THE SPARTAN WAY

I have to laugh when I listen to people talk about Michigan State basketball.  Why do I laugh?  Because people use terms like, ‘winning ugly’, ’slow-down’, and one guy actually said they are bad on offense.  

Such nonsense.  

These guys play both ends of the floor well.  The premium is on the defensive end where championships are won.  Someone once said Offense sells tickets but defense wins rings!

If anyone plays the right way, it’s Michigan State!

MSU runs great sets on offense and defend the heck out of the opponent.  They pressure the ball, help on defense and close out on shooters. 

Bobby Knight said last week that he would cut down practice time and take it easy at this time of year…Michigan State is not having it.  They practice just as hard during the tournament.

Leading up to Michigan State’s game with Louisville many people were saying MSU couldn’t run with Louisville (Digger Phelps voiced his opinion) but I guess they forget how in 2000 the Spartans heard the same crap against Florida…MSU 89 Florida 76! It was a track meet…

I looked at some of Louisville’s scores in the tournament and Siena scored 72 points on them.  Michigan State is one of the best teams in the nation!

MSU senior guard Travis Walton reminds me of former NBA player Gary Payton on defense.  He totally shut down Terrence Williams of Louisville.

Louisville’s press was a non-factor.  Kalin Lucas took care of the ball and ran the offense well for MSU.  You can’t press a team with a very good point guard, an experienced team and a team with a high I.Q. A big key was MSU having their ‘2-guard’ Travis Walton bring the ball up the floor.  Walton is a PG by nature. 

Taking care of the ball, shooting 46% from the field, tough defense and rebounding helped MSU advance to the Final Four.

MSU hit the open man, spaced the ball and were confident in their shooting.  Senior center Goran Suton was named MVP of the region.  He went off in the first half.  MSU placed him in the middle of the floor against Louisville’s zone defense and he was a killer.  As he received the ball he knocked down jumpers (3’s and mid-range shots) or made passes to open shooters.  

Just because a team shares the ball and is patient in the half-court offense doesn’t make that ugly basketball.  Everyone talks about playing uptempo, D-D-M, drive and kick, letting guys go, etc.  The Spartans have been getting it done by running when the break is there but having the I.Q. to back it out and run their stuff.  I call it ‘Structured Freedom’. 

The Spartan Way…

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

HOOPS HISTORY 101

Last night I watched the Class A State Championship between Detroit Pershing and Kalamazoo Central.  Pershing’s point guard Keith Appling scored 49 points in leading the Doughboys (the best nickname in the history of sports) to the title.

Appling, a junior who has given a commitment to Michigan State University dazzled the crowd with outside jumpers, mid-range and drives to the basket.   Appling shot 17 for 24 from field, 10 for 12 from the line.  The young man reminds me of a young Allen Iverson the way he shoots it and dribbles to the goal in traffic.   He dished out 5 assists and grabbed 7 rebounds for a performance that saw the building, late in the game give him a standing ovation.

The Detroit News covered the game and Appling had an intersting quote after the game when told he broke the State record for most points in a game.

Step aside, Antoine Joubert. You might be the Judge, but you’ve been overruled by Keith Appling.

Appling, Detroit Pershing’s 6-foot-2 junior guard, set the state final scoring record with 49 points to carry the Doughboys to a 90-73 victory over Kalamazoo Central in the Class A championship game Saturday at the Breslin Center.

Joubert scored 47 in 1983 for Detroit Southwestern in an 84-80 loss to Flint Central in the Class A final. That was 10 years before Appling was born.

“Who?” Appling said when asked if he knew who Joubert was. “I never heard of him. I didn’t even know it was a record. I could care less about the past. I just wanted to win the state.”

Mr. Appling, you’re a special player and on your way to play at a great program (MSU), but the history of basketball is precious…read up on it, you may enjoy it.

P.S.

What is it with people wanting to get into the team picture after the game?  Team picture is just for the TEAM!

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

NEVER FLINCH

I read about a team who used the above term as their inspiration/motivation a few years ago and last night watching Michigan State-Kansas, the Spartans displayed the ‘Never Flinch‘ mentality.  

Often times you will see teams crumble under pressure, especially if they get down by double digits.  They turn the ball over, rush their shots and forget to share the ball.   I watched a HS game last week and team A took a small lead at half-time only to see Team B come out of the locker room, press fullcourt and wind up running away with the game.  

Last night in a NCAA Sweet 16 match-up, the Jayhawks got up by double digits (13) but the Spartans, behind Kalin Lucas and Goran Suton stormed back to win 67-62 and advance to the Elite 8 where they will meet Louisville on Sunday at 2:20 PM.

The Spartans displayed poise, toughness and very good ‘team’ defense in the last ten minutes.  

Lucas stepped to the line late and made 5 of 5 free-throws to keep the Jayhawks at bay.  Often times teams will miss their free-throws and jog back on defense feeling sorry for themselves while the team behind pushes the ball up the court and bangs 3’s left and right.  Poise…make those free-throws late! (MSU went 16-17 from the line)  We preach the importance of FT’s all the time.  

Suton scored 20 points and pulled down 9 rebounds to help his team advance.  His defense last week against USC’s Taj Gibson was praised by yours truly and last night he did a very good job on Cole Aldrich (6-13 Fg for 17 points).  Travis Walton, MSU’s senior guard also did a good job late on Sherron Collins. 

Resilience was also a key last night – MSU refused to lose.  Coach Izzo was great on the sidelines with good moves with his bench, good calls on offense and he displayed the enthusiasm that he has always shown for the past 14 years as head coach.   Last night it looked like Spartans guard Travis Walton broke off a set play,  clearly upsetting coach Izzo.  ”Run what I tell you!” Izzo shouted from the sidelines (thanks CBS for that camera shot)

The Spartans displayed the ‘gang-rebounding’ mentality on the offensive glass they have been known for since the Andre Hutson/Morris Peterson/Antonio Smith days.  There was one sequence  in the second half that saw them come up with 3 or 4 straight put-backs.  

Michigan State’s reinforcements scored 23 points as opposed to Kansas’ 7.  Bench play is key, especially late in the season when there is foul trouble or fatigue.  Know your role!

A big key in the victory was the way MSU took care of the ball.  They only turned it over 13 times.  

I witnessed something last night that I have never seen in my life…after Michigan State made a second free-throw, instead of running back down on defense, Idong Ibok, Michigan State’s third string center took the ball out of the net, stepped behind end line and attempted to inbound the ball.  Pretty clever, right?  But how about the Kansas players trying to defend the pass! 

Never Flinch!

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

COMPETE OR BE COOL

I once heard George Karl say, “competition has been replaced by cool.”

Man did he have a point!

We can all agree that the remaining 12 teams in the NCAA tournament are talented.  But what separates these teams from teams sitting at home is the amazing ability to compete.  I’m not saying the teams sitting at home fail to compete, I’m saying the teams that are still standing, compete at an unbelievable level!  They are relentless.  No surrender! 

Defense, Courage, Hustle, Post Work, Going to the rim with authority, all traits needed to have a chance.

Last night during the Pittsburgh – Xavier game a CBS announcer said that Pitt isn’t attractive.  Who cares!  They win.  And that’s all that matters.  

THE PHILOSOPHY

Last night Mike Anderson coached his Missouri Tigers to a 102-91 victory over Memphis.  I listened to him in his press conference following the game.

“We have the right kids.”

“No stars…you can’t put a star on their heart. All-stars are people’s opinion.  We develop players.”

“We’re hungry and humble.”

SHOOTING

Memphis missed 14 free-throws last night against Missouri and shot 3-15 from 3-pt land.  Missouri missed 15 but made 30 as opposed to Memphis’ 18. 

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

NEVER AN OFF SEASON

ESPN had a short piece on Tennessee women’s basketball at practice this morning.  What’s odd about that you ask?  Well if you don’t follow the lady’s game at the college level, Pat Summitt’s team lost to Ball State and got bounced from the NCAA tournament.  If you want to get better, there’s never an off season!

I went to a boy’s high school basketball game last night and I saw an awesome display of skill, athleticism, energy, excitement and of course sportsmanship.  It was refreshing to see the players compete as hard as they did.  I wish the officials would stop calling ticky-tack fouls out on the perimeter when the defender is pressuring the ball.  Let them play!

More players should work on a reverse lay-up.  Often times you drive past your defender and next thing you know, a weak side defender is there waiting.  Learn to use the rim to shield off the defense.  

Last week New Jersey Nets basketball player Sean Williams was suspended by the club.  The problem? Read on…Boston Herald explains.

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

TOGETHERNESS AND TOUGHNESS

UConn big man Hasheem Thabeet via the New York Times.

When his e-mail messages to colleges went largely unanswered, Thabeet almost forgot about basketball, a game he didn’t play until he was 15. But he was talked into traveling with his high school team to a tournament in Nairobi, Kenya, and there he caught the eye of a French scout named Oliver Noah, who lived in Los Angeles.

I wonder how many of those coaches passed up on him?

THE LITTLE THINGS

I always talk about the little things in the game that matter the most.  Marquette’s Lazar Haywood inbounding the ball late in the Missouri game stepped over the line before throwing it in.  I felt bad for the kid.

MSU-USC

Toughness, intensity, speed, players being fearless, defense, diving on the floor…players making big shots.  Goran Suton, MSU’s big man takes a lot of heat from uninformed basketball fans here in Michigan but his defense on USC’s Taj Gibson (0-2 FG, 3 points) was some of the best post-defense I have seen in a long time.  When a kid doesn’t score, or takes bad shots, most fans jump on him – but Suton is a big piece to the Spartans puzzle.

SCHEDULE/CONFERENCE

Who cares which conference Memphis plays in and who they play during the season.  That talk is nonsense.  I saw this team smack everyone in the NCAA tournament last year.   They had Michigan State by 30 at the half last year in the tournament.  These Cats can play.

THE BEST PLAYER

Blake Griffin of Oklahoma – he’s like Karl Malone all over again…

FREE-THROWS

How important are they? Just ask Texas head coach Rick Barnes whose Longhorns shot 16 for 25 in losing to Duke by 5 Saturday night.  Western Kentucky shot 5 for 14 East Tennessee State was 12 for 24 vs Pittsburgh.  Speaking of Duke, they play fast, but under control.

BASKETBALL I.Q.

Duke’s Jon Scheyer made a great pass in the Texas game with 15 seconds to play by throwing the ball down court towards his basket on a save.  It reminded me of Magic Johnson back in the 90’s in the playoffs.  How many times do you see players save the ball back towards the opponents goal?

PREACH ON BROTHER 

I heard Bobby Knight this morning with a great quote/observation.  “The ones who talk the most play the least.”  I’m sure the guard from Maryland would like to take his pre-game comments back prior to the Memphis game.  Players, keep your mouths shut!

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

HOOPS NEW GEN

New York Times Magazine on another prodigy from Seattle.  This one’s (story) going to have all the pundits blasting at will.  I was talking to a friend this morning when I came across this piece and his response, “oh no, not another 13 year old phenom!”  I agree, what’s the big deal? It’s been going on for years.  The kid has a talent and the family is giving him all the attention/coaching to nurturing the skill.

After school on a recent afternoon, Allonzo Trier, a sixth grader in Federal Way, outside Seattle, came home and quickly changed into his workout gear — Nike high-tops, baggy basketball shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt that hung loosely on his 5-foot-5, 110-pound frame. Inside a small gymnasium near the entrance of his apartment complex, he got right to his practice routine, one he has maintained for the last four years, seven days a week. He began by dribbling a basketball around the perimeter of the court, weaving it around his back and through his legs. After a few minutes, he took a second basketball out of a mesh bag and dribbled both balls, crisscrossing them through his legs. It looked like showboating, Harlem Globetrotters kind of stuff, but the drills, which Trier discovered on the Internet, were based on the childhood workouts of Pete Maravich and have helped nurture his exquisite control of the ball in game settings — and, by extension, his burgeoning national reputation.

I’m still waiting to see a story on a 10 year old gymnast that leaves her family to move in with family in Houston, Texas to train that they don’t even know!

-Coach Finamore

hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY

THE MENTALITY

Every player is different when it comes to how hard they play, are they a team guy, do they defend, run the floor hard, spend time in the gym working on their shot, etc.  The work ethic for Player A is different than the work ethic for Player B…we all know this.

I came across an article in the New York Times on a Memphis Tigers basketball player Roburt Sallie and his coach, John Calaipari’s comments on Sallie’s mentality. 

Sallie was not a favorite player of Calipari’s early in the season and they had such serious disagreements that Calipari said Sallie should leave if he could not conform.

“I wasn’t playing a lot in the beginning and I just made the decision, you can’t run, you just can’t give up because things are not going your way,” Sallie said. “Four weeks ago is when I started coming hard every single day, getting in early, and trying to take extra shots.”

Calipari said: “Our motto, ‘Every player, every possession,’ he wasn’t used to that. He was more like, you know, a rec league. I’ll play when I feel like it. It took him time to figure it out.”

You know the rec league mentality: no defense, hog the ball, jog back in transition, show up when you want…it’s a little different than organized basketball.  I think there are a lot of players who hang out in rec centers that have it in them to become solid organized players but they refuse to change.  

-Coach Finamore

hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

WEAKSIDE HELP

Second day of the NCAA tournament is under way.  Marquette escapes with a one point win over Utah State.  Last night I watched some good games, mainly the Michigan Wolverines getting their first tournament win in 10 years! They beat Clemson by 3.

Some traits I witnessed last night in the one and done tournament. You win, you move on; lose and it’s back to the classroom.

Execution is key.  Need to run your stuff.  Jay Bilas made a good point.  He said you don’t have too much time to scout the opposition so keep an eye on BLOB’s; many teams score off of them.

Energy.  You gotta bring it every possession.

Defense.  Need to check hard.

Share the ball.  Hit the open man.  Move the ball.

Hit 3’s.  Big ‘mo’ builder.  If you’re down, you make a couple and you’re right back in it.

Attack the rim.  Manny Harris from Michigan went strong all night.

Stage freight.  Gotta come ready to play.  As son as you get off the bus you need to be ready.

Also, keep your cool.  No unnecessay talking.  Just play.  The kid on Clemson hurt his team when he got ejected from the Michigan game.  He threw a bow and they threw him out.  Stay cool.

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!

AN UPSET? NOT EXACTLY

The NCAA tournament has started and sure enough as soon as a smaller school beats a big school our great broadcasters bringing us the game shout out the infamous, “UPSET!”

Umm, not exactly.

I don’t believe in upsets.  Sure one team has a better record than the other and maybe their strength of schedule is higher (whatever that means) and maybe their RPI is bigger (again, whatever that means), or maybe their school has a larger enrollment.

If you’ve ever laced up a pair of sneakers, and ESPN’s Jay Bilas has, you know on any given night any team can win.

Cleveland State beat Wake Forest and Siena took Ohio State in double overtime on Friday.  So of course everyone is going crazy.

Sorry, it doesn’t matter where you come from or who you play for.  If you can make shots early, get stops, play with passion and not be afraid, you have a chance.  Players at smaller schools work hard, they improve and most of all, have a confidence about them.  Some of the superstars at the bigger schools may tend to neglect the hard work, and may take a smaller school lightly.  Also, players at smaller schools may use it as motivation to get back at the big school for not recruiting them.

Winning and losing has nothing to do with your rep, ego, where you’re ranked or name.  It has to do with how hard you play, how much you work, how much trust and belief you have in your team and how much you believe in yourself.

Let’s not forget, Cleveland State beat Syracuse earlier in the year…in Syracuse.

Hard Work

USA Today had a good piece on UConn’s center Hasheem Thabeet and how Jim Calhoun has helped him improve.

One day, the coach, frustrated with Thabeet, exploded in practice.

“I’m trying to make you millions of dollars. Do you understand?” Calhoun shouted. “Right now, you’re a tall person, not a basketball player.

“I will give you a four-letter word,” Calhoun told him.

“Coach, I’ve heard you use those before,” Thabeet said.

“It’s called W-O-R-K,” Calhoun said, delivering each letter slowly. “I know you speak English well enough to understand that. It’s not Swahili; this is English.”

Thabeet thought he was being picked on until he realized Calhoun was only trying to make him a better player. After spending plenty of extra hours in the gym working on his offense, Thabeet improved quickly.

Some basketball people will say that’s the wrong approach, you know the ones who say, ‘let the players play’; such nonsense!  No one ever got hurt by  a little hard work.  Matter of fact, it’s all about hard work!

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!