NCDS: Jay Smith, Asst. Coach - Detroit
By: Jay Smith, Asst. Coach - Detroit
Happy Holidays To everyone!! What a great time of the year for college basketball fanatics-great match-ups... conference openers!! Awesome!! For some of you that don't know, basketball has it a little more difficult than some of the other sports because we are a two semester sport. We have competition in both semesters which means players have to be dialed in academically to both -or one slip up and you are watching from the bench!! Also, after the first of the year, we have to be gearing our student-athletes to their new class schedule and routine!!
Enough of that let's talk hoops!!
The early part of the season is a great time to find out about your player and do a little experimenting with line ups and who can do what, at different times in a game!!! Also, Coach Ray (McCallum) is always talking about your "team identity"?? Who are we?? As we competed against DePaul and Michigan, we found out that we have to be able to finish games and after 26 years of coaching and battling some of the BCS schools and knocking some of them off (Michigan, Notre Dame, Purdue...), I have found that it's never the big things in the games, its always the little things.
What I mean is that through your scouting the players read and recognize the sets or out of bounds plays and then what ends up happening is its little things. Against DePaul, we missed free throw block outs and missed free throws. Take the Michigan game - we missed four lay-ups (one was a breakaway dunk) all in the second half!!! We lost by 11 points!! If you told me we would lose the game by missed lay-ups, I would have said you are crazy!! So I am just saying, it is the details like that versus the BCS Conference.
In turn, we have to continue to get our players focused on the details because it separates you from your opponents who might have a leg up on you as far as talent-but it your close, remember it's in the details.
Lastly, I want to tell you about one of our players, Curtis Eatmon. He came to us from Citrus Community College in California. An outstanding young man with a great family (also a sister who is a big-time volleyball player) who started his career at Utah and decided to change his direction and go to junior college and try his luck at a different four-year school. Anyway, Eatmon attended summer school this past year and did a good job in the weight room. Long story short-we played out first exhibition game against Ohio Dominican and in the second half, Eatmon was going for a loose ball and was literally poked square in the eye. Coach went out on the floor along with our medical staff and I will never forget him coming back to the bench and saying "Curtis' eye was bleeding".
They then rushed him to the hospital for the eye injury. Following the game, several of our players then went to the hospital to be by him until his parents could get in from the West Coast. I have good news to report. Eatmon got through that and missed the first 12 games of the season, but just this past week, he finally made it back and it was heartwarming to see the UDM fans give him an ovation and his parents where there to see it!! Just a great moment for him and our team.
I guess the message that we take away is appreciate all the things we are so lucky to have, because we don't know when or where it will be taken from us. I do want to wish you and especially our service men and women a wonderful and joyous 2010!!!
Pick and Roll - gotta go!!
Coach Jay Smith
