"IF" by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

By Rudyard Kipling

A player whose agenda is to make his teammates better

The following blog is from Eric Musselman's Basketball Notebook. Good stuff...

Doc Rivers on PHX guard Steve Nash's role and what third-year BOS guard Rajon Rondo can learn from Nash, who is in his 13th NBA season:

"Every night Steve's agenda is to make his teammates better. And he does it every night. He does it some nights by scoring and passing. Other nights he decides to be a ball mover and does it. But that's what Nash does every single night. He always does that.

The one thing that Rondo can learn from Nash is Nash may not play well every night, but he doesn't have an off night. He has a great mental focus every single night. He does it every night. I've never seen him play in a game where he has no focus or low focus. Young players, in general, are up and down in that."

Are You Going to Finish Strong?

"When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at this rock perhaps 100 times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the 101st blow, it will split in two and I know it was not that blow that did it. But all that had gone before." ~Jacob Riis

Senior Spotlight: Joshua Harnisch

Player: Double-J, #32

Birthday: May 28, 1990

Favorite TV show: Everybody Loves Raymond

What’s on my iPod: Anything Rihanna sings

My car or truck: Ford Ranger

Favorite movies: Gladiator, Slumdog Millionaire, We Were Soldiers

Favorite computer bookmarks: ESPN, Facebook, Drudge Report

Love to trade places with for one day...(and why): Clay Anderson. He's the first Nebraskan to go to space, and he's getting to do it again.

Favorite food: Pizza

My hero: Neil Armstrong

My favorite sports team(s): THE Boston Red Sox

My favorite sports memory (so far): Making it to State Cross Country as a junior.

"Coach's Corner"

Another memory being made- this time Coach Bubba, Hueser and Simpson enjoy another tall tale from Coach Cooley!

Titans vs. Lincoln Southwest

Live Webcast Friday night vs. #2 Ranked Lincoln Southwest

Click Here!

Subbing (Player's Handbook Chapter)

It takes a special player to come off the bench and help his team. It is a role many players do not enjoy, but a very important role, in some cases more important than a starter. The following questions should be contemplated to help prepare for such a situation.

Whom am I going in for?
*What was his assignment?
*Whom will I guard?
*What are his strengths and weaknesses?
*What are his physical attributes?
*Does he have a dominant hand?
*Does he go hard to the boards?
*Is he a good defender?
*Is he a good ball handler?
*Does he go for head and ball fakes?
*What side of the floor does he prefer to play on?
*Is he a shooter?
*If so, from where?
*Does he shoot better off the dribble or pass?
*Does he use head and ball fakes?
*Is he a good free throw shooter?

How are the officials calling the game?
*Is it being called close or are they letting us play?

What is the official's "favorite" call?
*Traveling?
*Moving screens?
*Three-seconds?
*Palming?

What is the tempo of the game?
*Are we attempting to score from transition?
*Have we given up any lay-ups?
*How is our halfcourt game?
*Are we executing?
*Why am I going into the game?
*To rebound?
*To score?
*To assert myself defensively?
*To rest a teammate?
*To ignite my teammates?

What defense are we playing?
*Are we playing man-to-man?
*Can we afford to guard tight or do we need to sag off?
*Who are their "zone busters"?
*Do they have a dominant center you should help cover down?
*Have we pressed?
*Do you expect us to be pressing soon?

What offense are we running?
*What has worked the best so far?

What else should I know?
*How many time-outs do we have left?
*Are we in the bonus?
*What is the score?
*How much time is remaining?

Are you a LEADER?

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
~John Quincy Adams (1825-1829); 6th US President

Also: Go to Coach Cooley's blog for a great article on "CONSISTENT LEADERSHIP"!

You're Never As Good As You Think, Nor As Bad As You Think

It's ironic that the following article was just posted on Coach Musselman's blog. As you recall, we (Titans) just addressed this topic after our loss to Creighton Prep and the importance of communication and problem solving following a poor performance (game or practice). I shared a Kearney State memory from back in the day when the Lopers lost the first playoff game to Hastings in a best of three series. On the van ride home the team (without the coaches) talked in depth about what needed to be corrected. This impressed me and I was only the ballboy at the time!:) Needless to say, Kearney came back to win the next two games and advance to the National Tournament. Check out the story below and see for yourself how important it is for all teams to "talk their game"!

WHEN YOU'RE BAD, YOU'RE NOT THAT FAR FROM BEING GOOD

When most teams lose, they try to put it behind them as quickly as possible. "Forget it and move on" is a common thought.

Not in Boston.

According to an article in the Boston Globe yesterday, "The Celtics' Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce have been having postgame powwows to go over wins and losses since joining forces last season. When things are good, 'The Big Three' have quick postgame talks. But on the rare occasion when things are bad, like Tuesday, Allen, Garnett, and Pierce are the last three players to leave the locker room."


"That's kind of like the meetings of the minds," Allen said. "When you're frustrated, you have to just find a way to make sure we talk it out. We just try to understand by bouncing [things] off of each other. What are we doing? What's going on? How did we talk? Every game we go in there and sit back and say, 'What do you guys see? What's going on?'"

When you win, you don't even have to talk about the game," Allen said. "You just go in the back and you relax. You're chillin' after spending a hard day's work and having a little something to eat. But when you lose, that's what we do, we sit back and talk it out.

Any time we've lost it's the same because we take losing hard. When we talk about what went wrong, we can talk about the same thing every conversation. Any team that loses, loses the same way. Teams win the same way every time. It's the same stuff.

Experience tells you that you're not as good as you think you are. You're not that far from being bad. But when you're bad, you're not that far from being good. You just have to find a way to improve on the things you've been doing."

For The Love Of The Game

Wow! This is a very interesting story about Elena Delle Donne. At one time, Elena was said to be the "future face of women's basketball" only to call it quits due to burn out. All the more reason to maintain proper balance in all that we do. See what you think!:)

Attitude, Effort & Preparation

"With Larry Bird, it was always about the joy of TEAM. It was always about the joy of WINNING...Here's a guy not blessed with a terrific body, a guy who was not fast, a guy who couldn't jump high. Yet, he was a phenomenal offensive player and an incredible team defensive player...Two things separate Larry- how smart he is and how hard he works."
~Bill Walton


"I always thought I played the game at the level that I was pleased with. I always tried to play as hard as I possibly could and I always prepared myself to play."
~Larry Bird