Nobody wins without talent. Yet talent alone seldom carries the day. Coaching takes a back seat to talent, but someone still has to steer.
Let's examine excerpts from Gary Washburn's "On Basketball" Boston Globe column on new coach Rachid Meziane of the Connecticut Sun. Meziane was the Belgian national coach with a Eurobasket title under his belt.
"My philosophy is built on three key pillars - hard work because I don't believe in only relying on talent, discipline, in understanding what we are doing and how we carry ourselves, and communications, how we talk to and how we learn from others."
“Using these pillars, I am [going] to build a culture of respect, hard work, and unity.
“My experience has taught me that the success doesn’t come just from the on-court strategy, but also, I’m caring about people and trusting the players to execute.”
“I believe that for our team to succeed, every player has to feel valued and aligned with our shared goal,” he said. “If everyone feels involved in the project, we can be better, we can be more committed, and we can give the best of ourselves.
“I’m thinking about your player development process. For example, take care of the ball and make our offense more efficient to help them advance further next season. I think that I am here for bringing my skills. And I think that the European style demands more IQ basketball and maybe better ball movements.”
Winning principles cross domains.
Lagniappe. The value of vision...
MUST WATCH on how Brady used film study to win at the highest level:
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) February 8, 2025
My magic superpower wasn’t how fast I could run
It was how fast I could diagnose what they were doing
I could figure out what they were doing before they did it
I didn’t snap the ball unless I knew my guys… pic.twitter.com/r97zbuSb0D
Lagniappe 2. Actions move from college to college and from Europe.
Elite offense from Creighton
— Buckets Basketball (@BucketsBBALL1) February 8, 2025
Greg McDermott, the mastermind, just combined roll and replace action with Spain pick & roll action.
Creighton | Replace - Spain Pick & Roll
🎥 @EricFawcett_ pic.twitter.com/ch2VYoIvK6
Lagniappe 3. Growth occurs in skill, strategy, physicality, and psychology. The best players rapidly recover from adversity.
As an athlete, your biggest problem in games isn't making mistakes. It's your negative response to making mistakes. Once you learn to stay positive and resilient, you'll perform much better in games.
— Sports Psychology (@SportPsychTips) February 8, 2025
