Ben McCollum shares what it feels like to be around first-place people and a first-place culture. "I went to Northwest Missouri State, and my first practice with Steve Tapmeyer - best coach I've ever been around - I sat there and I'm like, 'This is what first place feels like. This is what a first-place culture feels like. This is what first-place people feel like.'" That was the wake-up call. He realized what first-place people have: "They've got an extreme work ethic. They've got an edge to 'em that other people don't - a competitive spirit." Then he quoted John Thompson: "You can tame a fool a lot quicker than you can resurrect a corpse...We want guys with a little edge to 'em." You can coach skills, but you can't coach competitive spirit. You don't want to consistently coach their effort and attitude. The last thing they look for: Energy givers. "Over the years, we found that guys that are moody don't make it in our program." "If you're moody, if you have low energy, if you suck the life out of the building - you don't make it." Talent isn't enough. Your energy matters. Your attitude matters. Successful people have a competitive edge, they bring energy, and they look to consistently get better. They raise the standard through what they do. (🎥 Watts Happening Podcast)

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)