Olin leads off with an excellent question for Buzz Williams: why do your teams seem to get better at the end of the season? Buzz answers in his usual, humble style saying that in September and early October they work on the team - not so much basketball, per se - but the team. A fair answer, a good answer.

However, as a long-time San Antonian, I find Greg Popovich's mantra so compelling and applicable here: You pound the rock. The San Antonio Spurs are legendary in this regard. It's the Jacob Riis' story of the stonecutter:

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"When nothing seems to help, I go back and look at the stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it--but all that had gone before."

-- JACOB RIIS

But here's where Buzz "gets it" as well as anyone: the stonecutter story is not just about perseverance and tireless, dogged work to get better at your craft. That's only half of it The other half is having genuine humility and a powerful resistance to false attribution. Buzz's teams know where they came from in the early season, and they relish the work they have put in throughout the season. They know they are good because of the work they've put in. It's not that final, mighty blow that counts, but rather all the blows (and work) behind it.

That's Buzz's style, that is his method. And it works beautifully. Can't wait for the post-season to start!

Gig'em, Aggies!
Beat the HELL Outta Everybody!!


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