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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Tom Thibodeau- Work Ethic

The following is a great story from the New York Times on Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau.


KENSINGTON, Conn. — The unofficial Chicago Bulls fan club of central Connecticut gathered around a 110-inch television one Thursday earlier this month. One family composed most of the club, four parents and two siblings who live here within half a mile of one another, the entire brood close by, always, except for one.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

GHS After 41 Years

The Quad City Times ran an article about the WB6 where they mentioned in boys sports, GHS has not won a WB6 title in baseball, track, football, or basketball since 1998. It mentioned that was 54 total seasons without a championship. People are quick to come up with explanations for success and lack of success.

On the girls side, GHS has won only 1 WB6 title in the last 8 years in basketball, volleyball, track, and softball.

In these 8 "major" sports as determined by the QC Times, 50% of them have not won a single conference title in the last 20 years. Only one of the sports has won more than one conference title in the last twenty years.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Longest 15 Seconds of My LifeBy Zach Bohannon

Just over 15 seconds remained on the clock...

Wisconsin just got the ball back, down 63-64, and it was in none other than Jordan Taylor's hands. As I sat watching the game from the basketball offices back at the Kohl Center, I could not help but think about what a picturesque scene this truly was. Wisconsin was in the Sweet 16, playing against a team that was ranked #1 in the nation for a good majority of the year and we had the final shot to win it. Coach Ryan, who strategically chose not to use his final timeout after we regained possession, more importantly trusted that Jordan would be able to make a play and send us into the next round. Who better would you want with the ball in that situation anyways?

120322MBB-3107-11.jpgLess than 13 seconds remained on the clock...

Jordan dribbled the ball up across the half court line and the top two defenders in Syracuse's ferocious 2-3 zone defense played a game of cat and mouse with him. Wisconsin had the play "Horns" called, which is two high ball screens at each side of the lane. This action was made famous by two-time NBA champion coach Chuck Daly, who coined the term in the 1980's. The play was exploited by Syracuse due to their great length and athleticism. However, Jordan tried to make a play anyways, something that Wisconsin fans saw countless times throughout his stellar career, but nothing was there. He retreat dribbled back to half court, a maneuver that has been drilled into his head religiously the past four seasons by Coach Ryan when you are under pressure. Time was running out and Jordan knew it, but still somehow kept his cool.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Twitter- High School Athletes

The following recruiting tip was posted by an agency involved in helping high school players with the recruiting process--

"Every college coach I know say they've stopped recruiting a player based on their online updates w/ disrespectful language."

Some simple advice to high school athletes--

1- Don't use profanity on twitter.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Jason Shay- Thanks For Your Help


I found when I first starting coaching, the most effective way to learn was to talk to other coaches. Some coaches are very open and very sharing, other coaches can be very secretive. In coaching girls basketball, some coaches could be very condescending and would not give me the time of day. Fortunately I have had many coaches who have patiently listened to my questions.

I have really appreciated Jason Shay’s willingness to listen to my questions, and his willingness to share his expertise. Jason has been a tremendous resource to me. Not only is he willing to field my questions, he is one of the most knowledgeable basketball coaches I have been around. There are a lot of things pretty impressive about Jason as a coach.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Popular Posts

You may have noticed on the side, three is column of "Popular Posts." This is an option on the blog I have elected to add. It lists the posts which have been viewed the most in either the last week, last month, or since the beginning of the blog. I have chosen to have it rotate- so sometimes it will be the most popular of just the last week, then sometimes the last month, and sometimes the over the entire time the blog has been up. The blog automatically calculates the visits and then ranks the posts in order of popularity.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Tiffany Sibley- Signing

Tiffany Sibley will be going into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame this spring. This is a picture from her signing to go to Northern Iowa. the picture is from 1991-2 season.

Bo Ryan- Practice Attitude

Bo Ryan talks about the attitude you must have players have when they approach practice against their teammates.

"You tell them on the first day, if you don't go hard against me, you are being disrespectful to me. If I don't go hard at you every possession, every day- I am being disrespectful to you."

Steve Smith

Quote from Steve Smith is the coach of Oak Hill Academy. It is an elite basketball school on the east coach. He has amassed over 800 wins. He has a great quote about the off-season.

"In watching players workout in the off- season, I have come to this conclusion. It isn't what they do thats important but how they do it!!!"

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Jeff VanGundy Wisdom

Jeff VanGundy is someone I didn't like when he was coaching, now I love listening to him as he covers games. He falls in the category of Rick Majerus, Doug Collins, and Dan Dakich. When they cover a game, it is a coaching clinic.

Wisdom from last nights Bulls game--

"Good teams can adjust after wins. Bad teams only adjust after losses."

Off-Season Advice

The following is from Alan Stein--


Your Enemy

By Alan Stein10. April 2012 00:21

Your comfort zone is your enemy.

Your comfort zone makes you soft.

Your comfort zone makes you complacent.

If you want to maximize your ability, on and off the court, you must learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

You have to consistently (and intentionally) step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Exploring Our Limits

The following exerpt from Terry Orlick's book- "Exploring Our Limits" was part of todays Psych II lesson on humanist psychology and goal setting. I think it is a great exerpt which makes us think about how we can have the ability to open up our potential or the ability to limit our potential.


     My personal experiences as a competitive athlete have been rich ones. There have been some memorable highs which remain with me. Some involved achieving personal goals, others involved the sheer joy of being absorbed in the experience. One of my achievement highs was when I first did a quadruple twisting back sommersault on the trampoline. Some might say-- so what? Who cares if you can spin your body around in the air four times before coming down? What difference does it make?

Monday, April 9, 2012

Will Seniors Be Hungry?

Montee has amazed new people with his combination of talents as well as his practice demeanor & work habits. 2011 has made him more hungry!
I read the above tweet on Montee Ball. Ball was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy as a junior. You always wonder if success makes a player hungry or makes a player satisfied.

As a high school coach, this time of year, you anxiously look to see how next year's seniors will approach things. How committed will next year's seniors be?


We often focus on how players react to failure. There are countless stories of the athlete who lost and was inspired to work so it would not happen again.

Often we don't realize it is just as important to see how athletes react to success. I have had players who had great sophomore or great junior seasons. As a coach, you expected them to take things to the next level. But sometimes it does not happen. Their success made them content- it was good enough. Perhaps they figured just getting a year older would be all they needed to do.

Jon Gordon- 10 Thoughts on Leadership

"A leader brings out the best within others by sharing the best within themselves."


This is a quote from Jon Gordon, the author of the Energy Bus. 


Gordon has a list of ten items leaders exhibit.



Pat Summitt & Goal Setting

Pat Summitt says--

“Set a goal that stretches you, requires exceptional effort, but one that you can reach,” says Summit, the bearer of more championship jewelry than any coach in women’s basketball history. “We might set a goal that we win 20 or so games, that we win a conference championship, that we make the NCAA tournament. If we do those things, the truth is we have a chance of winning the national championship. But I would never want that to be the only goal.”

Twitters of the Day

Tom Flick  |  @TomFlick
Leaders speak differently than others. They speak about hope, optimism and a better future.
 
Kevin Eastman  |  @KevinEastman
To be successful you cannot live in "excuses".  You live in "reasons" and "results". Know why u failed -- then solve it!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Repetition

The System- An Effective Business Model

Daily Finance uses the model of David Arseneault's System as a model that businesses would be effective to use. Interesting analysis.


Businesses Could Learn a Lot From This Tiny College


Posted 1:51PM 02/28/12Posted under: Investing
In 1989, David Arsenault packed up his bags and moved to rural Iowa to become the new men's basketball coach at Grinnell College. The school, which is consistently ranked as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country, hadn't seen a winning conference season since 1962.
Instead of coming in and trying to re-create a Hoosiers-esque turnaround in the program, Arsenault decided to fundamentally change the metric by which he measured success. By doing so, the story of Arsenault and the Grinnell College program holds many a valuable lesson for today's business leaders and investors.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Rainee Sibley- Back On Track

The Register-Mail ran an article on Rainee Sibley running track. We have several of our Streaks varsity players out for track this spring. Myra Diggins, Sharron Diggins, Rainee Sibley, Chloe Anderson, and Allison Mangieri. I am especially pleased several of them are running 400 & 800- I think that is great prep for basketball.


Sibley gets back on track with Silver Streaks

By Matthew Wheaton
The Register-Mail

Monday, April 2, 2012

Shaka Smart- Pressing

Coach Shaka Smart (Head Coach – VCU)
 
What are we trying to get out of the press?
 
·      Turnovers (Live Ball)
·      Quick / Bad Shots
·      Create Offensive Opportunities
·      Force Tempo / Disrupt Offensive Flow
·      Difficult to Prepare For
·      Make Opposing Players do things they aren’t comfortable doing
·      Create fatigue (Cumulative Effect)      
-       Who gets tired 1st? Who recovers quickest?
·      Make depth a factor (Who’s 6-10 is better?)
·      Exciting style of play (Players/fans)
·      Identity/Brand