"Success isn't achieved by doing thousands of things really well. It is achieved by doing a few things really well, thousands of times."

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  One key to being successful is being consistent in everything you do from year-to-year. You won't win every time out, but consistency keeps you competitive game-to-game and season-to-season. Being consistent keeps you from wasting time, energy and emotion and keeps your approach each practice and game the same - no matter the situation. Try to do the same things each year, treat everyone the same way, and make sure that no one that's a part of the program, thinks that they are bigger than the program.

McGuinness Girls, with no true standout, have relied on teamwork.

During the Bishop McGuinness girls' run to a record-tying six straight NCHSAA basketball championships, a common denominator was hard to miss. 

In each of those seasons, the Villains had a clear-cut, future Division I player to turn to.

And although that had much to do with the teams' successes, it also disguised some of the subtleties that have made McGuinness much more than a one-girl band.

This season, with no shining star on the roster, has been different.

"This team illustrates more what our program is about," said coach Brian Robinson, who has the Villains back in the NCHSAA 1-A final for the seventh straight season. "It illustrates that we can still win without a star player."

McGuinness (26-5) will try to set the record for consecutive NCHSAA basketball titles when it plays Chocowinity Southside (29-3) at noon Saturday at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill.

It's not as if the Villains don't have good players, and they certainly have experience. But they have no Katheryn Lyons, no Erinn Thompson, no Whitney Knight, and no Megan Buckland - the guard who fueled the past three title runs.

Instead the team is a unit with many moving parts, each reliant on the other during a season in which tight choreography was the difference between winning and losing.

Those traits, Robinson said, have always been there. They just have been lost at times in the glare of a star.

When Robinson was hired in 2002, three years before the Villains left the N.C. Independent Schools Athletics Association for the NCHSAA, he put in a set of rules that he said "were kind of laughed at."

Among the rules: Players had to arrive 15 minutes before the start of every team function; no high socks; no "dancing or prancing" around on the court before games and wasting energy. In order to talk with Robinson about a concern, a player or parent had to arrange a meeting. Those conversations did not occur casually at practice.

"It took about a year," Robinson said, adding that the girls started to figure out the rules after they had to run too much at practice to pay for their missteps. "They started to figure out it's about not wasting time at practice.

"It allowed me to just coach basketball and not deal with distractions.

"In other words, your time can't be more important than team time. Your issues can't be bigger than team issues."

Robinson said he remembers the crowd "howling" when he benched Lyons, his star point guard, for the first five minutes of the team's first Western Regional semifinal, against Hendersonville in 2006.

Lyons, the rock of the first two championship teams, arrived at the pregame shoot-around five minutes late.

Robinson said he would rather stick by the rules than show favoritism and risk future problems.

"Honestly, that's something that could have cost us a game,' Lyons, who just finished her second season as the girls coach at High Point Westchester, said this week. "You never know... Getting down early could have been horrendous. I was never mad at him. I was mad at myself. I never expected him to make an exception for me. He knew it was a misunderstanding because I had never been late for anything."

Lyons now uses Robinson's approach for her program.

"When you make your expectations and demands very clear, it's almost a contract between the players and parents and coaches and the team itself," Lyons said. "Everything is laid out for you. There is no gray area."

Robinson said he hasn't had a meeting with a parent in years. The rules are the same for everyone.

"Even though we don't have a star player, we play very well together," said senior Sammi Goldsmith, the leading scorer. "Even when we did have a star player, it didn't override anyone else's role on the team. Everyone's role was equally important.

"I think it's been a real big factor this season. Everybody knows that no matter what you do, you are important. Everyone is important to getting here. Everybody has stepped up and has been able to get done what they need to get done.

"As long as we work on everything as a team and get the win, that's what really counts."

1.  You can't play 1-on-1 for 32 minutes every game.  Street ball will beat 90% of the teams you play, the other 10% will take you to the cleaners.

2.  Play defense; those "other" 10% of the teams beat you because of defense and shot selection.

3.  Learn to play team ball.  Shot selection is important.  Know your role and accept it.

4.  Show up to play for 32 minutes.  Start to finish.

5.  Do those things and you MIGHT have a shot at another championship.

(Posted January 20, 2013)

There were two great basketball players who were very good at what they did on the court; because they were good, legislators and league officials decided to change the rules to try to slow them down. What the rule changes instead did was make these two make players not just better, but legendary.

It forced these two players to improve their skills, work harder, and, in turn, made their overall performance better.

Many of you have heard of the Mikan Drill.  This drill was named after George Mikan.  George Mikan is known as the first N.B.A. "big-man". He stood at 6-10 and had the coordination, footwork and skill to dominate the league during playing days. While in college, Mikan developed a deadly hook-shot with either hand. When he went to the N.B.A., he controlled the area around the basket to such a degree that the league widened the free throw lane and initiated the 3-second rule to give other players a chance. The 3-second rule states that an offensive player cannot be inside the free-throw lane for more that 3-seconds. This rule change resulted in Mikan going to his hook-shot move more often, making him a better all-around player, and again, made him legendary.  Coaches at all levels have their players work on the "Mikan Drill". If it wasn't for the rule change, George Mikan would probably have been just another player in the N.B.A.

The other player was Lew Alcindor, also known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  When Alcindor played at UCLA, the NCAA officials felt he was too strong / dominant of a player. Alcindor could dunk the ball anytime he wanted to, and the NCAA felt he would be unstoppable.  They changed the rules to forbid dunking in college games.  This was called the "Alcindor Rule".  When he graduated from college, the rule was rescinded, and players were allowed to dunk again; which made you wonder, "Were the rule-changers just out to get him"?  As a result, Alcindor had to work on a new shot, known as the "Sky Hook".  The Sky Hook became the most unstoppable shot ever in the game of basketball and he used it to become the N.B.A.'s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points (finishing more than 6,000 points ahead of the most famous basketball player ever, Michael Jordan).

The point:  These two great basketball players caused the rule-makers to cave-in to the complaints of others.  They thought that changing the rules would prevent these two players from not only being great, but would frustrate them and cause the two to become ordinary and average. What did the players do to cause the change? Nothing. They just were good at what they were doing and played the game they loved within the rules provided. The irony was that the complainers, and eventually the rule-makers, actually helped to make these two players more well-rounded. Mikan and Alcindor (Jabbar) were now forced to learn new skills and work harder by the rules being changed, that led to a better performance which not only made them two of the greatest players ever... it made them legendary.  

The moral of this story:  The only person that can stop you from being great is yourself... roll with the punches...never stop working...never stop improving. Complainers have the same choice you do: to work or to complain.  Working hard, smart, consistently and correctly gets you better... complaining wastes that same time that could be used to get better.  Just know if you have critics because you have been good at something, then that's part of the process towards being not just great.... but, possibly, legendary. Critics are, unfortunately, a necessary part of your growth and actually help you. They actually hurt themselves, though their initial objective was to do the very opposite... just roll with the punches.

(Posted on 12/21/12)

Another famous rule change... in 1978, the National Football League tried to slow the Pittsburgh Steelers' "Steel Curtain" Defense by implementing the "Mel Blount Rule".  Blount was a cornerback for the Steelers who basically dominated any wide receiver that he defended.  The Steelers won Super Bowls in 1974 and 1975 behind what is highly regarded as the best defense ever and the NFL wanted to give offenses, in particular, wide receivers, a chance.  So in 1978, the rule makers implemented a policy stating that cornerbacks couldn't have contact with wide receivers for the first five yards when a play started.  They called the rule the "Mel Blount Rule".

The rules were looked at from some as changes that would hurt the Steelers. What the rule makers forgot was the Steelers played offense as well.  In 1974 and 1975, the Steelers were a running football team. However, with the new rules in 1978, the Steelers adjusted and become a passing team.  Steelers' wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth were now able to break free early on and Quarterback Terry Bradshaw had a field day, leading the Steelers to their third Super Bowl win during the 1978 Season. Before the rules could be looked at again, the Steelers won a fourth Super Bowl in 1979. 

Again, the irony, a rule meant to slow the Steelers' defense down ended up making the Steelers' offense, and their overall team, better.   The rule changes caused Head Coach Chuck Noll, who years later said of the teams who supported the changes, to make this statement at the time in 1978:

“ They ganged up on us the way they legislated the rules. People were trying to win a championship through legislation. I don't think you do that. ... But whatever the rules are, you have to adjust to them and play with them. ... When they changed the rules Terry Bradshaw took advantage and his passing game blossomed. And all that happened to Mel Blount is that he got more interceptions.”

In the end, though, the Steelers became one of the quickest teams to adjust to the new rules; the team's offense benefited more from the rule changes than the defense was hampered by them. The rule changes catalyzed the Steelers' transition from a power running game to more of an air attack.

Mel Blount quietly put a chip on his shoulder as did the Steelers' defense.  The defense gave up the fewest points in the league that year, the team finished with a 14-2 regular season, and culminated the year with their third Super Bowl Championship in five seasons.