 So in 2007, I had a chance to meet Kobe Bryant for the first time and he said something to me that Fundamentally changed my life my perspective and my approach moving forward I I had a chance I was working the Nike skills academies and I had a chance to watch one of Kobe's really early workouts like 4 a.m. Type early and I remember as a young coach I was really surprised that he was just drilling down on some really basic drills and fundamentals like stuff that I know you guys learned even in middle school You know it was pivoting drills. It was squaring up drills, but very basic stuff and as a young coach This really surprised me because I expected to see at that time the best player in the world Doing some flashy stuff and he just kept drilling down on on the fundamentals and when I asked him about it later that day at camp I mean, I literally said to him you're the best player in the world. Why were you doing such basic drills? That's when he said something that changed my life forever. He said the best never get bored with the basics And I don't know how obvious that is to you all right now because I know you guys are young But that shifted my perspective because I realized that the key to being successful On the quarter off and the key to being a lead in any area of your life is working towards mastery of the fundamentals Primarily during the unseen hours. We're going to talk a little bit about what the unseen hours are But it's making a commitment towards working towards the basics See it's been my experience that in every area of life, but especially in basketball complexity undermines execution Like the more you try and make this game more complicated than it needs to be the harder the game becomes This is a very very basic game at its premise now one of the most important things For you guys to understand is there is a difference between basic and easy Those things don't mean the exact same thing What it takes to be an elite level player is very basic But as you guys know it's not easy Shoot what it takes to win a national championship is very basic in theory But it's arguably one of the hardest things for anybody to ever do so there's a difference between basic and easy And you have to know those I mean ultimately you all have the north star of winning a national championship And you have the tools and you have the resources you have the talent you have the coaching staff You have everything you need to be able to accomplish that goal But in order to do that it comes down to two things there's two things that define whether or not you guys Will be able to win at a consistent clip and whether or not you guys will be the ones that cut down those final nets And those two things are preparation and Performance everything comes down to preparation and performance So let's talk for a few minutes about Preparation and that's when we're talking about what you all Choose to do in the commitment that each and every one of you makes during the unseen hours And what are the unseen hours? It's those times when no one else is watching It's when the lights aren't on the cameras aren't rolling the cheerleaders aren't dancing It's when you make the decision as coach mentioned yesterday to watch extra film to prepare yourself for your scrimmage against TCU It's when you choose to come in an hour early or stay an hour late to work on a certain move work on your game Or get up extra shots It's when you choose to have the discipline to put yourself to bed at a better hour so that you have the requisite sleep So that you feel prepared to the next day to give your best effort and make a maximum contribution So it comes down to preparation now the coaching staff and you have the best coaching staff in the world is going to do Everything in their power to arm you all with the preparation that you need But that's all they're doing is handing the baton off to you each and every one of you has to make the commitment to Personally prepare for everything you do Everything you do How many of you guys have your own personal pre-game routine or pre-game like how do you do you guys have a pre-game routine? Yourselves not what the coaches tell you to do do you know how much sleep you need what foods to eat what music you'd like to listen to What stretches you prefer to do do each of you have a pre-game routine This is where you can either nod or say something Yes awesome Do each of you have a pre-practice routine? Do you wait for practice to start or do you prepare for practice to start see there's only one of two there? Those are the only two options for players Elite level players don't wait for anything to start elite level players prepare for everything to start So that would be my next question. Do you have a pre-practice? preparation routine and then the question after that is how similar is that to your pre-game routine? If you only take game seriously, but you don't take practice seriously Then you won't be the player that you're capable of and you certainly won't be the team that you're capable of so Preparation during the unseen hours is the number one separator for players and for teams The second as we just mentioned would be performance How well do you all perform individually and collectively when the lights come on and the referees start blowing their whistles and In the game of basketball the name of the game is execution Obviously you have to play hard. Obviously you have to play smart. Obviously you have to play together But ultimately the teams that win are the ones that execute Now as I said basketball is a pretty simple game in theory If you break basketball down to its most fundamental component I'm going to tell you right now what you need to do to put yourself in a position to win every single game You play is pretty basic On offense you need to take the highest percentage shot possible On defense you need your opponent to take the lowest percentage shot possible I know that's really basic, but think about that if consistently every offensive possession You take the highest percentage shot possible and consistently every defensive possession you make them take the lowest percentage shot possible Do you know what the result is from that? You win and you win consistently and every single time one of you makes a decision conscious or unconscious That does something that has your team take a lower percentage shot possible Or you do something that allows them to take a higher percentage shot in that moment You just decrease your team's chance of being successful That's why in the game of basketball everything matters every possession matters and Collectively if you guys can stick to doing that as consistently as possible because don't worry about perfection Basketball is not a perfect game in the history of this game a perfect game has never been played at any level There has never been a game where there were zero miss shots zero turnovers or zero fouls committed So it's not a perfect game So don't worry about perfection But you guys need to be inspired by progress and most importantly you need to be committed to excellence So that's what you need to do to win you prepare like champions and then you perform like champions don't make it any harder than that Now I want to talk about the three traits of elite level players and then the three traits of elite level teams And the reason we're going to start with players is because ultimately a team is comprised of a collection of individuals But individuals that choose to put we before me But let's talk about what you guys need to do to be elite level players The first thing is you have to learn how to blend confidence with humility Where does confidence comes from? Confidence comes from demonstrated performance It comes from putting in the work during the unseen hours confidence comes From putting in the work during the unseen hours and getting in the repetitions And let's not get it twisted. How do you get good at anything? Repetition and practice So you guys have to understand repetition is not punishment Repetition is the oldest and most effective form of learning and skill acquisition on the planet You want to get good at anything, but specifically the skills of basketball it comes down to repetition repetition repetition With minimal exception, you know who the best shooters are on the planet The ones who put in the most reps during the unseen hours. It's cause and effect It's not luck So first and foremost you have to earn the right to be confident and you earn the right through demonstrated performance during the unseen hours But the second part of that is you have to continue to be humble See when you're humble you're humble enough that means you're going to prepare that means you don't take any opponent lightly When you're humble it means you stay open to coaching because there is a tremendous amount of basketball wisdom and experience in this room Humility is what allows you to stay open to coaching Humility is a lot was what allows you to say no matter how good of a player you are and you guys are elite level players No matter how good you are humility is what says I can still get better. I Don't care how good I am or how good everyone else says I am I know I can still get better So when you can learn to blend earn confidence through the humility of knowing that you still have a lot to learn in this game It can still get better That's the first step to becoming an elite player The second step to becoming an elite player is learning how to play present And what do I mean by play present? Play present means that you are focused on the moment. That's right in front of you. You don't worry about the past And you're not anxious about the future If you're worried about the turnover that just happened or the miss shot that just happened or the referees failure to make a Call that just happened if you're wasting your energy on something that just happened in the past That means you are not fully present to invest that energy in the present moment where you can still actually make a difference So you can't worry about the past You also can't be worried about the future You got five minutes left in the game and your mind is worried about whether or not you're going to win the game Which is five minutes into the future. It means you're not fully present with the task at hand You have to be focused on the play that is directly in front of you Second part of that is you have to learn how to control the controllables I'm a huge believer. There's only two things in this world that each and every one of us can control a hundred percent of the time And that's our effort and our attitude Each and every one of you has the ability to control your effort and your attitude 100 percent of the time And you need to learn how to let go and untether from the things you have no control over Do you know how much control you have over what he says and what he does? Yeah, absolutely zero, you know how much control you have over what coach OTS yells at you from the sideline? Zero, you know how much control you have over what the fans say? Zero, you know how much control you have over whether or not the referee makes a call? Zero So think about that from a mathematical standpoint, and I know you guys love math because you're big in analytics here Any emotional currents that you invest into something that you have zero percent control over is completely futile It's a waste of your time and effort But let's look at the things we do have control over your effort Working hard is a choice. You all choose whether or not you work hard on any given possession or any given day or any given practice But here's what most people don't own there has to be another side of that coin if Working hard is a choice then not working hard Yeah, that's also a choice Not working hard is a choice and it can't be a choice that you consistently make if your goal is to be the best player You're capable of or collectively be the best team that you're capable of so giving the best effort possible as Consistently as possible has to be the standard Now let's look at attitude and attitudes more about not what happens to you, but how you choose to respond How do you choose to respond after a miss shot? After a turnover after referee misses a call after a teammate makes a mistake That's what's called bounce back elite players have what's called bounce back and it's something you can measure you measure someone's body language Facial expressions and effort after a play does not go their way After you miss a wide open three-foot Uncontested jumper which of course is disappointing no one wants to miss that shot, but now that play is over It's in the rear view mirror. It's in the past that is unchangeable. So what is your reaction after you miss an easy shot? Do you hang your head do you pout do you have bad body language or do you sprint back on defense and try and earn it? So that's the attitude part and then the third pillar of being an elite level player Is trusting in the process is the process of what it takes to be a good player or an elite level player What's some of the process of being an elite level player taking care of your body Take care of your skills Take care of your mind All the things that go into that you have to trust the process see we don't control outcomes But we have a much more firm grasp of controlling the process Which is why you guys have to have that type of routine you have to have a Excellence is not something that tap hazard. It's not something that's luck Would you guys agree that the more successful your practices are? Then the more successful you'll play when the games come on Right, so then you have to ask yourself. Well, what can I do to make? Practice more successful. How can I make a maximum contribution to practice and a lot of this comes down to standards? Who do you all think is the best shooter to ever play this game? Curry's at least in the conversation, right? So at that Kobe Bryant skills Academy. Curry was one of the college counselors And I was just meeting him for the first time as well Now this is before he kind of blew up and became the Stefan Curry that we're all aware of now This was after his sophomore year at Davidson and at the end of that first workout at the skills academies He came up to me and he tapped me and said coach Will you rebound for me because I don't leave the gym until I swish five free throws in a row? Think about that for a second as a standard of excellence He will not leave the gym until he swishes five free throws in a row You guys are elite level players and many of you are elite level shooters. Can you admit that's a pretty high standard? Swishing five in a row Mean you swish four in a row you still hit the rim on the fifth one. It still goes in you're still five for five You're still mathematically perfect. That wasn't good enough for Steph. He'd start over and if memory serves I don't think it ever took him longer than 15 minutes to swish five in a row So you guys believe he's the best shooter on the planet I agree with you, but it's not by accident and it's not by luck. It's because he's willing to hold himself to a high standard So you guys got to figure out what are the standards you need to set for yourself? To be an elite level player and doesn't have to be five swishes in a row On free throws you got to figure out for yourself what it needs to be So that's what it takes to be an elite level player However, this is not an individual sport. This is this is basketball, which means it's a team game It's a we over me game So now let me just share the three components of an elite level team I'll button it up with one last story and then I'll be I'll be done and you guys can get on with your film session So here are the three components of elite level teams. They have great role clarity And I'll explain what that means if you don't know They have accountability and they have great communication. So role clarity and this is somewhat of a rhetorical question I'm not asking to call anybody out or anybody to raise their hand But each and every one of you in this room and this includes the staff you need to know your role on this team You need to embrace your role on this team and You need to work your backside off to start in your role on this team And here's the hard part even if your role is not what you want it to be Even if your role is not of your preference See your role on this team is what coach Oates and the rest of the staff need it to be for the team to be successful So you need to work to star in your role to the best of your ability But then you come in during the unseen hours to work towards a bigger role if you don't like your role on the team If you think you should be a starter and you're not a starter. There's nothing wrong with thinking that But you have to embrace being a non-starter and making maximum contribution every single day And then you come in after hours during the unseen hours and you work on the areas of your game That might give you a potential to get more minutes or to start You star in the role you have you work for the role you want Now because you guys again are so analytics driven, which I think is absolutely brilliant every single one of you needs to know What a good shot is for you See basketball is not an equal opportunity sport You know who gets to shoot more The better shooters, you know who gets to play more the better players It's not equal opportunity. We don't divide the number of shots by 15 Better shooters get to shoot more So then what do you do if you want to shoot more? You become a better shooter. How do you become a better shooter? You put in the work during the unseen hours to earn the right to take more shots or to get more minutes Star in the role you have work for the role you want If you think you should be able to shoot threes and that present You don't quite have that green light then come in during the unseen hours and make three or four hundred threes before and after every single practice You know the only result of coming in and shooting game shots from game spots at game speed every day before and after practice You know the only result even possible from that It's improvement it's getting better You make 300 free throws every day before and after practice You know the only thing possible that will happen to your free throw percentage Goes up. It's the only thing possible and you guys are in control of that Basic right? I don't think I surprised you by saying that you knew the answer to that, right? Is that easy to do? Is it easy to come in every single day and make an extra three? No, it's not easy to do if it was easy every single player on the planet would be doing it, but they don't So there is that difference between basic and easy Second let's talk about accountability I'm a huge believer that holding a teammate accountable is something you do for them. It's not something you do to them Holding each other accountable is the best gift you guys can give each other Holding each other accountable to the highest standard of excellence and to the core values of this program is the number one gift You can give a teammate now. It doesn't always feel that way in the moment When a teammate's coming down on you when a teammate's holding you to a high standard, it's understandable to be defensive But just because something's understandable. It doesn't mean it's acceptable and You have to rise above your ego to be able to take accountability from a teammate. I'm gonna tell you guys this you have an Unbelievable unparalleled coaching staff in this room right now some of the finest leaders I've ever met but I'll also tell you this a player-led team will always outperform a coach-led team in the long run If the only leadership and accountability in this room comes from the coaching staff You guys will never be the team that you're capable of becoming it has to come from you all and Holding someone accountable is not necessarily Designated by who the captains are or by who plays the most minutes or who gets the most headlines or who the best player is If you're the 15th man on this team and you're not even on scholarship That doesn't matter you're still an integral part of this team And you have every right to hold everyone else in the room accountable and you need to you need to lean into that So that's accountability and then the third component is Communication do you talk at your teammate or do you talk with your teammate? It's a big difference You talk at them or you talk with them Let's also look at some of the unconscious messages through communication You're having a little bit of an off-day Practice isn't going as well as maybe you had hoped coach Oates or one of the other coaches gets on you a little bit How do you respond to that? If coach Oates is getting on you and he's looking at you and he's telling you something what's your body language? What's your facial expressions? That speaks volumes. What happens when you look someone in the eye? You nod and you accept the coaching that they care enough to give you What's the unconscious message you send to coach Oates if he is telling you something and you look him in the Eye and say yes, sir, and you nod your head. What's the unconscious message? I trust you coach. I believe in you coach. I'm listening to you coach I'm going to do the best I can to implement that coach That's how you strengthen relationships What happens if you roll your eyes you look down at the floor He didn't know what he's talking about. I know what I'm doing What's the unconscious message then? I don't trust you. I don't believe in you. I'm not listening to you. I don't think you're helping me That will absolutely undermine and erode the fabric of the team I know coach oates missing something yesterday about body language I think at the start of practice you missed a couple shots, right? Yeah, a couple of them were let's be honest way off, right? Yeah, I was watching from up there one of them went three feet over the rim The other one went three feet underneath the rim. Guess what that happens. You're a phenomenal shooter I know that because I watched you in post practice. Do you remember what your body language was after you missed those shots? Yeah, it wasn't great and that's and that's understandable. You're young, right? You're a freshman. Yeah, you're young. You can course correct that What's what's the message you send to your teammates when you have bad body language after you miss a shot? What is it you're telling your teammates? You're selfish because you're only worried about you in that moment You're mad because you missed a shot. This is a we game It's not a me game He didn't miss those shots yesterday Y'all missed those shots yesterday It's a team game. You guys win and you lose together good shots bad shots or anything in between. It's a team game So you have to learn how to quickly bounce and move to that next play Last thing I'll say and I'll wrap this up. So in 2007 I had an opportunity Uh, I live in the washington dc area and a good friend of mine and your coaching staff may know dave bullwinkle. He's a uh Long time scout with the chicago bulls and in 2007 He sent me a text and asked if I wanted to go watch the saracuse versus georgetown game because georgetown's right in my backyard and Keep in mind for context This was back when the big east was the big east and saracuse and georgetown were saracuse and georgetown So he didn't have to twist my arm to go watch an elite level college game And he texted me. He said alan will you meet me at the arena at four? And I was confused because tip-off was at seven And I thought why in the world? I mean, I believe in promptness. I try to get everywhere early I believe if you're on time you're late, but I thought why in the world will we need to get somewhere Three hours before tip-off and you know what he said He said I need to watch the players when they don't think anyone is watching I need to see how they prepare and how dialed in they are for their game Obviously as you guys know three hours before tip-off you've got your walkthrough You've got your your warm-ups with coach hen You've got other things to prepare to play and he wanted to watch how those players were dialed in now at this time And I won't mention any players name. You can look up the roster from 2007 on those two teams Each team had two or three players that were potential first round draft picks And he took more notes during the three hours before tip-off On his yellow legal pad then he took when the game actually started. He was more interested in Their preparation. He was more interested in how coachable they were how dialed in they were and once again I would not mention players names But there were a couple of players on each team that absolutely sabotaged their draft stock Because they weren't locked in they were goofing around They were going half speed. They weren't making eye contact with their coaches when their coaches were talking You know, they're supposed to be putting up game shots from game spot at game speed And they're joking around and throwing up hook shots They severely Tarnished their draft stock then there were two or three other players that did the exact opposite of that They were 100 focus. They were 100 bought in. They were 100 locked in They were doing everything as if it mattered because everything does matter And you guys know how it works when you're drafted in the first round of of the NBA draft, you know the the Contracts your first contract has already been predetermined. There's no negotiation You guys realize that every every slot you drop in the first round of the NBA draft You lose between 250 and 500 thousand dollars a year for the first three years of your contract You guys know that right So, you know if you're capable of being the 10th pick in the draft and you drop down to number 18 You just cost yourself About a million and a half dollars a year for the first three years four and a half million dollars Those players have no idea That they lowered their draft status and they lowered their stock and they actually lowered their bank account Because they weren't behaving in a manner That elite players perform and the reason I want to end with that story Is you guys need to make the assumption that someone is always watching you On the court or off the court Someone is always watching you and you need to behave accordingly The moment you think you can turn it on and off When coach is watching that's when I'll give my best when the cameras are on that's when I'll give my best When we're playing a big time opponent, that's when I'll give my best if you believe you can turn on Excellence turn on commitment Turn on preparation if you think you can turn it on and on like a light switch I'm telling you you just undermine your ability to be the best player you're capable of You behave in a manner as if someone is always watching you because at your level and playing at a program like this I promise you someone is Always watching you. So that's all I got for you guys If there's anything else you need for me or if you guys had any questions I'm happy to answer them. But uh, I want to be super respectful of your time Look forward to watching practice again today. I'm gonna keep an eye on you if you miss another shot Man, I just want to see you smile and hustle back on defense. All right So that's it for me guys. Thank you very much Yeah, I worked with katie in high school. So I was his strength coach at mantros christian uh in dc What's that? um Well the best story so one that I tell a lot was about the first time I worked him out because He had never done any type of strength and conditioning before And I I was so excited to work with a player of his caliber that I absolutely hammered him I mean, I know you guys have gone through some tough workouts with hen But I mean in the first 20 minutes katie was laying on the floor and he was shaking and he was twitching and he hadn't seen anything like that um And I asked him if he liked the workout And as serious as can be he looked up to me and said no I didn't but he said when can I do it again? Because he knew that doing things that he didn't necessarily want to do was the gateway to getting somewhere He wanted to get really bad, which in his case was the mba And I know that's the same goal that all of you had So he was willing to make the type of sacrifice to say you know what? I don't necessarily like getting a beat down like this a couple times a week But I'm absolutely willing to do that because it's going to be the gateway to what it is that I want more than anything in the world and you guys have to remember as players You don't have to love every aspect of workouts every aspect of practice every aspect of nutrition every aspect of film sessions It's okay if you don't love every minute of that But it's a it's a prerequisite and as a required sacrifice to getting where you want to go And the short term is winning a national championship. I'm sure for most of you the long term is having A long professional career. So just know that you have to make sacrifices in order to make that happen So and when I met KD, I knew he was going to be special Because he had all of the physical talent. He had the fundamentals. He had the coach ability He had the basketball IQ. I mean, there was no question. This kid was going to be good But I had no idea he was going to be as good as as he's turned out to be I mean arguably one of the best scores in the history of the game But it's funny with hindsight being 2020 looking back I'm not even remotely surprised You know what you get when you take an athletic coordinated almost seven footer with guard like skills who is coachable Who is humble who loves basketball more than anything in the world who works more during the unseen hours than anyone I've ever met You know what happens when you put all of those things together and you mix them up? You get Kevin Durant. You get one of the best players to ever play the game So just ask yourself that you guys have the physical tools. Do you have the coach ability? Do you have the humility? Do you have the grit and resilience to make those sacrifices? Are you willing to come in early and stay late? Not when you want to not when it's convenient not when you feel like it Not when he makes you but do you do that every single day? That's a question for each and every one of you and that if individually each of you is willing to make that commitment and then collectively You have each other's back and you support each other and you hold each other accountable And you listen to your coaching staff. You do all of those things You put yourself in the best position possible to win a national championship Because don't forget talent is not enough The most talented team does not win every single year Just talent is not enough It's talent plus all of these other things And these other things are the controllable things And you guys have the talent You have enough talent and you have enough leadership and enough resources in this room to win a national championship You realize there's only about 25 schools in the country that can say that 300 plus teams in the country do not have the talent, do not have the coaching and do not have the resources to give themselves a chance to win a national championship And I don't say that to diminish them. I say that because it's real You are not one of those schools. You have all of the prerequisites to winning it Now it just comes down to the commitment each and every one of you makes Have a good practice. Have a good day. Appreciate you guys