Teamwork Trumps Individuals in Basketball

When I was in the seventh grade, my physical education class was going through its basketball phase of the program. The team I was put on was miserable, losing all of its games and finishing dead last in our class. Except for our last two games, that is. The last game we actually miraculously pulled out 18-16. That was important because it gave us a feeling of what it was like to win. Then, as an "extra" game, our coach/teacher scrambled up the other teams, but left ours intact. Our opponent for that game was an assembled group of "stars" from other teams, all of which had beaten us during the "regular season". The result? We destroyed them 34-6! And they couldn't figure out what happened. But it was clear to me: my team had been together game after game, each of us learning our teammates' strengths and weaknesses. We knew how we moved on the court and were much more likely to pass and set up plays, while the players on the other side pretty much engaged in individualistic, ball-hogging showboating. So we creamed them.

Now we come to the NCAA men's basketball tournament and a similar situation. Two smaller and lower-seeded teams, Cornell and Northern Iowa, have made it to the "Sweet Sixteen" by defeating more heavily-favored and talented teams. How? The successful smaller teams were able to keep their squads intact over the years, since the players were finishing through their senior years and not opting out early to enter the NBA. Cornell actually has eight seniors on its team! And Northern Iowa knocked out Kansas, the number one team in the country and the heavy favorite to win the tournament.

My own league, the Southeastern Conference, may carry this lesson one step further. The conference champions (and possible eventual national champions this year) are the Kentucky Wildcats, a team that sports media commentators often compare favorably to professional teams regarding their talent. Sports Illustrated magazine put freshman John Wall, at the beginning of the season, on the cover of one of its issues, calling him (in advance) the best college player in the country. And he has several teammates who doubtless are eagerly looking ahead to making a wad of money playing in the pros. So this team is very, very good. For this year, that is. Next year, they will have to aggressively regroup and rebuild to compensate for the loss of some of their star players. The University of Florida, on the other hand, has a complete lineup of starters slated to return next year. I doubt that any of them will enter the NBA draft and, after their success in reaching the NCAA tourney this year, none will probably transfer to another school. So we're looking at a very cohesive group who know each other and play as a unit.

Stars are important in basketball, but teamwork trumps that. So teams without stars but with continuity and cohesion will continue to knock off those with the big names. Kentucky may win it all this year, but then again maybe not. Their next game in the tournament is against Cornell!