NCDS: Jim McCarthy, Asst. Coach - Northeastern

It is officially the off-season at Northeastern U!  We lost in our conference tournament in the first week in March and have just started up with our off-season workouts and conditioning.  

Spring workouts can be tricky, as we don’t have much time before the players finish up classes and go home for a short break before coming back for summer school.  Our guys always miss the traditional college spring break because it’s the same week as our CAA Tournament.  In the previous 2 years, we played in the CBI and NIT, which made our season even longer and our off-season very short.  Don’t worry, we weren’t complaining!    In addition, our players start final exams on April 22^nd, and by NCAA rule, you can work with them up until a week before finals.  Throw in the “coach’s vacation” at the Final Four for a few days and our time is limited.   This year we will have about 5 weeks to work with them until school starts again in September.

We have 8 returning players, but only 7 are available for workouts, as 1 guy recently had surgery.   They lift 4 days a week and with work with them on the court for 3 40minute sessions focusing on individual skills on offense and defense.  This year in particular we are spending more time on the defensive end than we have in years past because it is a major area of improvement for our team going forward.  

One thing we always preach to our guys is the importance of them working on their game on their own. It is critical to their development and our team’s development.   This doesn’t mean playing sloppy pick-up games or “shooting around” at half speed.  Great players enhance their strengths and attack their weaknesses with a daily commitment to improve.

Especially at the mid major level, teams get better as the players in their program improve and mature.  It’s very rare that a freshman is able to come in and play a major role on a team with post-season aspirations.  There are 365 days in a year and we play about 30+ games a season, which means we only play about 10% of them time!  We won’t be able to work on the court with our guys during the months of May, June, July, and August – which is a 1/3 of the year!   There are 168 hours in a week and we get 20 hours a week with them during the season, but only 2 in the off-season.  As you can see, we can pave the way, but it’s up to the players to follow if we’re going to reach our goals as individuals and as a team.  There is very little traffic on the extra mile. 

Enjoy March Madness

* * *