Tourney Concerns

Last night’s narrow victory over Belmont exemplified the glaring weaknesses of Duke since J.J. Reddick was recruited in 2002. The lack of penetration and interior presence become severe obstacles when the game becomes a halfcourt contest or the Blue Devils are faced with an athletic team.

Television views have seen this situation unfold twice, during the final regular season game versus North Carolina and the 71-70 First Round victory. When pressured, Duke’s two guard front is neutralized. When Jon Sheyer and Greg Paulus dribble or pass the ball back and forth, several turnovers seem imminent. On the other hand, due their poise, the Blue Devils don’t throw the ball away often. They still throw possessions away when they force low percentage shots.

If the team does not score in transition and make a three-point shot, they have difficulty creating their own shots. Even DeMarcus Nelson and Gerald Henderson get stuck and appear not to maximize their quickness and athleticism. Kyle Singler is not a dominant big-man and would rather shoot from the outside. If outside shooting abandons the team, their motion offense is very stationary, a departure from past championship teams.

Interior defense and rebounding are question marks and the team is vulnerable to bigger opponents (losses include Pittsburgh, North Carolina, and Wake Forest). West Virginia, Purdue, and U.C.L.A. pose similar threats and Duke will not beat all three teams. This year, almost any team in the country with a winning record can beat the Blue Devils.

Yet, the demise of the Duke Men’s Basketball Programme is greatly exaggerated. Coach Krzyzewski and the team still lead the N.C.A.A. in tournament and regular season wins over the past ten years. A core of talented recruits (Brand, Williams, Battier, Dunleavy, Deng) rebuilt the team after the 1994-96 debacle and reached four Final Fours in seven seasons. Strengthening inside and wing play in order to curtail reliance on the outside shot will permit Coach Krzyzewski to repeat that accomplishment.

Carpe Diem

Brock University’s C.I.S. Men’s Basketball National Title victory on Sunday - following Acadia’s 82-80 double-overtime defeat of five-time defending champions Carleton in the semi-finals - proved again how anything is possible, in sport and life. Any Canadian team would have won out and claimed the W.P. McGee trophy. In fact, the dark jerseys won seventy percent of games played at the Final 8 Tournament.

The odds finally caught up to the Ravens. At once they faced an intransigent opponent, shot poorly, saw calls go against them, and did not recover every lucky bounce. A team can often overcome one or two critical obstacles but beating a great team while playing poorly is usually unfeasible.

Association media pundits would describe Carleton’s match-up with Acadia as a classic “trap game”, a surprisingly tough challenge to face before the main goal. The Axemen’s natural motivations to win the game were supplemented with a desire to avenge a blowout loss from the 2007 tournament. Even with the most physically talented and mentally tough team, playing at home, the Ravens fell short.

Other squads, those who can’t say that they executed every single aspect of the season to the best of their abilities have no recourse to blame but themselves. A number of teams beat the shocking champion during the regular season but none when it counted. Anyone could have won this past year but to attribute the result to fate is a mistake.

Like the N.C.A.A. Tournament, some teams lamented their exclusion from the Final 8 (some more on the Monday afterwards than before). Some teams learnt the hard way how national rankings are meaningless when not supported by wins at the end of the season. But also like the N.C.A.A. Tournament, no team with a legitimate claim to winning the entire bracket was excluded

Coaches, players, administrators, and supporters should look inward and evaluate whether they succeeded in terms of recruiting, skill development, team defence, rebounding, moving without the ball, perimeter shooting, attacking the basket, and strategies and tactics. Winning at the highest level demands severe commitment and there is always room for improvement (certainly balance is important in life but this blog entry is about self-actualization and personal development). Coaches should be at Humber College’s Lakeshore Campus for the U15 and U17 tryouts this weekend, followed by O.B.A. championships and summer leagues.

2008’s remorse and regret should fuel off-season training and in-season motivation throughout the next year. Carleton will certainly be driven to reclaim what they perceive to be their crown. Shouldn’t all teams share this mindset?

West Viriginia Will Regret that Game for the Rest of their Lives

West Virginia's football team lost a gift-wrapped part in the B.C.S. National Championship Game thanks to a loss to Pittsburgh. The No. 2 ranked team was so heavily favoured that the combined score of both teams didn’t equal the spread. The Fiesta Bowl is a big deal but is nothing compared to a championship. What could Mountaineers have done to win the game? Could an extra practiced have been held, an additional weight training session scheduled, or more coaches’ meetings extended?

Andre Agassi lost the 1989 French Open final to Andrés Gómez and was haunted by the loss until his 1992 Wimbledon title - or perhaps until he truly self-actualized himself in 1994. Nevertheless, the prodigy’s loss to the Ecuadorian veteran remains a blemish that shouldn’t have happened and can’t be undone.

Should an athlete sacrifice his youth to train? Should a coach stay in his office until part four in the morning the night before games? Should participants pour everything they have into sport? Often not. Fundamentally, the result comes down to talent (physical, mental, psychological) and if that can’t be realistically improved, don’t bother, watch a Jean-Luc Godard film, and live a well-rounded life.

When moving higher up the laurel-covered spire, athletes and coaches yearn to be champions. Winning is the ideal but the test remains something to be reveled in. But if a team like West Virginia or an athlete like Agassi didn’t devote themselves as much to practice and work as entirely as they could have than the flame within their soul can destroy them, irrespective of the glamours achieved. Never ignore self-actualization while trying to win because the former is transferable to success in life but the latter is nothing more than a means to an end.