I was coaching a game a few weeks ago and our opponents (the best team in the league) hit several threes in a row on us. I couldn’t remember the last time that had happened to us and watching the next possession it was easy to see why.

The key weakness was that our low post player wasn’t rotating up to the shooter when the ball was swung quickly around the top. We’d never experienced this before because we had been so used to not having to rotate in the proper way in other games, that our players had simply gotten out of the habit of doing it.

Playing against teams that couldn’t stretch our defense or move the ball quickly had made us lazy. We thought it was fine to sit on the low block and wait for the inevitable drive into the middle where we could swarm the ball, or the badly missed three-point attempt where we could easily secure the rebound and get out on the break.

It takes a special desire to keep playing defense the right way, even when it seems unnecessary. Playing lazy for several games creates a deadly complacency in your team. You might win those games by large margins because of the quality of opponent, but how many coaches will be aware of the harm their team is secretly inflicting on itself?

This is more likely to be a problem for University teams who often play in BUCS and/or National League and also a local league. In every game, regardless of the level of opponent, we must hold our players accountable for everything. We must demand hustle and effort on every play. We should strive to emulate those great coaches who coach a game where they are up 40 the same as if they were down 40, demanding everything from their team.