Get Your Mind Right

As I've said numerous times this spring season, I learned something else to add to list of things to accomplish with my team.  You can have the best players and lose.  You can have mediocre players and win.  And you can sometimes predict the future outcome 10-20 minutes before tip-off. All you have to do is see what they do for pregame.

I've been on both ends and seen it coming in most cases.  How you prepare for a game doesn't end after the last practice.  It ends at tip-off.  The stretching before hand, pregame meeting, the five minute warm up, the huddle just before the starters take to the court - that's all part of the preparation.  And that part, when not done well, can easily put you in a really bad situation.  Before you know it, you are down 15 to a bunch of scrawny, goofy looking kids, that most probably thought wouldn't be able to catch a ball, let alone make you look like clowns on the court.  But you can't just go through the motions - the stretching has to actually loosen the muscles, the pregame meeting needs to have meaning, warm-ups need to be focused and purposeful, and the huddle should be encouraging.  You have to "get your mind right" before hand, because if you don't "come correct" you've probably just come to get wrecked.

As a coach, I will need to explain and drive all of this for the first few games and/or tournaments so it sinks in and becomes routine.  I have seen how important it is for myself.  I've heard from coaches I respect how damaging it was for their teams in games they struggled in.  I heard basketball greats emphasize how important preparation was to them and their teammates.  Being someone who wants to someday reach that level of success and respect, I would have to be a fool - idiot even - to not make that one of the things I add to my next season.  Not to mention that it is a little intimidating to your opponent if they walk into the gym all lackadaisical and see all of your players stretching together, focused and ready to rip them to shreds, have an intense warm up and storm the court with crazy amounts of energy.  Weaker men may just wet themselves. 

I have tournaments I haven't won, leagues that I've yet to earn the title of champion in - to bite off my Lady Bears, I have "Unfinished Business." To those coaches I'll be competing against: this spring may be your worst nightmare.  We may not win all of our games, but you are going to be in for one heck of a battle.  You better believe it'll be "Put up or Shut up" when my team takes the floor, so don't let me catch you sleeping.