Lawrence boys basketball coach Mike McGee will be ready to face Mt. Blue in the quarterfinal round of the Eastern Maine Class A tournament Saturday night.
Like Mt. Blue coach Jim Bessey, McGee has the benefit of years of experience. He also learned from some of his mistakes. McGee made one big one in 1988 and hasn’t repeated it since.
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“We went in No. 1 for the first time in school history,” McGee said.
The Bulldogs faced No. 8 Presque Isle and McGee didn’t scout the Wildcats. They paid the price for their ignorance and were beaten in double overtime.
“It was one of the best teams I’ve coached,” McGee said. “Since then we take nothing for granted. We watch film, we game plan, we call other coaches. We make sure no stone is left unturned.”
Trial and error is often the best way for coaches to learn how to properly prepare for tournament play. It differs from even big regular-season games in a couple of aspects. First, one loss and you’re out. Second, the venues are much larger and the crowds more intense.
“It definitely ramps up the adrenaline,” second-year Hall-Dale girls coach Brandon Terrill said. “You just have to work really hard to stay level-headed and not get caught up in the venue or the crowd.”
Terrill’s team, which enters the girls Western C tournament Tuesday as the top seed, reached the tournament last year. He won’t make any major changes, but will tweak a few things.
“Really small things,” he said. “I want to get to the (Augusta Civic Center) earlier this year. I felt we were rushed in our preparation (last year).”
Preparation begins in practice, often two or three weeks out. At Forest Hills, coach Anthony Amero works on conditioning among other things. After 11 straight years in the tournament, he knows his players expend a lot of energy in the first few minutes of the game.
“It’s like playing five quarters when you go to Augusta,” Amero said.
There’s also renewed attention given to fundamentals. McGee said his players may envision making four of five 3-pointers in their first game but in reality “the fundamentals are going to win the game.
“It’s who does the little things that make the difference,” he said.
Richmond coach Phil Houdlette likewise spends the first three practices before the tournament on the basics.
“We’ve gone back over boxing out, shell drill, things that most coaches do,” he said. “I don’t go over game preparation until Thursday or Friday.”
The coaching mantra in most tournament games is stick with what got you there, but some coaches aren’t afraid to try something new. Former Cony coach Paul Vachon, whose teams went to the tournament 23 straight seasons, recalls installing a new defense for the state championship game in 1987.
“We played a triangle and two,” he said. “I had never done it before but for some reason it worked.”
Vachon said he also used to copy opponents’ inbounds plays to use against them.
“That was always fun,” he said. “They knew how to execute them but they didn’t know how to defend them.”
Elan coach Peter Rowe makes a fairly drastic adjustment by asking his players to throttle back a little on their physical play. He calls it “adapting your style to play with three officials who (usually) call a very tight game.
“The team that usually has the least fouls wins,” he said.
Team bonding activities were high on Vachon’s list when he first began coaching. But after winning so many games, including seven state titles, he put team building on the back burner.
“Later on it was more ‘get the work done,’ ” he said. “The celebrations and the dinners would be after.”
McGee said his goal is to relieve pressure on the players and put as much of it as he can on himself. He’s not above the motivational locker room speech, though. Sometimes he’ll bring in an alumnus or perhaps another coach.
“We have a football mentality at Lawrence,” he said. “In the past (assistant football coach) Mike Mealey used to come in.”
Other times he’ll handle the duties himself.
“I get excited before a game,” he said. “When you walk in the locker room you can hear a pin drop. I’ll get a little worked up.
“They’re young, they’re nervous, they’re looking for some spark. Once you get that first game under your belt, you relax.”
Gary Hawkins — 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
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