Why Aren't You Training?

Why are you training?

April 6th, 2009 by Brian McCormick

One of the first questions that I ask players, and one which is usually followed by blank stares, is: why are you training? I think it is important for a player to know why he trains, especially when he decides to use a trainer, who is often expensive.

Today, I saw a blog titled, “I’m going to make you sore!” that captures the idea behind many trainers, err maintainers:

I was watching a ‘boot camp workout’ video from a local gym the other day and in it, the trainer yelled these words at one of his clients. The trainer was going to make his client sore. Really? Is that what the client is paying this trainer to do?

Most basketball trainers advertise intensity. They run hard workouts. I have met “trainers” who brag about making kids throw up during a workout. How does that improve a player’s performance?

For most people, it is not hard to make them sore. Just have them do something they haven’t done before and make them keep doing it. You could do crunches, lunges, or even just mulch the yard and you will get sore. But, are you really accomplishing anything?

I met a trainer once who told me that parents sent him their kids because they left tired. What a waste of time and money? It is not hard to make someone tired or sore. But, being tired does not mean improvement. As John Wooden said, “Do not mistake activity with achievement.”

The goal of your training should be to stimulate your body to improve, not annihilate it . Muscle soreness is just a sign that the training stress was more than the body was used to experiencing (which may be necessary to overload your muscles). It may be a by-product of a good training program, but should not be the goal.

I imagine that kids are tired at the end of some of my sessions. But, that is a by-product, not the goal. If a player gets tired from going hard and getting better, great. But the goal is to improve performance, not to make the player tired. The improved conditioning come through training for improved skill performance, and not vice versa.

So, why do you train? When you choose a trainer, do you evaluate him on his ability to achieve your goals? Do you structure your own workouts to meet your goals or do you follow someone else’s plan?

Before spending the time, energy and money, know why you train. Write out your goals and work to achieve them. Find a trainer who works with you to meet these goals rather than someone focused on making you tired before you leave the gym.

Coaches and Summer Circuit Basketball

Top coaches about their perceptions of the youth development system.

Holy Cross High School (Flushing, N.Y.) Head Coach Paul Gilvary:

“It’s a lot different now than it used to be,” he said prior to his team winning the City of Palms’ third-place game, 74-56, over Helen Cox High of New Orleans. “I think the NCAA has caused the whole situation because of the different times of the year they allow the recruiting. The NCAA has really made the summer very, very important to the kids.”

Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL) Head Coach and Athletic Director Kevin Sutton:

“We have our players in summer school and we try to look at everything as to how they do at the collegiate level academically and athletically,” Sutton said. “I feel that 85 to 90 percent of a player’s improvement takes place during the summer. We try to structure our summer around our team’s improvement. If our players continue to improve, that will attract the attention of the college coaches.

“We have 18 to 20 players on Division I or Division II scholarships,” he added. “Exposure, to me, is sometimes often overrated and overstated. As a former college coach, I think it’s better to go see a kid when he is in his more natural environment. That way, I can get a more accurate evaluation of him.”

Head Coach Matt Herting of Bishop Verot in Fort Myers, FL:

“A lot of people say, ‘Well, you get to play against great competition in the summer.’ I think you get to play against some great competition, but a lot of times you play against bad basketball, which is a problem. AAU coaches are at a disadvantage. A lot of the time, they don’t get much time for practice. And it’s so liquid. If a kid gets mad at me, he can’t just leave Bishop Verot and go play somewhere. In AAU, you can do that.”

Tom Tietze, publisher of Kansas City Basketball Abstract:

“One of the problems we’ve got in this country as far as basketball goes is that kids are playing too many games. They don’t do enough practicing. I’m not sure if that’s gonna change.”


Agility Drills for April

Box Drills
10x10 yard Box with cones. Perform various movements up, across, back and across. Movements include shuffles, sprints, carioca, backpedal

T-Drill
4 Cones in a T formation. Sprint up 10 yards slide to the left 5 yards, slide across to the right 10 yards, back to the middle and backpedal to the starting point

Pro Agility 5-10-5
2 cones 10 yards, 1 cone at 5 yards in the middle. Start in the middle and sprint right or left, touch the outside cone, sprint to the opposite cone touch and finish through center cone

Slide and Jump Drill

Cones 10 yards apart. Shuffle side to side 4 times return to the middle and jump as high as you can. Sprint to the next row of cones and repeat.

April Fool's Gold

OK so who do I root for this weekend?...I'm completely torn for several reasons....

Reason #1



Reason #2



Reason # 3



Reason #4

D-TRAIN Speaks at UCONN



April Fool's Gold

After much rumor and speculation, the NCAA has officially eliminated the April viewing period from the men’s basketball recruiting calendar beginning in 2009. This means that tour de force that is the Division I college coaching herd will not be allowed to watch prospects compete until the July live period. The impact of this announcement was both drastic and immediate, and although some event organizers were holding their breath while they hoped for a reprieve, their bubble has now officially burst. “What’s the impact?” Trey Robinson, Director of Scouting Operations asks rhetorically. “The good teams are not going to the April events. Listen, it’s really a simple formula: Too many of the April events relied on getting teams to come simply because the D1 coaches would be there. MANY of the April events have digressed into poorly run, disorganized spectacles that simply relied on the live period to draw teams. Now that hook is gone and teams are going to save their money to attend well-run, quality events. Quite honestly, many of the April events have gotten lazy and now many of them may not survive. There’s no bail out plan here.” Robinson’s emphatic predictions appear to be on the money, as April events from Texas to the mid-Atlantic, to New England are reporting registration numbers significantly down from last year. “The model has changed,” says Robinson charged up as if he’s ready to dive on a loose ball.

“It’s no big secret that money is tight in every sector of the economy, and AAU basketball is certainly no exception,” says Tom McShea of Scout.com. “Choices will simply be different this year. The removal of the April live period will clearly factor into plans. I can definitely tell you that teams from metro Chicago, Boston, and New York will not be boarding planes to travel in April.” All signs seem to point to the fact that in response to tighter budgets, teams will travel to fewer events and stay much more regional than they have in perhaps the last decade. This trend impacts not only the parent-financed teams but also the sneaker company sponsored giants. Both Nike and Adidas have dropped teams from their stables. In addition, the budgets are not limitless. “Trust me, it’s not a bottomless pit of money by any stretch of the imagination,” says one mid-west based Adidas sponsored program director. “Don’t get me wrong, we love the sponsorship and the access that it gives us, but most teams get less than $15,000 plus merchandise. That sounds like a lot of money, but when you consider that our contract calls for us to travel to three events that will require plane tickets, hotels, and meals for ten kids and three coaches, that money starts to dwindle pretty quickly. We will still play in the right events, but everybody’s going to have to be smarter about what they do and where they go.”

What does all of this mean? It depends, do you take April Fool's Gold and continue to pay for and play in meaningless non-competitive tournaments, or do you use the time between April and July wisely to train and develop yourself so that you can actually get noticed?  July's events will now take on much greater meaning. Don't squander the next 3 months. Development before exposure or else you will get exposed. The next workout I'm having is on Monday.

5 Essential Training Tools For You To Use This Off-Season:

1. Kettlebell: The kettlebell is a traditional Russian cast iron weight looking somewhat like a cannonball with a handle. The kettlebell has become a popular exercise tool in the United States. Kettlebell workouts are intended to increase strength, endurance, agility and balance, challenging both the muscular and cardiovascular system with dynamic, total-body movements.
2. Foam Rollers: Foam rollers are cross-over equipment from rehab training. They are inexpensive, lightweight and versatile. Very simple pieces of equipment (nothing more than a cylinder made of high-density foam) foam rollers are put to all kinds of uses, such as stretching, self-massage, body support, and stability exercises.
3. Coconut Water: 100% pure coconut water with natural flavor essences. With five essential electrolytes, more potassium than a banana, low acidity, no fat, no sugar added, and no cholesterol, A natural, refreshing way to hydrate and replenish
4. Resistance Bands: Use resistance tubing routinely to prevent and rehabilitate overuse injuries by strengthening often smaller, neglected muscle groups.
5. A Functional Movement Screen: Performing The Functional Movement Screen and implementing corrective exercise will help to alleviate injury and improve overall performance.

Burger King All-Americans

"Excuses are monuments of nothingness, They build bridges to nowhere, Those of us who use these tools of incompetence, seldom become anything but nothing at all."

“To make a difference, you have to do something different”

“Discipline is the internal mechanism that self-motivates you. It gets you out of bed in the morning. It gets you to school on time, and it tells you when you need to stay up late to finish work. It drives you. It is essential to success, whether individually or collectively.”

“Self-discipline is important in any endeavor of life. People who have the ability to concentrate, focus on their goals, and consistently stay within their priorities tend to succeed. Whether in academics, the arts, or athletics, success generally comes to the self-disciplined.”

“To lead the people, you have to love the people. To serve the people, you have to care for the people.”


OK Coach, there is your bulletin board material. Use it at your discretion.


Cutting Down Turnovers

It's what makes coaches lose hair, stay up late and drink lots of Diet Coke....turnovers! Despite their frequent occurrence, very few coaches and even less players actually do anything to improve players passing and therefore reduce the likelihood of more turnovers. Here are a couple of drills you can incorporate into your next workout or practice to help improve your team avoid costly turnovers:

Feed The Post and Cut

How many passes have you seen deflected or lost from lazy post feeds? 

Put a line of players at the wing/foul line extended. First player goes to the high post, second player plays defense, and third player is on offense. Player 2 must trace and mirror the ball to prevent a successful post entry feed. Player 3 must concentrate on pivoting and ball faking maintaining good balance and triple threat position. Coaches watch for traveling violations and turnovers. Once a successful post feed is completed player 3 will cut back door for a lay-up off of a high post feed from player 1. Players alternate between offense, defense and high post. Work right and left side of the court. Rate players on their ability to feed the post accurately, court awareness, and ability to pass accurately with either hand.

Low Post Feed and Spot Up

Have players pair up on the wing. Offensive player on wing looks to enter pass into the post. Defensive player tries to steal the pass. Once pass has successfully reached the post, defender is to go back and touch the post player. Post player then passes out to spot-up shooter in the corner or at the top of the key. Coach mix up where shooter goes to spot up. Upon post kick out defensive player closes out and contests the shooter who will catch and shoot upon receiving the pass out. Rate players ability to pass accurately under pressure, as well as make shots under duress. Rate defense on their quickness as well as their ability to get deflections, double down on the post, close out contest and box out on the shooter.

Things I Enjoyed This Week

St. Patrick beats Science Park to win the tournament of champions

No one was asking anyone in the Missouri locker room about their draft status.

"Coach likes to say we don't have any McDonald's All-Americans," English said. "We have Burger King All-Americans."

Actually, what the Tigers have is a team full of guys like Mike Anderson, in his third season at Missouri's helm. These are hard-nosed, scrappy players, guys who could have played for Nolan Richardson, Anderson's coach and mentor. They outshot Memphis, yes, hitting 53 percent of their field goals against a team that was the best in the country in field-goal defense.

More, Mizzou out-toughed Memphis, literally wrenching the ball out of player's hands on more than one occasion. In a game where most people figured Missouri's best-case scenario was to keep it close and hope for a shot at the end, Mizzou went directly at Memphis and sliced and diced with ease. Mizzou needed only six 3-pointers to top the 100-point mark (that one of them was a Marcus Denmon 60-foot, halftime-buzzer-beating heave only made the night somehow more poetic for Mizzou).

By the middle of the second half, Memphis players were tugging on their shorts, the universal hoops sign for exhaustion.

"Yeah, I saw that," DeMarre Carroll grinned.

Tiller had more points in one half (16) than he had in an entire game this season, finishing with a career-high 23.

And he's the defensive specialist.

And he had a bum wrist.

"That's J.T.," Lawrence said. "He could have a broken hand and he'd be out there. Pain is nothing to him."

J.T. Tiller scored a season's best 16 points in the first half alone against Memphis.
That's what you get with the BK All-American, a kid who will not just buy into Anderson's hellacious system but who adopts his attitude, as well.

No one believed Anderson could mop up Quin Snyder's mess at Missouri; not his way anyway, not after he suspended five players following a fight, sent his leading scorer and rebounder packing and stood his moral ground despite the vultures circling over his head.

No one except a bunch of kids in the locker room.

Though not even Anderson was on board with English initially.

Asked what he would have thought if someone told him at the beginning of the season he'd be playing for a shot at the Final Four, Anderson laughed.

"I would be asking what are you smoking and drinking, man," he said.

But in those boring summer days, two things happened. First, the players who didn't know one another realized they liked one another. They have gone from virtual strangers to a merry band of jokesters. In the postgame locker room, English leaned in among the reporters interviewing Denmon with a water bottle for a microphone; Lawrence joked about Denmon's half-court prowess; and when asked about picking up two quick fouls, Zaire Taylor said with a straight face, "I wanted to give J.T. a chance to realize his full potential. I thought it was time for him to take ownership. It might have looked like it was the wrong move, but it was the right move."

Sitting one chair over, Tiller laughed and shook his head.

After the friendship came something even more critical: The players started to think that maybe English was onto something.
"The thing is you have to believe you can do it," English said. "If you aim for anything less, then you're just selling yourself short. If you don't believe you can win it all, who will?"
As of today, maybe a whole lot more people where Missouri is concerned.

NOVA NATION

Tweet Tweet

For those of you that don't know a Tweet is a micro-blog post on the Twitter social network site. Twitter allows its users to send short, text-message style notes to a mass audience and is rising in popularity among athletes, politicians and celebrities. It seems as if everyone has one now, including ME. This week two players made news with their half-time Tweets. Last Sunday, Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva became an overnight Web celebrity after he posted a note, called a "tweet", to his Twitter feed during halftime of his game against Boston.

"I stirred something up," Villanueva said after Milwaukee's 96-84 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night. "I'm a trend setter, I guess."

Villanueva wrote that he had to step it up in the second half. He did, and the Bucks won. But coach Scott Skiles was annoyed, saying it gave the impression that Villanueva wasn't focused. Skiles said Villanueva would not be fined for the incident but said it was a "no-brainer" that players shouldn't be doing such things from the locker room any more.

Suns center Shaquille O'Neal posted a note on his Twitter feed before a home game against Washington on Saturday night, suggesting he planned to post to the popular social networking Web site during halftime.

And sure enough, a brief message was posted on Shaq's feed before the third quarter. So my next question is where is all this Twitter going? Will people just use it for silly stuff, or will coaches and players get smart and receive half-time adjustments courtesy of a friendly Tweet or

"Shhhhhhh," it read.

It was the same message O'Neal delivered when asked about his Twitter plans before the game. When told Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry already knew about it, O'Neal bent over, leaned against the locker-room wall and groaned loudly, saying his plans were blown.

"I was going to do it and not get in trouble, then brag about not getting in trouble," O'Neal said.

Gentry, when asked about O'Neal's plans before the game, said he didn't care.

"As long as he gets 25 (points) and 11 (rebounds), he can do whatever he wants. He can Twitter, Facebook, MySpace," said Gentry, who also has a Twitter account set up by his daughter. So now here is my question...will this new technology be embraced or abused? I think it would be great to get in game adjustments from Twitter to help your team win games. On the other hand I think it would be silly to ask where the party is during half-time or send silly I love you notes to your girlfriend when you should be focused on the game. Tweet Tweet!

The Best 2 Athletes in NJ

It seems like it was just yesterday when I was going around from school to school and team to team conducting Nike SPARQ Testing in search of NJ's best athletes and basketball players. In my travels and searches I must have tested close to 250 athletes between September and November. If you were paying attention at home I told you the two best athletes were Dexter Strickland of St. Patrick High School and Kenneth Ortiz of Science Park High School. In case you missed it here is the tale of the tape:

Dexter Strickland St. Patrick's H.S. 6'3 172
Vertical Jump 34
3/4 Court 3.15
Lane Agility 10.75
Multi-Stage 85

Kenneth Ortiz Science Park H.S. 5'11 173
Vertical Jump 33.6
3/4 Court 2.88
Lane Agility 10.41
Multi-Stage 87

Is it ironic or fate that the two best athletes will square off Monday in the State Championship for NJ? I don't think so.  We all know Dexter is headed to North Carolina next year, but as far as I know Kenneth Ortiz is still unsigned so if you're one of the hundreds of college coaches reading this you might want to step up your recruiting efforts.

Return To Mediocrity

No matter what level you play on there are only  few teams whose seasons actually matter at this point. If you're in the NBA you have a pretty good idea about your playoff chances, we are almost down to 16 teams left in the NCAA's and by now most states have already decided their State Champions. My question is this, what makes so many people think that when their season is over it's time to return to mediocrity? I understand the need for a couple of weeks of downtime, some mental escape and rest. What I don't understand is the mentality that says I'm going to repeat everything that contributed to my shortcomings this past season. I'm physically weak and everyone says I need to weight train, but I'm relaxing before AAU Practice. I'm a great shooter but my handle is suspect, so what do I do...join a league where they play no defense and brag about how I scored a bunch of points. Yes, great but what about improving your ball-handling? As a coach my team was constantly wearing down in the second half so I am going to put them in a couple of leagues this spring and summer and hope for the best. Another coach had trouble scoring in tight games because the other team scouted him well and shut down his or her offensive sets. Do you think said coach will work on some new things for next year or will they be running the flex for the 20th year in a row only to be stifled by and athletic team that switches and helps well? College Coaches what are you going to do different to improve your tournament chances? You did that last year, your job is on the line... Why do we return to what's comfortable? Parents you dropped your kids off at camp hoping that they would either get better, or just get out of your hair. Neither strategy worked now what....I'm not telling you what to do, all I'm saying is don't return to mediocrity.

Good Morning Heartache

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:



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Don't Be A Hot Dog

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

LeBron James, SF 43 10-24 3-8 11-13 6 4 10 13 3 3 3 0 +7 34



2 Minute Drill

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

1. 40
2. 38
3. 34
4. 28
5. 43
6. 35
7. 39
8. 32
9. 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

Kansas: Quintrell Thomas, Tyshawn Taylor

Michigan State: The Whole Team and Coaching Staff

Robert Morris: Coaching Staff

Connecticut: Coaching Staff

Memphis: Coach Cal Coach Antigua

Pittsburgh: Gilbert Brown, Ashton Gibbs

Villanova: Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes, Coach Wright, Coach Donnelly, Coach Chambers

Duke: Gerald Henderson, Lance Thomas

UNC: Coach Willams, Coach Robinson, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, Dexter Strickland

Syracuse: Mookie Jones

Siena: Coach Frances

No bandwagon, just giving support!!

Gone Fishin

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:

My Top 5 Favorite Basketball Movies

March Madness

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.....