Stats are another effective tool. The media may not keep stats on screening but we do. We know how many screens are set, how many are set well, and how many lead to baskets. We keep these stats for practice as well as games and post them everyday. Trust me, our players can tell you exactly who are the best screeners. Post feeds are important to our team so we keep stats on low post feeds as well as high post feeds. Another player, Angie Crockett, had a great understanding of her role. She was an excellent post feeder. She could feed the low post or recognize a good high post feed as well as any player we have had at LSU. She scored very little but played a great deal because she understood that was important and she was good at it — and she could see her name at the top of a stat list everyday in the locker room.The other part of that education involves the media and the fans. Players crave recognition — it’s simply human nature. Every chance a coach has to address the media or the fans, it is important to make sure they understand the importance of what is going on so they can appreciate the players and their roles.
Our coaching makes sure to letmedia know following a game what was important in our play. After each game at LSU, our sports information director will give Coach Van Chancellor a list of two or three players that the conference. Coach Chancellor sometimes adds a name. For instance, because he has a strong belief in the importance of rebounding, he likes to take the team’s leading rebounding for the game. It doesn’t matter if that player didn’t score a point — if she was team high with eight rebounds she’s going to the press conference. Coach Chancellor is putting a value on it by making it a big deal with the team and the press.
Coach Chancellor also makes sure that he mentions screening and good defensive play in his press conferences. He also mentions those areas in great detail, pointing out specific players, when he does his radio show or is addressing our booster club.
It is important to educate our team so well that they do the same when they speak to the media or to fans. As everyone’s All-American, Seimone Augustus spoke to the media after every game. She never failed to mention the great job her teammates did to screen for her and get her the ball at the right time. That makes a difference in the attitude of the players that don’t get to shoot as often. They feel important to the success of the team. They feel a part of Seimone’s success.
Our team was fortunate to advance to the Final Four in 2005 in Indianapolis. The morning before our opening game there was press conference to announce the Kodak All-American team along with the Wade National Player of the Year Award. Our team knew that Seimone had made the Kodak team as she had been invited to the ceremony but no one knew who the player of the year would be until it was announced. As a staff, we made a very easy decision to take our entire team. It didn’t seem like a big deal to us until someone on the Kodak committee said they had never seen an entire team show up for their teammate.
When the announcement was made that Seimone had won the player of the year our players erupted. A few of the players had tears of joy for Seimone. Then, right on cue, she thanked her parents, the staff and especially her teammates for giving her the opportunity to win the award. Because Temeka Johnson, our outstanding point guard, had not been selected to the Kodak squad, Seimone made special mention of her and “her ability to get me the ball whenever I was open.”
On the inside, as a coach, you realize that this particular team fully understood their roles.
(to be continued)
