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http://dispatch.com/bball/bball.php?story=dispatch/2005/11/03/20051103-D1-00.html&chck=t
Killer instinct
OSU strength coach brings tough approach to basketball teams
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
FRED SQUILLANTE | DISPATCH PHOTOS Dave Richardson draws upon his experiences in the Army in molding the OSU men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Ron Lewis and his teammates had mandatory workouts at 6 a.m. the three weeks before practices began Oct. 14.
Maybe climbing a swaying, 70-foot telephone pole will make the Breslin Center at Michigan State seem like not such a tall order anymore.
That’s what Terence Dials found himself doing recently. It was one stop on a timed run of 30-odd minutes through an obstacle course, the capper to three weeks of preseason conditioning for the Ohio State men’s basketball team.
"You had to hurry and climb up and touch a pulley and then hurry and get down," said Dials, the Buckeyes’ senior center and co-captain. "You couldn’t look down, or you got scared."
That was pretty much the point, said Dave Richardson, the new strength and conditioning coach for the OSU men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Richardson, 42, who worked at the University of Miami the past four years, said he owes his career to the mental toughness and selfdiscipline he developed after enlisting in the Army after high school. His latest mission is to not only enhance the men’s team’s strength and fitness but hone a harder edge on players who, in Thad Matta’s opinion, were too soft last season, Matta’s first as OSU coach.
"He’s determined to turn us into warriors," forward Ivan Harris said of Richardson.
The mind-set, Richardson said, is this:
"You get somebody down, step on their neck. That’s what I tell them. You’ve got to have that killer instinct. If you get (a lead) on somebody, they should never catch up. You should be stepping on their throat the whole way.
"We’ve got some guys that have a little nasty in them. But I think, collectively, you want the kind of team that you can say that about from the top of the roster to the bottom. The only way I know how to do that is go the military route. Put them through situations that are tough to get through, so when they get to a game the challenge has already been done, the games are cake."
The Buckeyes get their first opportunity to see how games differ from conditioning at 2 p.m. Sunday, when they play host to Findlay in an exhibition game in Value City Arena.
Voluntary workouts during the summer and 6 a.m. mandatory sessions the three weeks before practices began Oct. 14 challenged the players in new ways. They ran agility drills in sand pits, for example, to help build explosiveness in their legs.
"He tries to work you through being tired, trying to ‘cut out the mediocrity,’ as he always says," guard J.J. Sullinger said of Richardson. "He wants us to go beyond our limits."
The shared sacrifice also was meant to build a group spirit.
"Being former military, I try to teach guys about being a tightknit group and it’s us against the world and (trusting) the guys in your own foxhole," Richardson said. "From what coach (Matta) tells me, we need to make sure we’re together and make sure we do tough stuff."
The Buckeyes’ dearth of toughness manifested itself in a number of ways last season, most notably in rebounding and free-throw statistics that revealed an inability or unwillingness to attack the basket. At the same time, the team set school records for three-point shots attempted and made.
"I’m a strong believer that you’ve got to be able to get in the lane, take hits and finish," Richardson said. "I talk to these guys about finishing and getting ‘and-ones’ instead of going to the line for one-and-ones or two-shot fouls. Finish the basket and let’s get three points out of it.
"That’s why we’re putting guys through tough things, so that when you get to the basket you want to just tear that thing down. You don’t want to try to flip up some backhanded shot. I know it’s Hollywood, but I want you to tear that rim off the backboard."
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