As I’ve been sitting out I have found that people, friends, or fans have approached me before and after games with two different attitudes. The first is the parent or fan saying “how sorry they feel for me”, “how much they wish I could be out on the court and can’t wait until next year” or asking me about rehab — all of which is very nice and greatly appreciated. Then there is the other fan… this fan, very rare, asks “in sitting out and spending time viewing the game from a different angle — what have you learned?”

Saturday night I learned more than I had all year.

We were miserable in the first half. We underestimated Millsaps’ athleticism and how tough they would make it for us to score.

We trailed 27-18 at halftime shooting 2-11 from 3, 26 percent from the field, while having five assists compared to our 11 turnovers. We were down nine and in a weird way I felt lucky we were only down that much considering how we played.

What does a coach do when his team is on the ropes, his season on the line and his players are starting to lose belief in themselves and each other? This is where I learned the lesson.

At halftime as the coaches met privately before going into meet with the players, Coach Edwards wasn’t frantically scrambling X’s and O’s trying to figure out a way for us to score. He wasn’t cursing out players for underperforming in a game where a trip back to Salem was on the line. Instead, he brought up a game six weeks ago at Skibo Gymnasium in Pittsburgh, Pa., against Carnegie Mellon.

Wait, Coach, that was the beginning of February against the fifth-place team in our conference in front of a generously stated 422 people — what on Earth does that have to do with playing against Millsaps (28-3) in front of a noisy WU Field House to get to the final four?

Well, we played Carnegie Mellon the Sunday morning after an epic overtime loss at Rochester. The game against Rochester was a draining, emotion filled, over-time effort which wore us down. With tired legs and exhausted minds, we sat in the locker room trailing Mellon by 10 at halftime — we shot the ball poorly, turned it over, and looked as sloppy as we did during the first half against Millsaps. After halftime, we let the wear take over our minds and got blown out. Losing 86-55 may have been generous as we were down 37 points in the second half.

Going into the locker room at halftime to talk with 15 players questioning themselves, Coach Edwards laid it out very clearly saying “We’ve been here before.” He reminded them of the Carnegie Mellon game. He said our draining game against Rochester was exactly like our strenuous game with Buena Vista the previous night. During the first half of tonight’s game not only were our legs tired, but our minds were tired. Instead of going out and playing a second half like we did against Carnegie Mellon (getting outscored 48-27), we had the opportunity to learn from the regular season and a chance to play a second-half and conquer the demons taking over our minds. We had 20 minutes to show how we had grown this season and learned from our experiences.

After halftime we were a different team. We had energy on both ends of the floor. We went on a 17-2 run to open the half and gave Millsaps fits with our defense. We took better care of the ball, for the most part, and hit a few timely shots while doing what we do best — getting it into Troy. I don’t know if it was exactly Coach’s comparison at halftime that turned it around, but it sure seemed like it.

Maybe he pointed out one or two small adjustments on a few plays during the locker room talk, but what I learned is that at this part of the season it isn’t about X’s and O’s — that’s what the entire regular season was for. As a coach and as a player I learned March is different. It’s really about mental coaching and both player’s and coaches being mentally strong enough to withstand the doubt that they can’t do it. Sure teams need to be prepared for what they’ll see from opposing teams and individuals, but a team’s mindset is truly what’s most important to its success. If we would have let the tiredness take over our minds I’m sure the Millsaps second half could’ve been similar to the second half at Carnegie Mellon — but Coach helped us realize if we stayed mentally strong, we could survive and advance to the Final Four.

Obviously I would rather be playing than sitting on the bench this upcoming weekend but I can’t tell you how excited I really am to go back to Salem. As a coach, player, or fan there is no better place to celebrate Division III Men’s Basketball. The people of Salem truly take pride in putting together a great weekend and making all participants feel special. Congratulations to all the teams that have made it this far, I look forward to watching some great basketball in the coming days. Please come introduce yourself in Salem, I look forward to soaking up this weekend and hopefully enjoying our program’s first ever (with a few more to come in the next couple years…?) National Championship.

Take care,
Sean

P.S. Congratulations to my buddy Troy on the Jostens Trophy. It is very well deserved and I couldn’t be happier for him. I couldn’t think of anyone that represents our program better on and off the court.