okansas.blogspot.com

okansas.blogspot.com
Occassional thoughts about orienteering

Friday, March 16, 2007

Thoughts while watching tonight's basketball game

Imagine it is 2005. You're running the first leg at Tio Mila for a team that ought to finish in the top 10 and has a chance to win.

You're in the middle of the first leg, running well....and boom. Not just a boom, but a huge boom. You finally relocate. You find your control. Now you're on your own, maybe catching up with some of the slow teams. You finish the 1st leg and your team is out of it. Your team struggles through and finish just outside of the top 100.

Now is it 2006. Once again, you're on a strong team. Same goals.

Near the end of the first leg...boom. Another huge mistake. Another wrecked start to Tio Mila. Again.

Now it is 2007. Your team is, if anything, even stronger than the last two years. But everyone remembers the last two years. You know it. You're team knows it. The press knows it.

Imagine how it is going to feel as you start off on that first leg.

If you were running on that team or coaching that team, what would you're approach be? Would you downplay it? Would you try to forget the previous years? Would you use those last two failures to motivate the team?

It is an interesting question to think about.

I was thinking about this because the situation I've described above is parallel to the Kansas basketball team's NCAA tournament record performance over the last 2 years.

Based on radio interviews I've heard with the Kansas coach over the last few days, he took the approach of using those two years of failures to motivate and focus the team. They didn't ignore the history. They knew they'd be judged harshly if they didn't win. They must have felt that they absolutely had to win this first round game.

The competition, Niagara, wasn't very strong. You almost wondered if Kansas would feel extra pressure because Niagara wasn't very strong.

Kansas it worked out well (at least for the first round game). Kansas beat Niagara 107-67. Rock Chalk!

Kansas' next game is on Sunday.

Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

posted by Michael | 8:26 PM

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