I truly believe that the NCAA basketball tournament is the hardest championship to win in all of sports. With its one and done format a great team can play one bad game and lose. It takes more than just shooting, rebounding, defense and a good team to win six games and cut down those nets. Below are The Cardinal Beak’s 5 keys to a National Championship. In my opinion these are the most important.
1- A Cause: “Win one for the Gipper”
Knute Rockne gave his “Win One for the Gipper” speech to the Notre Dame players at halftime of the 1928 Army game. Rockne was trying to salvage something from his worst season as a coach at Notre Dame. To inspire the players he told them the story of the tragic death of the greatest player ever at ND, George Gipp. Although historians believe that it is doubtful that Rockne’s version of Gipp’s last words was true, Notre Dame did win the game against Army.
Coaches have used variations of this type of speech to motivate their players for years, but sometimes these causes just appear on their own through life experiences that surround the program before or during the season. Every season we here about a team being inspired by something greater than the game.
2- A Great Leader
I don’t think there’s anything more important in college basketball than having at least one great leader. A great leader has been there and done that. A great leader is the one guy who can put the greater good of the team above his own goals. A great leader always strives for the best. They also understand that they are ultimately responsible for helping their fellow team-mates develop into their roles on the team. These guys are also considered the right arm of a coach, and do a great job at relaying a coach’s message to the rest of the team. This could be verbally or non-verbally.
A great leader of a team will often lead by example. All you have to do is google “a senior leads the team” and you will see many examples of this. In 2013 Peyton Siva filled this role. He was the backbone of that Championship team and they wouldn’t have made it there without him.
3- The Freshman or Player That Comes Out Of nowhere
A regular season in college basketball can take its toll on these young athletes. Often by the time a team reaches the NCAA Tourney they have developed players at every position and have a general rotation. In these quick turnaround games of the NCAA Tourney reserves often have to step up and play a more important role. There might be someone who comes out of nowhere that gives the team more than what they expected from him.
You can look on every NCAA championship basketball team and you will see a guy like this. That player who took on a very important role and got more points, rebounds, steals, than what was expected. In the tournament there are going to be teams that come out of nowhere and on those teams will be players that come out of nowhere.
4- A Bench
As I mentioned above there are very quick turnarounds in the NCAA tournament. Teams will get one day to rest before having to lace em up and play again. The more guys you can play to give the key guys a rest the better your chances are at making a good run. There also may be nights when some of those key guys are having an off night and with a deeper rotation another guy might be able to step up and provide the production.
Another thing; and it’s a big one with the way teams like Louisville play a very aggressive style of defense they may run into an officiating crew in the tournament that doesn’t allow some of the slapping and pulling. I expect the officiating to be very tough this year. If a team is at least two guys deep at every spot that could be the difference in maintaining a lead or winning the game if a key guy is in foul trouble.
5- A Great Coach
Most everyone can tell you some of the things that make a great coach. There are many good coaches in the college game right now, but only a few great ones. Great coaches aren’t made overnight. A great coach is someone who has learned and mastered his trade over time. Often he has had to adjust to the generational gaps and to the different changes to the game. A great coach has been there and done it. He’s coached in big games, won big games, coached great athletes and developed/mentored other great coaches.
Our Louisville Cardinals have that great coach. Rick Pitino is not only a great coach, but is a legend to the game of basketball. He has had such an impact on the game of college basketball that his legacy will live on long after we are all gone. He has been in a lot of big games, won a lot of big games and had many defining moments in his career. Hopefully here in a few days our Hall of Fame coach will add to that great legacy with an unexpected run at the NCAA championship.
If you go look at every championship team over the years you will find that each of them have these five key factors that helped them reach that accomplishment. These are in my opinion the five major keys to a NCAA championship.
I was 14 yrs. old lying in the floor watching my parents old Zenith console when that 1986 group of Cardinals won a championship. They were playing to validate a program, had a great senior leader in Milt Wagner, had the great freshman that came out of nowhere in Pervis Ellison, had the good bench players in Tony Kimbro, Mark McSwain, Kevin Walls and the great coach Denny Crum.
In 2013 I traveled to Atlanta and got to be there in person when a gutsy group of Cardinals won a national title 27 years later. They were playing for a fallen brother, had a great senior leader in Peyton Siva, had the great player that came out of nowhere in Luke Hancock, had the good bench players in Montrezl Harrell, Tim Henderson, Stephan Van Treese and the great coach Rick Pitino. It was much sweeter than it was on that grainy old color TV back in 86.
Really hope another great story plays out this year…
Enjoy the NCAA tournament Cardinal fans and Go Cards!
