2009 MSU Men's Basketball

MSU Men's basketball played SE Louisiana last night. The result was a win for the bulldogs, but a disappointment to an old coach's eyes. We do have some great talent--don't get me wrong--but what was missing is going to cost us championships.

For example, one of our top-rated players was winded after three trips up and down the court. As a forward, he should be leading the pack in defensive transition, so he should be the first man to defend the basket. But he waited at half court before he decided whether or not it would be worth his time to help his team defensively. This same star player had just about the same upper body and upper arm size he had at the end of last season.

In short, he demonstrated that he had not paid the price of greatness in the off season. It is quite a simple formula: if you don't pay the price of greatness, you will not be great. For basketball, the off season price consists of weight training and long distance running. The not-so-great players, instead, spend the off season only playing basketball, generally, half court, and generally, with opponents of their own skill level or less. As a result, they come to mid October's first practice as worse players than they were in their last game of March Madness.

The only reason a team like ours doesn't get totally humiliated at the beginning of the season is because the other teams follow the same pattern. They are starting over each season, just like we are.

From time to time, a truly great player comes along. He has a great work ethic (as it is called) and does his physical training and conditioning on his own time and spends the team practice sessions working on basketball. His passes are crisp and his turnovers are low because he has energy and is in shape.

Unfortunately, I did not see him last night.

Jump Shot Consistency

You might notice that when you get in games your 3-point percentage is a lot less than when we practice.

It is just that your body reverts to the (some bad) habits you have done most and you are going to have to work on mental toughness to force yourself to do what we practice:

1. Complete stop of body lateral motion,
2. Jump vertically (do not lean forwards or backwards),
3. Release the shot at the top of the jump (just before you start back down)
4. Follow through: Arm extended vertically, wrist snapped down (not out).

If you do these things consistently, you can hit 90% or more. It is just physics! It takes mental toughness to force your body to do what your mind knows to do. And practice so much that it becomes your strongest habit.

See you,
Bill

Fouls.

It's important to remember that you have 5 fouls in a game. If you can space out your 40 minutes and give 5 fouls during that time, you see an average of every 8 minutes you can foul. So plan is to use your fouls wisely. You want to keep people from making those easy points, so make your fouls count.

You want to find the balance between an intentional foul and a valid attempt to make them think about the pain the next time they try the same thing. Never knowingly do something that could injure the opponent, but try to get the full value for your foul. You want him to be distracted, whether he is in pain, or just out for vengeance. Either way, he will not be 100% focused, and you have won the mental game.

Don't waste the foul. A wasted foul means they got an opportunity to go to the line and shoot an uncontested shot, when they weren't already about to make a good play, i.e., an assist to an open player, or an open shot. A foul out front when they were just dribbling, for example, is a wasted foul.

You also waste your fouls if you have more than one or two left over at the end of the game. You do need to save some for overtime if the game is close, but you don't need to save them if your team is behind, and you've got to make a difference.

Unless the player is "in the zone" and has been popping 3-point shots all night, never foul outside the arc. Use distraction, instead.

listen

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Confidence.

Confidence. The most important part of any sport, basketball in particular, is confidence. If you stand at the line, if you think you can get that ball in, it will go in. If you're not confident, it will not go in. Confidence somehow makes things work. There is a way to build confidence. It comes from doing your homework. listen

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Homework.

Homework. The homework that allows you to have confidence that what you're going to do will work is called practice. If you have practiced over and over and over under the same stressful conditions that you'll see in the game, you will succeed. Confidence comes from practice, practice, practice. Practice is just the art of instilling a habit. listen

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Paying the price.

Paying the price. A lot of times players have lots of ability, but they don't want to pay the price, in order to great. They are better than everybody else just because of their ability. But they are not great, because they don't pay the price. When I was scrimmaging with people, I would have to pay the price before I'd let myself get out and play, i.e., I would have to go run a mile. When I had run my mile and paid my price, then I was able to scrimmage. In the same way, long distance running is the price that good players have to pay in order to become great. Until you can run for one hour continuously, you are not ready to run for two halves of a basketball game. Are you willing to pay the price? listen

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Stop Hitting my Hands Part 2

Stop Hitting my Hands Part 2. So, say when you as a defender keep the other person from thinking about the goal, you've have succeeded; you have a victory over him in his thoughts and when you have a victory over his thoughts you have a victory over his body as well. "The hand is part of the ball," is what the rules say; therefore, hit him on the hands continuously when he has the ball. listen

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