A great piece written by Terry Foster of the Detroit News on Detroit Titans forward Nick Minnerath.
“I was taking everything for granted,” Minnerath said. “After a long time of you realizing your life is going nowhere — I was 19 years old and I felt my life was over — I realized I had to make a change or I was going to regret it.”
Hoops135@hotmail.com
Twitter: @CoachFinamore
Thanks to my friend Ray L. for the assist. Coach Van Gundy’s “10 Coaching Lessons.” Via Pat Williams’ new book, “NBA List Jam.”
1-Defense wins.
2-You will always be criticized. Do not expect universal love or agreement. You will never satisfy everyone – players, fans, media. Don’t try. Do what you think is right, develop a thick skin.
3-Preparation pays off.
4-Be demanding. Demand performance, not talk. Push each person to be the best he can be. Everyone can learn and improve. When winning, never accept anything you would not accept when losing.
5-Teach-Teach-Teach.
6-Winning is important. Learn from losing but never like it. Everyone in the program must focus on winning.
7-Be completely honest.
8-Work hard. This is a staple of success. There is no limit to how hard one can work. Working harder can overcome a lot of deficiencies.
9-Trust your gut. Thoughtfully formulate a sound coaching philosophy – offense, defense, discipline, motivation – to guide you. When push comes to shove, always confidently put your trust in your instincts.
10-Be yourself.
Hoops135@hotmail.com
Twitter: @CoachFinamore
No matter who you talk to or listen to, everyone has an opinion on the late game situation; up three points, on defense, and less than :07 to play.
Last night in the MSU-Indiana game the Hoosiers were up three, on defense with less than seven seconds to play in the game. Spartans guard Gary Harris pulled up for a possible game tying three-point shot from the left-wing.
Will Sheehey, the Hoosier defender put his hands straight up. The refs thought he fouled the shooter; a foul was called with 3.7 seconds left on the clock. Three shots for Harris.
Now, where do I chart that?
Under the “foul” category?
Defend category?
Or leave it alone?
Harris missed the first, made the second then had to miss the third on purpose.
Victor Oladipo of the Hoosiers secured the rebound, was fouled and made two free-throws at the other end, game over.
Last night we had four foul or defend situations in college and the NBA.
The Milwaukee Bucks led the Brooklyn Nets and had a decision to make. They elected to defend, Joe Johnson banged a three and the Nets went on to win in OT.
College:
-Longwood fouled Liberty and came away with the win.
-Missouri, who I thought was a foul team defended Florida. The Gators got a clean look from the corner but missed.
-Neveda up three on Fresno State decided to defend but gave up a three-point shot to Kevin Foster with 6 seconds left. In the extra session the Bulldogs won.
Overall stats: (As of 2/19/13
Division One Games:
363 situations
25 fouled – 23 won
338 defended
56 made three’s
16%
NBA:
79 situations
10 fouled – 10 won
69 defended
16 made three’s
23%
Hoops135@hotmail.com
Twitter: @CoachFinamore
Couple of things to report:
I’m going to end my research for Foul or Defend on high school games.
And, I have filtered out the D-1 games.
Thank God the all-star weekend is over. Now we can down to business.
Final HS stats:
71 situations (reported)
17 times a team fouled.
17 times the team fouling won the game by utilizing the “foul” strategy.
54 times a team defended. (I’m sure this number is higher but it’s difficult to track)
21 times a team gave up a three-point shot.
38% of the teams relying on their defense gave up a three.
D-1 College games through Feb.18, 2013 (despite what Jay Bilas says)
359 situations
24 times a team fouled. 22 of those times the team fouling came away winning the game. (Kent State and NC State fouled. Both teams gave up an offensive rebound on the missed FT but clearly, the officials missed a lane violation in both games)
335 times a team relied on their defense to get the stop.
55 times the offense banged a three to tie the game.
16% success rate.
Hoops135@hotmail.com
Twitter: @CoachFinamore
Andy Toole, head coach at Robert Morris did it again.
One week ago with his team up three, in the foul or defend situation against Wagner, he fouled. It worked.
Yesterday, in the same situation he had his team foul vs Sacred Heart; and it worked again.
Also on Saturday, in the NC State-Virginia Tech game, the Wolfpack did not have the same outcome.
After the Pack fouled, Va. Tech made the first FT, missed the second and a Hokies player came flying in to get the offensive rebound, score and send the game to OT.
This is the second time this season at the D-1 level fouling backfired. (Third overall including a D-3 game between Middlebury and Amherst)
Our stats tell us we have had 38 situations at the collegiate level where the team up three decided to foul. 35 times the team shooting the foul shot grabbed the offensive rebound and scored.
A huge no-no.
Upon further review, the officials missed a lane violation on Virginia Tech. So this makes for the second time they have missed an offensive player stepping in too soon.
Hoops135@hotmail.com
Twitter: @CoachFinamore
