Leadership on and off the court falls in the same category as dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding…. etc.
Just another skill that must be mastered to achieve your personal and your Team goals.
Coaches first job is always to get his players to do the things that they don’t want to do and the things that they don’t yet know they can do.
One of the best things we saw last night…. was our kids trying to do this very thing…. especially in the second half.
It was almost they were taking turns seeing who could take the game over… as if they looked at each other and said ‘Who wants to be our leader’ you try, I’ll try, everybody gets a try. Ball distribution on offense was the best it has been all season in a close game.
Anthony made a couple of baskets off the ANTHONY on three, four or five play and made a jumper or two from the outside, and missed a couple of shots…. but he put together three or four successful plays in a row and started feeling something.
Turner hit a couple of threes and missed more than he made, but he was looking for his shot every time.
Bigs thought they could get every rebound. Doesn’t really matter whether they actually did that or not. Those two or three real easy followups that Mitchell got were the result of our Bigs being a little too aggressive and getting a little out of position. When was the last time, anybody accused our big men of being too aggressive as a unit ???
On loose balls and 50/50 plays we GOTT more than our share.
Coaches just sat back and let the kids work it out.
Overall…. the effort and the result was quite impressive…. all things considered.
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That said… we all have seen this bball movie many times… You find out your Star player can’t play thirty minutes before gametime. Coach looks at the rest of ’em and says ‘It’s all on you guys tonight’. Somebody unexpected or a rookie has a career game. Tyler did the same thing last year against the ‘Hoos.
And the next game, when the star player returns…. either one or two things happen.
This is how you build a TEAM.
Take a negative and turn it into a positive by finding a Team solution.
Happy birthday Coach!
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@foose… I was thinking exactly that same thing about that pre-game phone call from Grandover…when I wrote that line last night but didn’t want to stir that pot during the game. Who cares… I’ll take that. Thanks, Johnny.
