"Rants and Raves" is an open forum for coaches to discuss topics, ranging from issues to observations on the state of college basketball and beyond.
 
 
The Intensity Level
By Bo Ryan, Wisconsin

As the calendar continues to move closer to March, there is a belief that the intensity level somehow picks up. What increases is the level of attention and interest. Contrary to popular opinion, the intensity level is just as high now as it was back in December.

In short, if your players are now raising their level of play than you probably don't have the right players.

Furthermore, if you don't play an intense brand of basketball in December than your games in February will garner little attention and won't mean quite as much in the bigger picture.

I have always taken the approach of practicing and playing as if it were March, regardless of whether the calendar tells me that is December or January.

A lot of people may not realize it, but -- regardless of the final score -- most games are decided by just a handful of possessions during the course of the game. It ultimately comes down to who handles those sequences better. More often than not, the team that does wins the game.

Over the course of a season, a couple of dozen possessions will decide whether you win a conference championship or finish in the middle of the pack.

With games and seasons decided by a few bounces, it is easy to see why it is important to maintain a high level of intensity throughout the 'entire season.'

Recently, Arizona's Lute Olson made an excellent point in his submission to CollegeInsider.com, Rants & Raves: "Learning How to Play". He noted that analysts never point to a missed opportunity in the first half as being the deciding factor in the outcome.

After all, there is a lot of time left on the clock and plenty of opportunities to correct a wrong.

Over the course of the next few weeks you will hear people say, 'this is a must-win for a team.' Funny, but I never entered a game thinking it was a 'somewhat important win.'

The point is that had that same team won a game back in December the result of their present game might not be 'do-or-die.'

And it often all comes back to intensity.

In the NBA, teams can coast occasionally because there is a belief that there is plenty of time pick up the level of play. There in lies one of the reasons that the transition of coaching in college and the pros is not an easy one for coaches.

Many will never understand why it is that coaches are so distraught over a loss or their team's effort, early in the season. As if losses in February and March somehow counted more than December and January.

It may appear that way, but only because calendar says as much.

The idea that somehow the level of intensity picks up is simply a misunderstood idea.

It is only the attention given to games in February that increases.