There's still something in life for the people who persevere

Great quote from Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan when asked about the 9-point, 8-rebound, 6-steal game senior Joe Krabbenhoft had in the Badgers' win over Ohio State last weekend (UW's fourth straight win after losing six consecutive games last month).

According to this article, "what this line doesn’t show is the work he puts in behind the scenes. Ryan points to the effort Krabbenhoft puts in during practice and how that attitude translates to the game. Ryan believes that it is Krabbenhoft’s desire that allows him to excel game in and game out."

“There’s still something in life for the people who want things, and will persevere, and aren’t easily deterred. There is that element of perseverance that separates a lot of people.”

Rebounding is about smarts, energy

Came across a good article recently about Nick Kohs, a 6-foot-8, 215-pound center at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, who has "developed into one of NCAA Division 2's most consistent 20-point, 10-rebound performers."

According to the article, "at 6-8, Kohs doesn't necessarily tower over opposing players. He isn't exactly what you would call a wide body either. And blocking out isn't necessarily a specialty of his."

''I think the best rebounders are the smartest rebounders,'' Kohs said. ''When a shot goes up, if you know where it's going to hit off the rim, then you know where to go to get it. I'm not the best person at boxing out, but if you're going to go up and get the ball, you've got to be fearless going to get the rebounds."

Michael Beasley, 6-10, led the nation in rebounding last season. The season before that, it was 6-8 Rashad Jones-Jennings. As it stands now, 6-10 Blake Griffin is the top rebounder.

Back in 2002-03, 6-foot-7 Brandon Hunter averaged 12.6 rebounds per game, tops in the country. Now go back seven years, when 6-foot-6 Jeremy Bishop averaged 12 rebounds a game for Quinnipiac.

You may be thinking, "Quinnipiac plays in the Northeast Conference, not the ACC, Big 12, SEC, Big East, Pac-10, or Atlantic 10. A 6-6 guy would have trouble leading the nation in rebounding if he played in one of those conferences."

But that's exactly what Pitt's Jerome Lane (pictured above) did back in 1987, when as a 6-foot-6 guard-forward he led the nation in rebounding with 13.5 per game while playing in the Big East.

And he did it in the NBA, averaging 9.3 rebounds a game with the Nuggets in 1990-91. In a 1990 game against the Houston Rockets, which featured Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon and Otis Thorpe, Lane had 27 rebounds and 19 points. He also played, for a time, in the CBA, where he had a 35-rebound game.

In the book "Pitt: 100 Years of Pitt Basketball," Curtis Aiken, Lane's teammate, said:

"Jerome amazed me. He shocked me. He did the things he was able to do because of willpower. Most of his rebounds weren't because he could sky over you, but because of positioning. He had a knack for the ball."

Says Lane:

"You can't teach rebounding. I guess I just wanted the ball more than anybody else. When the ball goes up, you just attack the rebound. In my situation, I figured, 'If I can't get the rebound, then I can't get to the other end of the court and score.'"

According to a February 1987 article in the NY Times, "Lane, at 212 pounds, hardly looks the part of monster rebounder. His shoulders aren't exceptionally wide and he's not a sky-walking jumper."

''That's why I'm surprised to be leading the nation,'' says Lane in the article. ''I'm more of a finesse player, I'm not a strength player. There's no way I could get up and just gorilla over somebody. I'm expecting that every ball that goes up is going to be a miss, while the other guy's probably thinking that it's going to be a make. I'm going to the hoop thinking that everybody is going to miss their shot. Maybe that's the difference. If I don't rebound, we're going to lose. Everybody can't score, everybody can't play the same role."

CLE forward Ben Wallace, who's led the NBA in rebounding twice and is a four-time member of the NBA's All-Defensive team, puts it this way:

"Rebounding is not about size, rebounding is about energy. You know the ball goes up and you've got 10 guys on the court. Whoever wants it the most is going to come up with it. That's what rebounding is about."

Trading glitz and glamour for productivity

A unique part of the Butler's basketball program are the early-morning workouts, which the players contend give them an edge:

"We do this all the time, every day," junior forward Willie Veasley said. "I think you get more focused when you wake up and everything is so fresh. It's gotten us to where we are now, and it's probably real different from what other programs do."

As this article points out, the No. 13 "Bulldogs have appeared in five NCAA tournaments since 2000 and reached the regional semifinals twice in the last six years. Over the past three seasons, they've won more games than any other Division I school in Indiana and have been ranked for 40 weeks since 2006."

This season, Butler's starting lineup features "three freshmen and a sophomore" and is led by "the nation's third-youngest coach, 32-year-old Brad Stevens."

And here they are, winners of 19 of their first 20 games.

According to this article:

Butler's old-school strategy favors teamwork over experience. Players share the basketball, take pride in defending opponents, prefer crediting teammates to gloating about their own accomplishments and they don't deviate from the system. Simply put, it's all about desire, determination and execution.

Part of Butler's recipe for success is that the team's "coaches look for distinctive traits in recruits — like maturity and teamwork — that other schools often overlook. At Butler, they're essential."

"We spend a lot of time talking to their high school coaches and the coaches around them. That gives you better insight into them," Coach Stevens said. "But I think if you watched how they interacted with their teammates on and off the court, you'd see we really didn't have to do a lot of research. It starts with the makeup of the kids on this team — their selflessness and their belief in being a great teammate."

The author contends that "when the freshmen arrive in Indy, they've already agreed to trade glitz and glamour, even dunks, for productivity. The Bulldogs also keep things in perspective. They focus on making the most of what they have, not complaining about what they don't have — bigger post players, highly ranked recruiting classes or sparkling new facilities."

"We're not aiming to be someone else," Coach Stevens said. "I think a lot of programs do things really well and when you watch them on tape, you may take something and try some things that might work for your program. But we are Butler, and we're just trying to be the best Butler team we can be."

A player's desire to get the ball

When asked recently about similarities between his Lakers team this season and the Bulls teams he coached in the 1990s, Phil Jackson had this to say:

"I don't know if we have the same ruggedness that we had, that was brought to the team by Dennis Rodman. He had that character where he was going to lay his body on the line, dying to get the ball back, dying to defend. It just wasn't in their makeup to lighten up. They wanted to work. They liked to work. This team is learning how to do that every-night action it takes in the NBA to win."