Watch Final Four coaches for big-game preparations

From the Evansville Courier Press, April 4, 2010

March Madness captivates the American public more than most sporting events and offers an opportunity for the most casual of fans to feel connected to games that have geographic diversity — no matter where you live, there are teams from your part of the country that are involved.

I developed a unique reference point on college basketball’s grandest stage while at Duke University, and in 2004 had the opportunity to see our soccer team advance to college soccer’s Final Four, the College Cup.

Whether you are a casual sports fan, little league parent or CEO of a company, there are valuable lessons to take away from March Madness and the Final Four-

The best coaches at this time of year don’t “over coach.” I always subscribed to the theory that if you see a coach doing a lot of shouting and screaming during the game they probably didn’t prepare their players enough in practice. The best coaches put their players in adverse gamelike situations during practice and give them repetition of working through some of the challenges they will see in a game. The most prepared teams tend to have things slow down on the field or court — they are ready for the challenges presented by the opposition because they work under those demands all the time.

At the University of Evansville, we practice weekly playing up and down a goal in soccer as well as up and down a player. Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski used to have officials come in regularly to ref scrimmages in practice to give his players a gauge of how games will be called.

There are definitely times that a coach has to share instructions during a game, but there is a big difference between a basketball coach calling a play out to his point guard and screaming at a player who has made a mistake. The last thing you want to see happen is someone off the court or field distract someone on the court or field.

It’s not uncommon to hear a postgame interview with a coach of a team that was just defeated during the NCAA Tournament and hear references about playing “not to lose” versus “playing to win.” They are very different from the standpoint of how the players react when encouraged “not to lose.” You sometimes see teams play a little more cautiously later in a game with a lead rather than continue to play aggressively and keep trying to get the win.

The goal is to be consistent with your game plan. Teams that expect to win and be successful don’t tighten up, so prepare your players to play with a lead and kill off a game.

The importance of having experienced players and coaches at this stage of the season is an awful lot like filling a job resume with a lot of theoretical experience from class as opposed to practical work experience. Until you have been there and done that, it’s hard to truly understand how to respond in those situations.

Last spring, our soccer team played at Duke — and out of our 11 starters, seven were freshmen and there were sophomores. We were fortunate to defeat the Blue Devils, 3-0, but the biggest victory was giving our young nucleus some very important experience on how to be successful against the top teams in the nation. That experience gained last March went a long way to help prepare us for the challenges of postseason competition in November.

Very rarely do you see a team littered with freshmen advance to the Final Four, and it is not uncommon to see teams like this year’s version of Duke with a senior-laded nucleus advance to the largest stage in college hoops. You also see three of the four coaches in the event having taken previous teams to the Final Four — Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Tom Izzo of Michigan State and Bob Huggins of West Virginia (formerly of Cincinnati). Everyone needs a “first time,” and my guess is that the experience gained by a young coach like Brad Stevens of Butler will later prove invaluable.

There are so many great lessons to be learned from watching the top college basketball teams and coaches at this time of year. They can be applied regardless of whether you are a player, coach or parent.