Attention club players. Sometimes you are going to suck. Yes, suck. S.U.C.K. You’ll miss shots, get cooked on defense, turn it over, look tired, lose confidence, and have weekends where nothing feels right. That doesn’t mean you’re failing. It usually means you’re being stretched. Courage is showing up anyway!! Perseverance is continuing to work anyway!! And parents/coaches (sadly, I’m as guilty as anyone), not every bad game needs a full “TED Talk” on the car ride home. Sometimes the lesson is simple… keep working, keep competing, keep growing.
“Everybody can’t score. We’ve got to be thinking, ‘How do I create offense for my teammates?’”
The team needs to score, not just one player. Dusty May is encouraging teamwork and good shot selection during the chaos of the game. Sometimes, teams go through a stretch of poor possessions or take consecutive bad shots. May is calling out his team to create the advantage first and play with his concepts of dominoes until they find a good-to-great shot for each other.
University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson on next season's team: "So now this year coming up is going to be a completely different team. I've had to start over every year regardless who was coming back. . .
"Next year, no Kingston (Flemings). No Chris (Cenac Jr.), no Milos (Uzan), no Emanuel (Sharp). So now we do next year what we've done the last 12 years. Every year's a new year. But we've had 13 of them. So we'll figure it out.
"I enjoy figuring it out. That's one of the great things about the offseason. Your mind starts wandering."
"We all wake up and start making a bunch of choices and those choices impact winning.
Every day you have got to make great choices.
Because when you make great choices over and over again that's how you get discipline."
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UCONN HC Dan Hurley - Building a System/Identity
- "Our system is how hard we play. How hard we get after people every single possession at both ends of the court & on the backboard."
- "The number one thing you got to understand if you want to have a program that can sustainably be successful and have a chance to win every single night... It's hard to coach that way because it's fu**ing exhausting. To coach every single possession, every single day and when the losing team runs the line because every single drill we do there is a winner & a loser, when they get this close and miss that line, you better be there to call them out and make the whole team now run with them."
"If you want to start the game 6-0, like I start most games just because my team is ready to go because we go so hard every day."
This dude is wise beyond his years
“You disappoint people. It comes with the territory... Your loyalty is to each of your players, but your ultimate loyalty is to the team."
(Via @tonywmiller 🎥)
This is GOLD
“You aren’t always going to be liked as a head coach but if you are always honest, and tell the truth, you will always have their respect”
From Jon Scheyer to Bob Richey to D2 coaches to NAIA coaches - they’re all talking about the “rollercoaster” ups and downs of coaching in today’s game.
It doesn’t matter who you recruit. Every year you bring in 3,4,5, or more new players. Recruit high schoolers, and it’ll take time for them to mature through college game reps. Bring in transfers, and it’ll take time acclimating to your program’s culture. The results will be ups and downs throughout your season.
Coaches can’t get too high with the wins or too low with the losses.
Strong cultures with transformational leaders and players who buy in and develop mental toughness will have the best chances for success.
Things players need to STOP doing if they want to play more ⬇️
• Catching and shot faking before they even catch the ball .. usually leads to a travel
• Pulling their dribble when getting pressured
• Letting emotions take them out of the game
Accountability is only offensive to those who don’t hold themselves accountable.
When you hold yourself to a high standard, you aren’t threatened by accountability.
Lead yourself first.
“We don't become you. You become us."
Great teams don’t adapt to individuals.
Individuals adapt to the standard.
The culture is built.
The standard is set.
You either buy in, or you don’t belong.