Steady approach & defensive improvement

It's late February and that means that the college basketball regular season is winding down, and we're all getting ready for the sprint to the finish in March. The long practices of October and November have now become days of preparation for the next game and fine-tuning the inner workings of our team. The concepts that were put into motion early in the season now have a chance to flourish in games that matter in March. A good example of this for us has been on the defensive end of the floor.

In our early games, we were giving up points left and right - 91, 95, 88 and 75 points. But, Coach Pastner was confident in what we were doing and we stuck with our system. Now, we are one of the leaders nationally in field goal percentage defense and the Conference USA leader in scoring defense (league games only). Overall, we have done a better job on the defensive end of the floor.

The consistency we showed to our players in what we wanted them to do defensively and our confidence in them helped our team immensely. This steady approach to teaching is what helps good teams become great when March rolls around. If you are constantly changing what you want from your players, then the results you receive will also differ.

With that being said, we've had our share of tough games. Even though we are 16-3 since Christmas and as of this writing in first place in the C-USA regular season standings, it is the three losses we remember the most.

Another key ingredient in preparing your team for a stretch run is being able to make mistakes quickly. That may sound strange, but think about it. If you make a mistake and allow it to linger, then more often than not it will lead to additional mistakes. In our case, if we follow up a tough loss with a couple of days of depression instead of preparation, then that one loss can turn into two or three losses. Making mistakes quickly allows you to move to the next step - recovery. In the NBA, this is much easier because there are so many more games. In college, you make go days or even a week after a loss before your next game, which is why the practice floor and the energy you bring to your team is so important. It's on the practice floor where not only improvements are made, but also where healing happens because once game time hits you had better be ready to go.

Well, I had better go take my own advice. I need to watch tape and then get back out on the practice floor. Doing all I can to help Coach Pastner and our team get ready for upcoming sprint in March.

Go Tigers!