One Game at a Time

The Bears play two games this weekend, but as the saying goes, let's take one day at a time. First up is Quinnipiac, who often goes under the radar. While they may not be the biggest threat of the season, the Bobcats did have a winning record in 2008 (8-5) and played well against seemingly stronger teams. However, this week they are coming off of a loss.

The Bears will go over a full scouting report tomorrow, a day before the game, but they already know that Quinnipiac runs a lot of motion in their offense. Without giving away the Bears' game plan, not that I even have that information, the focus for practices today and tomorrow are going to focus on covering cutters and being ready to slide at all times.

Aside from preparing for certain traits of Quinnipiac's system, I personally have a lot of thoughts about where the focus should go in terms of preparing for this game. Since I was benched in lacrosse after starting for an entire year (I'm not bitter), I spent a lot of time on the sidelines dissecting games. For Brown, I would focus on possession and execution. These may seem vague and I may sound like a jerk, but listen to my point. In order to possess the ball and maintain that possession, you need to be confident with it. You need to know that you can do something with it and you need to know that you can depend on your teammates to also.

Sure, winning face-offs helps, but you can't win all of them. It's about how you react to not winning the possession that really matters. And it's about how you react to turning the ball over that matters. Back each other up. When you have the ball, make a decision on what to do with it and commit to that decision. When your teammate has the ball, make sure you are in a position to either screen for him or catch a pass. Don't second-guess.

All in all, be confident. And remember, this is your enemy.