What Are You Willing To Do?

A few days ago I was watching a college game on T.V. and the color analyst made an interesting comment that, should any of you heard it, requires some parsing.

He said, "He (the offensive player) should have pulled it (the ball) out and set something up and run some time off the clock."

Here's what happened to prompt the commentator's response. Blue Team is up 3 points with under two minutes to play. Blue retrieved a turnover deep at their defensive end and broke out on the dribble immediately - just as he should. Two of the offense (now defense) were able to get back and settle in just in front of the goal. The dribbler came at the basket hard and fast, made a dribble move, and split the defense for a shot. He missed and the defense got the rebound.

Now was the commentator right in his assessment? Probably. But what he didn't say is what you, as a coach, need to always remember. I watched most of this game (it was either that or go Christmas shopping) and I saw the Blue Team work extremely hard at both ends. They were aggressive and constantly taking the game to the other team. While the White Team probably had better players, they also were on their heels most of the game. Because of the intense pressure the Blue Team applied to them, they never really could get in a flow. Sure the Blue Team took some bad shots, threw some bad passes, but they also laid their guts out on the floor at both ends.

So the question becomes: would the Blue Team even be in a position to win the game if they did not play with this attitude? I think not. These were 9 guys who played to the maximum of their abilities BECAUSE THEY WERE ALLOWED TO!! If you want to control everything your team does to show what a brilliant coach you are then you are doing a dis-service to your kids. But if you are willing to let your kids make stupid mistakes, and maybe even lose a game - and you will look bad in the process - then you are doing right by them. And I'll bet that you will win more games than you lose if you do. But you will to have some guts.

So: do you got 'em?