It’s Conference Tournament time!! Here’s three tips to hopefully get you to a conference title.
- Double-check those travel plans! – I’ll never forget a panicked phone call from our head coach one season when we were all planning for a noon departure to the airport, telling us the flight is actually at 10 am. Oh and that was both the men’s and women’s team missing their flight. Half of them got out on one flight and half on another. Luckily, we left the day before the quarterfinals but we missed a planned shootaround and had to reconfigure the schedule leading up to that first game. It worked out for us and the men’s team that year but the last thing you want in a tournament situation is something crazy like that happening.
- Divide and Conquer – You’re playing multiple games in a very short amount of time and yes, you know how things are likely to play out in other games but you have to be ready for everything. We used to divide the scouting reports amongst our staff or at least divide our time throughout the week preparing for different scenarios. The focus for the players was the opponent in front of them but we were always ready for the next opponent almost immediately after the game before it
- Pack your Wrinkles – No, I’m not referring to everyone out there who refuses to travel with a hanging bag and swears they’ll just iron their shirts when they get to the hotel. I’m talking about if you’re the top seed and especially if you’re the bottom seed, bring something new to the party! This is at least the second time you’re playing a team and more often than not the third time you’re facing the same opponent. Like we talked about in an earlier post, you know these teams pretty well, so if there was ever a time to throw a few curve balls, this is it. You’ve got a chance to win the conference and go to the big dance, go for it!!