Last Game, Next Game

Bobby Knight had a "Last Game-Next Game Theory." Essentially this was how quickly a team could get over one game, no matter the result, and get their minds' focused on the next game. The really good teams have the ability to put a BIG win behind them immediately and get on to the next game. They also have the ability to get over a loss, and not let one loss linger into the next game. Knight said, "The first job we have today, is putting yesterday aside to be remembered later." During a 30 game college season, you cannot afford to let one loss lead to another loss, or let one win lead to complacency, and a let down.

Next Play, Next Game

In Rudyard Kipling's famous poem "If" he stated, "If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same." This is key in basketball as it is in life. At some point during every game and every season, a team is going to experience some sort of success and some sort of adversity. The great teams handle success with humility and know how to bounce back from adversity. They do not let either linger around. They have the ability to almost immediately get to the next play or the next game. Like Kipling said, you must be able to handle both triumph and disaster, and treat them the same. One of the keys words here is that he calls them both "impostors." I think this has to do with the fact that nothing is ever as good as it seems, and nothing is ever as bad as it seem. No matter what happens in life, you just have to keep moving, and on the court you have to keep playing.

The Process

One of my favorite coaches to study is Nick Saban. Many of us are familiar with his coaching greatness inspired by his process-oriented approach. This approach focuses on doing the best job you can do, at what you are doing right now. What you are doing at any given moment is in fact the most important thing at that moment. Saban sums it up perfectly with this quote.

- "You have to have an ability to be where your feet are," he said. "Most people worry about what's going to happen in the future ... Be where your feet are. Focus on today."- Nick Saban