Buckets of Knowledge

Using Courage to Fight Adversity

2011-05-03T08:16:00.001-07:00

By Ray Glier

On a Sunday afternoon recently, it was interesting to see the two reactions to failure by kids on the baseball field.

There were the kids who grounded out and ran back to the dugout.

Then there were the kids who grounded out and had to be told to run back to the dugout.
They were weeping, or angry, or just sullen.

It was the twin face of courage/resilience and despair/hopelessness. Kids need to be reminded that failure comes with the territory in baseball and basketball.

We played on a Decatur Rec team this winter that won 11 straight games and then lost to a Henry County All-Star team. It was too much for one player. He stormed off the floor after the game and would not shake hands with the other team.

It’s not just sportsmanship. It’s more than that. It’s having Courage to face adversity.

We’re going to see examples of how to handle defeat in these NBA playoffs. There are going to be games when one side collapses down the stretch and has to pick itself up…or doesn’t.

These are the guys who have trained themselves to fight back and show some courage. Keep playing. That should be the motto. If you get down 20, keep playing. Respect the game and respect yourself by not laughing about the deficit or playing lazily.

A scout told me about a college baseball game recently where a pitcher who has a lot of ability was hit hard and gave up a bucket of runs. He left the game in dismay and was greeted by a swarm of teammates near the third base line and was told, “Get ‘em next time. It’s ok.”

That’s no way to teach courage.

The pitcher should get a quick pat on the back from the coach for his effort, but he also has to be reminded that he will get another chance and to keep his head up so he sees that next chance when it arrives. Learning courage is not about being coddled. It’s about being guided in the right direction.

The Nigerian Sensation

2011-03-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

By Ray Glier

I saw a fascinating player in the Georgia Dome during the SEC Tournament. A Nigerian. He is 6-foot-11 and his name in Festus Ezeli. Remember him. Cheer for him.

Ezeli plays for Vanderbilt and his ego will fit in the toe area of his shoe. You know how some tall kids are too good to play in the post? Not this guy. He doesn’t want to bring the ball up; he doesn’t want to shoot 3s.

He gets in the low block and he stays there. He moves side to side, he hunts for position. Ezeli is a center. He knows he’s a center.

I mentioned his name to an NBA scout and before I could say another word the scout said, “Love him.” I turned around on press row to see the scout’s expressions behind me after he would make a play and they smiled and nodded.

That was it. Why? Ezeli has not been spoiled by summer basketball or ESPN highlights. He grew up playing soccer___”I was mediocre,” he says____and he didn’t get brainwashed into thinking he was something he was not.

When the Commodores lost to Florida in the SEC semifinals, Ezeli made 7 of 9 shots and nine points and no turnovers in 25 minutes. Usually when a big man is getting nine shots, his team is looking for him and he will fumble the ball.

Not this guy. He has big, sure mitts.

The thing is Vandy’s outside shooters were tired playing their third game in three nights. They should have thrown him the ball more inside. Instead, they shot 3s, instead of throwing it to their tree, and they lost.

Ezeli did not pout about not getting the ball more. That’s just another thing to like about him.

He is a junior; he’ll probably stay another year at Vandy. When he does come out, Ezeli will be a first-round pick and you will cheer all day for him.

Cleaning up the game

2011-02-15T07:04:00.000-08:00

By Ray Glier

Three years ago, the NCAA coordinator of officials, John Adams, had seen enough of the defender putting two hands on the dribbler to slow him down. Adams was tired of the tactic of the defender on the high ball screen throwing a hip into the dribbler coming across the top of the lane.

He started something: automatic fouls.

If you use two hands, if you throw a hip, it’s a foul. Don’t even complain. College basketball officials have a mandate on some plays on the floor. Blow the whistle if you see it. No questions asked.

You know what, slowly but surely, the game is being cleaned up. The Freedom of Movement Rules are taking away the rough stuff that had crept into college basketball 8-10 years ago.

Now, you don’t see the two hands on the dribbler to keep him at bay. You don’t see the hip into the dribbler. Coaches have adjusted. They have taught their players not to do those things because it is an automatic foul.

There is also a mandate to keep things civil in the post where most bad behavior tends to break out.

When I talked to him last week, Adams said he wasn’t through. The next thing to go is the subtle little arm bar in the back of the defender. Try it on a dribbler. It doesn’t have to be too rough, but on a young dribbler an arm bar will make them stand up a little. Instead of being in an attacking mode, the dribbler has slowed down.

It won’t be a legal play soon.

What’s interesting is that the Freedom Of Movement rules have not led to more scoring in college basketball.

Two things could be happening. Kids are paying attention to defense. They are ball hawks and moving their feet and making plays with their hands in the passing lane.

It could be, the cynic in me says, that kids can’t shoot the short jump shot anymore. They drive for the dunk or shoot the 3.

It’s probably some of both. What’s clear is that the game is more fun to watch without the grabbing, clutching, and pushing. Defense is meant to be played with your feet.

Officials understand this now. They want to officiate the Final Four. They know John Adams is watching and he decides who officiates the Final Four.

Unrealistic Expectations

2011-02-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

By Ray Glier

It is difficult to understand what has transpired at North Carolina this season, until we realize the expectations heaped on young players are sometimes simply unrealistic.

Larry Drew did not have the offensive skill for the ACC, after all.

Harrison Barnes clearly does not have the explosiveness to be an All-American as a mere teenager.

It’s not their fault. It’s ours. They were going to North Carolina, a holy place in basketball, so we assumed great things. The Tar Heels are 16-5, which is a nice record, but this is far, far from among the best Carolina teams.

I watched Drew in a dreadful game the Tar Heels played against Georgia Tech and all he could contribute was above average man-to-man defense. That’s fine, except he is a point guard and need to keep the floor spaced and get the ball to the right shooter.

Drew could not do that. He tried. There was no chemistry on offense and he was not relevant to any set the Tar Heels ran.

Recently, Drew was getting assists, but the scoring wasn’t there and his minutes shrunk. He lost his starting job. Three weeks ago, a sportswriter colleague predicted that as soon as Roy Williams, the Carolina coach, pulled Drew from the starting lineup, Drew would be done for the season.

He was right. Drew is transferring. He didn’t let anybody down; he’s just moving on.

Then consider the case of Barnes, the freshman forward from Iowa. He was the subject of an intense recruiting battle before choosing Carolina over Duke.

Barnes was picked as AP All-American at the start of the season. That was a mistake. He is not among the top 20 players in the country, even with a recent scoring outburst (51 points in two games).

That’s not his fault. It’s ours.

Barnes over-matched high school players, but in the ACC there were athletes that could stay in front of him and get on the rim with him. He was shooting 40 percent from the field. He looks less explosive than advertised.

We were expecting robots in Carolina blue and we got kids with flaws. Drew and Barnes not playing up to our expectations is not their fault.

It’s ours.

"Always Be Ready"

2011-01-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

By Ray Glier

I was just watching a 6-foot-10 center stand in the middle ofa zone defense. I don’t mean actively stand, such as bending his knees and being in some sort of ready position, or looking for an opponent to box out, and maybe getting his hands in the air.

I was looking at Mississippi State’s 6-10 Renardo Sidney stand with his hands to his side and shuffle his feet without energy.

It was all wrong. A shot would go up and Sidney would leap at the rebound thinking it was all skill and length to rebound. It wasn’t. A smaller man, with better position, got some rebounds before Sidney.

It was the same on the offensive end. Sidney’s hands were down at his side. He was not ready for a pass and several times passes he wasn’t ready for passes.

He has gifts. He hit a fall away jump shot from the foul line. He slammed home a few balls when he had a chance.

Sidney had 24 points. He was 9 of 12 from the field shooting the ball. Mississippi State beat its rival Mississippi.

Sidney will play in the NBA.

But it was disappointing to see some of those things.

Sidney missed a year of basketball for eligibility issues. He got in a fight with a teammate and was suspended. The teammate was the one who left school, not Sidney, who was reinstated.

The big guy is somewhat out of shape; at least that’s the way it looks.

Still, there is significant talent and, after all he has been through, Sidney will likely be in the NBA next season, especially if he strings together more games like Thursday night.

There has to be more from him. Ole Miss does not have a true center and he will not get away with a lot of these things. He has long arms and a big body and is hard to handle on the offensive end for a smaller team, but there better be more effort.

You can bet the NBA guys are thinking the same thing. It is difficult for 270-pound guys to be bouncing up and down like guards, but at least reach toward an opponent in the paint and turn and pin them behind you so you rebound better.

He should get his hands ready for the pass, not draped to his side. The ball can come quick and through a maze of hands.

Be ready, that’s all.

"Don't be afraid."

2010-11-23T05:40:00.000-08:00

By Ray Glier

I'm watching the Georgia State basketball team play Troy on Friday night and the Panthers are winning comfortably. And then all heck breaks loose.

Troy gets out of its zone defense. They are down by 17 and now they are desperate. It's the second half and they start playing like their hair is on fire chasing the man with the ball and behaving in a craze on defense.

Georgia State starts to wilt. The lead gets down to 10.

Into the game comes this freshman guard, Devonta White of Alpharetta. He's a rookie. It's his second college game.

He grabs the wheel and keeps the whole operation from going into a ditch. He scores on a three-point play. Then he scores on a drive to the basket.

Suddenly, the Panthers have their legs back under them.

When the game ended, White was not on the floor. He had played just 14 minutes. He had three assists. He also made two turnovers and shot the ball a couple of too many times, but at least he was aggressive with the basketball. White scored points and wasn't afraid.

He will get another chance to play.

Don't be afraid when your chance comes. Go for it. Stand up to pressure on the basketball court.

I remember playing intramurals in college. I was more shooter than ball handler. I could make shots. But when this one team came at me with two 6-3 guards trapping me, I was a turnover machine. I wilted and wanted to go hide under the bench. We got clobbered.

The next game it happened again, but I was smart enough to get rid of the ball before the trap overwhelmed me.

That's the other lesson. Be prepared.

Don't afraid and be prepared.

Don't be afraid of competition

2010-09-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

By Ray Glier

Ohio State has to replace its point guard, who also happened to be the team’s leading scorer. Evan Turner did a lot of things for the Buckeyes and he will be missed.

When I talked to Thad Matta, the Ohio State coach, he was not ready to immediately turn the point guard duties over to veteran guards David Lighty, William Buford or Jon Diebler.

Instead, he said he wanted to get a look at freshmen guards Lenzelle Smith and Jordan Craft.

Sounds silly, right? Matta has four returning starters, Lighty, Buford, Diebler, and 6-foot-8 Dallas Lauderdale. Ohio State also has incoming freshman Jared Sullinger, a forward who some regarded as No. 1 or No. 2 high school player in the country.

How could there be room in the starting lineup for a freshman?

There might not be when the games start, but Matta is intent on creating an atmosphere of competition. He is not going to let the four upperclassmen waltz into a starting spot. They are not safe.

One of the things Matta emphasized is that he is not sure which of the freshmen might be able to handle the rigors of the Big Ten, which is going to be loaded this season. What if Craft or Smith are just what the Buckeyes need: Guards who knows where to go with the ball and value ball security?

The Ohio State coach wants competition. The heck with seniority.

Just look at the University of South Carolina’s football team. The Gamecocks’ veteran quarterback Stephen Garcia is thriving and Steve Spurrier told me he has no doubt that it is because of freshman Connor Shaw. Shaw enrolled early in January and learned the playbook and has become a quarterback who can be trusted. He is breathing down Garcia’s neck and competing for the starting job.

Here is what has happened. Last season, Garcia was prone to take off running and not carry out a play because he didn’t think it would work. If he does that now, Spurrier will yank him out of the game (and did so during the Gamecocks’ recent game against Auburn.

The lesson for kids is don’t be afraid of competition. The goal is to improve. Have fun, but get better.

The good coach is going to create competitive situations.

Remembering the lost art of kids’ play

2010-08-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

By Ray Glier

It’s 95 degrees. It’s 3 in the afternoon. My 11 year old is outside shooting jumpers.

I was overjoyed.

There were a couple of things going on. Somebody told him sixth-graders don’t make the middle school team. So if he is not too worn out from baseball (he’s a catcher) he will go shoot and shoot and shoot and have a different answer for them come November and workouts.

That’s good. Don’t take “no” for an answer.

Then I saw something else. He worked on a crossover, then between the legs. He dribbles right and shoots left (don’t ask me how that happened) so he decided to practice shooting right and dribbling.

That’s good. Initiative.

So, of course, I tried to ruin it all one day by preaching. I started with the bit that it was great he was not going to let anyone tell him he was not good enough for the middle school team. Then I remarked about the initiative. He was doing things on his own, like dribbling with his off-hand.

I got a nod from him after I finished my Dad 101 stuff … and then I got scolded.

“You know, Dad, it’s fun, too” he said.

That’s right. Don’t forget that. There is a part of the equation here in kids’ play that some of us who have talented athletes just lose sight of. We’re thinking about getting ahead, they are thinking fun. We’re thinking the next step, they’re thinking, “No worries, I’m shooting basketball.”

We (I) heap on too much pressure sometimes. He said he likes to be pushed and reminded about fundamentals – but only sometimes. There are a lot of other times where he wants to be left alone.

We should probably trust our kids more. Let them decide when to drop the hammer and push themselves. We all worry, “If I just would have done this …”

Eventually, it comes down to the kid.

If you’re not overjoyed, you should be.

Putting a Team Together

2010-07-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

The marriage of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade reminds me of the playground as a kid. We worked hard for even sides, played some good games, and then the 8^th graders - the big kids to us fourth graders - would show up and pound the “little kids.”

They had it orchestrated. They were too tall, too physical, and would win easily to 10.

They took great delight in it and would rub it in with fancy passes and long passes over our heads to the cherry picker on the other end. It wasn’t really winning. It was a contrived win, a set up.

When you get a chance to put together a team for a game, do the right thing. Don’t show up with a loaded squad and just swat and swat. Make it even.

A couple of things will happen. If you have to grind, you get better. There is no question about it.

Second, the respect will follow. Somebody will notice you pulled back from just pounding a lesser team. If you sit there and hold the court with a bunch of big dudes, the hate will show up sooner or later. You can play basketball for an hour or so a day. The other 23 hours somebody is going to think you are a creep for being a bully on the court.

The Heat are running a risk. They might win a title, but it is not a sure thing. What is more certain is that there will be contempt league-wide for this crew.

Here is the learning moment from this marriage of players…

The LeBron Spectacle on television with his own special show should be a warning to terrific players not to humiliate teammates or friends. James humiliated the city of Cleveland and his teammates on TV.

If you have talent, stand down off the court. Be humble. Admiration for your skills could quickly turn into contempt.

James found out quickly what the backlash would be when his former owner chastised him in public. It was a severe scolding.

Here is another learning moment….

Can three players, James, Wade, and Bosh, who are accustomed to playing with the ball, play without the ball?

I’m just asking.

I’ve seen enough of James to know he stands and stands. Can he set a screen? Can he stay out of the way of a Wade drive, or a baseline move by Bosh?

This is not hate. Just questions. We’ll see.

Beware of the Revolving "Trap Door"

2010-06-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, a Division I basketball coach told me, “The NCAA is always a step behind with enforcement of the rules. I wish the biggest problem we had was the street agents.” Street agents, the guys buzzing around players at summer tournaments lining up future clients for agents, are not a problem?

"Not compared to the parents," said the coach. “Mom and dad want more shots, more playing time, more this, more that.” It reminded the coach of the line from another coach. “The best team to coach,” he said, “is a team of orphans.”

That makes sense. There is no hustle from the mom and dad because there is no mom and dad. The coach could blend a team and hold them together and not worry whether a player is getting lured away. The hijacking of players happens, especially during the summer months. A kid hooks up with a summer team, a collection of players from another school, and in September he is suddenly at another school.

The Georgia High School Association has tried to curb the practice for years. The GHSA even went so far to try and block a transfer when a kid showed up with legitimate rent papers from his new school. The kid said, “I live here”, but the GHSA started checking to see if there was a primary residence somewhere else. If the player’s family was paying property taxes somewhere else, and they could prove it, the kid was ineligible.

Now, there are some examples of parents who do need to step in. I was interviewing Tim Tebow’s father about the increasing rate of transfers from one high school to another because Tim Tebow was a controversial transfer. Parents and players seek “better” opportunities, but Tebow made the point that what if the family is stuck at a school with poor coaches and poor discipline.

“Should they have to stay in that environment?” he said.

It’s a good point. What about the black baseball player who told me that while riding on a bus with white players from his high school, he had to deal with unacceptable racial comments. The parents pulled him out of that school, which was appropriate….along with calling the authorities. But too often parents are looking for the best weight room, the best gym, a travel schedule and, more important, elite players to team up with their son or daughter.

Beware the green grass on the other side of the street, mom and dad. Beware the coach who promises shots and PT.

The trapdoor could open.