Building a Winning Mindset

Things I Know – Coach Wheeler’s Basketball edition

This post is about the “Things I Know” when it comes playing basketball “the correct way”, i.e. the way that I like my teams to play. Each of these short “Things I Know” is followed by an action that players should carry out in the described situation.

Are these statements true in every situation? Probably not, but they are true in enough game situations that they should be worth building into your game plan. I should add that as you progress to higher and higher levels of basketball, e.g. college or the pros, the best players know these “things” and make sure they are the “exception to the rule”. In any case, my hope is that these “Things I know” will give you something to think about. (I also look forward to your ideas / feedback in the comments section below!)

1) Players go slower when dribbling with their weak hand.
—-> Force them to their weak hand.

2) Players dribbling with their weak hand will look for opportunities to switch back to their strong hand.
—-> Steal the ball when it is “presented”.

3) Many players (especially in high school) won’t shoot with their weak hand (when they should).
—-> Block the shot.

4) Offensive players who are trapped will often throw poor passes.
—-> Trap with hands up (don’t foul).
—-> Non-trap defenders must be ready and steal the pass.

5) Tired players make mistakes.
—-> We want to tire out the other team, especially their primary ball handler(s), so that we can force them into mistakes later in the game.

6) There is such a thing as a “good foul”.
—-> Non-shooting foul preferred
—-> A good foul prevents the other team from getting an easy shot.
—-> A good foul is also the result of hustle and aggressive defense.

7) Defenders can U based on these three “Things I know”, if they are studying their opponent…
a) patterns / what the offense has done before
b) what appears to be the offense’s best option
c) where the offensive player is looking.
—-> Steal the ball.

8) Help Defenders must put their body in the path of the [driving] offensive player.
—-> Concentrate on the ball… and take it away.
—-> Remember where your man was… anticipate the pass and steal it.

9) On almost every play, a pass goes by a defender at shoulder or waist height but it is not deflected because the defender didn’t have their hands up (or wasn’t paying attention to the ball).
—-> Keep your hands up and in the passing lanes [at “pass height”].
—-> It is OK to stop a pass with your foot. Defense will be called for a “kick” but the other team’s offense will be disrupted and they will have to take the ball out of bounds (OOB).

10) More fast breaks are killed by the player who rebounds the ball and then holds onto it.
—-> Pass the ball immediately. Know where your team mate will be.

11) Passing is faster than dribbling.
—-> Pass the ball to the open man ahead of you.

12) RUN. Don’t slow down on a fastbreak. [this is most often done at, or near, the 3 point line].
—-> Break TO the basket first and then create space for a kickout pass.
—-> Don’t forget the 4th or 5th man down the court. Hit the trailer for a layup.
—-> Move the ball! Don’t let the defense set up.

13) Offensive players must GET OPEN. Standing in place lets the defense to jump the pass when it is thrown to you.
—-> Use contact with your defender to create an opening for the pass.
—-> Put your hand out as a target to show your team mate where to pass the ball.

14) Don’t run diagonally to get open. [This applies most often to guards being pressured in the backcourt.] Defenders can beat you to the ball when you cut diagonally.
—-> Use contact to get open.

15) Call out picks. [No Excuses]

16) When an offensive player picks up their dribble, they are locked to that location on the floor and their passing options are limited.
—-> Scream BALL, BALL, BALL when you see the offensive player pull up their dribble. It will increase their stress level and make it more likely that they will throw a bad pass.
—-> If you are covering the player who pulls up their dribble, get up close and extend your arms. Do not reach. Mirror the ball and try to tip any pass they might try to throw.

No list of “Things I Know” would be complete without mentioning OOB…

17) When defending an Out of Bounds (OOB) situation, there are 5 defenders and only 4 offensive players on the court. (The inbounding player cannot move, unless it is immediately after a basket.) This gives an advantage to the defense (which many teams do not leverage until, maybe, the last play of the game).
—-> Double team someone, ideally the offensive team’s best player. Prevent the inbound pass to all other players.
—-> If the OOB is under the basket, protect the basket at all costs. “Nothing Inside!”
—-> Switch on picks. Call them out.
—-> Another option is to put your biggest defender (with longest arms) on the guy taking the ball out of bounds and try to tip the inbounds pass. The defender should mirror the ball so they can get a hand on the pass.
—-> If the OOB is after the basket, some of this does not apply…

Those are 17 “Things I know” – Basketball edition. They might also be called Coach Wheeler’s Pet Peeves since they are simple ways that a team can improve their advantage versus the competition. None of these things are very difficult but they do require some effort and even practice so that can be done automatically at a fast pace in a game.

What would you add to this list of Things I know? Please leave a comment below and tell us your ideas.

Motivational Humor

One of the areas that I want to improve in my coaching is in the area of “FUN”. Of course the game is fun and even a challenging practice can be a form of fun, but I want to improve my use of humor both as a way to improve the mood of the team and introduce some motivational ideas. Here are some “Motivational Humor” ideas … let me know which one(s) you like the most!

Adapted from https://onelinefun.com/motivational/

When everything’s coming at you, you’re in the wrong lane and going the wrong way.
Improve your memory by doing unforgettable things.
The road to success is always under construction.
Failure is not falling down, it is not getting up again.
If you’re going through Hell, keep going.
Your life doesn’t get better by chance. It gets better by choice.
Sometimes the best helping hand you can give someone is a good, firm push.
Nothing is fool proof to a sufficiently talented fool.
Whenever someone calls me ugly, I get super sad and hug them, because I know how tough life is for the visually impaired.
Always stop before the game and take a moment of silence… for your competition.
Whatever you do always give 100 %. Unless you are donating blood.
Ok, what’s the latest possible date that I can still make something of my life?
Dream carefully, because dreams come true.
You’re not fat, you’re just… easier to see.
Books are just TV for smart people.
Birthday: The anniversary of the day God slapped you on the butt and said, “Okay Kid, go get in the game. Play hard, play fair, and don’t get too many penalty flags.”
Some people say “If you can’t beat them, join them”. I say “If you can’t beat them, beat them”, because they will be expecting you to join them, so you will have the element of surprise.
Warning: Dates in calendar are closer than they appear.
I’ve only been wrong once, and that’s when I thought I was wrong.
I got called pretty yesterday and it felt good! Actually, the full sentence was “You’re pretty annoying.” but I’m choosing to focus on the positive.
Imagine that you are in the forest where there is a tiger in front of you and they are about to eat you. What do you do? U stop imagining…
Life is like a shit sandwich. The more bread you have the less shit you have to eat.
You’re not sure – outrun and make sure.
The grass is always greener on the other side because its fertilized with bullshit.

The next ones are adapted / copied from http://www.funny-jokes-quotes-sayings.com/funny-inspirational-quotes.html

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. – Mark Twain
It’s okay to look at the past and the future. Just don’t get caught staring. – Anonymous
Follow your dreams, except for the one where you’re naked in church.- Rev. David Ault
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. – Napoleon Bonaparte

More Motivational Humor for athletes!

Here is one of my favorite (longer form) joke…
(from http://www.mondaymorningmemo.com/got-to-be-a-pony-in-here-somewhere/)

The Pony Joke.

“The joke concerns twin boys of five or six. Worried that the boys had developed extreme personalities – one was a total pessimist, the other a total optimist – their parents took them to a psychiatrist.”

“First the psychiatrist treated the pessimist. Trying to brighten his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand-new toys. But instead of yelping with delight, the little boy burst into tears. ‘What’s the matter?’ the psychiatrist asked, baffled. ‘Don’t you want to play with any of the toys?’ ‘Yes,’ the little boy bawled, ‘but if I did I’d only break them.’”

“Next the psychiatrist treated the optimist. Trying to dampen his out look, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure. But instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother, the pessimist. Then he clambered to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees, and began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ the psychiatrist asked, just as baffled by the optimist as he had been by the pessimist. ‘With all this manure,’ the little boy replied, beaming, ‘there must be a pony in here somewhere!’”

– excerpted from How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life by Peter Robinson

Got a couple seconds for a comment?

Did you enjoy this sampling of Motivational Humor for athletes? If so, please leave a comment below! Do you have something better, let us know in the comments below. Did you had eggs for breakfast?… tell us all about it in the comments below. [Can you tell that we are lonely and would like get some comments?] If you have read all the way to this part of the post… why not leave us a comment and tell us what you think!?! :))

Do you want to win all the time?

If you follow women’s college basketball, you know that the UConn women’s basketball team seem to “win all the time”. . . until they lost in overtime in the NCAA semi-final game (in a way that was almost identical to what happened last year). During the season, it seemed like they could not be beaten. Now they have a new challenge which, unfortunately, seniors Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams won’t be around to help the team address.

Winning all the time…
is that what we really want?

Below is an excerpt that talks about “winning all the time”. It is from the last chapter in With Winning in Mind by Olympic Gold medalist Lanny Bassham …

Do you want to win? Do you want to win all of the time? Really? What if you did? What if every attempt was successful and nothing ever went wrong? What if it became way too easy to do? How long would it take for you to tire of it? Winning is special because it is so difficult to do. We tend to value things in direct proportion to the price we pay for them. We do not learn very much standing on the top of the summit. All of the becoming happens on the way up the mountain. I hope you are having a lot of challenges along your journey of a dream. Resistance makes you stronger. If you are not having problems your goals are too low.

My hat is off to the UConn women’s basketball team for a great season … even if they did not make it to the championship game this year. With the loss fresh in their minds, it is hard to remember that we WANT to be challenged. If no one stepped up to give us a challenge, the value of winning would be diminished.

I look forward to next season and expect the UConn Women’s Basketball (WBB) team to win many more games. I also expect that Geno Auriemma and his coaching staff won’t be satisfied with anything less than a championship. The bar is high at UConn… and that’s why the players signed up to be UConn Huskies! They work hard to win all the time … and they will certainly learn from this loss so they can improve next year!

36 Questions Generate “Closeness”

What if there were a series of 36 questions, a structured conversation, that was designed to make two people feel closer to one another? Could that increased connection or trust between teammates translate to higher performance for the team on the court or field of play?

There are indeed 36 questions and they only take about 45 minutes to discuss—and they almost always make two people feel better about each other and want to see each other again, according to social psychology researcher Arthur Aron of the Interpersonal Relationships Lab at Stony Brook University in New York. Arthur published his results in “The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness” in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in 1997.

You can try these 36 questions with anyone, even a teammate. You could even try them on a date, but they’re not necessarily only applicable to fostering romantic closeness. You can also try them with people you already know — friends, family members, even long-term partners—to deepen your connection and feeling of closeness.

This is how it works…

Each person should take a turn answering each question. The order is important since the questions are designed to build on each other. Here are 36 questions to generate closeness, in order:

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?

3. Before making a phone call, do you ever rehearse what you’re going to say? Why?

4. What would constitute a perfect day for you?

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you choose?

7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

8. Name three things you and I appear to have in common.

9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

11. Take four minutes and tell me your life story in as much detail as possible.

12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability, what would it be?

13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?

14. Is there something that you’ve dreamt of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?

15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

16. What do you value most in a friendship?

17. What is your most treasured memory?

18. What is your most terrible memory?

19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?

20. What does friendship mean to you?

21. What roles do love and affection play in your life?

22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of each other. Share a total of five items each.

23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s?

24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?

25. Make three true “we” statements each. For example, “we are both in this room feeling…”

26. Complete this sentence “I wish I had someone with whom I could share…”

27. If you were going to become a close friend with me, please share what would be important for me to know.

28. Tell your partner what you like about them: be honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met.

29. Share an embarrassing moment in your life.

30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?

31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already.

32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?

33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?

34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?

35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?

36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.

… and a few variations (from Psychology Today):

If you could choose the sex and physical appearance of your soon-to-be-born child, would you do it?
Would you be willing to have horrible nightmares for a year if you would be rewarded with extraordinary wealth?
While on a trip to another city, your spouse/lover meets and spends a night with an exciting stranger. Given that they will never meet again, and could never otherwise learn of the incident, would you want your partner to tell you about it?

36 questions for your team

Did you find this article interesting? How could you apply the 36 questions to your team? Would you would them roll out over a few days? a few weeks? Perhaps as team-building exercise? What questions do you have about the questions? Please leave a comment below with y7our ideas or feedback!

Your Basketball Summer Development plan

sunrise basketball club I have started to think about how I might help MOTIVATED basketball players with their summer development plan. In an ideal world, I would gather a group of 8-10 players who would meet at an outside court every morning at sunrise (5am? 6am?) to get a thousand shots up and work on their conditioning, moves and defensive skills.

Clearly this is a bit of a dream because who knows of players who are THAT motivated and dedicated to improving their basketball game? With such a group, imagine the amazing AAU team we could field! Or we could play in some of the most competitive summer leagues on the east coast! Even if we only worked out once or twice a week, it could still have an amazing impact on their next season.

Do you know any players that would be interested in a summer development plan like this?

“Depends on how much it costs.”

That’s a fair response… I would probably need to charge each player (or their parents) $1000-1500 plus fees for tournaments, travel & uniforms. Compared to an AAU season this might seem a little high but keep in mind that the investment could be easily recouped if your son gets even a partial college scholarship. Imagine if someone did this for the last 3 summers of high school (Fr-So, So-Jr, Jr-Sr)? Maybe they would even come back after high school and serve as coaches as they prepare for college.

Will it happen?

Right now this vision is just in my imagination… unless I can find 12-15 players to try out for the 10 spots. We would need to start in May or June and go through most of the summer. Most likely there would be days or even a week or two off along the way. It would not be easy but you would get into the best shape of your life and your skills would improve by an order of magnitude, i.e. noticeably better!

Do you know a player dedicated enough to get themselves out of bed for the opportunity to greatly improve their basketball game this summer? Leave a comment below this post and I will follow up as more info becomes available.

Next step…

In a future post I will outline a basketball summer development plan with variations based on what a player needs to improve.

Even if you won’t have a personal coach training you over the summer, you should definitely put together a plan and schedule. You will make more progress with a plan than you will by “winging it”. A summer development plan will get you working when you would rather not. Don’t miss the opportunity to improve.

Mental Management – Marksmanship, Basketball and Coaching

Below is an excerpt from The Red Circle, My Life in the navy seal sniper corps and how I trained America’s deadliest marksmen, by Brandon Webb. In this excerpt, Brandon Webb talks about Lanny Bassham’s Mental Management concept and how it relates to performance under pressure. After the excerpt are some ideas for applying the ideas to basketball.

The Red Circle by Brandon Webb
“Earlier I said that intellectual capacity was the first trait we look for in a sniper, that physical ability, as important as it is, is only 10 percent of the game. Of all the changes we made in the course, the one that felt most significant to me and that I was proudest of was our system for mental management.

When we first encountered the concept of mental management it was being taught exclusively to instructors as a way to help us coach and teach more effectively. In essense, it was all about where we as instructors focused a student’s attention

Say you’re doing batting practice with a kid and you notice he’s standing with his knees buckled in, shoulders misaligned, hands spread wide apart on the bat. Your impulse might be to start telling the kid everything he is doing wrong. If you focus his attention on all these wrong things, though, what you’re really doing is imprinting them into the poor kid’s mind, with the result that they start becoming ingrained habits. If you say, “Hey, you’re flinching. Every time the ball comes at you, you’re flinching! Stop Flinching!” then what the hell’s that little kid thinking about? He’s thinking about flinching.

If instead you say, “Hey, put your hands closer together, like this, and look: feet apart.” Then you’re showing him what to do rather than focusing his attention on what not to do.

A beginner typically starts out very focused on everything that’s going on. He’ll tend to absorb whatever is thrown at him. He is, in other words, highly programmable. The question is, as an instructor, what are you going to feed that rapt attention: bad habits or good habits?

This translated directly to instruction on the sniper course. In the old days instructors would bark at us for everything we did wrong. “Stop! You’re putting your finger on the trigger wrong! When you pull the trigger, you’re flinching! You’re jerking the barrel! You’re fucking up!” Suddenly we’d be thinking, Holy shit, there’re twenty things I’m doing wrong! Instead, we learned we could give a student three positive commands, three things he could do to correct those errors, and now he’d be developing good habits from day 1.

I have to admit, I was not completely on board with the whole concept of mental management when I first bumped into it, and I had to overcome my own skepticism. Shortly after Eric and I checked into NSWC to start working with the basic sniper course, we and a handful of other instructors were brought out to Scottsdale, AZ for a one week course taught by a champion marksman named Lanny Bassham, one of the pioneers of mental management. I was pretty dubious. Mental Management? What, like some positive-thinking guru? Oh boy. “Great,” I said to Eric, “when is Tony Robbins gonna come in and blow smoke up our asses?”

My attitude didn’t last long. Bassham is such an amazing, down-to-earth guy – and what he taught us was nothing short of incredible.

“I wasn’t good at sports,” Lanny told us. “I was of this weak, goofy kid. My dad said, ‘Hang in there, we’re going to find something for you. Everyone has a talent.’ ”

Lanny found his talent when he got into competitive shooting. After college he joined the army and was assigned to their marksmanship unit, which is comprised of the best match shooters in the world. By the time he went to shoot in the 1972 Olympics in Munich at the age of twenty-five, Lanny was famous the youngest world champion in the sport, and everyone expected him to shoot gold.

“I was on the bus with a bunch of competitors from different countries,” he said. “I heard some Russians in the seat behind me talking about how much pressure I must be under, with the entire reputation of the United States on my shoulders, and how they were glad they weren’t me – and they started getting in my head.”

By the time he stepped off the bus, Lanny was completely rattled. “I shot the worst match of my life,” he said. This being Lanny, the worst match of his life meant he came in second – but he was devastated. He came back to the States and visited with a handful of sports psychologists to see if he could understand what had happened to him, and they all said the same thing: “Hey it’s okay to be number two. Olympic silver is a great achievement, Lanny. You should be satisfied with that.”

Lanny said, “Screw that. I don’t think so!”

He spent the next few years interviewing dozens of gold-medal champions and recording all the specific traits he could identify in his interviews. They gave him an earful; you don’t get to be a gold medalist without doing an awful lot of self-examination and studying the best practices and key practice/performance tactics and strategies. Out of everything he heard, he found there were two specific traits they all shared in common.

First was complete and total confidence. Not arrogance or cockiness, but an absolute, unshakable confidence in their ability to perform regardless of adversity. Here’ how Lanny described this trait:

If I’m a champion tennis player, playing a championship game, it doesn’t matter if the strings start popping off, or my favorite racket breaks in the middle of the game. I’ll pick up a piece of plywood, tape it to a stick, and I’ll still beat you on the tennis court.

It’s an attitude that says, I will win no matter what. These people didn’t just want to win, they expected to win. When they went out to compete, they had already won in their minds.

We’ve all seen people who have the talent and skill to win, but at the last minute something goes wrong; their favorite bat breaks, or a golf swing misses, or something in their environment distracts them – the way Lanny was psyched out by the Russian taunts – and their game unravels. It didn’t unravel because the bat broke, Lanny was saying, or because the pitch went wild, or because of the other team’s taunt. It unraveled because it was vulnerable.

For champions that doesn’t happen. Their game is invulnerable. That’s the kind of confidence Lanny was talking about – and that was the kind of confidence we wanted to instill in our sniper course graduates.

The other trait was that they all did some kind of mental rehearsal- closing their eyes and practicing their winning game in their heads, over and over again.

Lanny told us about a navy pilot he met in the seventies name Captain Jack Sands. Captain Sands was shot down while serving in Vietnam and spent seven years in a prison camp in Hanoi, confined in isolation with no phyical activity. In order to preserve his sanity, he decided to practice his golf game. Of course, he couldn’t physically play golf – but the 5′ x 5′ cage he was in couldn’t prevent him from creating a course in his mind. In his imagination he evoked an image of a beautiful country club course, placed himself there, and let himself experience it all in great detail. He saw himself dressed in golfing clothes, smelled the trees and grass, and felt himself making each stroke as he played. Every day, for seven years, Captain Sands played a full eighteen holes in his mind while his body sat in his cage. He played it perfectly, never hooking slicing, or missing a single shot or putt. Hey, he was making it all up, right? Why not make it perfect?

Here was the amazing part. Before joining the navy, Captain Sands was an average weekend golfer, barely breaking 100. After he was finally released from his captivity and made his way home, he eventually got out onto a real grass-and-air golf course, and his first day out on the green he shot a stunning score of 74. He had taken more than 20 strokes off his game – without one laying a hand on a club. (By the way, some have claimed this story is an urban legen and there was no such person. It’s no urban legend: Lanny sat next to the guy on a seven-hour flight to a world championship match they attended together.)

The point, said Lanny, was that your reality is defined by your mind, not your external enironment. Jack Sand’s golf game changed so dramatically because that was how he had programmed his brain to see it.

Lanny went on to tell us about a national shooting championship he participated in. As part of his preparation, he had spent time mentally rehearsing the moment when he would be kneeling there and suddenly realize, Holy shit, I’m about to shoot a perfect score. What so often happens in a high-stakes situation like this? The realization that you are on a roll knocks you off balance. It’s that Uh oh, I’m so close, what if I screw up now? moment that can come with asking someone out on a first date, taking your driver’s test, asking for a raise, or doing anything risky and important in life. We’re not ready for this place of victory and don’t know how to react now that we are here – so we choke. Not Lanny. He’d rehearsed that moment so many times that it was now as familiar to him as coming home.

“When I hit that moment in that championship,” he said, “I recognized it like an old friend. Just like I’d done every time I’d rehearsed it. I took two deep breaths, said to myself, I’m shooting the next three shots perfectly, then took my time. Boom. Boom. Boom.”

He shot a perfect score.

Lanny returned to the Olympics in 1976, and this time, using his mental management system, he took the Olympic gold. Over the following years he dominate the field, winning twenty-two world individual and team titles and setting four world records on top of the gold medal he took in Montreal.

Lanny incorporated what he’d learned into a whole mental management program, which he wrote about in his book, With Winning In Mind. His system became so popular that other coaches and athletes started having him come train them.

Mental Management to basketball

The obvious application is visualizing free throws but it could be used for nearly any part of the game. Late in the season, when the body gets worn out, how about taking some time to relax and visualize actions instead of running up and down the court?

As the state playoffs approach, wouldn’t the concept of Mental Management help your team perform better? Imagine what it will be like when you have a lead in the game and realize that you could actually win the championship? Or you face a challenge from the other team, maybe they make a couple of 3 point shots in a row… how are you going to respond? With confidence that you will overcome the challenge and emerge victorious? Why not?

Please post your thoughts on Mental Management for Basketball in the comments below. We would love to hear what you think or how you have applied these ideas!

Story of theshot92

Here is the story of “TheShot92” . . . an unabridged edition for your enjoyment!

It happened on . . .
March 4th, 1992

Picture if you will . . .
… a sellout crowd of over 16,000 at the Hartford Civic Center to see the UConn Huskies vs. The Syracuse Orangemen in a Men’s Big East Basketball Game. Like many games late in the basketball season, energy was running high for everyone in attendence.

The first half was exciting and just before both teams head to their locker rooms to strategize at halftime, the UConn sports marketing department, as they always do at UConn games for halftime entertainment, selects 3 contestants for a basketball shooting contest. Contestants are selected by a sticker placed in 3 game programs and the person who makes the most foul shots in 30 seconds wins a chance to shoot for additional prizes.

Tonight, the first two spots are filled by people who had stickers in their programs – but they needed a third person. UConn MBA student Dave Wheeler happens to be near where the contestants are meeting and he happily volunteers when asked to fill the 3rd and last spot. (Sometimes it just helps to be in the right place at the right time).

After the UConn and Syracuse players leave for halftime, the three contestants make their way to the court. Even though the Civic Center seats over 16,000 fans, many are out of their seats during halftime getting refreshments and hitting the rest rooms. The remaining spectators don’t expect much from the shooting contest since it is rare that anyone wins a prize.

Since Dave was selected last, he has to shoot first. His first few foul shots go in easily, then the pressure of the screaming fans sets in … his knees lock up and he misses the next few shots. One voice can be heard distinctly – calling out of the roar of the crowd – “BEND YOUR KNEES” – it sounds exactly like Dave’s Dad . . . even though Dave knows that he’s not there.

Finally Dave makes his last couple shots to end with a score of 6 made baskets in 30 seconds. Dave is disappointed and thinks he could have done better. Compared to other halftime contests that he has seen, he knows that six is really pretty pitiful, but he only has to beat tonight’s competition.

Next to shoot is a middle aged Housewife. She has trouble hitting the backboard at all and doesn’t make a single shot. [Dave lets out a sigh of relief].

Next up is the real competition – an 8 year old boy (with his Dad standing by as a coach). The kid can just barely get the ball to the rim, but one rattles into the net.

He misses a few more, then another falls in. A few more topple in and, as the 30 second buzzer sounds . . . [most impartial observers agree the ball was still in his hands when the buzzer went off] . . . he heaves up one last prayer of a shot . . . it rolls around . . . AND IT GOES IN ! It’s all tied up.

It’s time for a Sudden Death shootout between Dave, a 29 year old graduate student . . . and an eight year old boy.

Dave shoots first and makes his first shot. Dave certainly doesn’t want to be embarrassed by losing to this little kid.

The 8 year old steps up to the foul line, throws it toward the basket and makes his first shot – The crowd goes wild !

Dave steps up for his second shot and the crowd is starting to turn nasty. The want the little kid to win. Did we mention that the contest was right in front of the student section, the rowdiest part of the arena?

It is hard to imagine what it is like to be boo’d by 16,000 people (since, by now, most spectators had returned from getting refreshments or using the bathroom). Even with the crowd against him, Dave makes his second sudden death foul shot and feels pretty confident. The pressure is really on the kid now.

The 8 year old steps to the line, pauses, heaves the ball to the basket – and it hits the front of the rim and bounces up, over, and IN ! [Needless to say the crowd is ecstatic!]

Dave’s third shot. Now he gets to see what visiting players experience when they are shooting foul shots – facing the rowdiest fans in the building – the student section. The BOO’s are raining down from all corners of the arena since everyone wants the 8 year old to win. Dave steps up, shoots, follows through and . . . it goes in.

By now Dave (and the rest of the 16,000 fans) are pretty impressed by this 8 year old. To make two shots in a row is quite an accomplishment – especially against someone who has played basketball all his life and even competed at the college level.

Now the crowd is cheering for the 8 year old to make a third shot – he bounces the ball a couple of times, eyes the rim, takes a deep breath and lets it go. It gets to the rim . . . bounces from side to side . . . and falls out. The crowd moans.

Now Dave gets to shoot for prizes:

Since he won the shootout, he gets to go for the prizes. If the first shot (from the foul line) is made, Dave gets a pair of Reebok sneakers and everyone in the arena gets a free order of bread sticks from Pizza Hut.

The announcer explains the prizes and ends with “good luck Dave”. Strange as it sounds, it is almost like the pressure is off. Dave steps up and makes the free throw.

The second shot is from the Three Point Line – top of the key – about a 20 foot shot. Dave starts to get a little cocky and asks the guy running the event if he should shoot from the College or the NBA 3 point line. He even makes an exaggerated gesture pointing at each line so anyone watching could figure out what he was asking. [Did we mention that Dave was quite the smart aleck ! ? !]

The sports marketing guy running the contest concedes that the college line will be fine, while the announcer is explaining the prizes . . . “If Dave makes this shot he will get a SNET Cellular phone and, instead of bread sticks, everyone in attendance will get a free Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut! Good Luck Dave.”

Upon hearing this the crowd quickly forgets that they were booing him only minutes before and the noise and cheering starts. Dave tracks down the same (good) ball as before and steps up. With a nice easy jump shot, the ball sails toward the basket and splashes through the net. The crowd lets out a huge cheer [since they had just won some pizza]. Now the real tension starts.

The last shot, “theshot92”, is for two round trip tickets anywhere in the Continental U.S. and “Pizza for a Year” for Dave and a medium Pizza Hut pizza for everyone in the Civic Center. Needless to say, all 16,000 fans are on their feet – anyone who had left for intermission has come back in to see what the commotion is all about.

The next shot – from half court – has what seems like an eternity of buildup by the announcer, giving Dave some time to decide how he is going to try to make this shot. He thinks he could throw it, but he wouldn’t have enough control. He could try to shoot it like a regular shot, but probably wouldn’t have enough distance to get it there. Dave decides to shoot it with two hands – kind of like a chest pass.

There is only one over-riding thought – Don’t let it be short. The UConn crowds are notoriously merciless with their chants of “AIR-BALL, AIR-BALL” when opposing teams miss the rim on a foul shot – and that’s when there isn’t even any pizza involved !

Dave figures at the very least by trying to bounce it off the backboard it might compensate for the weakness that has started in his knees and is now spreading to his arms and the rest of my body. The pressure is making Dave “weak in the knees” so adjusts his target and bounces the ball a couple times while he waits.

The announcer wraps up his description of the prizes and gives Dave his cue to shoot, ” . . . Good Luck Dave”.

Dave shoots.

It looks straight.

It’s hard to tell if it will make it . . . until he sees it hit the bottom of the net –

Straight in –

Nothing But Net !

The crowd erupts. The UConn mascot runs over to congratulate him. A standing ovation from 16,000 of his closest friends [remember. . . there was pizza involved].

theshot92 UConn halfcourt

People from the courtside UConn band ask for Dave’s autograph before he can even leave the court. He must have signed about 20 or 30 programs before finally walking back up to his seat with all the coupons for the prizes. . . shaking hands with everyone as he makes his way up the steps.

Needless to say – the rest of that UConn/Syracuse Big East Basketball game on March 4th, 1992 was kind of anti-climatic. Some people even say they heard a chant near the end of the game “Put in the Pizza Guy” !

That’s the story of TheShot92 !

We hope you enjoyed it.

Power of “Optional”

If you think about it… Basketball is “optional”, especially in middle school and high school. As far as I can tell, no one is ‘required’ to play basketball. Just like no one is ‘required’ to go to college or earn an above average living from a career they enjoy. Almost every great experience or achievement is ‘optional’.

We each get to choose what optional things we want in our life and what optional activities we are willing to put in to our life to get exceptional rewards! As I heard on the Pure Sweat podcast (paraphrasing a bit), “Winning is earned by what you do in the unseen hours.”

Great = Optional

As Jim Collins pointed out in his book, Good to Great, “Good is the enemy of Great.” The reason we have so few things that are great is because what we have is generally “good”. Most people are ready to settle for “good enough” and never discover that they could have achieved something great.

It is very simple. If you want to be great at anything, you have to do things that average people don’t do. You have to do the ‘optional things’. In basketball, if you want to be an all-state player, you need to work on your shot and your athletic ability (assuming those are areas that will make you successful). In school, the optional things could include an extra study session every night or finding a new way to study that is more effective.

Optional is not easy… or hard

Doing extra things, optional things, can be hard. It might involve working harder, getting up earlier than your competition and putting in longer hours. That might be hard… or not. You might actually find ways to enjoy the optional activities. Many athletes are proud of the hours they put in and it gives them a sense of confidence that they would not have otherwise.

On the other hand, optional things could actually BE easy. Finding a new way of doing something can almost instantly take your performance to a new level. Reading on your topic of interest, while perhaps mentally taxing, can be a physically relaxing activity that can give you an advantage over the competition.

Referring back to Jim Collin’s book, Good to Great, one of the counter-intuitive findings that he came up with, and documented with a number of stories in his book, is that it isn’t really harder to go for great than it is to settle for “good”. Are there some different activities? Sure. Do great teams do things different from good teams? Sure. But does it have to be harder? Definitely not.

Quick Mental Training Tip…

Whether something is easy or hard, good or bad… is your choice. You get to define the meaning of everything in your life. A person’s definition of ‘reality’ can be very subjective so why not choose the meaning that gives you the best results. If you want it to be easy, make it easy. If you want to challenge yourself with something hard, make it hard. You get to choose.

Bottom Line…

The optional effort is what makes you stand out. As I’ve said in another article, Hustle is a way to stand out… and Hustle is clearly ‘optional’. What other activities do you need to do to get what you want? By doing the ‘optional’, you are setting yourself from the pack, from the ‘average’ results and shooting for something better. How far are you willing to go? Your limits are just an illusion set up by other people. You can do more than you even imagine!

Court Awareness – K.I.M. games

Court Awareness, sometimes called “situational awareness”, is a critical skill if you want to be a top player on a highly successful team in almost any sport. In simplest terms, it is being aware of what is going on around you. At the next level, you are aware of what each observation means and what might happen next.

It can also be a very helpful skill in other areas of life. In fact, some of the exercises that will be presented below, are based on articles from military blogs explaining how awareness can be applied in battle and other situations.

Basketball Court Awareness…

Learning from the Master

The short video below shows how one of the best passers of all time uses a highly developed court awareness to make some amazing passes. There are some passes where he is looking at the recipient of his pass but there are many more where he is either looking away or anticipates where his team mate will be to accept his pass (and usually score).

What does Court Awareness mean for basketball players?

Court Awareness, at its peak, means that you are aware of all the players on the court… where they are, where they are moving, who has the ball, where they are looking and even what they might be saying. It extends to knowing the current score as well as how much time is on the clock as well. If your state has a shot clock, court awareness includes knowing how much time is left whether you are on offense or defense.

Seems like a lot of information to process all at once, doesn’t it? The good news is that your court awareness can be developed over time… if you put in the effort to improve.

How to improve court awareness

The K.I.M. game, also known as Keep In Memory, is an effective and enjoyable method to boost your court awareness skills. The fundamental concept behind this game is to improve the player’s ability to recall a dynamic scene accurately, a trait crucial in understanding the constantly changing dynamics on a basketball court.

In this game, you’re encouraged to take a mental ‘snapshot’ of the current game state – player positions, who has the ball, the clock, and the score. Then, as the game progresses, you must frequently refer back to these mental snapshots, updating them constantly. This mimics the real-time process in an actual game, as you strive to keep an updated mental image of the court situation while simultaneously involved in the game.

Interestingly, some relate this game to ‘Kim’s game’ from an old movie, where the protagonist develops a strong memory by recalling intricate details from a scene. Regardless of its origin, the K.I.M. game is a beneficial tool in training the brain to capture, store, and retrieve necessary details swiftly, significantly benefiting the player’s court awareness and overall game performance.

Either way, KIM is a way to improve your ability to take a “mental snapshot” and then access it at a later time. In basketball, this “snapshot” is constantly changing (e.g. locations of players) but since you can’t always see 100% of the court or all the players, having a picture in your mind that you can refer to is of immense value as you are figuring out what you should do next.

Here are some examples of KIM games that you might want to try…

KIM Game # 1 – Team Challenge

[FREEZE] Stop play and have all players close their eyes. Ask questions of each player to identify locations of other players on their team as well as the opposition. Team with most answers correct wins.

You can also take pictures from behind the defense at different points in a scrimmage and, later, use them as a challenge for your team to predict where every player was after seeing the picture for just a second or two.

KIM Game # 2 – Snapshot. Questions.

Take a mental picture of something. Examples could be a billboard (if you are driving), a bulletin board (in a school) or a scene from a particular perspective. Have each person answer questions based on their brief glimpse or “snapshot” of the scene or item(s).

KIM Game # 3 – What’s Different?

I got this exercise from professional speaker and World Champion of Public Speaking, Craig Valentine. He uses this as part of his speeches to help audience members recognize changes. He starts by asking audience members to pair up and designate one as the “observer” and one as the “changer”.

He then asks the “changer” to think of 6 things they could change. Craig quickly stops the exercise before it goes too far and he lets the audience know that 6 things is probably too much. He gives the changers a different goal… change one thing.

Next the pairs of audience members turn away from each other (back to back) and the “changer” changes 1 thing about their clothing or personal “look”, e.g. hair style, location of watch or other items.

After instructing the pairs to turn back toward each other, Craig asks the question, “What’s missing or changed?”. Most observers can pick out the one change. He then repeats the exercise with two changes … and again the observer usually recognizes the changes.

What’s the moral of this story?

court awareness can get you more (and better) shots — How’s your team’s court awareness?

If you start small, you can learn to observe the changes and your ability to see relative changes can be expanded with practice.

The same thing applies to Court Awareness. By using these exercises along with ideas you develop yourself, players will train their brains to be more aware of the location of other players, where they are moving as well as other factors that are part of the game.

What’s next?

First, it would be great if you could post your ideas or feedback about Court Awareness in the comments below. We would also love to hear what types of drills you use and how court awareness has improved the performance of your team.

Second, you might want to learn more about how court awareness figures into something called the “OODA Loop”. Check out this article by Coach Wheeler “Mental Models and the OODA Loop.”

The Talent Mirage

When we see someone who performs at a high level, whether it is in music or sports or academically, we assume that a good part of their abilities are the result of talent, something they were born with. That’s the Talent Mirage.

Talent Mirage - skill pyramid — Coach Wheeler’s Skills Pyramid

We fail to recognize the amount of hard work and learning that it took to develop the skills that we see. That’s why Talent is a Mirage. It is something we see… that is not there. Talent is simply the [often highly polished] skills acquired over time based on hard work and learning.

Aren’t some people born with “talent”?

We are all born with differences but it would be delusion to call it “inborn talent”. For example, maybe our parents have developed skills in certain areas so we are exposed to something before someone else. That’s not talent… it’s environment.

What about someone who is born to tall parents and are likely to become tall? That is certainly a difference… but it doesn’t guarantee that this tall person will be good at basketball. A tall person who doesn’t develop a love of the game and a strong work ethic won’t amount to much of a player. On the other hand, a small or shorter person who loves the game and puts in the effort to develop their body to its highest potential while also learning skills to become a better basketball player can be highly successful. It isn’t the cards we are dealt, it is how we play them. Talent is a mirage.

Attitude is more important than “Talent”

If you buy into the idea that “Talent” is just skills developed over time, then the key to putting in the time is ATTITUDE. Skill building is fueled by attitude. The hard work becomes FUN … with the right attitude. A player with the right attitude is coachable and can pick up ideas that will make them a better player.

A key part of “Attitude” is the ability to be okay being “bad”. One of my favorite quotes is by football coach and legendary business leader, A.L.Williams, who said…

“Remember, before you can be great, you’ve got to be good.

Before you can be good, you’ve got to be bad.

But before you can even be bad, you’ve got to try.”

― Art Williams, All You Can Do is All You Can Do

If you are going to build your “pyramid of skills” that will lead to what society calls “Talent”, you will have to get used to being bad at something before you are good at it. This is also related to the Growth vs. Fixed Mindset which I learned about through Carol Dweck’s book, “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success“.

Growth = Skills Mindset
Fixed = Talent Mindset

In short, the Growth Mindset, according to Dweck’s book, is when someone see any challenge as an opportunity for growth. If they fail, the growth mindset says that they have not learned how to succeed or have not put in the work to develop the skills necessary to succeed. In other words, someone with the Growth mindset doesn’t let failure stop them. They continue to build their skills until they win.

Contrast that with the Fixed Mindset. Someone with a fixed (or “Talent”) mindset goes into every challenge with the assumption that they either have the talent to succeed or they don’t. If they fail, they conclude that they don’t have the talent for that activity and should not do it in the future. As you can imagine, the world of possibilities get smaller and smaller for someone with the “Talent mindset”.

Unfortunately, this Fixed / Talent mindset is often reinforced even when someone is successful… by friends, family or coaches who see the success as a result of “talent”. The question I have for you is … “If you are trying to get across a desert, would you drink the water pointed out by someone who sees a mirage?” The Talent Mirage is a trap. Don’t get sucked into believing in Talent. You may have Skills … and you will need more skills if you are going to compete at the highest levels.

Why do so many people
believe in the Talent Mirage?

Most often, it is a case of mis-matched timelines. If a 6th grader was playing against Michael Jordan, the timeline mismatch would be obvious. When players of the same age compete, it is almost impossible to see how much time (and hard work) each athlete has put into building their skills. It is easy to attribute this difference in skill levels to “talent”, especially if one player has certain physical gifts that seem to give them an advantage. Don’t get trapped by the Talent Mirage.

“[Everything] is made, not born.”
– Seth Godin, Marketing Legend & Thought Leader
as heard on the Tim Ferriss podcast.

Don’t you want “Talented” players on your team?

YES… keeping in mind what that really means. We want players who have developed valuable skills and can perform at a high level. We also believe that players can be developed… given enough time and effort (with the right mindset / attitude). So, as coaches, our job is to recognize the skills that a player has while encouraging them to work hard to add other skills which will make them even more successful.

Bottom Line for you and I …

Take the first step on the skills pyramid Don’t use the Talent Mirage as an excuse for not putting in the effort to develop the skills that will allow you to compete at the highest levels. Don’t worry if you can’t see or even imagine all the skills you will need to become successful. Start where you are and keep working hard to improve… step by step. Someday someone will say “You are so Talented.” When that happens, just smile and say “Thank You”… knowing that you put in the effort over time to get where you are. Remember… Talent is a Mirage.