[I apologize that the tenses are off. I’ve tried to go through and fix everything, but I might have missed some. I finished this post Saturday evening, but promptly fell asleep (Sleeping in the evening as opposed to the daytime! First time in a long time!) and forgot to publish it, and then I had to write that UConn post so everything got pushed back. Sorry.]
Also, sorry that this title is misleading/vague. This post is actually about volleyball and basketball, but I suppose (if you have a flexible imagination) the underlying message could be extended to ultimate. So I guess sorry ’bout it, especially since I just made a comment to someone that I’d stop writing about basketball and volleyball. So double-whammy, both in one post. Sucks to suck, I suppose.
Oh! And in case you’re wondering, I’ve decided that I’m going to start a series called “Winning is a Culture”, which hopefully explains why I’ve dubbed this the third volume. In case you need refreshing, I’ve already written “Winning is a Culture, Vol. I: Joann Goes on a Long, Muddy, Indecipherable Rant and is Revealed to be a Terrible, Horrible Spirit Zealot Who Deserves to be Stoned and Flogged, Both for Being Tortuously Verbose and for Espousing ‘Spirit’“, as well as “Winning is a Culture, Vol. II: It Starts With Coaching“. I’m also simultaneously working on what would have been Vol. IV, “Building Core Values” (also based on volleyball, lulz) and Vol. V, “Playing to a Standard”. But y’know, knowing me, this “series” will probably end there, because I have zero follow-through. But let’s hope I’m wrong.
In case you were unaware (and you haven’t seen the front page of ESPNU.com lately), the #12/14 (I don’t even know anymore) Illinois men’s basketball team was upset by UIC, 57-54. In that same day, the Penn State women’s volleyball team won their fourth National Championship in a row. So first of all, congratulations are in order. Huge props to Russ Rose and Penn State Volleyball. Unbelievable. .jpg)
I don’t know if people truly appreciate their accomplishment. I mean, NO ONE — NO ONE else in the country knows what it means to win a National Championship. Winning one is tough, winning four in a row is really, really something. I don’t know enough about other college sports to say for certain, but I know that no other contemporary team has had that kind of dominance over the National Championship like Penn State has over NCAA Volleyball — neither UConn nor Tennessee on the women’s college basketball side of things have ever won four in a row. And for those seniors to go out that way, four for four … simply amazing. They’ve never ended their season on a loss. Can you imagine that? And the Nittany Lions are still loaded for years to come. A bunch of their key players this year are underclassmen, and people forget that they’re gonna get Darcy Dorton, 2009 Big Ten Freshmen of the Year, back next fall. It’s borderline unfair. But yeah, it’s safe to use the ‘d’ word — dynasty.
Anyway.
These two events happening on the same day gave me a great opportunity to expound upon what I think is and what isn’t a championship team.
[For those of you who ARE NOT Illini fans, feel free to skip this part. But if you are an Illini diehard and will be angry with me for using Illinois as an example of how to lose a guy in ten days, well then scroll to the bottom of this post and read. I don’t want to muddle the post with a random, off-topic rant. <-- Sorry, that joke was for you guys who know that all my posts are random, off-topic rants.] Penn State volleyball is a championship program and Illinois men's basketball is not for a number of reasons, and no, the fact that they are different genders playing different sports has nothing to do with it. I'll touch on a few.
1. Penn State always takes care of business, no matter what.
People want to get pouty and cry about the fact that Penn State had the easiest draw to get to the finals — and even Penn State fans will give you that one — but here’s the thing, and get ready to feel stupid because you know it’s true: Penn State took care of business. They won the games they were supposed to win to get them there, they won in convincing fashion, and they beat anyone and everyone, regardless of the jersey they were wearing — the same way they’ve blown out great teams, they’ve blown out some less-than-great teams. In the entire NCAA Tournament this year, Penn State lost one set to Duke in the Elite Eight. Maybe they were playing cupcakes at home for the first few rounds of the tournament, but they didn’t drop any sets there, and they didn’t drop any sets to Texas or Cal either, both very strong, athletic teams, in games that “mattered”.
We also don’t have to talk about the NCAA Tournament. We can talk regular season, too. At the end of the season, Penn State finished in the top five RPI, and for the billionth time in a row they finished on top of the Big Ten. Again. If you don’t think that’s a big deal, I’d make the argument that the Big Ten is the strongest conference in college volleyball. The Big Ten had three teams in the top ten RPI, and it sent SIX teams to the Sweet 16, I believe the most of any conference (seven teams, if you want to include Nebraska, who we will add soon). To grind through the conference season and finish on top of a tough conference like the Big Ten might say even more about Penn State than their dominating run through the NCAA Tournament. Conference play is about sustained success over time, while during the tournament, anything can happen (read: overall #1 Florida falling to Purdue).
Penn State ended the season with five losses more than they’ve had in the previous two seasons combined, but consider this — all of the teams that Penn State lost to over the course of the regular season (Stanford, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota) advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. With the exception of dreamkillers *DKeller/Alex Legion/The Other Jordan Son/Rich Semrau, apparently voice* Minnesota, Penn State came back to avenge each other their early losses to their conference opponents (and they didn’t get to play Stanford again). Take the Illinois matches, for example. The first one was close, with Illinois winning 3-2. The second one was a cakewalk (as much as it hurts to say), with Penn State winning in straight sets. They learn from their mistakes, and they come out with this focus and this intensity to beat you.
Meanwhile, Illinois has problems closing out and winning against cupcake teams that they’re “supposed” to beat. They have this piss poor attitude that because they’ve even deigned to play these scrubs, that they’ve even showed up to the gym, that means they should win these games. It doesn’t help that Illini Nation and the sportswriters let them believe that, too. Paul Klee said that the Illini could “name their score“, and so many people treated it as a glorified practice for the Mizzou game. You know, it very well may have just been a glorified practice. But you’re supposed to practice the way you play in a game, and if that sad excuse for a game against UIC is an indication of the effort that Illinois puts forth in practice, then I’m not surprised as to why they haven’t been playing well.
Ya’ll know the way I feel about all of that “glorified practice” and “name their score” stuff — it’s garbage. I don’t care if you’re suiting up against East-West Kentucky State A&M Technical or Teh d00k, you play with the same intensity and the same focus for forty minutes. None of this “it’s hard to get excited for ‘easy’ games” mess. I mean, I honestly don’t understand how the same team that beat UNC is the same team that lost to UIC. It doesn’t matter whether the other team’s jerseys say UNC or UIC, you gotta play hard either way.
2. Penn State realizes and works toward their larger goal.
It would have been easy for Penn State to make excuses and throw in the towel before the season even began. They lost All-Everything OH Megan Hodge and S Alisha Glass, both of whom have moved onto the National Team. They also lost 2009 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Darcy Dorton for the season (injury in the spring), too. As this 2010 season began, they were carrying a largely young and inexperienced lineup, and would have to work a new setter into their rotation. No one would have blamed them for making excuses — it’s tough to imagine pursuing another National Championship with such a dramatic roster turnover.
After the end of their 109-match win streak, snapped by Stanford in straight sets in September, was followed by the end of their 65-match Big Ten Conference win streak at the hands of Illinois, the young Penn State team could have gotten down on themselves, could have started to doubt their goals. Two weeks later, when they lost two matches in a row to Indiana and Purdue, the team could have easily hung their heads, shrugged their shoulders, and resigned to say, “Well, we’re young. It’s a rebuilding year.” But they didn’t do that. After that weekend, they would lose only one more match and drop only six sets over the course of twenty matches, including the NCAA Tournament. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves or chalking up early season stumbles to growing pains, they took lessons from the losses and continued to work hard, ending the season in typical Penn State fashion — with a National title.
On the other hand, Illinois’ goals and how they work to achieve them are a little muddier. While the team claims that their goal this season is to make a run to the Final Four, we haven’t seen Final Four-caliber play, or even Final Four-caliber effort, from them quite yet. I can forgive them for the first part — it’s only December, and maybe they need time to get into their stride. But I can’t forgive the second part. I won’t mention the difficulties we’ve had closing out and even beating supposed cupcakes like Northern Colorado and UIC. But even in their win against UNC, their play was sloppy, especially in the second half, keeping UNC in the game. The game is forty minutes long. I want forty minutes of all-out, in-it-to-win-it hustle and play. I want to see them play with a little bit of heart for forty minutes, a little bit of inspiration, night in and night out. Doesn’t matter whether it’s Saturday night on Gameday or Sunday afternoon in a blizzard. There are no excuses for a poor effort, especially when you’ve set goals as lofty as the ones this team wants to accomplish.
Then you’ve got players who say they want to go to the NBA. Let’s face it — with the exception of McCamey, who might not even be a lottery pick, the NBA dream for the rest of our seniors is a little further away. Not unattainable, but it’ll take a little work. So why don’t we see them playing like they want to impress some NBA teams? The NBA’s not gonna be impressed with a player who can go 15 and 15 one night, and then fade to 2 and 4 for the next few nights. They’re not going to be impressed with a bad attitude and a plethora of excuses, and they’re certainly not going to be impressed with a player who doesn’t do everything it takes to get a win.
On a coaching note, Russ Rose allows his players to develop, while Bruce Weber sticks to his “tried and true” players. Three freshmen — Deja McClendon, Ariel Scott, and Katie Slay — have played a pretty important part in Penn State’s run to the title this year. Deja was actually the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. They didn’t get to become major contributors just like that. There were times this season when the freshmen didn’t play well, when they didn’t seem to be clicking. Russ Rose could have gone to more experienced players that perhaps lacked Deja, Ariel, and Katie’s talent, players who know his system better, players who have seen more college competition. But Russ Rose understood that those were the players he’d need to step up later, so he let them play and he let them learn. Growing pains are always rocky, but he stuck with his players and they delivered when it mattered. Equally important is that their teammates understood their roles, and understood that the freshmen worked hard and that the freshmen may be their best options at the spots they filled. Instead of whining about playing time or feeling a sense of entitlement because of “seniority”, they continued to work hard in practice, pushed their teammates in practice, and cheered and supported them come game time, always ready to answer the bell if called upon to deliver. It’s all a part of buying into the team’s philosophy and the team’s goals.
Unlike Penn State, Illinois has shown that they are not willing to take temporary setbacks in order to achieve their ultimate goal. The two important things that will help Illinois make a real run in the tournament are an improved post game and a deep bench. Unfortunately, the two seniors we have starting in the post positions will never develop into the powerful, skilled posts we need to succeed and compete deep in the tournament. Those players are probably sitting on the bench. But instead of giving them game time experience, even when they’ve been successful (read: Tyler Griffey in the UIC game), he relegates them to the bench to favor his seniors (and during the UIC game both Mikes were not playing well). Brandon Paul, who was slated to be Demetri McCamey’s backup, will likely have to sit out the Mizzou game. The last time Demetri had to play almost a full game with no rest was against Texas, a game we lost. We enter this game with no other proven backup for DMac, and the next closest thing, Crandall Head, has nothing to draw on to help him prepare for that situation — garbage minutes against Northern Colorado won’t get him ready for backup minutes against Mizzou.
With Rich Semrau’s recent Facebook ripping of the team, it brings to light two possible problems: 1. The coaches aren’t being fair with awarding playing time (i.e. not giving the most talented or hardest working players their due), and 2. The entire team is not on the same page, and the entire team has not bought into the team’s goals.
Now, this next part is on the fanbase and the people surrounding the team, not (necessarily) the players. I read a bunch of theories about why Illinois lost the UIC game. A lot of people chalked it up to being a trap game — guys just finishing finals, it’s winter break, it’s a non-conference game at a neutral site, it’s the game before a high profile game, I heard the commentators say something about the tight rims, and some people blamed it on Ron Guenther for scheduling a game where the other team had everything to gain while we had nothing to gain. *womp womp* Should I call the wahmbulance over here for ya?
All’s I hear are excuses.
3. Penn State players hold themselves and each other accountable.
When players accept nothing but the best from themselves and their teammates and they push each other towards perfection, teams are successful. As previously noted, Penn State was working in a rookie setter, Kristin Carpenter. I haven’t watched a ton of Penn State matches this season, but I’ve seen enough where I’ve seen hitters talking to her about where she’s setting balls if she’s setting them a bit off. She’s got a tough job, quarterbacking a team like Penn State for a coach like Russ Rose, and while she did a great job of it, she’s made some mistakes along the way. A good program can live with those mistakes. A great program can’t and won’t. Players aren’t afraid to call each other out for their mistakes, as minuscule as they may be. You can give 100%, hell even 110% if you want, but if you have a teammate giving only 90%, your team will not be successful. It’s about making sure that everyone has the same standards, and making sure that you’re all willing to hold each other to them.
Another thing I like is when players hold themselves accountable for their successes as well as their failures. Sometime during the course of the title match, Blair Brown received a set from Kristin Carpenter going one-on-one against Tarah Murrey. I don’t know a ton about the X’s and O’s of volleyball, but I know enough about sports in general that in one-on-one situations, the hitter is usually at an advantage. In any case, Blair Brown got roofed by Murrey. Instead of hanging her head, or pouting about it, or letting Carpenter have it (could have been a bad set), she patted her chest to indicate it was her mistake. Simple action, big implications.
It lets your teammates know that you are not okay with what you’ve done, that you know that wasn’t your best effort. It lets them know that you’re going to get it right next time, and it also lets them know that they’re expecting you to do the same exact thing.
While we’re starting to see that level of accountability on Illinois from Demetri McCamey and Jereme Richmond, the team as a whole is a long way from it. I hate to give and then take away in the same paragraph, but I think it was during the Northern Colorado game that I found myself very displeased with Richmond, which doesn’t happen often. I believe the NoCo guard stole an Illinois inbounds pass or he got a long rebound in the corner, I don’t even remember, just that he was alone, trapped by JRich and someone else. JRich fought for the ball with the NoCo player, and after the ref whistled that the NoCo player had signaled for a time out, Jereme wrestled the ball away from him and threw an elbow. I don’t know enough about the kid to say that it’s a personality trait of his or he has a mean streak, but I know that it was out of frustration. It was an easy play that should have been completely routine, but instead this scrappy player comes in and steals the ball/gets the rebound (again, don’t remember the exact situation). Instead of coming away from that situation and maybe telling his teammates that he should have made a smarter pass or he should have boxed that guy out, Jereme throws an elbow. There’s a way to deal with frustration in a constructive way, and that wasn’t it. It’s a bad signal to your team, and it’s a poor display of character in the moment.
Another thing I was pretty unhappy about (among a ton of other things) was during the UIC game. A UIC player drove into the lane and was about to scoop up a right-handed layup. Meyers Leonard comes and brings his arm down across the guy’s arms. He clearly hits the player on the hand/arm, and the ball pops out of his hand. Even without a close-up replay I could see that Meyers did not have a clean block. Instead of raising his hand, taking the foul, and getting to the line to get ready to block out, Meyers makes a sour grapes face at the ref and seems to want to jaw at him a little. It’s immature, and it’s looking for an excuse out of your own mistake. Instead of saying, “Hey guys, my bad, I’m gonna get this rebound back” or something to that effect, you show frustration.
4. Penn State understands that “legacy” and “leadership” don’t necessarily mean “hanging banners” (although they do).
The senior class at Penn State has never ended their season on a loss. In their time at Penn State, they have lost seven matches over the course of four years. That type of dominance happens because of hard work. It happens because of discipline. It happens because they understand the standards they must meet in order to reach the goals they’ve set for themselves. And you can make arguments that this class has had a lot of help over the years from players like Hodge and Glass, but you’d be remiss in downplaying this class’ contributions to those titles. More than anything, you’d be remiss in ignoring their leadership of a young team during this past season. Because even though a young gun like Deja McClendon may lead the team in kills in a particular match or Katie Slay may lead in blocks, it takes someone who’s been there, someone who knows how to stay composed in tight situations to take a teammate aside and correct them or give them advice or challenge them to step up their game, or to step up in a huddle and say, “Hey, calm down, let’s play our game”, or to encourage their teammates to stay up and focused when things aren’t going their way. These seniors are the ones who push their young teammates in practice, the ones who make sure that their teammates are working and never satisfied with just being good.
What I like about this Nittany Lion senior class is that they realize that their legacy isn’t necessarily written in records, wins, and banners — in Blair’s own words, “The legacy we want to leave is the program history. The tradition of working hard every day in practice, because that’s how you get here.“
While the Penn State senior class has four National Championships in four years, the Illini seniors have nothing to brag about (yet). They’ve had three lackluster seasons so far, and in their time we’ve been to the NCAA Tournament only once, being ousted in the first round by 12th seeded Western Kentucky (we were seeded 5th). While there have been key wins here and there, a majority of their resume is less than impressive. And you know, I would almost argue that people wouldn’t be so angry about losing to better teams if they knew that our players were working hard. But we’re constantly, constantly reading reports about bad practices and bad attitudes. That’s not what you want your underclassmen to learn, and you don’t want them to think it’s okay to have a bad attitude or to give less than your best, even at practice. Even now, at the end of the road, I don’t see the drive and the determination to be the best. We’re still reading about how they have bad practices, and Coach Weber is saying that he’s been “scared” about it. We’re still seeing sour grape faces after poor performances, and we’re still seeing them sleepwalking through games that they “should be winning”. Matto points mean nothing if you’re only going to get after it when you feel like it. Hustle is all out all the time, and hard work is the difference between winning and losing close games.
We’ve heard a hell of a lot of talk, but I’ve yet to see them walk the walk.
(/sports cliches)
[For those of you who take offense to my Illinois examples of mediocrity, please read: I hope I don’t come off like those “sky is falling” posters on IllinoisLoyalty. I don’t mean to come off that way. Listen, I don’t think this is an NIT team. I think we’ll make the NCAA tournament, but I don’t think we’ll do as well as many hoped from the outset of the season. There will be wins against great teams, but there will also be some tough losses. I’ve always wanted to be excited about this team, but I’m realistic too. Illinois has no inside game. Simple as that. And you can’t compete in the Big Ten without an inside game. We live and die by the jump shot, even when we have a clear size advantage in the post. Well you know what? There are gonna be games when those three balls don’t go in. I know we play a motion offense, but sometimes it just looks like tentative passing around the perimeter, with nary a look into the paint, until the shot clock hits about 2 and we have to jack up a desperation shot that our guys don’t even try to get into position to rebound, even when they know what’s coming.
I swear, sometimes I watch Illinois basketball games and am filled with nothing but rage, even when they win. Tisdale and Davis are not and will never be powerful, bruising bigs. I accept that. They aren’t skilled post players, but they do other things well, namely shoot jump shots and grab rebounds, respectively. So you try to play to their strengths by bringing them outside, setting screens to get them open to shoot jumpers. But all the other team has to do is shut your perimeter play down on offense, or pound the ball into the paint and get you to foul on D because they know you don’t feel comfortable down low. It comes with the territory of accepting your weaknesses and trying to play to your strengths. That said, you also have to accept (and I do … ohhhh I do accept) that Sullinger’s gonna eat those guys alive. People made a big deal about all the weight and muscle that the Mikes put on before the season, but I gotta wonder — what’s the point? What’s the point of hitting the gym and eating a 6000 calorie-a-day diet and getting “big” and “strong” if you’re going to take fadeaway jumpers four feet away from the basket instead of taking it in to the hole or at least leaning in and drawing a foul, or if you’re going to settle for a hook shot when you’ve got a defender on your back instead of using a drop step to the basket, or if you’re going to LEAN AWAY while setting a pick instead of setting one that leaves the defender’s bones aching and most importantly separated from your teammate, or if you’re just going to try to go over the back of someone to get a rebound instead of boxing out for position? Those two guys are spotty at best, and don’t ever seem to give a consistent effort. Meyers Leonard is great and physical and will be good, but he’s not the answer now. And I love Tyler Griffey and his work ethic and his attitude, but he’s also not the answer at center (he can give us quality minutes at the four, though, and I don’t understand why he doesn’t get more chances to play).
There are bright spots on this team, for sure. Demetri McCamey is one of the top three point guards in the country. He’s a proven scorer who can take you inside and out (I wanna see some more DMac post ups, Bruce!), and he has incredible court vision (except for maybe him running out of bounds in those last seconds against UIC…). He is an incredible passer who also knows when he needs to be a little more selfish. Simply put, he’s a game-changer. Jereme Richmond is going to be filthy good one day. He’s decent now, but he’s going to be unbelievable with some more work and some more experience. What outshines his athleticism is his tenacity and the fire he brings to the court. He wants to be physical, he wants to win his matchups, and more than anything he wants to win the game. Sometimes his fire is a little too much, and he’ll need to learn how to dial that back and use it more constructively, but when he learns that, gets more game experience, puts more work into his jump shot, fine tunes his post moves, and works on his defense, he’s gonna be great. Tyler Griffey is a hardworking guy who is always going at it. He may not be the most skilled or the most athletic player on the court, but he makes good things happen, and works and plays with a purpose. DJ Richardson plays great on both sides of the ball, and it seems like he’s really worked on his ballhandling and penetration. I LOVE BILL COLE, and I don’t care who knows it. The guy hustles and knows how to play smart ball. Illinois fans can bitch about him all they want, talking about his limited athleticism and his limited skill. He may never throw down a tomahawk breakaway dunk and he may never create shots off the dribble, but he’ll make the smart pass, box out his man, only take open shots, move the ball quickly, play tough D, and go all out when he sees a loose ball. He’s what they call a “glue guy” — the guy on your team who does all the little things, all those things that don’t show up in the box score but help get you wins. And heck, even if he didn’t do all those things, at least he plays with some energy, at least he plays like he fucking cares. I see some players sleepwalking on the court and it makes me sick.
You wanna know what I would love? If Mike Tisdale would play like he’s a 7-footer. If Brandon Paul were more consistent. If Mike Davis would use his athleticism to create shots. If Bill Cole had Mike Davis’ athleticism. If Meyers Leonard knew what he was doing on the court. If Tyler Griffey and Crandall Head got more tick. But some of those things can’t be changed, and you have to be realistic about what you have and what you can do with what you have. All of that said, I want to eat crow at the end of the season. I want the Illini to do well, and I want to be damn proud to wear the Orange and Blue. But it’s going to take a lot more work and a big attitude adjustment for a lot of guys. Let’s go Illini, it’s time to work.]
