| |
 Looking back, thinking ahead
Posted: Saturday April 03, 1999 06:23 PM
In our Sweet 16 matchup against Temple, we got into a game that I'm not really sure our players wanted. Right away, they took it right at us. We lost 77-55. We entered the Temple game having won two games against great teams in Texas and Miami (Fla.). But all season long, we had a problem being satisfied with a little bit of success and not really entering into that upper zone of greatness. It was a great year for us in that I think we learned a lot about our players, and the players learned a lot about themselves. We also learned how to compete at a higher level sometimes, though not consistently. But when a season ends without a win in the last game, I'm always frustrated and want to try to come back and do better next year. But I also realize that it's not the end of the world, that the sun's going to come up the next morning, and that it's not really about winning and losing anyway. It's all about trying your best and the players getting good grades. When the season's doneI always have mixed emotions when my team gets beat in the NCAA Tournament because I want to do better. I feel like I've let some people down, and I feel as a coach that I didn't do the things it takes to win at that level. And oftentimes, all I want to do is get back on the practice floor right away and get those problems resolved. But I can't, of course. Instead, I wait until October. I can get the players together in the weight room in the fall and the spring, but that's not at all like having them together where I can really coach them. And then, of course, I always miss the seniors. The seniors are always special to me because I've been with them and gone through a lot of wars with them. I've been with Alan Eldridge for four years and Tony Mayfield two years, so those guys are always special. I was tickled by some of the letters I got this year about what players I should play together. Some readers said, 'Never play Tony and Alan together,' and Alan was our best defensive player and Tony was our best guard as far as distributing the ball consistently. I think in the wins over Texas and Miami those two kids did a great job. We're not satisfied with our 1998-99 season by any means. But by the same token, I was proud of the players and the way they came back and put a good touch to the end of the season. In the locker room after the Temple loss, I talked about what we have to do to improve. But I also didn't want to get into too much detail because I wanted to get the kids home and make sure they got to class the next day.
I want the kids to have an opportunity to be a little bit satisfied with their season because they won 21 games and got into the NCAA Tournament, where they beat two good teams. A lot of positive things happened to us toward the end of the season, and we really played pretty well against a vastly improved Michigan team in the Big Ten Tournament. Our last four games we played four great teams -- and we won two. Hopefully from our experiences in those four games our younger kids will learn what it takes in terms of fighting through screens, what kind of shots you can get by setting good screens, really being alert on defense and doing all the little things it takes to get open. I don't think my words to the team after the season-ending loss were really any different than any other season. I was a little more patient than usual, perhaps, because I know it was a frustrating season for everyone. We tried to look at it as a lesson in the way the season went. A bad readLast season, after a loss in the Sweet 16 to Stanford, I thought the coaches poorly handled the reading of our kids. We thought we were going to come back in 1998-99 and have a year like we had the five previous years -- good leadership, kids hungry, kids wanting the things it takes to be successful. The season started out that way, but once we hit the Big Ten season, it was apparent that the kids hadn't worked at their game over the summer and the coaches didn't read that well. I don't think we realized that Chad Austin and Brad Miller the year before had great passing skills and we really didn't take that into consideration as a coaching staff -- particularly myself. I didn't do a good job reading the kids' work ethic, character and the skills that we need to do a better job of teaching. The positives this season outweighed the negatives by a great deal, and we will use that as a springboard for next year. Hopefully we'll have a season where we'll have fun, work very hard and enjoy what we're doing because of our hard work. I don't think the players had too much fun this year. I know I didn't have any fun. And we weren't fun to watch. That's the thing we'd like to change next year: enjoying to work and coach. If we can do that, then our efforts are always worthwhile. Side notesI want to quickly apologize to the teams in the West Regional of this year's NCAA Tournament. I think I wrote in a previous column that there weren't any league champions in that regional. I picked up that erroneous tidbit from a sportscaster and I'm going to blame it on them. I didn't research it like I should have. That was an error on my part -- first time it's an error, second time it's a turnover -- so I hope I don't let that happen again. Of course, Connecticut, the eventual national champion, was in that great, great region. In terms of our "From Midnight to March" column with CNNSI.com, I enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you all. I hope you enjoyed the exclusive tour from Purdue basketball's first tip of Midnight Madness in October until the feverish competition in the NCAAs in March. It was interesting to read all the questions and comments from you all, and I'm looking forward to next season with a lot of excitement and anticipation. Hopefully our players will get better during the summer so we can build upon this year's results. Until October ... From the season's first tip-off to its final buzzer, Purdue coach Gene Keady filed a weekly column with CNNSI.com. In his 19th year as head coach of the Boilermakers, Keady provided an exclusive peek into the highlights, lowlights and sidelights of a full college basketball season. Readers followed one of the nation's top coaches within one of the nation's top conferences in the 1998-99 season "From Midnight to March."
| |||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||
