Over the course of a long season you are going to have bad
possessions, bad stretches and bad games. It's never a welcome
sight for a coach, but it's a reality of the game.
Ultimately you have an opportunity to bounce back the following
day. But in March there is only today, tomorrow doesn't exist.
It goes without say that the margin of error is paper-thin. The
cliché of "one possession at a time" is never more evident. One
minute you can seemingly have everything going your way, but in
the blink of an eye you can be back on your heels.
And it doesn't have to be poor execution that has you leaning
backwards.
I remember watching fellow Big Ten member, Michigan State a few
years ago in the NCAA tournament. In the opening round they
faced a very good Nevada team. For most of the game, the
Spartans were in control. Nevada was having a difficult time
containing MSU’s All-American Paul Davis and it appeared that
the Spartans was en route to victory, with less than seven
minutes remaining.
Then Davis picked up his fourth foul and everything changed.
Nevada went on a 17-1 run and the Spartans were unable to
recover. It was just one bad stretch.
There is a reason that all sixty-five teams made it this far.
Every team in the NCAA tournament earned their way in so the
idea of being able to overcome a tough stretch is wishful
thinking.
In our opening round game of in last year’s tournament, our poor
stretch lasted for nearly and entire half. We did not play
particularly well through the first twenty minutes against Texas
A&M Corpus Christi. The Islanders should get a lot of credit for
playing well so we were fortunate that we were able to overcome
that and win the game.
However when we had tough stretches against UNLV in round two we
were unable to overcome it.
As a coach you have to understand that stretches like this are
inevitable. In baseball ground balls will be booted. In football
passes will be dropped. On the basketball court offense will
disappear at times.
What you want to try and do is convey those facts to your
players. Most players understand that it’s the reality of the
game, but it’s important to reinforce those points. Don’t get
caught up in the fact that you haven’t scored in a few minutes
or that the opponent is building a sizeable lead. You can’t
erase that in one possession. It’s all about staying focused.
And just because you are struggling in one aspect of the game
doesn’t mean you cannot compensate in another area.
It’s an old expression -- Defense doesn’t go into a slump. Bad
stretches in games are often a result of mental breakdowns on
the defensive end. The inability to score on offense becomes a
distraction on the defensive end and it shouldn’t. Quite often
it’s an effort on defense that leads to an easy basket and ends
the bad stretch.
Ultimately it all comes down to forty-minutes. The team that
plays better and makes fewer mistakes is going to playing
another day. For the other team, tomorrow doesn’t exist.
It's Time to Expand
the Field
by Bo Ryan,
Wisconsin
Expansion.
It’s not a new discussion point among college basketball
coaches, but it’s gotten more attention in the days and weeks
since the 2006 Final Four. It all centers on the question of
whether or not the NCAA tournament field should be expanded?
In my opinion -- Yes.
For many this has become a more talked-about issue in light of
George Mason’s run to the Final Four. The premise being that Jim
Larranaga’s team could have been left out of the field and thus
their run to Indianapolis is proof that deserving teams may not
have a chance to compete in the tournament.
It’s a good point. However I have believed that expansion was
necessary long before George Mason’s run.
Let’s take a look at the landscape that is college football.
Under the current format, about 50% of the programs at the
division I level participate in postseason. Having a successful
season and be invited to a bowl game has helped to extend, if
not help secure jobs for many coaches.
And how about all the players that had an opportunity to play in
a bowl game and the fans that have another game to watch in
December. It’s great for everyone involved.
However the percentage is must different for college basketball
coaches.
Of the over 325 division I programs, just 65 participate in the
NCAA tournament. That’s less then 20%. If you want to add the
NIT, which is reducing its field back down to 32 invitations,
you still have less then 30% involved in postseason play.
College basketball’s popularity continues to soar and it has
long been the cash cow for the NCAA. Therefore it makes no sense
that the field has only expanded by one program in 15 years,
while the membership has increased by one-third.
From 1975-1978 there were 32 teams invited to the NCAA
tournament. In 1979 the field was expanded to 40 teams and a
year later it was expanded again to 48 teams. Again the
following year the field was increased to allow 52 teams to
participate and in 1985 it was expanded to 64.
In less then 20 years the field had doubled, but since 1985
there have been over 100 new division I members and yet only one
additional bid has been added and that was to accommodate the
split of the Western Athletic Conference into the Mountain West
and new-look WAC.
Over 100 new members and only one additional team in the
tournament makes little or sense at all.
Whenever the idea of change is brought up there are always many
that ask questions like, “how will it work” or “how will the
game survive?”
A little over a decade ago there was a big uproar when Major
League Baseball announced the advent of the “Wild Card.” I
remember people saying it would be the game’s demise. The
introduction of a three-division system and four teams from each
league in the postseason has worked out pretty well for
baseball.
It’s been nothing but win-win for MLB so it only stands to
reason that nothing but positives could come from expanding the
NCAA men’s basketball tournament field.
While I have no problems with a bowl eligible team getting an
invite to postseason with a 6-5 record, I do find fault with a
team that goes 18-12 on the basketball court and gets no
postseason reward. Aside from the obvious -- that it would help
prolong many coaching careers -- it would be great for the
players involved and the fans that support this cash cow.
There is so much good then could come from expanding the field.
It’s just a simple matter of sitting down at the table and
making it happen.
As a fraternity we need to band together and push the issue.
It’s not a matter of whether or not it can be done. It’s time
that we do what’s right and expand again.
