Evan Longoria provides needed leadership for Tampa Bay Rays

This is his town, and this is his time.

Soon, if it has not happened already, this may be his team.

Watch Evan Longoria bounce across a baseball field, and you get the feeling he is trying to cram two hours' worth of work into an hour's worth of drill work. It is late afternoon, and the Rays are in the middle of baseball's version of laying bricks, and Longo seems to be taking it seriously.

He scurries across the field as if he is perpetually supposed to be somewhere else, like a cat that is suddenly aware it is in the wrong room. He moves as if the boss is watching him, which, of course, he probably is. Everyone else, too.

By now, the world is on to the size of Longoria's talent. Great bat. Great glove. Great sense of timing.

As it turns out, Longoria is on his way to being a great leader, too.

"Evan resonates leadership qualities," said teammate Gabe Kapler. "It isn't just that he has them, because a lot of guys have them. But when those qualities seep out of your pores and everyone can feel it, that's when it sets guys apart."

Already, his teammates have noticed the way Longoria works. It is enough to make the veterans nod. Even better, it is enough to make the youngsters follow. And when you think about it, what Rays player would you rather have a rookie try to emulate?

Among the hidden factors in the Rays' uncanny 17-5 start to this season is this: The leadership is improved over last year. Manager Joe Maddon prefers to say last year's team was in "leader­ship transition" rather than lacking leadership, but it ends up to the same thing.

This year, there has been a lot of leadership. Maddon says Longoria is a better leader. Carl Crawford, too. And James Shields. And Dan Wheeler. And Gabe Kapler. And Carlos Peña. Oh, and did he mention Longo? Yeah, Longo.

"To me, leadership is giving of yourself," Maddon said. "Too many times, players get greedy and think it's only about them to the point they have nothing else to give to anyone else. I think a real leader always has something left over for someone else."

It is important to Longoria, this leadership role. He is only 24 years old, not exactly grizzled, hardly finished with his own growth. Still, he understands the need for leadership. And he doesn't shy away from the assumption of it.

"It's important to me to have my teammates respect me," Longoria said. "It's not about what you say. It's about what you do. Whether I'm struggling or not, whether things are going well or not, I have to take things in perspective and do all the things I would want to see a teammate do. Run balls out hard. Make good turns. Carry myself on the field."

We have the wrong idea about sports leadership, most of us. Maybe it comes from watching Bull Durham too many times. We think leaders are the guys dressing down the slackers in the locker room or delivering the speeches that have been stolen from Braveheart.

Most of the time, it has nothing to do with that. It has more to do with putting in the right work and setting the proper pace. If there is anything vocal about it, it has more to do with saying the right thing at the right time to the right person. Also, three-run homers help.

"Ultimately, it tends to be the guys who play really well," Ben Zobrist said. "Longo is one of those guys everyone looks to do something special."

Forget Longoria's age. Kapler likes what he sees in Longoria's approach.

"He exemplifies what a professional is, what we all aspire to be," Kapler said. "He cares about this team. He cares about being a great player. He cares about winning. He brings an energy. He wants to be on the field for every inning of every game. He always wants to be in the lineup, To me, leadership is about walking the walk. It has nothing to do with what you say. There are plenty of people with something to say, but you have to be able to do what you're talking about consistently. We follow those who take actions. Any motivational speaker could stand up in front of the clubhouse, but that doesn't make him the leader of a clubhouse. The Rays could hire a motivational speaker to fire you up, and you'd be fired up, but it wouldn't last long."

Pick and Roll Basketball with Fran Fraschilla

Izzo Quote

"Learn to listen, listen to Learn"

-Tom Izzo

Kobe Wanting to Be Coached

When Chuck Person arrived in Los Angeles for training camp, he had never before said a word to Bryant. Person, a former Pacers and Kings assistant, was hired by the Lakers as a special assistant because of his close relationship with the newly acquired Ron Artest. The Lakers wanted somebody to help Artest with his transition. They did not need anybody to help Bryant with his shooting. But Person, who spent 13 years stretching NBA defenses, had studied Bryant's stroke from afar, marveling at his footwork, his vertical leap, his power of separation. "There was just one thing," Person says, "that I felt I could enhance."

A young player is taught, from the time he can lift the ball overhead, to finish the shot with his index finger pointed at the ground. "Kobe was following through with so much of the index that the ball was turning ever so slightly off that finger and he was getting a little sidespin," Person says. "When he wasn't right on, the ball would roll off the rim." Person believed he could help Bryant, but he had to be tactful about it. He could not just walk up to one of the best scorers ever and tinker with his shot. He needed an opening.

On Dec. 11 Los Angeles played the Timberwolves, and point guard Jordan Farmar made a lazy pass to Bryant at the three-point line. Timberwolves forward Corey Brewer lunged for it, deflecting the ball off Bryant's right index finger. Told he had an avulsion fracture, Bryant refused to sit out, and the next night in Utah he missed 17 of 24 shots, including eight of nine three-pointers. The time was right for Person. He approached Bryant and explained that he too had suffered an avulsion fracture in his index finger, with Indiana in 1991. He also told Bryant that the injury presented an opportunity.

"I asked him for his trust," Person says, "and I told him that we should start working together. He didn't argue with me. He bought in right away." Person wanted Bryant to put more pressure on the middle and ring fingers in his release, creating more backspin and friendlier rolls off the rim. The pad Bryant had to wear on the index finger would force him to concentrate on the other two.

The day after the Utah game, Bryant and Person convened early at the Lakers' training facility and shot for one hour before practice. The next day they did the same. Then they flew to Chicago and worked out that night at the United Center. During a break Bryant asked Person, "Did you ever score 40 points with your finger this way?" Person said he did. For Bryant it was a rare moment of self-doubt, and then it was gone. "I'm going to get 50," he said. They arrived at the United Center early the next morning for a shootaround, stayed late, and that night Bryant lit up the Bulls for 42 points on 15-of-26 shooting. A day later he scored 39 in Milwaukee, with a game-winner at the buzzer.

Penetrating Bryant's circle is not easy, but Person had a way in. As a freshman at Brantley (Ala.) High School 31 years ago, Person attended a summer basketball camp at Auburn University. The guest counselor was Jerry West, who as the Lakers executive vice president would bring Bryant from high school to Los Angeles 17 years later. "All the things I told Kobe," Person says, "are things Jerry West told me at that camp." Person persuaded Bryant to raise the ball straight into his shot instead of holding it for a moment at his hip, which has quickened his release; lift his right elbow from nose level to forehead level, which has heightened his arc; and keep that elbow pointed at the basket no matter how his body is contorted. "If you saw a tape of him shooting six months ago," Person says, "it would look completely different."

Many in the organization did not understand why Bryant insisted on playing with the broken finger. He could afford to take time off in December; they needed him healthy in June. As it turned out, playing in December is exactly what prepared Bryant for June. He spent the regular season refashioning his shot in time for the playoffs. The transition was not always easy—his field goal percentage, free throw percentage and three-point percentage all dipped as Person's tinkering intensified—but it was necessary. Although the fracture has healed, Bryant was left with an arthritic knuckle on his index finger that is swollen and painful but appears to affect him not at all. "It's almost helped to some degree," says Lakers shooting coach Craig Hodges. "at the net when Kobe shoots now. The ball sinks to the bottom, and 'Pow!' It pops up. That's the backspin he's getting from the middle finger." The index finger is just supposed to hold the ball. The middle finger is supposed to do the work.

Bryant's longevity is a by-product of the many subtle adjustments he has made over the years, starting in 1999, when he broke his right hand and spent all of training camp developing his left. Back then, defenders would dare Bryant to shoot from outside, an unfathomable strategy today. They also tried to lock him up in the post, equally unthinkable. "I don't know any better post player in the game now," West says. Next up for Bryant, says Lakers assistant Jim Cleamons, "he will learn to come off screens so the ball will work for him and he won't have to beat everybody." Bryant's endless improvements require a kind of humility, the best player in the game forever open to the idea that he can get better.

Manuel’s Positive Energy Ignites Mets

From the NY Times:

Of all the strategic decisions a manager makes over the course of a game, whether calling for a pitching change, switching a defensive alignment or ordering an unexpected dash on the basepaths, there are also the less-nuanced motivational tools to employ.

For Jerry Manuel, who has operated all season under the public scrutiny regarding his job security, pushing his players’ emotional buttons may be his greatest strength.

In the Mets’ 7-6 victory over the Florida Marlins on Sunday, Manuel’s positive outlook was cited as one of the reasons for a triumph that extended their home winning streak to eight games. Manuel has faced some withering criticism this season, but he has also provided some evidence of a job well done, and players were quick to note how Sunday offered a strong case.

With the Mets trailing by 5-0 in the sixth inning, Manuel refused to allow his players the luxury of conceding the game, even though they had overcome that large a deficit only once this season. And even though they had only eight outs left, Manuel remained vocally enthusiastic in the dugout. Apparently, it had an effect.

“I give Jerry credit on that one,” Jeff Francoeur said, “because he was in the dugout cheering us on: ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.’ ”

But other players, too, have noted how Manuel, despite the pressure he has worked under this season, has never changed his upbeat approach. Whether it is the unusual step of calling the entire team into his office back in May to urge it to stick together, or cheering on his players in the dugout, his upbeat vibe has taken root.

“He’s by far the most positive guy I’ve ever played for,” the first-year Met Jason Bay said, “and I don’t care if you’re playing Little League or major league baseball, positivity goes a long way. It tends to be contagious. That’s no slight to anybody else. That’s just, given the market, the uncertainties, the ups and downs we’ve gone through.

“He’s never wavered on his stance of being positive and standing behind guys. I know it’s easy to get caught up in certain things, but he hasn’t. He’s really been the same guy to us, from spring training until now, and I understand how difficult that is and I respect that.”

Woodenisms

The life lessons taught by John Wooden have become legend. Here's a collection of some of the greatest "Woodenisms."

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

"Never mistake activity for achievement."

"Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then."

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"Be prepared and be honest."

"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

"What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a basketball player."

"Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character."

"A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."

"I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent."

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."

"It isn't what you do, but how you do it."

"Ability is a poor man's wealth."

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."

"Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights."

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."

"It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it."

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."

"Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."

"The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."

"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

"Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."

Source: CoachWooden.com

It's all in the Preparation

Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay threw a perfect game last night which is only the 20th in MLB history. The work that Halladay puts in to get ready for each start is easily regarded as the toughest, most disciplined regimen for any pitcher. Less than 12 hours after completing history, Halladay was back at the ballpark, beating everyone of his teammates there. "Journey's always better than the destination," Halladay said. Here is a little from Jayson Stark of espn.com:

I got to talking about Halladay one day this spring with a former teammate of his in Toronto, Jason Frasor. And I found myself thinking Saturday about something Frasor said that day.

Some men, Frasor said, prepare to pitch.

And some men, he said, prepare to win.

But "Doc," Frasor said, "prepares to dominate."

And that's just about all Halladay has done since the day he reappeared in the big leagues in 2002, after that infamous detour to the Florida State League in 2001. He leads the majors in wins (137), innings pitched (1,796 1/3) and complete games (51) since then. He's second in winning percentage (.688) and ERA (3.08).

And none of that happened by accident. It happened because all this man has done since is embarked upon the pursuit of greatness.

You find him in the workout room hours before dawn on every spring training morning. You'll have to wait for 45 minutes to talk to him after every regular-season start, because there is no chance -- none -- he'd skip his mandatory post-pitching workout, even after a perfect game.

"I used to think I got to the park early," Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson said of Halladay this spring. "But I get here at 6:15 [a.m.], and he's already on his second shirt."

Rajon Rondo Dives for Ball past Jason Williams

Lou Holtz Game Plan

1. Maintain a positive attitude.
2. Welcome adversity as a learning experience.
3. Act boldly; go for the big play when you’re behind.
4. Review your fundamentals; eliminate any shortcuts.
5. Think WIN!
6. Adapt to change.
7. Give your best effort at all times.
8. Willingly make the sacrifices that winning demands.
9. Consider both sides of your three questions.
10. Remind yourself that the difference between champ and chump is U.

Kevin Eastman - Basketball Drills - Perfect Feet

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."

Everything they do, they compete

Florida head coach Urban Meyer visited Patriots minicamp last year and came away with a strong liking of how the Patriots go about their business:

"The last practice- this is before they go on vacation- they did a two-minute drill and it was Tom Brady against the first-team defense," Meyer said. "And they scored right at the end. It was in shorts, and it was like they won the Super Bowl. They're all jumping around, and I'm thinking, 'Now I know why. Everything they do, they compete.' Someone says that about Florida and we're in good shape."

Preparation

"When you know you have not cheated in your preparation, it makes you mentally tough."

-Bill Parcells

Nothing reserved about Lakers' Powell

Great story on espn.com about Lakers reserve forward Josh Powell (pictured left). Powell has not played very much this year but when his number is called he is always ready to go. Teammates love his preparation and attitude in practice. Here are some excerpts from the article:

Now in his second season with the Lakers after spending the first three years of his career with four different teams, Powell has carved out a niche in Los Angeles as a vocal leader even though he is the ninth or 10th man in coach Phil Jackson's regular eight-man rotation.

In his short time with the Lakers, he's become fast friends with Bryant, who can just about count on one hand the amount of teammates he considers personal friends in his 14 seasons in the league.

"We both have a passion to work hard and to practice hard," Bryant said. "I think it started there and it grew from there."

Said Powell: "It's great. I think the biggest thing why we are close is because the hunger and the passion for the game that me and him both have. Granted, the skill level might be different, but you can't -- as far as heart and desire and things like that -- like, I'm up there. And everybody knows that. People can look at that and be like, 'That's my guy.'"

Bryant isn't just about practice, however. He's about performance. And he knows that Powell is capable of helping the team win ballgames.

"He has so much talent," Bryant said. "He can help us out so much. It's just that this team has so much depth. Every time he's had an opportunity to step in and perform, he's performed extremely well. Last year when Lamar [Odom] was out for a stretch, he stepped in in Houston and had a huge game, stepped in in San Antonio and had a huge game. He's extremely professional. Doesn't complain. Doesn't whine. He just comes out and works hard every day."

According to Powell, he doesn't give 100 percent or 110 percent, he gives "200 percent." It's that drive that turned him from a player whose framed portrait in the Lakers' practice facility shows him making a pass around Utah's Kyrylo Fesenko -- scrub against scrub in meaningless minutes -- to a player whose first career 3-pointer came in Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals.

"I think it's good for guys to watch," Bryant said. "Jordan [Farmar] and Shannon [Brown] and some of the other guys, because Josh is always ready. His number's not called. He can easily be playing, but most of the time his number's not called. When it is called, he's ready to go."

Powell hasn't been used as much this season as he was last season. His minutes have dipped from 11.7 to 8.7 per game and along with the decrease in playing time his points and rebounds per game have trended down from 4.2 and 2.9 per game, respectively, to 2.6 and 1.7.

While the numbers don't support it, Powell is just as important to the team and he's improving as a player.

"He's amazing," Odom said. "His work ethic, his persistence doesn't go unnoticed. It's too bad that he can't … that you guys don't really get to see it. We see it every morning. He's amazing.

"His skill level is high. He's gotten better even handling the ball and his range is all the way out to the 3-point range. He's in shape. He's a pro, man."

Bryant and Derek Fisher are the Lakers' official co-captains, but Powell takes on a distinct leadership role of his own.

"I think [he's a leader] because of how he carries himself, what he does and what he brings to us in practice," Odom said. "At 10 in the morning, when some guys are tired, Josh will wake your butt up. Because he will ram you. He will make the extra effort to go get the offensive rebound and so on and so on. He's going to get his. I can't wait to see it."

Fouling to Protect a Lead: Debated but Rarely Done

The first-round playoff series last year between the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls was a memorable montage of overtimes and clutch shots. Celtics Coach Doc Rivers remembers it for another reason.

In Game 4, Boston held a 3-point lead with nine seconds remaining in overtime. He instructed his team to intentionally foul so Chicago could get only 2 points at the free-throw line, instead of potentially tying the game with a 3-pointer. His players failed to foul. Ben Gordon’s 3 tied the game and Chicago won in double overtime.

“We literally forgot to foul,” Rivers said. “We came out of the timeout and were going to foul. We messed it up. They score and win the game in overtime. And it takes us two extra games to win the series.”

Rivers faced a decision that coaches at all levels wrestle with: whether to foul with a 3-point lead and the shot clock off. It is one of the most heavily debated topics among the best N.B.A. minds.

It was a factor in last year’s playoffs, including the finals, and probably will be again this postseason, when teams are more evenly matched and playoff survival is at stake.

According to an analysis provided by Synergy Sports Technology, the situation presented itself 165 times in the last two N.B.A. seasons with 10 seconds or less left on the game clock. The conclusion? Although coaches debate the strategy of fouling intentionally, most rarely do. Teams deliberately fouled in only 19 of those instances. (One team tried to foul but was unable to because of ball movement.) No team fouled with a second or less remaining.

Teams that deliberately fouled won 17 of the 19 games in regulation and lost once. Teams won all 14 of the games in which they purposefully fouled with five seconds or less to play. One game went to overtime, and the team that fouled when leading in regulation won.

When teams chose not to foul, they won 128 games and lost 4 in regulation, according to Synergy, which logs every N.B.A. game and provides data to teams. Fourteen games went to overtime, and the teams split the victories.

Rivers is firmly on one side of the debate. “We absolutely foul them,” he said.

Others passionately advocate the opposite approach.

“I never take the foul,” Atlanta Hawks Coach Mike Woodson said. “I just always put it on our team to defend.”

On the surface, it seems like an easy choice. Long-distance shooting has improved and teams cannot tie the score if they are not given the chance. Intentional fouls remove the surest route to a tie: the 3-pointer.

“It’s a complicated problem,” said Sam Hinkie, Houston’s vice president for basketball operations. “Sometimes I’ve been convinced it was right to foul and disagreed, other times I’ve thought we shouldn’t foul and others disagreed.”

Coaches weigh several factors before deciding to foul intentionally: the time left, the timeouts for both teams, the foul situation, the likely ball handlers, defensive rebounding and offensive rebounding, where the ball is inbounded, the experience of the players involved, both teams’ free-throw shooting abilities, whether they can successfully execute the foul and how much the team has practiced that situation.

Coaches worry about a crafty player inducing a foul while shooting and being awarded a devastating three free throws instead of two. They ask themselves, What happens if the opposition makes the first free throw, misses the second, and gets the rebound?

“Fouling sounds like an easy thing to do, but it’s not always that easy,” Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle said.

In a poll of half of this postseason’s 16 playoff coaches, the philosophies were generally split. Most said their decision hinged on the game’s situation. The results mimicked what Rivers found last summer when he took a pilgrimage with several coaches with North Carolina roots, including George Karl, Dean Smith and Larry Brown.

“It was split right in half,” Rivers said. “It’s a heated debate. I’ve always believed in fouling and I’ve always thought that’s what you should do, and you get strong arguments against it. It’s more of a comfort thing.”

When teams do foul, it goes against two instincts: intentionally allowing points and extending the game, even though they hold the lead. Coaches are also cognizant of how the decision will be dissected afterward. If they think vastly outside the box — as New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick did last year when he elected to go for it while ahead by 6 on fourth-and-2 at his 28-yard line to keep the ball out of Peyton Manning’s hands — they will be heavily scrutinized.

“I think the only way you can lose that way is to foul,” said Portland Coach Nate McMillan, adding, “You may go into overtime, you may have a shot, but you don’t lose the game.”

The play-by-play announcer Mike Breen estimated that the situation presented itself every couple of weeks, sometimes more often.

“I’m amazed at how many times it happens,” Breen said. “What I’m also amazed at is the hesitancy of coaches to foul. But when you start talking to them and they go from A to B to C to D, you can understand. To me, of all the scenarios that are present, the easiest one is for the guy to hit an open 3-pointer.”

Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy chose not to foul in Game 4 of the N.B.A. finals last June. The Lakers’ Derek Fisher buried a 3-pointer to tie the score, 87-87, with four seconds left, and the Lakers won in overtime. They clinched the title the next game.

“You’ve got to have confidence that your guys can go knock down two free throws the other way on a pretty consistent basis,” Van Gundy said.

Brown, the Bobcats’ coach, laughed when asked what he did in the situation. He generally opposes it. Against the Miami Heat earlier this season, he told his players not to foul while the Bobcats held a 3-point lead with seven seconds remaining.

He then walked down the bench and sought the opinion of the soon-to-be-owner Michael Jordan, who suggested the Bobcats foul.

I had already told them not to,” Brown said. “Dwyane Wade shot a 3 that thankfully just banged out.”

Timing, many coaches said, was the biggest influence on whether they fouled. If there is a star player on the court, like Kobe Bryant or Wade, Rivers may foul even earlier.

Carlislie said, “Generally, our philosophy is that if it’s down under 10 seconds, that’s when you get into a serious discussion about fouling intentionally.”

Internationally, teams foul more, a strategy Manu Ginobili, who played in Argentina, occasionally broaches with Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich.

“Manu tells me about it all the time,” Popovich said. “I say: ‘Manu, I don’t have that type of guts. I’m not going to do it.’ ”

Utah Coach Jerry Sloan has drifted back and forth on the issue. After losing while intentionally fouling once early in his career, he became hesitant.

In the second game of the Jazz’s series against the Denver Nuggets, Utah led by 3 points with 11.3 seconds left. With the Nuggets possessing the ball, Sloan chose not to foul and Chauncey Billups missed a 3-pointer. With six seconds left in the same situation, Sloan again chose not to foul, and Billups’s 3-pointer again rattled out. Strategy, if not fate, was on Sloan’s side that night.

“I guess it’s worked both ways,” Sloan said toward the end of the regular season. “I’m not going to lose a lot of sleep about it. That’s kind of the way we look at it. Just kind of see who you got out there.”

So, when to foul? With less than 15 seconds? Less than 10? Less than five? Always, sometimes, never? For coaches, it is a puzzle with no correct answer, only opportunities for regret.

steve nash in 20 minutes

2010 NFL Draft QB Crop

Jon Gruden is well known in the football world for being an excellent coach of the quarterback position. ESPN is doing a series with 4 potential 1st/2nd round picks where Gruden is coaching them up on the mentality of the game along with plenty of x's and o's. What is impressive about these four quarterbacks is their desire to become the best they can be. Any athlete from any sport can get something about leadership and hard work with these. Along with that, it is amazing how honest Gruden is with these guys and how coachable they really are.

Tim Tebow w/Gruden

Jimmy Clausen w/Gruden

Sam Bradford w/Gruden

Colt McCoy w/Gruden

Coach Brown getting after it

Nebraska assistant coach Ron Brown on the importance of off-season conditioning:

"That's why they put 'Coach' on your shirt. We just have to bring physicality out of the players. It's in there. I think there's something inside every young man, I don't care who he is. There's something inside him that says, ' I want to be physical. I want to be a tough guy.' That's certainly true with football players.

"But you can coach that thing down. You can coach that thing down to mediocrity. You can keep it to where it's just simmering. But you can get it to where it's exploding as well. You have to go down there and get it. Through winter conditioning, that's what we did. We reached inside of them and grabbed their hearts and tried to pull that physical play out.

"Normally in winter conditioning, you're not looking for a lot of cardiovascular conditioning (in football). But we pushed them in a cardiovascular way- not just so they could get in great shape. We wanted them to understand that we're going to invite pain and exhaustion in our life. We're going to embrace it. We're going to go after it.

"All that type of thing brings out that tenacity, that relentless pursuit, and that physical mentality that says, 'You know what, we can't control the final score. But we are literally going to go out and dominate our opponent. We're going to out-work them, out-effort them and out-hit them.' "

I LOVE IT!!!

Wanting to Get Better

Quarterback guru Jon Gruden recently worked out Tim Tebow in preparation for the upcoming NFL Draft. Along with the workout, Gruden also talked strategy with the young quarterback. Here is what he had to say about Tebow's work ethic and will to get better:

"Tim's transition to more of a conventional NFL style has drawn a lot of questions from people, whether he can make the modifications in his passing delivery and adapt to playing under center ... What I'm really impressed with is the way he sits on the edge of his chair and his work ethic and relentlessness to become great is really second to nobody."

Strive to Get Better

You might not think it, but sometimes the “gut check” comes on a 75-degree day when the sky hasn’t a cloud and your team is winning.

It was that kind of day in Waco, Texas, when Nebraska played the Baylor Bears last Halloween. Curenski Gilleylen was there. So were plenty of family and friends. After all, it’s a little more than an hour’s drive on I-35 to get to Waco from Gilleylen’s hometown of Leander, Texas.

The Husker wide receiver had been looking forward to that game.

Then it arrived.

“I didn’t play a down,” Gilleylen said. “I had to realize then that this was for real and I had to step my game up.”

Gilleylen calls it a “gut check,” an “eye-opening experience.” Pick your description. Just don’t call it fun.

Then again, if the lessons of 2009 turn out to be a launching pad for the 6-foot, 215-pound junior, it will prove a season of great use.

“I definitely took it as I can’t take anything for granted,” Gilleylen said. “No matter what it is, whether I have a great couple of games at the beginning, I think I kind of got comfortable at the beginning. I can’t get complacent. I’ve got to strive to get better, and that’s what I’ve got to do every time I step foot on the field.”

-From the LJS

Being Positive

"I'm an optimist by nature. That's why when it comes to any negative stuff, I don't like to hear about it. I don't like to read about it. I don't like to know about it. I try to be positive."

-Derek Jeter

Suns Doing it with Defense

Some good quotes from Suns players on why they are starting to get on a roll in the Western Conference. This article from espn.com comes after their win over the Bulls on Tuesday night:

In the span of just a few weeks, the Suns have turned from a team that couldn't figure out which direction it wanted to go, to a team that no Western Conference opponent wants to see come playoff time.

So, what happened?

Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said it all boils down to closing out games, something his veteran-led team had a hard time doing earlier in the season. "That's what I think we've done, and we've had different people do it," he said after his team's latest win. "Steve (Nash) made a couple of big shots, but then Channing (Frye) came up and probably made the biggest shot of the game."

As Gentry is the first to tell you, though, closing out games doesn't just mean making a big play on the offensive end. "We've been able to come up with stops when we need them, too," he said. "I think that's the big thing right there because we got in the habit of exchanging baskets and that puts so much pressure on your offense that it can overwhelm you]."

Richardson believes that he and his teammates have formed an entirely new identity over the past couple of months. "We're a totally different team," he said. "Two months ago we were a team that had big leads that we'd end up giving back. We weren't focused on the defensive end. This half of the season now we're really focused on the defensive end and helping each other out. The way we're playing now is huge. We're going to need to play like this in the playoffs. With the game on the line you have to come up with stops to get wins."

That's exactly what Richardson & Co. did against the Bulls late in the game, and that's the biggest reason they are most likely headed to the playoffs and the Bulls most likely are not.

Stoudemire believes there is another key reason as well. "I think our intensity has been improved," he said. "I think we've gotten better defensively. We're scoring the ball at will. We're defending guys one-on-one and also collectively. Our rotations have been on point. We turned our focus up a notch. That also adds to determination. With all that being said, that's what allowing us to play better so far."

Confronted by Team, a Spartan Responds

Michigan State's Durrell Summers is one of the most athletic players on his team. Summers is playing his best basketball of his career in leading the Spartans into the Final Four. Before the tournament started, Summers' was dogged by his coaches and teammates for what they described as a poor effort. This article explains how a team meeting helped Summers turn the corner and in turn helped the Spartans reach yet another Final Four. From the Detroit Free Press:

They do not always do things delicately at Michigan State, whether rebounding in bruising fashion or calling out a teammate for playing without enough passion.

Spartans guard Durrell Summers found out that second part after he had been acting as if he were overqualified to play defense.

Summers was benched in the second half of Michigan State’s loss to Minnesota in the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament. Asked if he was worried about Summers’s confidence, Coach Tom Izzo told Michigan State basketball beat reporters, “Confidence has nothing to do with guarding somebody.”

Michigan State’s players were no less blunt at a players-only meeting in which Summers faced a reckoning.

“We all said what we had to say to Durrell, and Durrell sat there and listened and took it like a man, if it was good or bad,” said Draymond Green, a sophomore forward.

Summers can be an explosive offensive player, but he yawned on defense and admitted that he only glanced at scouting reports and rarely absorbed them. He needed Izzo and his teammates to shake him up, and they did, for two days before the N.C.A.A. tournament started.

It was a reordering of Michigan State basketball, which has lost its leading scorer, Kalin Lucas, to injury but gained a star in Summers. A 6-foot-4 junior from Detroit, Summers made 8 of 10 shots and scored 21 points against Tennessee in a 70-69 victory in the Midwest Regional final Sunday to cap a splendid four-game stretch that helped carry Michigan State to the Final Four.

Summers was 1 for 5 in that Big Ten tournament game against Minnesota, but in four N.C.A.A. tournament games, he has made 30 of 54 shots from the field (55 percent) and averaged 20 points a game. He was named the most outstanding player in the Midwest Region.

Lucas, an all-Big Ten guard, ruptured an Achilles’ tendon in a second-round tournament game against Maryland, but now the Spartans are headed to the Final Four with a player who was helping to rupture the team in early March.

“Through the whole tournament, my defense was on a different level,” Summers said. “It actually has been able to translate to my offense; I am so focused in on defense that nothing can break my focus on offense.

“That was a matter of me having to look in a mirror seeing what Coach is asking of me. Coach was telling me you don’t realize how you rub off on other people.”

Izzo was determined not to let Summers skate through. The coach said he had had other players, gifted players, who got away from him without being pushed to their potential. Izzo had no choice, he said, but to push Summers to an uncomfortable edge.

“When you go through a couple of guys like that in the past and it didn’t work out for them, I kind of vowed I’ll never let that happen again,” Izzo said. “Sometimes, people take things casually. And I think a lot of players do. And I’ve probably been harder on him because I think he has more to give. You know, when you have more to give, people are going to push you even harder.”

After the Big Ten tournament, Summers said he started meeting with Izzo and going over ways to increase his value to the team. Naturally, it started with being more devoted to defense. What Summers discovered was that when he played harder on defense, his offense came easier.

On Sunday, he ruined Tennessee with his shooting. The Volunteers concentrated on bearing down on Lucas’s replacement, Korie Lucious, but the Spartans were able to swing the ball toward Summers, who stroked shot after shot. He made 4 of 6 3-pointers, the last one with 2 minutes 47 seconds remaining, giving the Spartans a 69-66 lead. It was Michigan State’s final field goal of the game, and Summers turned to the bench and saw Izzo wink at him as if the player and coach had arrived at the peak together.

“In the beginning, we didn’t understand each other as much,” Summers said. “We talked some things out. We had to. It was tournament time.

“He felt like there were some things I wasn’t doing up to my ability. I eventually saw that. We watched a lot of film together and discussed some things, and I acknowledged that and I have just been trying to be a different player, a different person.”

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.''

Winning Time

“At certain times in the game we just kind of huddled up and said it’s winning time. Pretty much what winning time means for us is we’re going to get down and bite the floor on defense and everything’s going to go through our defense.”

-Durrell Summers, Michigan St.

Why Ali Farokhmanesh Can Really Shoot

Good stuff from Coach Randy Brown. Coaches can check out his website at http://iowapda.com or email at rb@coachrb.com

Ali Farokhmanesh has been one of the most popular college basketball players in the country for his clutch shooting against #1 Kansas in the 2nd round and against UNLV in the 1st round of the tournament.

From Coach RB:

On Tuesday I watched UNI's practice in preparation for their Sweet Sixteen showdown with Michigan State.After an intense 90 minute workout, most of the players left the floor to the locker room.

Two players stayed; Johnny Moran and Ali Farokhmanesh.I watched as they went through a competitive shooting routine with Assistant coach P.J. Hogan.

From six spots on the floor, each player had to make three in a row going at game speed. Then they moved out behind the three point line and shot from six more spots, having to make three in a row from each spot before moving on. They had to make 36 shots, all in a row!

As I watched I noticed three things:

1. Good shooters, like Johnny and Ali, prepare to shoot by getting in a low stance with their hands ready; we call that showing a "window" at IPDA. As they caught the ball, they were in a low stance and ready to shoot the ball quickly. Most players catch the ball upright and it takes time and movement to bend their knees and prepare to shoot. By the time you do this, it's too late to take the shot.

If you like to shoot, learn how to prepare how to shoot!I've never met a player who doesn't like to shoot, but rarely see players who properly and consistently prepare to shoot----which makes no sense to me at all!

2. The workout was competitive and required concentration and toughness. This was following a very intense 90 minute workout so these two guys were very fatigued. They helped and encouraged each other through the workout as good teammates do!

3. 90% of their missed shots were long, not short. A common fault of young players is missing most of their shots short, not long. The reason; see #1--catching the ball low/shot preparation. Even after a tough workout, misses were long not shot. That was very impressive to me and should be something all players strive for.

Why are Ali and Johnny great shooters?

They make extra, competitive shooting when tired, a priority every day! EVERY DAY!

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.

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.

------------

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.”