MBB - Hunger Games & A Basketball Life
This article caught my eye about UM basketball practices under Coach Howard, featuring "Hunger Games"-like drills. The players seem to really enjoy them, especially Z/X.
Also, I don't think I saw it posted last week, but Brendan Quinn and Nick Baumgardner sat down with Phil Martelli last week and recorded a podcast. It's mostly about his days at St. Joe's, but it's a great listen and I can definitely see why Coach Howard would click with Martelli:
https://theathletic.com/podcast/85-the-beat-with-brendan-quinn-and-nick-baumgardner/
October 3rd, 2019 at 9:42 AM ^
Forgot to add that the link to the podcast shows all the episode, but the one with Martelli is called A Basketball Life.
October 3rd, 2019 at 9:49 AM ^
Whatever works ?
Performance is proof positive, we'll see!
October 3rd, 2019 at 10:10 AM ^
Interview with Martelli was very good. Helps that Quinn is from Philly, where Martelli spent most of his career.
October 3rd, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
Plus, didn't Quinn go to St. Joe's?
October 3rd, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Yep. I think his dad worked for the university or something like that and he was towel boy for the basketball arena. So he's been familiar with Martelli for a long time.
October 3rd, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^
X scares me, but in a good way.
October 3rd, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
I can see this format being very useful in assessing talent.
October 3rd, 2019 at 11:10 AM ^
I welcome the emphasis on offensive rebounding, especially when we have guys like Teske, Johns, Livers, Wagner and Castleton.
October 3rd, 2019 at 11:33 AM ^
"Everyone is starving. And you've got to eat. You've got to rob someone's food or they're going to rob your food. Rob or be robbed," Simpson said, speaking as if he meant this literally.
Remember Z, if you eat your opponent, it solves everything.
October 3rd, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
I loved that line. Sounds like these types of drills will help develop the competitive edginess that Z has always had. For guys like Z, it comes naturally and he will always have that. Other guys (I fell into this camp as an athlete) can learn it. "Practice harder than the game" type of environment, which can help build the mental stamina to adapt to real adversity in games.
October 4th, 2019 at 7:23 AM ^
This would have been most interesting to watch. You do see who was on the winning team-or just as interesting, who was not???
What a drill like this does is expose and magnify ones strengths and weaknesses-the value you add to your team-or not. Too often drills set up artificial situations that require play that does not apply to real game situations-particularly as to how an opponent would defend your team. Here, there is no "hiding" either individually or as a unit. What is being emphasized in this scoring system are a set of difference-making criteria.
Coach Howard and his staff have a very interesting year ahead of them.
October 3rd, 2019 at 1:56 PM ^
If it's a bagel WITH cream cheese, though, you don't have to steal it to put the other player out. You just call Compliance.
October 3rd, 2019 at 1:04 PM ^
Great game. Nothing new either.