Huskerpapa

Goodness, the t's were flying around tonight.

Jay Bilas is a lot of things, but one thing he is very good at is being an author. His book 'Toughness: Developing True Strength On and Off the Court' is worth reading. His definition of toughness is used by athletic teams, players, businesses and so forth. The following is good to know. How does our Husker team measure up lately? “Toughness has nothing to do with size, physical strength or athleticism. Toughness is a skill, and it is a skill that can be developed and improved." Bilas points out 31 different habits that tough players have, but if you could get everybody on your team to adopt the seven habits highlighted below, your team will be on the fast track to becoming tougher. 7 Habits of Truly Tough Players 1 - Talk on Defense For whatever reason, kids want to talk everywhere except for the basketball court. If you go into the lunch room on any given day, you can probably find your players talking and screaming to their peers. But the second they step on the basketball court, theirs mouths remain shut. By talking on the defensive end, your players let their teammates know that they are there, and it makes everybody on the floor a better defender. Not only does talking on defense make your team better, it lets your opponents know that you are fully engaged in the game, which can be an intimidating factor. 2 - Get on the Floor The first player on the floor is typically the one that comes up with a loose ball. Too often, players want to try and scoop the ball and score. But when the player that dives for the ball gets possession instead of the player that tried to scoop it, the player that tried to scoop got out-toughed. If you can create a culture of every player on your team diving for loose balls, not only will you have a tougher team, you’ll have more possessions and chances to score. 3 - Sprint the Floor Sprinting the floor on offense and defense isn’t flashy or glamorous, but it’s what tough players do. Sprinting the floor in transition can get your team easy baskets, even if there isn’t anything easy about it. As Bilas notes, “easy baskets are hard to get.” By sprinting the floor, you’re able to attack a defense before it can get set up and keep the defense on their heels. It also forces your defenders to sprint to keep up with you, which can wear teams down. Again, sprinting the floor isn’t going to make a bunch of highlight reels, but it’s what tough players do. 4 - Play So Hard, Your Coach Has to Take You Out This is something that a lot of players struggle with. They don’t like to be uncomfortable. They shouldn’t want things to feel easy. They shouldn’t be pacing themselves. They should be playing so hard that their coach has to take them out so that they can rest before putting them back in the game. There is never an excuse for not giving 100% of everything you’ve got on the floor. But there aren’t a lot of players that do that, and that’s because they don’t like to be pushed outside of their comfort zone. If you can get your entire team to play so hard that you have to take them out, you will be one of the toughest teams to play against, regardless of what level you’re coaching at. 5 - Show Strength in Your Body Language Body language is such a strong indicator of how things are going in a basketball game, but it shouldn’t be that way. How many times have you seen your kids hanging their heads when things aren’t going your way? Or yell at a teammate for making a mistake? Complain to officials when a call doesn’t go their way? The habits listed above are all negative body language. Tough players don’t do those things. Instead, tough players’ body language communicates confidence and security, and the rest of their teammates feed off of that. 6 - It’s Not ‘Your’ Shot, It’s ‘Our’ Shot There is not a selfish bone in a tough player’s body. They are not worried about their individual stats, or ‘getting theirs.’ They are worried about getting the TEAM the best shot on every possession. That may mean that they set 10 screens in a possession, they may pass 25X more than they shoot. But if it’s for the betterment of the team, they don’t care. It’s not something most players would refer to as ‘toughness’, but it fits Jay Bilas’ definition perfectly. 7 - Look Your Coaches and Teammates in the Eye We talked about body language earlier, and this point coincides with that. Bilas notes that tough players never drop their heads. They let their coaches and teammates know that what they’re saying is important by looking them in the eye. It’s something so simple, but also something that seldom happens with teams. Creating a culture of toughness isn’t something that is easy to do. It’s easy to let players slip through the cracks. Developing culture happens one small action at a time. By focusing on these seven behaviors, your players will begin to understand what toughness truly looks like in the game of basketball.

Glad you like it...the spelling error was definitely intentional!

Hmm, I may know you and if you are who I think you are, your brother and my Dad were pretty good friends.

I find it very difficult to believe that Eric Mussleman will leave Nevada. You read this article and you may get that same feeling. But I guess if money is the driving force, then maybe. I believe he makes about $1 million per year at Nevada....he is the highest paid public employee in the state. http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/25869944/how-eric-musselman-turned-reno-nevada-basketball-capital

Two decades?

It will be sort of interesting to see how the process works IF Coach Miles is terminated. Our Director of Athletics may have a list, but both Ronnie and Hank appear to have a deep interest in our athletic department and the hiring process. If the salary is over a certain amount, it sounds as if Hank even has veto power. We also have a board of regents and a number of bossters who may have a say. With Coach Frost, it was, more or less, he is going to be the next coach, do whatever it takes to make it happen. I have no clue what transpired with the hiring of Mark Hankins as the golf coach and Sean Maymi as the tennis coach. Again, for those who believe we simply need to throw money at the right guy, should take a deeper dive into the hiring/approval process.

It is time for the team to turn it back on.

Seems like a long time ago...

We have a football coach that said something akin to the following....we know that mistakes will occur, we just want the players to go all out on every play. With Thor, he is going to make mistakes, but he will make them in kamikaze style.

Agreed, and as a life-long Cubbies fan, I waited even longer for a Cubs World Series championship. It can happen!

Look out, I am rolling:

Because we know as a fact he would be better than Coach Miles? If we fire his friend and mentor, do you really believe he would want to come here?

Hmm, interesting question. Since I have been a Husker basketball fan for over 50 years, perhaps I am accepting. You do know that Joe Cipriano was the answer, but he died. Moe was then the answer, but I led the rather morbid chant Moe must go, dig up Joe. So alas, Moe was not the answer and we hired a young upstart coach from Ohio that had been the Notre Dame recruiting genius under Digger. He seemed to be the answer, but for various reasons fans and the administration thought he lost his way and we turned to Barry. Okay, so Barry didn't work out as planned; so hello Doc. Doc couldn't recruit right, so here we are with Coach Miles. He can recruit, but those with much more knowledge than me says he cannot coach x's and o's. So although he has provided passion, some ups and some downs, he apparently has wore out his welcome mat. So now you ask me if we should accept that we are the worst? Hmm, those who know me could answer that on my behalf. The answer is f**k no. But that may not satisfy you. But if not, to bad, so sad. What is clear, is that although we keep overturning rocks, we have apparently not found the answer. Or perhaps we have, I don't know. What I can tell you is that we have had a number of Athletic Directors who thought that their man, was the right man. Yet for over 100 years, we have not found the answer. OVER 100 YEARS. Think about that. So, despite some positive strides and some bumps in the road, I believe I saw some sunshine. Yet, the answer by the masses is to turn the page...no, no, shut the book and start another one. Because you know what, the next coach will be the answer...yup, it has been proven true, correct? 50 years I have stayed loyal, 50 years I have wished, hoped, cried, and celebrated a little. I have filled a home seat for every home game with one exception since 1984 (Chicago State), and I wait, and wait and wait some more. So what the heck, let's start over again, it has to be the right thing to do, right? And let me add, I may be misleading a bit when I say I filled a seat. Because more often than not, I was out of my seat, on my feet yelling, praying and willing our team to a win.

Just saying...

I have high expectations, and I will continue to have high expectations. I am not ready to give up on this season yet, but the past two weeks have been a real gut punch. Last night we needed all the players to step up. A few seemed to, others did not. I haven't given up on this team, but have the players given up on themselves?

I am glad someone listened... The one kid who seems to play with some reckless abandon is Thor. Kid you not. If you stuck around to watch the end of the games that he has been in, he is like a pinball bouncing around the floor. I'm not sure that is good or bad, but he does seem to have the will and desire.

Anybody here a rumor about a certain coach from a school a bit North of Nebraska?

Sick...sad...dumbstruck...and a few other words describe how I feel. You cannot win many/any games shooting as poorly as we have the last two outings.

Yeah...

I am dumbstruck. I just found myself shaking my head when the buzzer sounded. I cannot believe how poorly we shot the ball. Man oh man oh man. At one point we were 1 for 11 at the rim. Goodness, how does that happen??? Loved Thor. Tanner was fine. Isaiah played well in the second half. Tom had stretches. But good lord, how do we shoot so flipping bad? But hey, Happ was defended well.

NM, I found his role: As Executive Associate Athletic Director, Boehm has oversight of all External Operations including development, ticketing, N Club, marketing, communications, creative and emerging media, HuskerVision, licensing and branding, spirit squads and community, government and charitable relations. Dave, I realize we are all a bit despondent with how the team is playing right now, but I question why we are calling out Boehm today. We may have blamed him ten years ago, but not today.

What is Mr. Boehm's role?

Well, heading out the door and to the Vault. I hope we have a good turn-out but I am a bit concerned with the onset of fan apathy. We shall see. I am not sure what to expect tonight. I hope we play with passion and a sense of purpose. I hope that we can bring in a victory. I will be cheering hard, and I hope I will be joined by many.

I just hope that Mr. Moos has addressed his issue(s) IF those issues existed and can move forward.