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Jeff Smith Featured on CollegeChalkTalk.com
12/15/2009 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2009
University of Utah assistant basketball coach Jeff Smith will be one of several contributors from around the nation to the National Coaches' Diary Series on CollegeChalkTalk.
Thanksgiving weekend offers all of us in college basketball an opportunity to spend quality time with our teams. There is a break from the daily rigors of classes, and many teams are involved in some type of tournament at a neutral site location. That's how it was for the Utah team, as we traveled to Las Vegas for the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament at The Orleans. We had many fans and family members in town for the event, and the atmosphere was similar to a post season event. This tournament would be a great challenge for our young team, as the opponents in our bracket were Illinois, Oklahoma State, and Bradley. Our first round opponent, Illinois, was undefeated and ranked #20 in the country.
When we are away from home with no classes, a road trip allows us to break up our preparation during the course of a day. Our Thanksgiving Day began with a film session and walk-through on Illinois. Coach Boylen wants our guys to have the opportunity to see our opponents and what they do on film and walk through their actions before we guard it live in practice. Typically, we will do 3 or 4 sessions like this before we play.
After breakfast we head to our first practice of the day. Because of the number of teams in the tournament, the main floor wasn't available to us until 8:30 p.m., so we headed to UNLV to practice. We spent this practice preparing for Illinois, and most of our focus on defending the penetration of their guards and the shooting of their big men.
We practiced hard and with great energy, and then headed back to the hotel for Thanksgiving dinner. The team enjoyed a wonderful turkey dinner prepared by the hotel staff, and then we gave our players a couple hours off to spend time with their families and get some rest. It was great to see our guys playing with the kids of the coaching staff, mingling with their own families, and enjoying the company of one another. It was a great reminder and example of what is truly special about college basketball.
The evening brought with it our second film session and practice of the day. This film session focused on the personnel of Illinois and their individual tendencies. Practice was geared more toward getting up shots and being familiar with the surroundings of the arena in which we would play the next day. It also was a great opportunity to break a sweat and get moving after a big dinner!
Friday night was an unbelievable game, as the Utes came back from a halftime deficit to win at the buzzer on a lay-up by Shawn Glover. The excitement and enthusiasm of our players after the game was amazing!! The team rushed onto the court to embrace Shawn and one another, but we had to wait for official word upon review of the clock. It was a great win for our young team in November.
Upon getting back to the hotel that night, Coach Boylen was able to remind our team of one of the other great things about November...another game the next day!
Our team knows we have a long way to go to reach the end of this journey. There will be many more games against quality opponents, and we will face many challenges as we go. Games in November and December prepare your team for March. The tournament in Las Vegas was a great opportunity for our young team to learn, grow, and play.
Go Utes!!
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