 years from now," Izzo said. "I've never seen anything like that. In my high school, we all lived so close together it was like having a sleepover every night.

"Kalin right away jumped up and said, 'Yeah, that's a great idea.' And Zeke (Dahlman) said, 'Yeah, we'll have a tournament of checkers and Xbox and ping-pong.'

"Was it good for us from a back standpoint? Probably not. Was it good for us from a rest standpoint? Probably not. Was it good for us from a togetherness standpoint? One of the great team-building events, and the best part is it goes back to my original thing I've believed in my whole career here: It was a player decision."

And while Izzo loves the fact that people around the department and campus feel excited at this time of year, he wants to make sure his team understands they have to do their part to build on the program's past success.

"I do think we have a good system in March," Izzo said. "I do think our managers get excited in March. They know they're going to have to work more hours and be in there more on film. But, the games are not won by me, the secretaries, the managers or anybody else.

"Players have to realize the respect they gain in March is earned by what they do and not by the guys that did it before them. That is maybe the one factor for this team -- there's a bit of entitlement."

Syracuse 2-3 Zone

Sureness with the ball

This quote about UCLA senior Mike Roll should be what every player strives for as an offensive basketball player. To have a teammate say this about you is one of the best compliments you can receive as a player:

Asked what part of Roll's game he would like to absorb into his own, freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt said, "His court awareness. When the ball is in his hands, everybody on the court feels safe. Nobody is worried whether he is going to take a bad shot, or turn the ball over."

Coach's Corner: Late-season pressure

Coaches corner article by former head coach and current ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla:

Late February is the 21-mile marker of the college basketball season's marathon. It's been more than six months since most players and coaches started preparing for the 2009-10 season. The practices, weight-training workouts and film sessions have been endless, but it is the next three weeks that will determine, for most teams, whether it has been a successful season.

While pressure comes with coaching, the pressure of trying to get your team into the NCAA tournament is enormous. At the low and mid-major level, what you've done in the regular season is mostly irrelevant because winning your conference tournament in a couple of weeks is the only thing that matters.

For power conference teams, every league game down the stretch will determine not only whether you earn an at-large bid, but also how high your seed will be if you do.

For the elite teams, getting into the tournament is only the beginning of the pressure to perform up to expectations. Ask Kansas coach Bill Self if early-round exits in 2005 and 2006 at the hands of Bucknell and Bradley didn't give him major migraines for two years.

Regardless of what level you are coaching at, getting your team ready to play its best basketball in the last month of the season is an art form. More than at any other time of the season, a coach must play psychologist, drill sergeant, physical therapist, teacher, motivational speaker, time-management expert and problem-solver.

Mental preparation in February and March, in my opinion, is far more important than physical preparation. Most teams are beaten up physically and beaten down mentally by the length of the season, by tough losses, by long road trips and by academic work that always looms. How you choose to motivate your team has a big part in late-season success.

While there are different philosophies about the length of practice at the end of the season, I was always a believer in the "fresh legs" approach. As a coach, you want to keep your players sharp without making them mentally miserable.

While two-and-a-half to three-hour practices were common in the first half of the season, I always cut practice times down to as little as 45 minutes late in the season. The intensity level was still high, but the players knew that if they were crisp and attentive, we got them off the court quickly. The extra time could be used for "mental practice," like a film session or a few new plays to introduce or extra shooting and skill development.

While playing motivator is critical, sometimes coaching psychology doesn't always go as planned.
One year at Manhattan College, with our team rolling along at 19-3, I planned to "throw them out of practice" in order to give them the day off. I purposely found something to annoy me and wanted to send them the message that, even with our record, we couldn't be satisfied. In fact, I was just trying to get them some more rest. It backfired.

After I kicked the team out of practice, my staff and I went to the coaches' locker room. After 15 minutes, one of my managers came in and told me that the players were still practicing on their own. They had so much pride in their practice habits, they stayed out on the court for two hours without coaches!

Late in the season, I believed in keeping my players off-balance. At one practice following a devastating loss, our players were expecting a tough, hard practice. Instead, we practiced last-second shots, and every time we scored, our bench players had to run on the court and celebrate with their teammates. After a few pile-ons and with the team in a great mood, we ended practice before anyone got hurt. Coincidence or not, we ended the regular season on a seven-game winning streak.

I also believed in adding some of our best offensive plays late in the season. With the familiarity that comes with playing in a conference and breaking down film, everyone is prepared for the opponent's best stuff throughout the season. So we would practice new sets or add wrinkles to plays we already had in our offense.

One season, when John Calipari was still coaching at UMass and I was at Manhattan, he gave me a last-second play over the phone one night in early January. We practiced it the next day, and I told our team that we would run the play only when we needed a sure basket. We called it "Winner."

For the next two months, we worked on "Winner" every day -- and finally, with the score tied in our conference championship game, we called the play in our final timeout. The players knew "Winner" in their sleep, executed it, and it helped get the Jaspers to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 35 years. It's a great feeling when your players have confidence in you because you have prepared them for success in a pressure situation.

It's what coaches live for.

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.

Learning from the bench

Good quote from Kansas freshman Elijah Johnson, who's playing time has been limited due to the strong depth of guards for the Jayhawks.

“I can’t come in right away and win a national championship. I feel I need to learn first. I’ve been learning a lot sitting on the bench. I think I learn more on the bench than I would on the floor. I don’t think a lot of people understand, but I do, and I see it through coach (Bill) Self’s eyes. I see the bigger picture. It’s not a rush. I gotta learn first, then I can give him what he wants.”

Pack your Parachute

Charles Plumb was a U.S. Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After seventy-five combat missions, his plane was shot down, and Plumb parachuted into enemy territory, becoming a POW. He survived his ordeal, however, and eventually returned home. While eating in a restaurant one day, he was approached by a scruffy-looking man who said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam and were shot down!”

“How did you know that?” asked Plumb.

“I packed your parachute,” the man replied. “I guess it worked!”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about the unknown man who’d saved his life. From that day on, he determined to always take notice of—and say thank you to—those who “pack his parachute” each day.

Make the most of each day by thanking those who “pack your parachute” and by making an effort to do the same for someone else

Characteristics of a Team Player

We all fit into different niches. Each of us must make the effort to contribute to the best of our ability according to our own individual talents. And then we put all the individual talents together for the highest good of the group.

Thus, I valued a player who cared for others and could lose himself in the group for the good of the group. I believe that quality makes for an outstanding player. It is also why the best players don't always make the best team. I mean by this that a gifted player, or players, who are not team players will ultimately hurt the team, whether it revolves around basketball or business.

Understanding that the good of the group comes first is fundamental to being a highly productive member of a team.

-John Wooden

Dirk's Work Habits

Two factors lead to Dirk’s maturation as a shooter. First, he was encouraged to shoot from the outside, both as a boy growing up and then as a Maverick. Second, he practiced his tail off. When Avery Johnson was coach of the Mavs, he became so concerned with Nowitzki’s obsessive practice habits that he started fining his star if he found him in the gym on an off day. Nowitzki’s solution? “He would sneak off to a high school gym,” says Del Harris, an assistant at the time. “He and Jason Terry and whoever else they could drag with them. They’d find ways to get into a gym or a high school, or a health club and go shoot at night.”

Judging a point guard

From the World Herald:

Sherron Collins, Kansas' preseason All-America point guard, has seen his scoring average drop from 18.9 last season to 16.0 now. So how much sleep is KU coach Bill Self losing over that?

None.

Fewer shots and points for Collins mean more Jayhawks have progressed to play at a higher level. And Collins, who soon will have been part of more wins than any other KU player, has been happy to share.

"I judge him strictly on if we're winning or not," Self said Monday. "That's all you should ever evaluate a point guard on.

"The shooting percentages don't matter. The steals don't matter. All that matters is if you win. That's why I think he's the best because he does whatever we need him to do."

Get out of your comfort zone

"I hear so many times guys say they want to win a championship, I want to be a winner, but what they're really saying is they want to win so long as it's comfortable for them,'' Rivers said. "You don't win by being comfortable. You win by doing things out of your comfort zone to make the team better."

-Doc Rivers

Seize the Moment

From Peter King at Sports Illustrated:

Coming up with a motivational tool is huge for NFL coaches, particularly on the eve of an important game. Last Saturday night, before the biggest game in the 43-year history of the Saints, New Orleans coach Sean Payton produced a doozy at the team's downtown hotel. As the players settled in for their last team meeting before the NFC Championship Game against the Vikings, the lights dimmed, Aerosmith's Dream On started playing at a Superdome-decibel level, and on the video screen at the front of the room great moments in sports history went by in rapid-fire order.

Babe Ruth homering, Michael Jordan scoring, Pete Maravich floating, Roberto Clemente fielding, Tiger Woodsfist-pumping, Eddie Robinson coaching, Wayne Gretzky scoring, Jim Valvano leaping, Larry Bird shooting, Muhammad Ali punching, the Bears Super Bowl--shuffling, Doug Flutie passing, the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team celebrating—on and on, as goose bumps rose to the pulsating chorus: "Dream on, dream on, dream on...."

And when the lights came up, there was Ronnie Lott, a four-time Super Bowl champion. Payton had invited the Hall of Fame defensive back to speak to his players before the season, at which time Lott told the Saints he could "smell greatness in the room." smell greatness T-shirts were promptly distributed to the players. Now Lott stood before them holding one of the purple baseball bats each player had received that night as a reminder to hit the Vikings hard on Sunday. Lott tapped the bat in his hand, staring intently at the players, and said, "What I wouldn't give to have the chance to go out there, just one more time, to do what you're going to do tomorrow. To become a champion again."

"It's something I'll never forget," free safety Darren Sharper, 34, would say later. "Ronnie's the epitome of greatness in our game, and for so many reasons on and off the field, this was our chance for greatness—to seize the moment. It may never come again."

Possession Focus By Kevin Eastman

Focus is a big phrase in sports. We constantly hear coaches and players talking about having to “focus more” or “focus better” or “improve our focus." Without question, this is an aspect of sports that we all know needs to improve, yet we’re all still searching for the best way to make sure it gets done consistently.

To ask a team to focus for a full game is a worthy demand, but to expect this to happen is often a frustrating exercise for a coach. Though I don't have a tested and proven solution, I strongly believe we must try to address the art of focusing, as it is a major factor of success.

Make focusing an every minute/every day endeavor for your team. Give it verbal repetition (coaches constantly reminding players) every time you hit the floor. Define it even more by having your team become a group that focuses on one possession at a time, no matter if it’s a drill or a scrimmage. Get them thinking and trying to maintain focus for short periods of time while in practice to start the habit.

Drills are designed to improve a specific area of the game; constantly remind your team what this specific area is for each drill they're working on. Demand that they truly focus on this intended area of drilling. Stop the drill when it gets sloppy, and remind them of the intent and focus of the drill. Get them to focus on the execution possession by possession in every drill and scrimmage.

I believe focus is the ability to know what to do, how to do it, and actually doing it that way every time through intense concentration. Demand this concentration every possession until it builds into a game in/game out habit.

These are steps toward developing focus. The major responsibility first falls with the leaders of the team -- your staff and any player who may be a leader. They actually have to have a focus first, before they can begin to remind the other players to focus and concentrate every possession. Just as we improve skills through repetition, we can improve focus through repetition. Focusing every possession every day will get you on the road to improving in an area that can be a big time difference-maker for your team!

Start a new streak

Read a good story on new Memphis head coach Josh Pastner and the difficulty of taking over a program with such high expectations due to the success of former coach John Callipari. Memphis recently had their 64 game conference winning streak snapped. Coach Pastner offers tremendous perspective on what a loss in basketball means:

The loss left the seniors in tears after the game, and when Pastner noticed them moping around in practice the next day, he brought them in for a pep talk.

"For crying out loud, there's no reason to be so depressed," said Pastner, who unlike Calipari and just about every other coach in America does not use profanity. "We just lost a game. Do I need to take you over to St. Jude's [Hospital]? No doctor called to say you're sick or that you're dying. We lost a game, that's all. Let's start another streak."

Want to win? Don't do these things

Jay Bilas has a list of six things in college basketball that will get you beat. This is a list that he complied from years of talking to the best coaches in college basketball about what gets teams beat. Lots of great stuff for every level and every sport:

1. Defensive Breakdowns:

Teams with defensive breakdowns lose. The best defenses are difficult to score upon and do not allow open shots. The best defenses are "help defenses" that require little help because they guard the ball well by closing out under control to take away the open shot and because they take away the middle drive. The best defenses sustain a physical and intense defensive effort, play the ball and communicate at a high level, and they do it consistently throughout the game. Bob Knight has said that action is quicker than reaction, and help defense is the solution. If the defender containing the ball gets beat, he must have swift and decisive help, and the helper must be helped with a similar sense of urgency. The best defenses are committed to taking away any open shots and forcing one quick and contested shot, with five defenders committed to getting the ball before converting to offense. Teams I have seen that consistently have the best first-shot defense and fewest defensive breakdowns are Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Duke, Temple, Syracuse, Tennessee and Florida State.

2. Outcompeted on the Glass:

The best teams understand the worth of additional possessions and make rebounding a priority on both ends. The best teams understand that defensive rebounding is a five-man effort to deny the opponent the opportunity to get additional possessions to score before you can. The best teams understand that offensive rebounding allows you to get additional possessions to score before your opponent can. The best teams are committed to going to the glass and not surrendering to or staying attached to blockouts, but instead overcoming obstacles to pursue the ball with both hands and secure it. The best rebounding teams I have seen this year are Michigan State, Kansas, Baylor, Kansas State, Tulsa and Kentucky.

3. Losing the Free Throw Battle:

The free throw line is the best and most efficient place from which to score on a basketball court. The best teams work with a purpose to get to the free throw line, coach to get to the free throw line and hit free throws when they get there. The best defenses keep the opponent out of the middle, play tough and physical defense without fouling, and understand that there is no such thing as "fouls to waste." Fouls should not be wasted, and when a substitute enters the game with no individual fouls, that is not license to commit a needless foul and put the opponent closer to the bonus. Getting into the bonus earlier takes away opponents' aggressiveness, and putting the opponent into the bonus takes away your aggressiveness.

4. Losing the Turnover Battle:

The best teams understand the value of the ball, and being loose with the ball provides the opponent additional possessions and results in empty possessions for your team. The turnover total is not the best marker -- it is the turnover margin, because that is the number of additional possessions gained or lost based upon how each team values the ball. Some teams protect the ball better and other teams have more takeaways than miscues. The key is the additional shot attempts gained by valuing the ball on offense and defense. The teams that value the ball the best are Michigan, Missouri, Northern Iowa, Duke, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Virginia and UNLV.

5. Poor Shot Selection and Offensive Execution:

The best teams consistently work for and take high-percentage shots and are committed to passing up early, contested shots to find a teammate with an open one. The best teams are committed to working together and are not hung up on "my" shot, understanding that every shot is "our" shot. The best teams understand roles and have all five players on the court working hard to get open and be threats to score. The best teams understand that working hard to get a good open shot and taking it is not selfish. Taking bad shots, such as contested shots early in the clock, is selfish. The teams I have seen that have exhibited the best shot selection and offensive execution are Kansas, Duke, Syracuse, Ohio State, BYU, Gonzaga, Georgetown and Cornell.

6. Poor Communication:

The best teams not only talk, they listen. It does no good to have five talkers on the floor unless you also have five good listeners and actors. The best teams are connected to one another on offense and defense, and are connected to the bench. Whether at home or on the road, breakdowns in communication result in corresponding breakdowns in Nos. 1-5 on this list. Communication is a skill, and the best teams value communication as highly as any other aspect of the game.

Paint Touches Lead to Three Point Success for Marquette

Marquette University is leading the NCAA in three point field goal percentage this season at 43.4%. Coach Buzz Williams has a good idea as to why this is getting done:

"I definitely have a strong belief in numbers - if you study them in an objective way," said coach Buzz Williams. "We have never mentioned a specific number of threes, or what our percentage has been recently. However, we constantly stress paint touches and creating for others. We believe the combination of those two things will typically turn into a good shot for our team."

"I'm not sure if we have a team full of shooters, but I think we have developed into a team that understands the foundation of a good shot."

Playoff Time Brings the Best Out of Warner

“Playoff time is just special, and it’s different. I said that to somebody last week, ‘It’s time to elevate, it’s time to raise that standard.’ You have to bring your game up. You have to bring up your consistency level. There is something about knowing that this is it, that every game you could be going home, that it’s just more fun. It’s more exciting.

“You don’t get a second chance. You don’t get another opportunity. This is it. So, you better bring it every time, and lay it all on the line. To me, that’s fun. Having the success that I’ve had, it even pushes more in that direction. I’ve accomplished the ultimate goal in this business, and I really don’t have anything else I play for. It’s all I play for every year.

“I don’t care about the stats. I don’t care how many touchdowns I end up with. I want to win a championship, so that’s fun. When you get here, it’s like throw everything else aside and forget what we’ve ever done. It starts right now and you see how long you can keep it going.”

-Kurt Warner

Struggling Florida finds itself at a crossroads

Found a really good article on Billy Donovan talking about Florida's struggles lately. After beating Michigan St. and Syracuse earlier in the year, Florida has dropped its first two conference games and Coach Donovan is asking himself how his team is going to respond. Here is a little from the article:

Gators coach Billy Donovan has had quite a philosophical viewpoint while coaching an elite program. He has plenty of experience managing egos with a roster that has had its share of big-time players mixed with classic four-year players who are necessary to win at a high level. He has been to three national title games and won two, and consistently has Florida known as a national name, even during the past two struggling seasons.

Donovan said he has seen the arc of a season.

"Every team is jacked up for the start of practice, but then the excitement wears off," Donovan said. "You have the first game and then everyone is focusing on minutes. Then you start to distribute them and then you start to understand there is a ceiling to get better. We have a high ceiling."

But Donovan admits there was a dip in intensity when the Gators came off the Michigan State win and Syracuse effort but then landed with a thud when they failed to hold on to a double-digit lead against Richmond in Sunrise, Fla., and then fell flat by losing at home to South Alabama.
Getting beaten at Vanderbilt was arguably expected because the Commodores are always a tough out in Nashville, especially when they are as talented as they could be this season. Kentucky simply was more talented.

"I'm anxious to see how this team responds against LSU," Donovan said. "It's critical for us to separate ourselves. Do they come together as a group? How will this team come together for practice Thursday? What kind of effort will we have? There are external motivational things that happen, like playing Michigan State or Kentucky. But how internally motivated are you?"

"We've got some stuff there, but every team comes to a crossroads," Donovan said. "You can go into the league with false sense of who you are. We're at that crossroads right now, and which path will we choose?"

That's Durant with a capital 'D'

CNNSI had a good article today on how Kevin Durant has stepped up his defense this year for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are having their best season in years so far.

Says one Western Conference scout:

"Anyone with his length and wingspan can be an above-average defender by putting in the effort. This year I noticed he's more engaged. He's getting into his stance much sooner and not standing around, and getting back [in transition]. That's great because he's still very young -- he just turned 21. When you're that gifted offensively as a teenager, you just don't think about defense that much. I give a lot of credit to [Thunder coach] Scottie Brooks for getting him to buy in."

Says coach Scott Brooks:

"I spent time with Kevin watching the NBA playoff series and talking things over this summer," Brooks said. "There were so many great moments where great players were the ones defending -- Kobe, Carmelo, Paul Pierce -- and so many times the winning basketball play was on defense.

"Kevin always had the effort, but he didn't have the knowledge or the physicalness in his body to go through an entire NBA season playing defense. This summer he got his mind and his body right. He understood that if he was committed, we would be a much better team. We focused on defense from Day One, and when one of your better players is one of your better defenders, it makes coaching easier. I mean, he leads our team in rebounding, steals, blocks."

"Knowing when to stay with your man and when to help out is one of the hardest things for young players coming in," Brooks said, "because you think you're playing defense if you're guarding your man, but you also have to be aware of what might happen three passes away.

"We like to be as disruptive as possible, pushing people to the baseline, defending tight in the paint and closing out on shooters. We constantly talk about having a hand up in guys' faces -- you have to contest to make NBA players miss. And we like to force extra passes and get deflections. Kevin is a big part of all of that."