The one thing every college basketball coach said separated their pros from other players was work ethic. Are some schools better at cultivating a culture of work than others? CJMooreHoops on how coaches seek out the determining factor:
The entrance to the practice gym was right below John Beilein’s office at Michigan, and Beilein knew when Caris LeVert was putting in extra time. Usually it meant a Jimmy John’s delivery driver would be knocking at that door.LeVert made the sub sandwich part of his routine, because getting food delivered meant he could skip leaving the gym for lunch. He’d go from a morning session right into an afternoon session, pouring extra hours into his game every single day.
The question becomes: Are some schools better at cultivating a culture of work than others? Or does their success lead to work?coach Bill Self has a theory that there are more good players now than ever. It’s why Self does not worry about perception if he takes a lower-rated player. He’s coached six players at Kansas who were ranked outside of the top 100 and made the NBA, including his two most recent draft picks: Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun.
“Because there’s more interest level,” he says. “There’s better coaching. There’s more guys with their private trainers. There’s more access to to competition — all these things. There’s more opportunities, so I think there’s more good players than there ever has been. These coaches can operate like NBA coaches because their success has given them the authority to play those who are ready, and those who aren’t are usually able to accept it.“They better know how to defend,” he says. “They better be efficient and maybe even kind of be a bit of a role player first and do the tough things, the things that a coach will trust. I think that’s one thing we try to really emphasize.
Bennett tries to play those scenarios out during the recruiting process to weed out the players who aren’t willing to wait. Being able to share those stories has power, but when it’s player-driven, that’s even more valuable. Jakus, for instance, is now atas an assistant. He brought with him former Gonzaga walk-on Rem Bakamus as a graduate assistant. Bakamus, who learned how to work from former Gonzaga point guard Kevin Pangos, became the workout guy for Davion Mitchell, whose work ethic became the stuff of legend at Baylor.