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STATE OF THE PROGRAM: MEN'S BASKETBALL
"They wouldn't call it old school if it wasn't about education and educating your players on the right things to do."
cause the defenses are so good.'' Ryan elaborated on the some of his old school practice drills. "You don't see a whole lot of teams doing
some of the passing drills that we do,'' he said. "At least that's what some of the high school coaches say when they come here. "They always tell me, 'Coach, you do a lot
more passing and catching drills than any other college.' And I say, 'Well, it's because I think it's an important part of the game.' "What does old school means to me? It means
tried and true things that are absolutes in the game; things like reading and reacting on of- fense and defense. "It seems in a lot of people's mind, if you're a
really good athlete, if you're really quick, if you can really jump, you can make up for mistakes
38 ยป VARSITY NOVEMBER 10, 2011
and maybe make up for not being fundamen- tally sound. "Whether I've had real good athletes, or av-
erage athletes, I've never taken for granted the little things in the game that you need to be able to execute to give yourself a chance to succeed.'' Doing things the right way? "It always seems that way to me,'' Ryan said, "because they wouldn't call it old school if it wasn't about education and educating your play- ers on the right things to do. "Knowing the other team is trying to keep you
from doing those things, the more fundamen- tally sound you are, the better chance you have in the game.''
Ryan has won 625 career games. "There are a lot of good things about old school,'' Gard concluded with a smile.
