Until you've loved a love you had to lose: You don't know what love is.
Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost: You don't know what love is."
Ahh the Good Morning Heartache that comes the day after a tough loss, many players and coaches are feeling that pain as they deal with the "March Madness". For us the fans we love to watch the drama and agony it's what keeps us watching even if it is till 2am when we have to be up for work at 6am. I hope you have been lucky enough to be spared from the pain of March Madness so far, but don't worry your time will soon come as not everyone gets to end their season with a win. Here are my best heartaches from the past week:
Thank you LeBron James for reminding young players about the importance of taking the game seriously. Jason Richardson decided to be a show-off and LeBron made him pay for it. The best player in the league hustling back on defense. Oh, and by the way he also had a triple-double that night. Who said they don't play defense in the NBA?
MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS
It's not Ben Rothelisberger in the Super Bowl...it's you and your training partner. 9 Spots on the floor 4 inside the 3 point line, and 5 spots outside the 3 point line. You get 2 minutes of continuous shooting per spot with the same sequence of shots; jumper, shot fake 1 dribble pull up, and lastly shot fake one dribble lay-up. Repeat the sequence for 2 minutes. Go game speed and try to have one passer and one rebounder to keep the drill moving. When you have completed a spot record your score, 3 for three's , 2 for jumpers and 1 point for lay-ups. Here are today's results see if you can do better: 1-4 are inside the 3
5-9 are outside the 3
40
38
34
28
43
35
39
32
38
My NCAA Picks
Everybody is asking so here goes, I'm rooting for a lot of teams and a bunch of players for sentimental reasons. Let's go down the list:
Louisville: Go Earl Clark, Edgar Sosa and Samardo Samuels
West Virginia: Darryl"Truck" Bryant, Devin Ebanks, Desean Butler, Wellington Smith
They say spring comes in like a lion and leaves out like a lamb, unfortunately most of us don't know who they are. That is until they eat us up like lamb chops served to a pride of hungry lions. Week 2 of March and no matter what level you compete on, you must be hungry. I haven't even gotten a chance to call some high school players in time, they have already been eliminated from their state tournaments. I'm running to Madison Square Garden to catch the Big East Tournament next week because I'm afraid some teams will only be dancing at the club and not in the NCAA Tournament. As soon as March ends the NBA Playoffs kick into high gear. No matter what level, I hope your season is still going strong. This is the part that you work so hard to get to. When you come up short it's a direct reflection of your preparation, focus and desire. Please if you do come up short don't approach the off-season the same way you did last year...It will take you right back to the same place next year.
Offense Wins Games Defense Wins Championships
There isn't a day that goes by where someone doesn't ask me about training for their son, daughter or star player. I love and appreciate it because it's what I do for a living. The thing I find most interesting is that all they ever want to focus on is shooting. Not saying that offense isn't important, but what if you aren't the number 1 option on your team. What if they have plenty of scoring and they need someone to play defense and do the dirty work? If you have ever been fortunate enough to come to one of my training sessions you will quickly see that we don't just play offense and work on shooting. We spend lots of time teaching defense because if the other team can't score you greatly increase your chances for victory. Now I'm not saying don't work on your offense, what I am saying is don't forget you have to play both ends of the floor. Coach knows where to get offense, they need someone who can stop the other team's best player. Don't take my word for it:
March, it's awesome baby...but it can also be heart-breaking. I've seen tears of joy and tears of sorrow all on the same court. Kudos to all my high school players winning county championships and preparing for state championships you provide a great example of the rewards and glory that come with hard work and dedication in the off-season. If you're season is over then it is absolutely necessary for you to get in the gym with me and start the process of working on your game. Before you get complacent with games, tournaments and warm weather you need to make a commitment to getting better. You will have the same results if you continue to take the same approach. I'm very proud of you all, and you never know when I might just show up in your gym so keep brining your "A" Game. For my college players you too are not safe from my watchful eye, I snuck up on a couple of you last weekend down in DC.
Motivational Tactics
Rutgers women get locker room back in time to chase NCAA bid by M.A. Mehta/The Star-Ledger Friday February 27, 2009, 8:51 PM Epiphanny Prince says her team's auxiliary locker room was 'dirty' and 'nasty.' In a critical moment, with everything on the line, Epiphanny Prince found an opening and went for it.
It was risky, it was brash, and it came with the possibility of great consequences. But somebody needed to lift Rutgers out of this cluttered mess.
Hey, Coach. Can we get our locker room back?
For 49 days, Prince & Co. were banished from the friendly confines of the Scarlet Knights' locker room. Coach C. Vivian Stringer was prepared for anyone with ideas of sneaking in to grab some R&R, watch a little television or listen to music: She changed the entrance security code.
The morning after Rutgers' disappointing road loss to Syracuse on Jan. 6, Stringer kicked her team out to a nearby 15x11-foot cubbyhole used by the gymnastics team. It was about a quarter of the size of their usual home with no TV, no radio and no elbow room.
"We were cramped," Prince said. "It was hot. It stunk. It was bad. Plus, it was dirty in there. It was nasty."
After Rutgers dismantled Cincinnati Tuesday for its third consecutive victory, Prince seized the opportunity with a spur-of-the-moment, post-game plea.
And it worked.
The Scarlet Knights (17-10, 8-6 Big East), who can get off the NCAA Tournament bubble with a road win against St. John's Saturday, hauled their belongings back to their locker room this week. They even got back the team practice gear after 85 days of wearing their own clothes and doing their own laundry.
"It cost me $15 a week to do laundry," junior Myia McCurdy said. "Do you know how much I can do with $15? That's like 30 cheeseburgers a week."
Financial burdens aside, the players weren't big fans of their temporary residence. The cramped quarters became an unseemly mess. Sneakers, bags and dirty clothes littered the tight space.
"I'm a neat freak," senior Heather Zurich said. "So I was getting really upset. People's stuff was all over the place. It was just bad news."
It never felt right.
Names of gymnasts were taped atop old, weathered lockers. A gentle reminder was tacked on a pile of cardboard boxes stacked alongside a wall: "LADIES, DO NOT TOUCH: GYMNASTICS."
With 11 players, four coaches, a trainer and a portable chalkboard, there wasn't any space to stretch out during pregame rituals, half-time meetings or post-game chats.
"Even after the games, it would be bad because it was so small," junior Brittany Ray said, cringing at the memory. "We were all so sweaty. So, it's definitely a relief. I don't know ... I needed to get back in our locker room. It was just too much in that little room."
Stringer initially took away practice gear on Dec. 2 because she felt the team was playing selfishly. She wasn't overly concerned whether the Scarlet Knights won or lost at that point. She wanted to see unity.
When nothing changed, Stringer moved them to their new home in the northeast corner of the Rutgers Athletic Center a month later. The coach tried the same tactic two years ago, denying locker room access for a month, before Rutgers regrouped en route to its magical Final Four run.
When Stringer praised the Scarlet Knights for playing like a cohesive unit after the Cincinnati win, Prince saw her chance to reclaim the things they had lost.
Stringer relented.
"It's a lesson learned," red-shirt freshman Khadijah Rushdan said. "If we're going to get anywhere, we can't play like individuals. We have to be a team."
For the past couple weeks, Rutgers has played the unselfish brand of basketball that Stringer has craved all season. The team finally responded to the coach's unorthodox methods.
"We look like a team again," Zurich said. "We're playing like a team. It's nice to be in a locker room instead of a shoebox."
Silence The Critics
Ever have anyone openly criticize what you can't do out on the court? Of course you have because it happens to the best of us. I love Rip Hamilton's game because we all know he is constantly moving without the ball to get open and is very efficient once he catches it. Catch and shoot, or one dribble pull up is mostly what you see. Despite his efficiency, many question Rip's ability to shoot past 15 to 17 feet. Well like most great players all he does is prove that nay-sayers provide excellent motivation and their opinion matters very little. After you watch this video I want you to think about what parts of your game you can work on to silence your critics. Get back to me on that one, in the meantime here's Rip.....
State Tournament, NCAA Tournament, NIT Tournament or NBA Playoffs. Whatever level you compete, now is the time to bring your "A" Game. It's funny how players complain about practice and fatigue but remind them that one loss and the season is over and suddenly they forget about how tired they are. So stop complaining how tired you are and get ready to make a run that will be remembered for years to come. There's nothing more exciting than coming back to your gym and seeing your winning season up in the rafters. How will you be remembered? Are there really no Cinderella Stories?
Will your team have reason to celebrate this season?
Temporary Insanity aka T.I.
Parents of N.J. athletes prepare for 'temporary insanity' of winter sports
Posted by Mark Di Ionno/The Star-Ledger February 21, 2009 6:00AM
Rob Gilbert, a professor of sports psychology and culture at Montclair State, loves this joke.
"Someone told me they were writing a book about parents and youth sports. I said, 'What's the title, 'Temporary Insanity?'" It's a big weekend for high school winter sports. District wrestling tournament, state and county basketball games, hockey, swimming, fencing playoffs, the indoor track Meet of Champions. Same goes for youth sports. It's tournament time, from indoor lacrosse to competitive cheerleading, and thousands of parents will caddy their kids' equipment bags to gyms, pools and rinks round New Jersey.
So here comes the Temporary Insanity. Not just by parents. By coaches. By fans. That all the sports are indoors magnifies the problem. Vitriol doesn't get carried away by breezes from bleachers to field; it bounces, and rebounds and echoes off tile walls and hardwood floors.
This is nothing new. No one knows exactly when the first sports parent berated a referee or called a coach an idiot, but it was probably during the first Greek Youth Olympiad. Since then, rules have been made. Schools and leagues ask for pledges to be signed. The T.I. can be removed from gyms, banned from leagues. Police can be called, games forfeited. Still, when the moment is right -- eruption. For the less-crazy among us, T.I. is bottled and capped, but watching kids participate in organized sports can still be tough. Here's a startling fact. Seventy-five percent of kids quit sports by age 14, from either burnout, boredom or pressure.
"It's just not fun anymore," Gilbert said. T.I. has a lot to do with it. "Parents are so emotionally and even financially tied to their children's experiences," said John McCarthy, a lifetime teacher and former basketball coach. "They want to see their kids do well, and expect it because they've paid for camps, and private coaching, and travel teams, and on and on. They want a return on their investment, and if they think a coach or referee is impeding on that, look out!"
McCarthy and Gilbert, along with Dave Kaplan of the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center have launched a series of panels and seminars to help parents and coaches navigate the treacherous waters of youth sports. "We see this as part of Yogi's legacy of a simpler, more normal approach to sports," Kaplan said. The Berra museum is a pantheon honoring baseball the way it used to be, beginning with pictures from Yogi's sandlot days, captioned by Yogisms like "Playing baseball as a kid in St. Louis was pure joy," and "Playing sports gave me a happy childhood." On the program agenda are such topics as "Measuring Your Child's Athletic Ceiling" and "The Benefits and Drawback of Travel and Club Teams." "Parents find themselves pulled into this vortex of youth sports, and they don't really know a lot about it," McCarthy said. "We want to give them information to help them make good decisions for their kids, and themselves. "One example is the explosion of club and travel teams, and private coaching. Kids "'try out" for teams with names like "'futures" and "'nationals" and "'all-star." Lo and behold, they all make it. Next thing you know, parents are spending thousands of dollars all with the hope of getting athletic stardom and scholarships for their kids "Some kids will get scholarships, but most do not. And when people hear 'scholarship' they think full ride. What they don't understand is the huge majority of athletic scholarships are partial, and they are all year-to-year," McCarthy said. And here's another startling fact: There is $22 billion available for academic scholarships, with only $1 billion available for athletic scholarships, according to the NCAA. You have to be crazy not to see that.
Don't Miss The Bus
O.K. I'm old school and I have to be honest it's sometimes hard for me to give it up to the new generation of basketball players. I don't know if it's the lack of fundamentals, the excess tattoos, not playing hard...I could be all day. Well I have to give it up to LeBron James when he was coming out of High School I was skeptical because I thought he was too skinny and couldn't shoot. LeBron I'm getting on the bandwagon bus. I know it's full but I will stand if I have to because you are that good and you have to give credit when credit is due. Not to mention dude's got personality and a whole lotta game!!
It's Friday and hopefully everyone is in good spirits. As superstitious as I am, I know 13 is actually a good number because according to the Ancient Egyptians 13 it represents the start of a new cycle or time period. 12 + 1 = 13. I wish I was blogging from Phoenix, but I'm not so despite the fact that it has been warmer this week on the East Coast it's still not 80 degrees like it is out there. Big weekend for me basketball wise I will be at the Nike Super 6 Tournament tonight @ Fordham University if you're in the building come by and say hello. Saturday night I will be down in Trenton, NJ at the Prime Time Shootout. For those not familiar with the Prime Time Shootout and its significance I offer the following:
LeBron vs Carmelo
A Who's Who of Talent
10 Reasons You Won't Make it To The Next Level
Attitude, if it's bad nobody wants you no matter how talented you think you are
Work Ethic...what did you do harder or better than someone else today without being asked?
Attention to Details...Very small differences, consistently practiced, produce superior results.
Playing is not working, if you spend more of your time playing than working how do you get better?
Practice Doesn't Make Perfect...Perfect Practice gets you closer to perfection. If you practice poorly you will continue with the same bad results.
There are others out there who are just better than you, don't envy them..emulate their formula for success. This applies to you too Coach!
A failure to plan is a plan that fails. I want to be a D-1 player but haven't completed my clearinghouse papers. I'm telling everyone I want to be a pro but I don't even know how to enter my name in the NBA Draft. You're just talking.....
You take your body for granted. You have no sound training program or plan, your idea of nutrition comes from a vending machine. Treat your body like a Sports Car and it will perform like one, treat your body like a "Hoopty" and it will perform like one.
You focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses. If you can jump out of the gym don't dunk after practice, work on your jumper. If you're a great shooter work on your ball-handling or your athleticism. Too many players focus only on their strengths and when someone takes that away their game starts to look real suspect.
You just don't want it bad enough. "A goal is a dream with a deadline." Refuse to lose and don't take no for an answer. It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get up.
How To Prepare
So you want to be a baller, eh? Take a look at my comprehensive approach on how to best prepare yourself for the next level.
Step#1
Give yourself a thorough and honest assessment that includes the following:
Physical Attributes utilizing a Standardized Basketball Testing Protocol. Record your height, weight, speed, agility and conditioning. This should also include a review of your nutritional intake as it affects your body and your performance. This is where you ask me about providing a SPARQ Testing Assessment for your team!
Step #2
Utilize Video Analysis to identify weaknesses in your game. If you can actually watch your mistakes and see them for yourself, you will probably be less likely to repeat your mistakes.
Step #3
Based on your physical assessment and video analysis what is your plan? What do you need to do to get better and how will you do that? If I asked to see what you were doing would you feel uncomfortable?
I'm not going to tell you what to do unless you ask me, if you do ask me be prepared to follow...or don't bother asking. If you were to ask me I would approach things like this:
In the Off-Season increase strengh and work load, minimize conditioning and focus on teaching and improving movement skills including lateral movement, change of direction and linear acceleration. Really focus on developing weak parts of your game through repetition. Shooting, ball-handling with weak hand, etc.
In the Pre-Season decrease strength training, focus on power 2x per week with Olympic Lifts, Kettlebells, Med Balls, etc. Increase conditioning through high intensity drill work and interval running. Stay away from long distance running to build endurance because it engages the catabolic process which breaks down the muscle you have worked so hard to attain in the weight room. During the Pre-Season all skills and drills must be performed at game speed in order to be effective.
Let me show you what I mean:
Then again you could always use this technique....but remember Hoosiers was a movie and not real life!!
Lot's of Wow this week. Let me get the first couple out of my system:
OK now on to basketball. It's February and that means you're season is heating up or you're season is about to be over because you won't be competing in post-season play. Well look on the bright side, you can start training early. A lot of you have been calling and e-mailing regarding scheduling and we will be releasing the schedule soon, I promise. Also this summer I hope to be able to offer you a revolutionary new approach to off-season training. It will only work if you're willing to commit to it and get out of it what you put into it. Of course you could always do what you did last off-season, but look where that got you? Stay tuned for more details and remember to get SPARQ Tested before you start training so you can benchmark yourself and identify your weaknesses. Once you have identified your weaknesses you can set up your training schedule and program in a way that will turn your weaknesses into your strengths.
New York New York
So if you're looking to boost your scoring average play a game in Madison Square Garden. Based on this week's results word is getting around that this is the place to be if you want to boost your scoring average. For what it's worth I am more impressed with LeBron's 52 10 and 11 over Kobe's 61 0 and 3. Can you guess the last person in the NBA to record a Triple Double while scoring 50 points? For those of you old enough to remember go here. Hey you can judge for yourself on Sunday when Kobe and LeBron meet head to head. Here are some memorable MSG scoring outbursts just for old time's sake:
After Practice
Here are a few things you can do after practice if you want to be better than the rest.....
Start on the baseline roll the ball straight out to the right elbow jump stop and pivot facing the basket make 10 successful shots using the following moves:
Sweep One Dribble Lay-Up
Jab Step and Jump Shot
Shot Fake 1 Dribble Right Lay-Up
Shot Fake 1 Dribble Pull-Up R/L
Shot Fake 1 Dribble Right Between the Legs Finish with Left Hand Lay-Up
Repeat this series on the Left Hand Side making sure you utilize the correct pivot foot.
Here's a little cheat sheet I dug up from my archives... Plyos and Jumpers
After you finish those make 10 free throws and get out of my gym!!
Before I get started.....Here We Go Steelers Here We Go!!!
Has everyone returned safely from DC, or were you a mere mortal who had to watch from your office via CNN/Facebook? In a society that seems to be trying to get back to core values and principles of honor and integrity we have found a few that aren't down with the program, shame on you.
I return to positivity. Is it me or is this basketball season flying by.....I can't believe it's almost February. Many of you are starting to get banged up and bruised up for a myriad of reasons. If you're feeling a little tired and worn down might I suggest the following:
I don't necessarily condone the junk food and excessive video games, but he's in the league and I'm not so go figure...
It's About Time
For years I have advocated testing, training and drill work in lieu of meaningless games and baby-sitting camps disguised as instruction. Many have looked at me and laughed as they went off to play in more meaningless games. Well, well, well it looks as if the basketball higher ups agree with me. Hopefully now when I say things people will be more willing to listen. I'm just saying.....
NBA to overhaul predraft camp by Geoffrey C. Arnold, The Oregonian Friday November 21, 2008, 10:47 AM
With the start of the college basketball season, NBA scouting departments shift into high gear. This season, the player-evaluation process will have a different conclusion.
The NBA told general managers this month that the league has decided to overhaul its predraft camp to try to encourage more top players to attend its showcase player-evaluation event.
The biggest change is the league's plan to no longer conduct the official games and workouts during the four-day camp, which is scheduled to begin in late May. Player agents in recent years encouraged their clients to skip those competitions.
"If a player knows he's definitely one of the top picks, there was no point in taking any risks (at the camp)," said Bernie Bickerstaff, an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls.
To ensure greater participation of the players, the NBA is going to experiment with changing the look of the predraft camp to more closely resemble the National Football League's combine camp: no competitive games, just drills, skill evaluation, physicals and interviews. It's an attempt to increase the likelihood that all players, from lottery selections to free-agent candidates, will face the same evaluation conditions and criteria.
"The more access we can get to players, the better it's going to be for us," said Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard . "We will be able to make better decisions.
As recently as a few years ago, only a handful of players -- normally potentially high draft picks -- would skip competing in games at the camp. But last year, just two (George Hill, 26th pick, and J.R. Giddens, 30th) of the 64 players who competed in games during the 2008 predraft camp were first round selections in the 2008 draft.
With most top picks skipping competition and choosing only to participate in drills and interviews, the games served only to evaluate players who were likely second round picks or not drafted at all. "These days, most of the guys who did play were guys who might not have been in the draft and were trying to raise their stock so they might get drafted," Bickerstaff said.
Individual workouts have supplanted the predraft camp in terms of importance. These team-sponsored workouts allowed players to compete in a much more controlled environment, reducing the risk of a poor performance that could hurt a player's draft position.
"All we see is the individual workouts, and people are judging players on that," Bickerstaff said. "That's not really a good barometer."
Having a combinelike camp could give league executives more opportunities for evaluation and greater knowledge of players.
"We try to get as much information as possible," Pritchard said. "The more information, the better."
Also, the camp will return to Chicago after being held the past two years in Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla. No final decision has been made on where the camp will be held, but speculation is focusing on training guru Tim Grover's Attack Athletics training facility, instead of the Moody Bible Institute, where the four-day camp was held before moving to Orlando. Chicago is regarded as more centrally located and accessible for NBA personnel than Orlando.
"Both markets are good, but they're just looking at results and decided to go back to Chicago," said Maureen Coyle, the NBA's vice president of communications.
Bickerstaff said regardless of where and how the predraft camp would be conducted in 2009, nothing will change in how league executives evaluate players. Any final decisions on whom to draft -- particularly lottery picks -- are unlikely to be made during the predraft camp.
"It doesn't get down to those four or five days at the camp. You should be very familiar with the players you're interested in long before the camp," Bickerstaff said. "If you're doing your job and done your due diligence, you've seen them play in situations where their team was supposed to win to see how they play. You've seen them play in pressure situations where they were underdogs. You're in a position where you have seen them play in all kinds of situations.
"The bottom line in those situations in that you have to have done your homework. So that one week shouldn't make or break your decision."
My All Character Team:
RIP
We lost a legend in Women's Coaching on Saturday and I just wanted to take a moment to recognize Kay Yow for all her efforts and contributions to the game of basketball. She touched many lives and was a positive inspiration to so many young women. Her hard work and efforts were not in vain. May she rest comfortably and peacefully.
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