Michael Mercuri

Joe Mazzulla is insane He had the WINNERS of the drills run 🫣 “You’re getting rewarded by running. He was like, ‘We gotta change our mindset that winning is the reward. Running is our reward.’” That man is wild

Looking to help place one of our grads who will have his associates degree. 2-3 years of eligibility remaining. youtu.be/e-1gIAM1N6M?si… Toni Milevcic (Croatia) - 6’2, 185. Student visa and I20. 22 years old. Academic All-American (USCAA) with a 3.8 GPA and member of PTK Honor Society. True PG with high IQ and court vision. Hunts the assist but can score at multiple ranges. Great decision maker, especially in ball screens, who values each possession with excellent ball control and takes high quality shots when needed. Knows how to run any offense, especially European style. Knows the game extremely well and is like having an extra coach on the court. Has all the intangibles as well. Gym rat, great leader and teammate with excellent work ethic. Great personality and works well with others. Reach out with inquiries. Feel free to share. Thank you!

TWO FEET vs. ONE FOOT Big South Championship High Point 🟣 2 ft: 80% / 1ft: 33% Winthrop 🟠 2 ft: 65% / 1 ft: 29% Footwork is the lifeblood of a basketball 🏀 player

Bad business when an assistant coach is the sacrificial lamb and takes the fall for the head coach. Stan Gouard appears to be safe at Southern Indiana after a 7-23 season (25-67 over the last 3 seasons).

'Larger than life': Longtime Shrewsbury basketball coach Adrian Machado honored before his final regular season game @ColonialsAD @tommycassell44 @RickCinclair telegram.com/story/sports/h… via @telegramdotcom

Billy Donovan shares a lesson that changed how his players thought about winning. At Florida, he had a manager track how long the ball was in each player's hands during a game. He asked one of his starters: "How many minutes do you think you had the ball in your hands for the game?" The player said 15 minutes when he had played 30. The real numbers? "A backcourt player, for the most part, is probably 92% of the game gonna be played without the ball in their hands. A frontcourt player - 95% of their minutes is gonna be played without the ball in their hands." Think about that. You're playing without the ball almost the entire game. "It's amazing to me how many players focus on points, points, points. That's what goes on ESPN. That's what gets the highlights." "But if you're gonna strictly talk about winning and you're really driven and motivated by winning and competing and being a good teammate, you have to look at the fact is -- what am I doing with my 92, 93, 94, 95%?" "Am I screening? Am I running the floor? Am I on the floor for loose basketballs? Am I rebounding? Am I taking a charge?" "There's so many ways to impact the game with the amount of time you're on the floor when the ball's not in your hands." This is what separates good players from winning players. You control how you show up. You control your attitude. You control your effort. Great teammates master what they do when no one's watching - and when the ball isn't in their hands. Winning isn't about the glamour. It's about the 95%. (🎥@Coaching_U ) (🎥@brendansuhr)

"If you keep your nose down in life and keep working, anything is possible." - Curt Cignetti

"Your value is embedded in the action that you take to have the team have success. Whatever role you have, we actually all have the same role and that's to help your team win. How you impact and how you show up is everything." @tracyhamm10 @OregonSoccer

UConn’s Geno Auremma’s 2 Rules for Shot Selection.

Pat Kelsey of Louisville Cardinals lays down the standards… “The standards are the standards” he announces, openly stealing from Mike Tomlin of the Stealers. Coach Kelsey wants the standards to be set by the first rep of the day. Momentum of standards start with a single action, a single activity, a single period of focus. And then they multiply… Be the 1% not the average. Again, Coach Kelsey strives to open pictures in the minds of his players. Picture of excellence, of better, of High Performance Mindsets… In my world he’s talking about Attention, Intensity, Intent… Attention - focused and connected to whatever you’re engaged with. Immersed! Intensity - an optimal mental energy - alert and ready…alert to the challenge and ready to respond. Intent - an energy-forward execution…leaning-in. Approach behaviour. Curious…engaged in mastery. Coach Kelsey lays down the standards. After all, the standards are the standards… (Video via @TheHoopHerald on X)

Tiger Woods on what it takes to be a savage. "It's do all the nitty gritty details that are ugly, hard, and mundane...Quite frankly, a lot of times you don't see the results for maybe years to come, but it's the little details that it takes each and everyday to be successful." Excellence filters people out through boredom, discomfort, and delayed rewards. It lives in the details that most people don't have the discipline or patience to honor every day. 📹: Skratch

"We're such an instant gratification era ... We're trying to skip the step of adversity and growth ... but we're gonna have to face it. Sometimes the grass isn't greener on the other side. Sometimes you're just trading one set of problems for another." ~ Eli Drinkwitz 🏈

Accountability starts with self-reflection. “We’re going to reach our full potential, but there’s going to be some pain. You’ve got to go through it.” - Marcus Freeman

John Calipari goes OFF for nearly SEVEN MINUTES about current state of college athletics & the Trentyn Flowers story in CBB. I haven't seen him this fired up in a press conference...ever?

📚 Best Nuggets From Coaching Books This one comes from Legacy by James Kerr. One of the most quoted lines is: “If you establish a culture higher than that of your opponent, you will win.” But the sentence that’s always stuck with me is the one right after it: “The challenge of every team is to build a feeling of oneness, of dependency on one another.” That reframed oneness for me. It’s not about family. It’s not even about clearly defined roles. It’s about helping players understand that their success is dependent on their teammates — and vice versa. I can’t be my best unless you’re at your best. When teams really buy into that, role clarity stops feeling like being put in a box and starts feeling like responsibility to the group. For the All Blacks they can, matter-of-factly, say: “I need you to do this so I can do my job.” or “What can I do to help you do yours better?” That’s when oneness becomes real. Not chemistry. Not vibes. But Interdependence. And that’s what winning cultures are built on.

For some coaches, this is about mid-season. For others, you’re only a few weeks in. Either way, this is the perfect moment to refocus on what lead to early success. Not on new schemes. Not on clever tweaks. But on the fundamentals — the ones that actually dictate winning. The best defensive teams never drift too far from prioritizing these: 1) The Wall That Wins Defending the basket with discipline, verticality, and timing — not fouling. ➡️ lockdowndefense.substack.com/p/the-wall-tha… 2) No Comfy QBs Active hands on the ball. Disrupting rhythm. Making handlers uncomfortable every possession. ➡️ lockdowndefense.substack.com/p/no-comfy-qbs… 3) Cushion Slides Staying in front of the ball. Containment first. ➡️ lockdowndefense.substack.com/p/cushion-slid… 4) Closeout Footwork (Chop or Not?) Arriving on balance. Taking away rhythm shots without blowing bys. ➡️ lockdowndefense.substack.com/p/to-chop-or-n… Mid-season success isn’t always about adding more. It’s often about sharpening what already works — and recommitting to the details that quietly win games.

Boy i wish HS players understood this. Casual practice habits create casual game habits that have you looking crazy when you can’t turn it on.

Going to be home in MA on Christmas Break. Any HS hoopers interested in playing college basketball locally at @CMCCMustangs in Southern Maine send me your schedules and film. Looking for guys that get after it and compete, want to get better, can defend their position, play physical, can shoot, and can be great teammates. Hit me up!

Have spent a lot of time in Southern NH watching HS basketball games. Almost all of the NH schools are not charging admission to watch the game, thus encouraging the community to support the athletes. In some MA schools, STUDENTS are being charged a $5 entry fee. NH is winning!