“ALL THINGS BASKETBALL BLOG”

http://www.basketballsuccess.com/basketball_confidence.html

The above link makes reference to the role confidence plays in being a great player. All the great ones have it! They are shocked when they don’t make the play, rather than thrilled when they do. The problem is that to many people believe in the power of positive thinking, rather than the power of hard work through thousands of concentrated reps at appropriate speed and form for many years.

Posted By Coach Greg Haskell

Story by Jeff Goodman
Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. He can be reached at GoodmanonFOX@aol.com or check out his blog, Good ‘N Plenty.
Updated: April 14, 2008, 5:05 PM EST 14 comments
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UCLA freshman Kevin Love still hasn’t made up his mind (Read More).

Posted By Coach Greg Haskell

Beasley announces decision to enter NBA Draft (Read More).

Posted By Coach Greg Haskell

Apparently, a weekend with his family didn’t change much for Kevin Love.

It was earlier reported that he had made up his mind, but his mother claimed that the family would convene in Oregon over the weekend to make a final decision.

The paper said an official announcement could come as soon as Wednesday.

Love had a strong freshman season for the Bruins, leading them to their third straight Final Four and earning Pac-10 player of the year honors.

Coach Ben Howland reportedly told Love that NBA scouts had him projected as a sure lottery pick, with some suggesting he could go as high as fourth overall.

Junior point guard Darren Collison is also considering entering the draft, as is sophomore guard Russell Westbrook.

Posted By Coach Greg Haskell

After one college season in which he achieved nearly everything except a satisfactory conclusion for his team, O.J. Mayo is moving on. The USC freshman guard announced Wednesday that he would hire an agent and declare for the NBA draft, in which he is expected to become a lottery pick. He is projected as the No. 3 overall selection by nbadraft.net.

Posted By Coach Greg Haskell

LOS ANGELES (AP) — He already earned an armful, but Tyler Hansbrough took one last bit of brass Friday night.

The North Carolina junior won the John R. Wooden Award as college basketball’s top player, giving him essentially a sweep of the season’s individual honors, including The Associated Press college basketball player of the year award (Read More).

Posted By Coach Greg Haskell

Written By Greg Haskell

Apparently Darrin Collison is considering staying in school, and Kevin Love has not made a formal decision as to whether or not to enter the NBA Draft. It seems to me Collison may still be in doubt, but I would be very surprised if Kevin Love didn’t enter the Draft. Apparently both players were unhappy about the LA Times early report (Read More).

Love and Collison leave early for the NBA Draft (Read More).

Posted By Coach Greg Haskell

Written By Greg Haskell

I’m certainly not going to attack Coach Howland. UCLA is lucky to have him as their coach. I wasn’t a UCLA fan for years until Coach Howland brought in some meaningful physical and mental toughness to that program. He has done a great job and I’m not sure anyone has consistently done it any better in the last three years.

I believe the Bruins ran into a situation where the Memphis guards were just as quick (or even more so) and bigger/ stronger than UCLA’s. In my mind the only way to combat that is to clog the lane to limit dribble penetration with more of a sagging man to man defense laying off the #4 and #5 options on offense. In most cases UCLA could dictate the game, but Memphis seemed bigger, faster, and stronger. I also understand the psychology involved in telling your players that these guys are so good we have to adjust. Most nights at UCLA the other team must adjust to the superior personnel.

On offense poor Darrin Collison was unable to take the Memphis guards off of the dribble because he was physically in over his head against Rose of Memphis. A little more movement away from the ball (motion offense) with Kevin Love and Lorenzo Mata setting some bone crushing screens (followed by posting or flashing off of the inevitable switching on defense) at multiple angles and sets might have softened Memphis up a little. At the very least they would have had their heads on a swivel rather than loading up on the UCLA perimeter players. Those are a few of my thoughts that might have made a difference. What do you think and why?

Posted By Coach Greg Haskell

Written By Greg Haskell

Throughout the entire NCAA Tournament the biq question mark when it came to Memphis was its foul shooting. Coach Calipari claimed that his team would make them when they needed to do so, but that wasn’t the case in the final minutes of regulation last night. Free throw shooting without a doubt matters (Read More).

Written By Luke Winn Si.com
So how do you claw back against a Memphis team that had blown away its last two opponents — including another No. 1 seed, UCLA — by simply running them off the floor in the second half? Or as Rose had described it, by “just hoopin’” better than any other team in the tournament?

The answer: You slow the Tigers down. You put them on the free-throw line, the area of their greatest weakness, in the final two minutes. Memphis had come into the dance as the nation’s fourth-worst free-throw shooting team, but had hit 20-of-23 against the Bruins. So you foul in hopes that the percentages even out. You foul in hopes that this line, which Calipari had uttered in the previous day’s press conference, would come back to haunt him:

“I think I have mentally tough kids. If they’re relaxed, they’re going to make free throws. A kid that’s not mentally tough that shoots 90 percent, knees knocking, he’s missing it. Percentage doesn’t matter. And we’ve got tough kids.”

And then you watch, as Chris Douglas-Roberts, who hit 9-of-11 free throws against UCLA. but was a 71.2 percent shooter from the stripe on the season, misses the front end of a one-and-one. There’s 1:15 remaining, and you get the ball to Darrell Arthur for a jumper that cuts it to 62-60. You watch as Douglas-Roberts misses two more free throws with 16.8 seconds left, but Dozier gets an offensive rebound, and you have to send Rose back to the line with 10.8 on the clock.

He misses the first but makes the second. The score is 63-60. If you’re Collins, you think to yourself, “Now I know we have chance.”