When the coaching staff starts demanding the best and pushing our players to extreme measures in practice we will see different results. I have great respect to this day for everyone in my life that pushed me to work harder than the next
Good article on ESPN:(During last year's college basketball season, Rebecca Lobo watched in person a number of Connecticut's practices. And during one of these afternoons, the former UConn star and current ESPN analyst noticed something strikingly familiar: coach Geno Auriemma running ragged one of the team's best players. Lobo also instantly recognized the drill: one-on-one from the wing, the emphasis on defense. The players form a line at each wing. First player in line is the defender; next one has the ball. If the defender gets a stop, she rotates to the back of the opposite line; if she gives up a bucket, she immediately runs to the opposite wing to try again -- against a fresh offensive player. The thing about this drill: Each repetition is exhausting. So if you don't get a stop within the first two attempts, the likelihood of ever getting one plummets. After successive reps against fresh teammates? Might as well wave the white flag. Except, of course, a white flag doesn't exist at UConn. The day Lobo watched, then-sophomore Breanna Stewart found herself caught in the middle. She failed to get a stop on either of the first two attempts, and things quickly deteriorated from there. Auriemma stood on the sideline, watching, relentless in his scorn. On her third try, Stewart fouled the offensive player -- an act of surrender, really.
The star forward stood, chest heaving, legs burning. But Geno didn't care. "Go again!" he called. Again, Stewart had to foul to stop the offensive player from scoring. From the sideline came calls of encouragement. Teammates Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson yelled, "You got this, Stewie, stay focused!" (Both players had empathy. They had found themselves caught in the middle -- literally and metaphorically -- more times than they cared to remember.) "Go again," Auriemma said. He wanted his young forward to find a reserve she didn't know she possessed. Figure out a way to win. Eventually, someone missed a jumper and Stewart beat the drill. After practice, Lobo asked Auriemma about the moment. "That's the Taurasi drill," he said, referring to former UConn star Diana Taurasi. "She used to do the same thing -- just foul the hell out of people because she knows she's too tired to stop them." Sometimes players will explain a demanding coach's behavior by using the phrase "breaking point." As in, "Geno Auriemma knows Breanna Stewart's breaking point." The assumption in that statement is that coaches won't push their players past that point. In Auriemma's case, that's a lie. "He doesn't care what anyone's breaking point is," Lobo says. "He pushes you to where he needs you and if you break before then, that's on you. There are a handful of people who transfer, and that's almost always why."
Lobo speaks from experience. As a UConn sophomore -- this was back in 1993 -- Lobo was miserable. Auriemma was on her every day in practice. If she made a mistake more than once, he would stop practice and ridicule her in front of the team. "He's not into pulling anyone aside," she says. Needing to change something about the dynamic, Lobo went into his office to talk. He pulled out the media guide, flipped to her page. "Says here that you want to play on the Olympic team," he said. "Yes," Lobo responded, cautiously.
"Well, some days in practice, you're good," he said. "Some days, you're terrible. You have what it takes to make the Olympic team, but if you don't make it, it's because I failed you." Lobo could work with that explanation.)End
Can you guess how many times this happens in UT practice? Its not for everyone not even the soft so-called lady vol fans only the strong will survive