cue. We talk about that a lot.''
Will he say anything special prior to the first practice? "Compete like crazy,'' he said. Haven't they already picked up on that? "If they haven't, they will.
You can always raise the bar.''
During the spring season, the Badgers posted a
5-1 record.
"There are some positions where we're not
very deep,'' Sheffield said,
"but there are others
where we're really deep
and we've got some freshmen that have the ability
to play right away.''
Sheffield wants to find
out "who's willing to get
in the trenches'' and get
after it competitively during the dog days of practice. "Those are the people who are going to be on
the court,'' he promised.
He also wants to find out how certain individuals
will react to adversity, real or imagined.
"We'll try to set up some things where their backs
are against the wall,'' he said. "Who embraces it and
says, 'Let's go set the world on fire?' Which ones
shrink or complain or put up excuses?
"There are going to be people on this roster who
have played a lot in the past that may not be playing
a lot this year. With a new coach there are going to
be new roles and new positions.''
Sheffield will evaluate the
responses with the hope of
answering his No. 1 question,
"How well do we come together as a team?'' So far, he
has been encouraged by the
off-season results.
"The players are starting to
put in the work and they're
getting confidence from it,'' he said. "So how far can
we go (as a team)? I'm scared to put a number on it
because I don't want to fall short.''
But he has a picture in mind. "As we're moving
forward,'' he said, "we're gaining momentum, we're
"AS WE'RE MOVING FORWARD,''
SHEFFIELD SAID, "WE'RE GAINING
MOMENTUM, WE'RE GAINING CONFIDENCE, WE'RE BELIEVING IN EACH
OTHER AND BELIEVING THAT ABOUT
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.''
42
//
VARSITY August 8, 2013
