Xavier Newsletter #9

NEWSLETTER #9 - 2005-06
PACKLINE DEFENSE
BASKETBALL THOUGHTS
ISIAH THOMAS
"When dealing with a high maintenance
player, confront him. When dealing with
Ron Artest I tried to deal directly with
him. In the NBA, coaches sometimes
don't coach the "superstar". A superstar
is the loneliest guy in the league. That's
one reason why I believe "posse's"
develop."
"I had a lot of private coaching with Ron
Artest. I confronted him behind closed
doors in a one on one environment as
opposed to confronting him in front of
his teammates and fans."
"An NBA superstar is sensitive. Their
emotion gives them a great feel for the
game. They are no different than an
artist."
"How do I involve my assistant
coaches? I trust them. I delegate a lot.
However, I make sure that they
understand my philosophy and vision as
the head coach. If you trust your
assistant coaches, your players will. If
the players sense a "lack of respect"
between the head coach and an
assistant coach, the players will also
become disrespectful."
"A head coach's presence is more
important than his voice at times. I let
assistant coaches talk and coach. The
more the players hear the head coach,
the more they tune him out."
"I treat my players as if their mom, wife,
kids are watching them. I treat them
with respect. I'll react behind closed
doors when necessary. But, I don't want
to be disrespectful to my players in a
public forum."
Prior to Thanksgiving, I sent a link to a recent Cincinnati
Enquirer article outlining Xavier's new "Packline Defense". It
is interesting to see that as of 12/6/05, the nation's top 3
defensive teams are all "Packline" teams.
Please refer to the Xavier section of www.enquirer.com for
more information about our Packline defense.
1.
N.C. STATE
32.9%
2.
XAVIER
33.0%
3.
WASH. STATE
33.6%
2006 SEAN MILLER TEAM CAMP
Each summer, Xavier's team camp is one of the strongest in the
Midwest. This year our team camp will be held on Thursday and
Friday, June 29 and 30.
For information contact:
Xavier Assistant Coach
Chris Mack
(513) 745-2851
mackc@xavier.edu
PAST TEAM CAMP CHAMPIONS:
2001 - Winton Woods High School (OH)
2002 - Pike High School (IN)
2003 - Pike High School (IN)
2004 - Muncie Central High School (IN)
2005 - Hughes High School
If any member of our staff can be of any help,
please feel free to contact us. We look forward to
any and all feedback and questions!
Mario Mercurio mercuriom@xavier.edu
Xavier University - Men's Basketball - 3800 Victory Parkway - Cintas Center - Cincinnati, OH 45207 - (513) 745-3417 - (887) WE ARE XU
NEWSLETTER #9 - 2005-06
XAVIER'S 4 MINUTE WAR
At Xavier, we want our players to play with great passion. We are constantly looking for ways to motivate
our players to commit to our system and reach their maximum potential. One way in which we have
challenged them is with the concept of the 4-minute war.
We want our players to play with energy and intensity for the entire game. We motivate our players to put
forth maximum effort for a focused period of time. With the 4-minute war, we divide the game into ten fourminute segments. After each segment, there is a media timeout (approximately every four minutes) in
which the team has an opportunity to rest for a minute and refocus on the next segment. Each segment is
a "mini-game" within the game, and it is referred to as a "war" to characterize the type of effort that is
required to excel at the highest level. Our goal is to win each 4-minute war. We chart the results on the
bench, and we communicate them with our team at every timeout. The 4-minute wars allow us to provide
some measurable feedback about our execution and effort over each segment of the game. Throughout
the course of the season, we can evaluate the tendencies of which segments our team plays well and
which segments we have lapses.
We use the 4-minute war concept as a way to focus our team on
playing the "Xavier Way." We want to improve the execution of
our system in every game. We want our players to play with the
mentality that every possession counts, and that every
possession needs to be played with a high level of intensity.
Furthermore, we want to play our way regardless of the score
at any particular time in a game. If we are winning by several
points, we do not want to let down and allow our opponent back
into the game. We want to dominate by continuing to develop
proper habits. If we are struggling in a game, our disposition is
not to change what we do. Rather, we believe in trusting the
system, and our challenge is to get our players to play harder with what we do. By breaking the game into
4-minute wars, we focus on the process of playing our system throughout the entire game.
There are a number of ways that we incorporate the 4-minute war concept into our practices. First,
scrimmage segments are played as 4-minute wars. We want our players to compete every second at a
high intensity, and we want them to be conditioned in a way where they play in game-like conditions (i.e.,
play for four minutes, rest for a minute, and play again). These scrimmage segments also enable us to
cover a variety of situations in our practices. A second practice idea is that we play "One Possession
Games" in practice. We will have a jump ball to begin the game, and the first team to score wins (losers
run). The purpose of this drill is to emphasize the importance of each possession and the value of the ball.
We might spread a few of these games in throughout a given practice.
As a coaching staff, our job is to help our players (and team) get to places where they could not go on their
own. A cornerstone of our program is that we compete with toughness at all times. We use the idea of
breaking the game into 4-minute wars as a way of challenging our players to commit to our system - THE
XAVIER WAY!
Xavier University - Men's Basketball - 3800 Victory Parkway - Cintas Center - Cincinnati, OH 45207 - (513) 745-3417 - (887) WE ARE XU
Hard work finally paying off for Polk
KRISTIE RIEKEN Associated Press
HOUSTON - After years of toiling as a backup linebacker
and playing on special teams, DaShon Polk is having the
best season of his six-year NFL career. Polk is playing
regularly and broke the Houston Texans' single-game
record with 2 1/2 sacks against St. Louis last
Sunday. But for Polk, any individual success he's had
this season is overshadowed by the Texans' 1-10 record.
"I just wanted to win a game so bad," Polk said of the
overtime loss to St. Louis. "We were so desperate for
a win. I didn't care if I had no tackles. As long as we
got that win, it would be good."
For Polk, this season has been one of mixed emotions. He only got the chance to start when Kailee Wong was
lost for the season with a knee injury. It was the same story last year, when he got the first four starts of his
career filling in for the injured Jay Foreman. The misfortune of the players starting before him made him
question if he was a bad luck charm.
Polk, who spent four seasons at Buffalo, hates that someone had to get injured in order for him to make the
starting lineup. But as a player who has been working so long for a chance to start, he's embracing the
opportunity.
"I've just been waiting for this, and I'm not going to let this slip away from me," Polk said. "You've got to prove
yourself in this league before you can get that trust factor. Obviously, I'm trying to prove to everybody that ... I'm
not just a special teamer. I can play in this league."
So far he's done a good job of backing up his claim. Since filling in for Wong on Oct. 16 against Seattle, Polk
has 58 tackles and a team-high 3 1/2 sacks. He's tied with cornerback Dunta Robinson as Houston's secondleading tackler. With five games to go, he's already set career highs for tackles and sacks, and has had three
games with 10 or more tackles. One of his sacks against the Rams was a big hit on quarterback Jamie Martin
that forced him out of the game.
"He's done a good job," coach Dom Capers said. "He's an intense guy. He comes to work every day and
prepares and gives you everything that he has." Capers thinks the experience Polk gained last year by starting
a few games made things easier for him this season.
"He's doing a lot more things this year," Capers said. "Last year, he was basically a first- and second-down
player, where he's been playing every down most of the times this year." Now that he's become more
comfortable with the defense, he's also assumed Wong's role of calling the defensive signals. Capers has been
impressed with how he's handled that responsibility. Polk said it will be tough to get over the loss to St. Louis,
but hopes the team will build on the positives. "The first half, it was like the first time this year that all three
phases were playing good at the same time," he said. "I'm just thinking if we take that first half of
the Rams game and put it to a whole game, we could beat anybody."
UOOB - SLICE
1
1
5
5
3
4
2
3
4
2
A
B
5 cuts weakside of the rim. 3 cuts
to ballside corner. 4 sets a
backscreen for 2. 2 cuts into space
looking to score.
If 2 is not open, 1 throws over top
to 4. He can also hit 3, then 3 to 4.
5
1
2
3
4
C
NOTE: To run this play effectively, your
2 must have the ability to slash and
finish and your 4 man must be able to
pass. Often this play will end in box A.
Your first and best look should be the
2 off of the "slice" cut.
Single/double for 1. If 1 comes off
of the double side, 2 comes off the
single.
UOOB