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Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Basketball - One Time

What's our approach to the "one time" situations that decide wins and losses? 

1) Throw your best pitch. Whether it's sealing personal (a no-hitter) or winning a league title, don't get beat with secondary stuff. That's the rationale between final moment isolation plays. It also immunizes coaches who "go with our best." 

2) Use time-honored lessons such as those from "The Art of War." Study both ourselves and our opponents. Knowing an opponent's favorite BOBs or SLOBs can provide a critical edge. 

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

3) Get time on our side. Use timeouts intentionally. Practice time and score-based situations so players become accustomed to them. Coach Knight explained, "basketball is a game of mistakes." 

4) "Trust but verify." The most painful losses come from mental mistakes - blown assignments, coaching ignored, thoughtless turnovers and bad shot selection. Give and get feedback before a crisis.

5) Get favorable matchups. It's no secret that most quality coaches switch when games are close and late. Use that to your advantage. Whether you want big on small or quickness versus less, "plan your trade and trade your plan." 

6) "Speak greatness." In a close game where players might feel pressure, Dean Smith would say, "isn't it great that we can be in this situation?" Turn anxiety into enthusiasm. 

7) "Possession enders." Develop possession enders, the 'guys' who get scores and stops. If you have a closer, get them practice for their "go to" and "counter" move in crunch time. 

8) Start fast. It's hard to win the game in the first frame but you can lose the game with sluggish starts. Be ready from the tip.

9) Be relentless. Never quit. Impossible comebacks happen. Momentum can change unpredictably. Most comebacks require 1) scoring from multiple levels and 2) stops. "Stops make runs." 

10) "Win this possession." Play harder for longer with both focus and effort. Attention is a trainable skill. Whether you call it "next play" or "be here now" or "play present," attention is a winning skill. 

Lagniappe. Better defense. 

Lagniappe 2. Diana Taurasi on selfishness...

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Monday, March 24, 2025

Basketball - Praise

“Few things offer greater return on less investment than praise — offering credit to someone in your organization who has stepped up and done the job.” - Bill Walsh in The Score Takes Care of Itself

Praise has it's origins in the Latin preciare (prize, value). We praise what we value.

Praise engages. Praise fuels effort. Praise metaphorically waters the flowers.

Everyone values praise. "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar." Praise softens criticism. Coach John Wooden famously used "sandwich technique" to insert coaching correction between praise. Coach Nick Saban distinguishes "you did well AND..." from "you did well BUT..." as the latter detracts from the positive. 

Some coaches are effusive with praise and others are stingy. 

Praise the praiseworthy; consider using praise strategically. Coach Dean Smith praised reserves who contributed to wins. He knew the media would take care of scorers and stars. 

Here are some AI insights: 

Great coaching uses praise as a tool, not just a feel-good mechanism. Here are a few strategic approaches:

  1. Targeted Praise for Reinforcement

    • Instead of generic praise like “Great job!” coaches highlight why an action was effective:
      • “That block was perfect because you sealed the net and pressed over—textbook technique.”
    • This helps athletes internalize what works.

  2. Contingent Praise for Effort and Process

    • Coaches avoid praising talent alone and instead emphasize effort and strategy:
      • “I loved how you adjusted mid-play after reading the setter. That’s the kind of quick decision-making we need.”
    • This fosters a growth mindset.

  3. Praise for Leadership and Team-Centric Actions

    • Recognizing unseen or unselfish contributions reinforces team values:
      • “You kept the energy up even when we were down—your voice mattered.”

  4. Delayed Praise for Deep Reflection

    • Instead of immediate praise, a coach might wait until film review:
      • “Watching that again, your footwork on that transition was excellent. That’s why you got up so fast.”
    • This deepens awareness and builds memory.

  5. Scarcity Principle to Increase Impact

    • Praise that is sparing but meaningful carries weight:
      • A coach who rarely hands out compliments makes a simple “That’s what we’ve been looking for” resonate more.
Lagniappe. Youth phenoms infrequently mature into top players. 

 Lagniappe 2. Backdoor cuts can be hard-to-defend actions. 

Lagniappe 3. Excerpts from an old Pitino teaching video.  

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Sunday, March 23, 2025

Basketball - Add Value for Yourself

Add value for yourself. Remember, constructive criticism is for the past; advice is for the future. How?

1) Keep a notebook, diary, or commonplace book. Get in the habit of a few entries a day - something you learned, a book to read, a recipe, quote, whatever. You will find gold upon review. 

2) Collect 'references'. You need character references or school references for work or college. Keep a short list of people whom you believe can give positive, persuasive references. 

3) Be positive. Perhaps you can use your 'commonplace book' to double for gratitude storage. Write down three things each day for which you are grateful. "Feed the Positive Dog."

4) Work to see both sides. See yourself through "coach's eyes." What do our coaches see? What do our teachers see? Does our coach say about us, "He's the nicest person you'd ever want to meet. He wants to learn. He wants to play." Who wouldn't want to be that guy? Being a great person won't get you on the court, but it doesn't hurt. 

5) How you do everything is how you do anything. Do the work at home ("how can I help?"), school, and building your sports mind and body. Every day we write our narrative. 

Nobody ever regretted giving their best. 

Lagniappe. Becoming a competitor. Find your why. The video is from a volleyball conversation. 

Lagniappe 2. Are you rescreening?  

Lagniappe 3. Ask better questions. "When you ask a Great Question, you’re in essence pursuing a great goal. And whenever you do this, you’ll see the same pattern—Big & Specific. A big, specific question leads to a big, specific answer, which is absolutely necessary for achieving a big goal." - Gary Keller in "The ONE Thing."  

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Basketball - Chuckism #16…Shooting

Rereading “Daly Wisdom.” Chuck Daly and Hubie Brown were assistants under Vic Bubas at Duke in the 1960’s. 

Daly told Brown, “Shooting makes up for a multitude of sins.” We know shooting is the most important and least well-taught skill. Reduced to its core, teams have to “get the ball in the goal.”

Brown said, “With equal talent, Daly could get players their best shots.”

“Keep the chief thing the chief thing.” 

In the development setting, I didn’t tell any player they couldn’t shoot. That freedom impacted our middle school three-point percentage (@ 15%) and Cecilia (30 %) authored most of the makes.

At higher levels, I wouldn’t ‘green light’ players shooting threes who hadn’t shown more proficiency. Roy Williams set that at 60% at UNC. Fatigue, defense, and pressure degrade practice statistics.

Applying NBA stats to high schoolers is a fools errand. And most parents think Johnny or Susie are far better shooters than their stats show.

“Winners are trackers.”

Lagniappe. BOB 

Lagniappe 2. Villanova and Don Kelbick are on the same page about shooting.

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Saturday, March 22, 2025

Basketball - Finding Luck

Scott Celli, a local volleyball coach who has won a State Title, Ten Sectional titles and sixteen consecutive league titles argues that three elements forge winning - skill, health, and luck.

Some say, "you make your own luck." To a degree, that's true. Author David Austin wrote about luck in 1978 in Chase, Chance, & Creativity. Author Sahil Bloom summarized his findings:

  1. Blind Luck: Completely out of your control. It includes where you are born, who you are born to, base circumstances of your life, "acts of God", and more. Blind Luck covers the truly random occurrences of the universe.
  2. Luck from Motion: You’re creating motion and collisions through hustle and energy that you are inserting into an ecosystem. The increase in collisions opens you up to more lucky events.
  3. Luck from Awareness: The result of your awareness and depth of understanding of a specific domain. This depth of understanding within a given arena allows you to become very good at positioning yourself for lucky breaks to benefit you.
  4. Luck from Uniqueness: Occurs when your unique set of attributes attracts specific luck to you. It actually seeks you out.
"Luck from Motion" describes making our own luck through the unseen hours, the unrequired work, nose to the grindstone effort. "The harder I work, the luckier I get." 

"Luck from Awareness" relates to "domain expertise." Choose to learn every day, not as a know-it-all but as a "learn-it-all." Author and NBA Champion Assistant Coach Kevin Eastman reads two hours daily. That 180-hour difference gives him a leg up as a coach, author, and motivational speaker. 

How else do we find luck? 
  • Mentoring. "Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence." 
  • Metacognition. "Thinking about thinking."
  • "Deliberate practice." Bring intentionality to all we do. Study film. Study great coaches. Study great players. Study mistakes. 
  • Artificial intelligence. Use free resources like ChatGPT and Claude.ai for summaries as springboards to knowledge advance. 
  • Teach better. Study great teachers like Richard Feynman and Doug Lemov.
For example, here's ChatGPT responding to a prompt about Lemov: 

Doug Lemov, best known for Teach Like a Champion, focuses on practical, high-leverage teaching techniques that improve student learning. Here are some key insights from his work:

  1. Technique Over Talent – Great teaching isn’t just about charisma; it's about specific, trainable techniques that anyone can learn and refine.

  2. No Opt Out – When a student gets an answer wrong or doesn’t respond, the teacher ensures they engage by circling back to them after giving support, reinforcing participation and accountability.

  3. Cold Call – Calling on students regardless of whether they’ve raised their hands keeps everyone engaged and ready to think critically.

  4. Check for Understanding – Instead of assuming students understand, teachers should systematically gather real-time data through questioning, observation, or quick assessments.

  5. Right is Right – Teachers should hold out for completely correct answers rather than accepting partially correct or vague responses.

  6. Ratio – Effective lessons increase the percentage of cognitive work students do, rather than over-relying on the teacher explaining.

  7. Wait Time – Giving students time to process before answering improves depth of thought and response quality.

  8. Positive Framing – Correcting misbehavior or mistakes in a way that keeps students motivated rather than discouraged.

  9. Joy Factor – Engaging students through structured fun, competition, or a sense of accomplishment keeps learning exciting.

  10. Exit Tickets – A quick question or task at the end of a lesson helps assess what students grasped and informs the next steps in teaching.

What do better coaches do? They radiate caring, inspire, remain positive, give and get feedback, and set high expectations. Their students become "luckier" with better grades and standardized test scores. 

Lagniappe. A quote from David Baldacci's "The Hit." "Success or failure was always defined largely during the preparation. With good planning all one had to do was execute. Even last-second changes could be made with greater ease if the planning in the first place had been precise."

Lagniappe 2. Build better habits. James Clear argues that habits are the votes for the type of person we wish to become. Make it easier to follow good habits and harder to follow less productive ones. "Don't miss twice." 

Lagniappe 3. ATO's from Tevin Brown 

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Friday, March 21, 2025

Basketball- Scuttlebutt Network

“Nothing vicariously exposes you to mistakes committed by others more than reading.” Charlie Munger by Tren Griffin 

A scuttlebutt network accesses industry experts, suppliers, customers, and even former employees to get the scoop about a business or organization. Scuttlebutt is the Navy term for water cooler - where gossip and rumor happen.

If someone asked, “who are the top coaches in your area?” Whom would you ask? You might start with area coaches or unrecognized experts, officials. 

You'd also ask, "why are they the best?" Don't solely judge records, because some coaches are superior talent aggregators who bludgeon opponents but may not beat equal talent. 

Don't forget the eyeball test. Don't surrender common sense and coaches' eyes if you're part of a network. 

  • Which teams play hard? 
  • Which teams play defense?
  • Who shares the ball? 
  • Which teams have higher basketball IQ? 
  • What is a team's identity? 
  • What teams improve materially over a season? 
Lagniappe. ...a game of separation 


Lagniappe 2. Some teams don't apply ball pressure because they fear 'blow bys'. Although there's a saying "if you defend everything, you defend nothing," it's also true that if you defend nothing... 

Lagniappe 3. Repost. We learn a lot by watching players and teams practice.  

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Thursday, March 20, 2025

Basketball - The Asymptote of Excellence

Legend has it that Abraham Lincoln said, "If given six hours to cut down a tree, I would spend the first four sharpening the axe." With focused work and mentoring, dare to approach the "asymptote of excellence" with a boundary or limit. 


Mentoring and work help us raise the horizontal asymptote (limit). It also helps steepen the curve (allow it to happen faster).  

"George Leonard tells the story of Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo. According to legend, as Kano approached death, he called his students around him and asked to be buried in his white belt. The symbolism wasn’t lost. The highest-ranking martial artist of his discipline embraced the emblem of the beginner for his life and beyond, because to him the journey of the successful lifelong learner was never over." - Gary Keller in "The ONE Thing"

A similar approach is the concept of "Beginner's Mind." Practitioners embrace enthusiasm and openness. 

When sharing knowledge and experience, coaches help lifelong learners steepen the curve and potentially raise the excellence bar. How does that apply across sport domains? 

Charlie Munger would call that expanding the "circle of competence." Munger said, "I think about things where I have an advantage over other people. I don’t play in a game where the other people are wise and I’m stupid. I look for a place where I’m wise and they’re stupid. You have to know the edge of your own competency. I’m very good at knowing when I can’t handle something."

If we're the sixth best poker player in the world, that's a tremendous edge. But if we're playing the top five, then we lack an edge.

Kevin Eastman encourages us to become a "learn-it-all" not a "know-it-all."

Behavioral economist Amos Tversky was at a dinner party and heard Nobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann pontificating...on everything. Tversky told him, "Murray, there's nobody on the planet as smart as you think you are."

Paul "Bear" Bryant was a legendary Alabama football coach. It was said of Bryant, "He could take his'n and beat your'n or your'n and beat his'n."

Implementation

  • Inspire.
  • Positive coaching.
  • Model excellence. Model the behaviors we want to see.
  • Create a learning culture. Self-educate. Study great coaches.
  • "Speak greatness." "That was good AND" outperforms "That was good BUT."
  • Work to master player development.
  • Practice and teach gratitude.
  • Keep a notebook, commonplace book, or journal.
Lagniappe. "A strong culture, defined by our Core Values that all members of the team embody, and reinforced by standards that we consistently meet, allows us to consistently meet our goals, not just in the short term, but every term. Doing so then invariably increases the size of the talent pool of individuals who want to be part of our organization—everyone wants to be with a winner." - The Program: Lessons From Elite Military Units for Creating and Sustaining High Performance Leaders and Teams by Eric Kapitulik, Jake MacDonald

Lagniappe 2. Prioritize "hard-to-defend" actions. 

Lagniappe 3. As Pete Newell said, "Teach players to see the game."  

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Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Relationships and Basketball

Coaches change lives. I've been privileged to have a relationship with Coach Sonny Lane for almost 55 years. My wife and I celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary with Coach and his wife, Paula. 

Coach shared so many valuable lessons with us:

"Sacrifice." Teams win with shared vision, shared sacrifice, and shared decision-making. 

"Take care of business. - family, school, basketball." There was never a doubt about priorities or commitment to them. 

"Take care of yourself. Everybody wears a coat, hat, and gloves" (in the cold Boston winter). If you're sick, you can't help us.

"The ball is gold." Long before the Four Factors, he emphasized shot selection and avoiding turnovers. Against a team that had won 17 straight into the sectional quarterfinals, our first possession had 22 passes before we took - and made - our shot. We shot 23 for 42 from the field and won 58-38. 

"Who are those guys?" Teach players to believe in themselves. You can only be as good as your self-belief. 


Boston Garden, March 1973

Lagniappe. The hardest position to teach and to play... 

Lagniappe 2. "During one of our conversations with Coach Izzo, he reminded us of the importance of trying to recruit kids who are already tough and then demanding that they be tough every single day in practice." - Eric Kapitulik in "The Program"

Lagniappe 3. Jay Wright's coaching started with ATTITUDE.  

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Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Basketball Coaches Train Leaders*

*Adapted from my volleyball blog

Coaches train leaders. Find areas of agreement and controversy. 

1. "Leaders make leaders." Don't confuse loud voices with leadership. Examine character and decision making. Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote Leadership in Turbulent Times, sharing her study of the Roosevelts, Lincoln, and Lyndon Johnson. Lincoln famously distributed leadership, discussed in Goodwin's Team of Rivals. 

Navy Seal Jocko Willink authored Extreme Ownership. Leaders are accountable to the mission and to their teams. 

Leaders forge culture. In Legacy, James Kerr shares how the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby squad embraces team culture and Maori culture. "Sweep the sheds" has both literal and figurative self-management. Having a 'blue head' means to be cool under pressure. Players are taught to "leave the jersey in a better place." Teammates understand the Greek proverb that "old men plant trees in whose shade they will never sit." 

Team leaders transfer core values which appear as performance through standards which are behaviors. 

2. Consider the role of probability in decision making. Weather forecasters learned their forecasts improved when they reported them in probabilities. "There's an 80% chance of rain on Thursday" gives us useful and nuanced opinion. 

If you want to read further, consider reading Thinking in Bets. 

3. When making judgements, apply "mental models" and cognitive biases to think better. Share examples. You see a player have an exceptionally good or poor performance. Sample size limits our judgment as one day may not represent their 'weighted average'. 

Evaluating an issue or problem. Expand our "circle of competence." 


4. Leaders model excellence. They prioritize decision-making for the good of their team over what's good for them. They inform the value of truth - living the truth, telling the truth, and taking the truth. 

5. Study analogies and variety of disciplines. Consider keeping lists of stories and analogies as references. 


6. Leaders become better listeners. Nelson Mandela attended meetings where his father always spoke last. Having listened to the discussion, the senior Mandela made more insightful comments addressing others' concerns. 

"An army of asses led by a lion can defeat an army of lions led by an ass." 

Lagniappe. Strong abs help with balance and injury prevention.  

Lagniappe 2. What's our "basketball number" of poor shots, turnovers, and missed assignments?  

Lagniappe 3. Do you want moody or self-absorbed guys?  

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Monday, March 17, 2025

Basketball - Applying Mental Models

Coaching is problem solving. Use mental models to help us relate our domain knowledge to other domains. This may trigger analogies or "out of the box thinking."

Here are ideas from Biology mental models: 

"Ideas from biology provide other key mental models. Evolution via natural selection explains much about competition and adaptation." At any moment, we live in a "defined state," physical and mental activity, sleep. The effectiveness of these activities defines our growth trajectory and sometimes our demise. Our actions determine our growth/evolution. 

Gary Keller, author of The ONE Thing advises highly motivated people to invest four hours a day on their "one thing." 

Microbiology teaches that tiny bacteria and viruses invisible to the naked eye can transform environments, economies and societies. Small changes create big ripples. We spend almost no time thinking about zoonotic disease - COVID, malaria, dengue fever. 

Attention or inattention to detail can cost us everything. Nassim Taleb discusses rare yet predictable events in "The Black Swan." Who could have guessed that the costliest accident in Las Vegas history was a tiger killing his handler? 

Failure to prepare or inability to execute during "winning time" impacts basketball history. Call a timeout where none exists. A free throw lane violation in the final seconds eliminated UNC in the ACC tournament this weekend. A Princeton backdoor cut beats defending champion UCLA in 1996. Predictable unpredictability...

DNA is the source code programming the growth and form of all biological organisms. Metabolism powers the chemical reactions sustaining life. What is the DNA of our basketball program? Does a learning culture, effort, unselfishness, and toughness define us? 

Homeostasis describes how organisms dynamically self-regulate to maintain ideal equilibrium within despite external changes. How much time do we devote to lesser known aspects of self-regulation? Have we prioritized the proven benefit of sleep and basketball performance? Is nutrition something we ever discuss (timing, consumption of protein, alcohol use?). Do we preach recovery by low level activity, foam rolling, hydration, thermal contrast - hot and cold - showers? 

Lagniappe. Ran this once and got a shot but not a hoop. Alpo not Valpo... 

Lagniappe 2. Coach Crean on in-game change options. 

Lagniappe 3. A few 5-out options. Teach young kids spacing even if they can't shoot from the perimeter.  


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Sunday, March 16, 2025

Basketball Failure

We used to say, "every season ends in tears, tears of joy or disappointment." Successful coaches and players learn from failure. 

Basketball offers many ways to fail as organizations, coaches, or players. Failure is our companion, a prerequisite for success. Failure is a certainty; repeated failure questions our methods. 

Failure reflects 'structural' problems and/or 'decision/execution' issues. 

Structural:

  • Skill (talent/player and team development)
  • Strategy (game knowledge/experience)
  • Physicality (too little strength/quickness/conditioning)
  • Psychology (effort/resilience/mental toughness)
Decision/Execution: 
  • EFG% (shot selection/time-score-situation)
  • Turnovers - "Turnovers kill dreams; turnovers earn seats."
  • Rebounding (assignment/action/conversion to defense)
  • Fouling/basket attack ("Fouling negates hustle."


Graphic from Zak Boisvert

Personal beliefs/opinions

1) Coaching is a relationship business. Establishing trust, developing culture, and inspiring players are prerequisites to success. 

2) My job as a coach was to add sustainable value for a player's life. 

3) Learn how to develop players or get assistance. "Every day is player development day." 

4) A player has two priorities, to make others on the team better and to impact winning. 

5) Condition with a ball. Practice time is precious and we're coaching basketball not cross-country. 

6) Resilience includes the ability to play with intensity while playing under control. Intensity without emotional control can lead to chaos. 

7) I love practice. Practice creates opportunity for players to add value for themselves and for the team. 

8) Bad losses are part of the process. The worst relate to breakdowns in situational understanding leading to avoidable mistakes. 

9) Performance on the track is not the same as basketball conditioning. 

10) Practice situational basketball every practice to have a better chance to win close games (two possessions or less).

Lagniappe. Duke BOB, multiple scoring options. 

Lagniappe 2. Obvious...and yet...  

Lagniappe 3. Don Kelbick shooting. Coach Kelbick teaches, "think shot first" and emphasize what you're good at. 

 

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Saturday, March 15, 2025

Study Elite Defense

"Stops make runs." Billy Donovan discusses The 95, the 95 percent of the time that you don't have the ball. That makes defense The 50. Until we amp up our defensive preparation, commitment, and execution, we won't be serious competitors. 

Commitment.

  • Five guys engage...playing tied on a string.  
  • Ball pressure and containment takes opponents out of their offense.
  • Strong defense gives you a chance when offense struggles. 
  • Adopt a core theme..."hard twos" or "one bad shot." 
  • Reward minutes to stoppers.
Technique. 
  • Play low. "Low man wins."
  • Play close. Proximity reduces shooting percentage. "Contestedness" is proven. 
  • Help. "Cover 1.5," yours and half of another. 
  • Challenge shots without fouling. 
  • Talk. Talk energizes and intimidates. 
Attitude. 
  • Attack. Passive defense loses. Find guys that win individual battles.
  • "Jordans" defend as though a stop gets everyone Air Jordans.
  • Take pride in both individual and team defense. 
What's the problem? Slogans don't defend. 

Lagniappe.
Lagniappe 2. Bring coaching substance to add value. 
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Lagniappe 3. Old adages still matter. "Layups and free throws win games." What actions in your playbook are designed to get layups? If our team seldom goes to the rim, complaining about lack of fouls is a canard. 
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Friday, March 14, 2025

Basketball - The Franklin Lunch

Make friends with the dead. What if we had lunch with Ben Franklin or DaVinci or Lincoln? How would it go? What would we ask and hear? What would we order?

“It’s a great honor to have lunch with you, Mr. Franklin.”

BF: “There are more old drunkards than there are old doctors.” 

“Good to see that age hasn’t dulled your sense of humor. I’d love to hear your perspective on coaching.”

BF: “One of my favorite topics - self-improvement. You know about the 13 virtues?” 

“Absolutely. Love number 13. You said you could never achieve humility because if you did, you would truly be proud of it”

BFL “Boil it down to this, ‘Well done is better than well said.’ Important parts of coaching are introspection and self-reflection.”

“What do you want?” 

BF: “You won’t trip me up on that, Doc. I’ll have a pint and the brisket.” 

“Tell me about relationships and coaching.” 

BF: “Coaching is collaboration. Find your own path and navigate the inevitable struggles.”

“How about a few pithy quotes?”

BF: - An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

- without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

- Honesty is the best policy.

- We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately 

- If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

"Did you have any favorite sporting pastimes?"

BF: "I was pretty accomplished at kite flying."

Lagniappe. Simple action versus a couple of zones...  

Lagniappe 2. "Movement kills defense." 

Lagniappe 3. Find players committed to winning not stats. 

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Thursday, March 13, 2025

Learn Better to Think, Analyze, and Decide Better. Tips and Strategies That Pay

"Learn every day." Today's piece informs tools to improve our study and production. 

Learn life lessons. Learn how to learn. Learn your sport. Each of us has a state of being which evolves. Embrace a learning culture across the arc of your life. 

Acquire resources to function more effectively at home, in school, and on the court. 

Boost emotional intelligence.

12 Sentences Emotionally Intelligent people use under pressure pic.twitter.com/wcoKvYecia

— Always Keep Learning (@AlwaysKeepL) March 9, 2025

Learn how to learn. 

Take the free Coursera course on learning when you have an extended break (e.g. summer). It's about 8-10 hours. You will learn better study habits. I wish I had access to this as a youngster. 

Write better.  

A couple of great resources for writers are Stephen King's book, "On Writing" and Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird." You could start by searching for highlights from ChatGPT or Claude AI. 

Become a storyteller. People remember great stories. The Heath Brothers' Made to Stick is a great read about the magic of storytelling. 

And follow the advice of Director Werner Herzog, "Read. Read. Read. Read. Read." 

Think better. 

Use Mental Models. Get a valuable introduction to "Thinking Models" of Charlie Munger. Apply these principles to improve analysis and decision-making. 

Use every tool in your toolbox to better yourselves. 

The famous football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg was asked what he thought about his team. He replied, "Ask me in about twenty years and I'll be able to give you a better answer." Your coaches would say the same thing. 

Lagniappe. "“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” —George Bernard Shaw"

Lagniappe 2. Zoom action can help us. Zoom is "downscreen into DHO." 

Lagniappe 3. Ask better questions. Where do our points arise (transition-halfcourt offense-threes-sets-layups, midrange)? What is limiting us? How do our opponents score? It doesn't have to be "Nerdvana" high level analytics, just what is happening. 



 

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Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Keeping the Basketball Wolves Away

Via Ben Volin of The Boston Globe:  

"In his memoir “The Score Takes Care of Itself,” Hall of Famer Bill Walsh described the frenetic life of a head football coach. 

“In the NFL, events occur – hit you – at supersonic speeds with volcanic force,” Walsh wrote. “There aren’t months or weeks to recover, not even days. Usually only hours or minutes. While you’re throwing a wolf out the back door, another is banging on your front door and two more are trying to crawl through the windows.”"

Coaches get input from many sources - administrators, assistants, doctors, players, families, fans. Coach Bob Knight shared, "if you listen to the fans in the stands, pretty soon you'll be sitting next to them."

Coaches hardly get a breath during season. It's a sprint not a marathon. Blink and it's over. 

It's juggling as coaches balance development and winning, the present and the future, senior experience and promising young players. It's even worse in college with NIL and the transfer portal. Danny Hurley shared that over half his team is considering or plans transferring. 

What are the wolves? Here are a few possibilities:
  • Overconfidence. Past results don't guarantee future results. Respect every opponent. 
  • Doubt. You can only be as good as you believe. As Bon Jovi sang, "you can't win until you're not afraid to lose." 
  • Outside recruiters. "We can make you better than your coach."
  • Distractions. The world offers an unlimited number of possibilities to teenagers. Focus on the process. 
No coach ever made everyone happy. It's impossible with limited minutes, role, and recognition. At best, the coach teaches and cares for every player, puts the team first, and communicates why decisions are made. Then (s)he fights off the wolves...daily.  

Lagniappe. Make your community proud with the competitiveness and character of the players and coaches. 

Lagniappe 2. Great video on warmup, athleticism, and strength and balance. Although it emphasizes volleyball, it applies for other sports. Seek balance. Don't ignore training and don't overdo it. 


Lagniappe 3. "More difficult to handle success..."

Lagniappe 4. Joe Haefner defense (Twitter not loading embed feature well today). 

 

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