Tournament strategies - apply them all season

For a basketball coach, player, or fan there simply is no better time of the season than championship tournament time! Big tournaments (at the university, college, high school, and club levels) are taking place all over the U.S. and Canada. It is always interesting to hear the messages and philosophies offered by coaches at tournament time. Some would contend that the concepts, such as those offered below, should apply ALL season, not just in the most important tourney. Ask yourself if you should be applying the following lessons all the time:

• "Focus on how you have to work, or what you have to do, to be your best right now" (John Calipari, Men's BBall HC, Kentucky)
• "It is all about matchups" (Bruce Pearl, Men's BBall HC, Tennessee)
• "You should have to beat good teams to get to where your team wants to go" (Bill Self, Men's BBall HC, Kansas)
• "He just told us to run our plays......Coach really settles us down and calls good time outs at the right time" (Cape Breton Capers player Jimmy Dorsey on Head Coach Jim Charters)
• "If you start thinking about where you are playing or who you are or what your seeding is then you are not going to last very long...simply say 'we're going to play whoever we draw and we're going to do the best we can'" (Bob Knight, ESPN analyst and former Men's BBall HC, Texas Tech, Indiana, etc)
• "The bottom line is that he gets his guys to play mentally tougher on every possession more consistently. They execute technically, compete physically, and never beat themselves" (Chris Oliver, Men's BBall HC, Windsor commenting on what distinguishes Head Coach Dave Smart and the Carleton Ravens)
• "We need to make sure we're focused in and we're playing the way we need to play...we have got to defend and rebound" (Tom Izzo, Men's BBall HC, Michigan State)