NCDS: Jim Corrigan, Assoc. Head Coach - Old Dominion ("Team Development")

By: Jim Corrigan, Assoc. Head Coach - Old Dominion

As a season unfolds every team develops, changes, morphs, grows, and otherwise goes through a process of becoming something very different than it was at the beginning of the season.  Hopefully, it moves in a very positive direction as the season goes on.  Last year, our team went through some tough times early in the year, starting out 11-8.  Then we seemed to figure it out and finished by winning 14 of our last 16 games.  A couple of years before that we won the last 12 games of the regular season, and the result was an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament!!  But not every year is like that.  Sometimes, your team may not develop as you hoped.  And they may even develop in a negative direction!!  This often happens in the case of an injury to a key player.  Attitude issues may also cause a team to be less than you think it can be.  We have been very fortunate to have kids who have been good in the attitude department, and that has been a major reason for our success.

This season is a great example of that.  We are currently on a seven game winning streak and have won 10 of our last 11 games.  Right in the middle of that stretch we made a change in our starting lineup, removing Darius James and adding Kent Bazemore.  This change was significant for several reasons, including:

1) It gave us a really big starting lineup (Kent is 6'5 and Darius is 6'1) with 2 6'5 guards and a front line that goes 6'10, 6'9, and 6'8; 

2) It was also big because Darius had started every game as a sophomore and every game up to that point in the season. 

It would have been very easy for Darius to be upset, to feel that he wasn't getting a fair deal!   And it would have been understandable for him to feel that way.  However, he did not show any sign that in any way there was a problem.  In fact, he has embraced the role and played some of his best basketball during the five game stretch since.  He had 15 points, a season high, coming off the bench in one of those games.

Recently, the local paper did an article on Darius.  The headline of the article was, "The Role Model."  In this article, Darius has a quote that is significant and defines the attitude that he brings to our team.  He says, ‘basically, at the end of the day, me and everybody on our team, as long as we win, we're good."  For a player to not only accept, but embrace his role, and to convey such a message to his teammates, is huge in the development of our team's chemistry.   He is truly a role model for our younger players.  Darius also says in the article, "your role can change during a game, from game to game or from week to week.  So I never really questioned it.  I was up for the challenge."  His maturity in handling his situation has taken what could be a problem and turned it into a very positive thing for our team.  For a team to be successful each player must be willing to sacrifice; that is the biggest key to being a good team.  No player can take all the shots, or play all the minutes, or do everything that they would like to do.  Some must sacrifice more than others, but everyone must put the team first for the team to be as good as it can be.  That is why Darius' unselfishness is so noteworthy.

It is also interesting that one of the results of this change is that Darius' scoring is up.  His minutes remain virtually the same (down slightly), and that he is in the game at the end, when it really matters.  He is helping us to win games!  And he is willing to do that in whatever role the coaching staff asks him to undertake.  Having players like that makes it a lot easier to be successful.  Although, it is never easy in this business!!!!!

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