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CORT Warehouse Supervisor Health Care Rio Salado College PA's/Online Instructors Construction Komatsu Equipment Co Mechanic General CORT WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Education Assessment Technology, Inc Social Studies Content Writer FootballOpinion by Greg Hansen: Cats' newest dance: the O'Neill grindTucson, Arizona | Published: 12.17.2007
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in December, the UA paid Fresno State $70,000 to fly to Tucson and serve as fodder for the Kevin O'Neill Basketball School.
Oh, that's not how the deal was presented to the Bulldogs, but unless you live in the Top 25, that's how December basketball usually works.
Get a check. Get a beatdown.
O'Neill knows both sides. In his first coaching gig, at Marquette in 1989-90, he inherited a schedule that began with a cross-country flight to Corvallis, Ore. In the first game of O'Neill's head coaching career, he was matched against a team that had the national player of the year, Gary Payton, and a Hall of Fame coach, Ralph Miller.
KO's team lost 71-57 and thereafter he became much wiser. His first game as Tennessee's coach was against Tennessee Tech. His opener as the coach at Northwestern was against Siena.
He laughed Sunday when reminded of that long-ago game against Payton and Co., which was the first time all afternoon that O'Neill ditched his game-face. After a clinical 69-50 victory over Fresno State in which the Wildcats dispensed their most effective defensive performance of the year — in three years, perhaps? — O'Neill almost smacked his lips at the thought of an uncluttered workout calendar.
School doesn't begin again at Arizona until Jan. 16, which means that for 30 days the NCAA does not control the time a player can practice. Put your shoulder to the wheel, gang.
"We can have Basketball University here during the next month," O'Neill said. As such, he has instructed his young and improving team to be at McKale Center at 9:30 this morning.
This is basketball as coached by O'Neill, which, we are learning, is vastly different than the game as presented by Lute Olson.
"He's one of those guys who wants to bury a team,'' freshman Jamelle Horne said after the Wildcats limited FSU to a poor .339 shooting percentage. "He doesn't allow you to let up. It sends a message to other teams around the country.''
O'Neill doesn't have a slick title for his coaching style because, frankly, he is anything but slick. No "40 minutes of hell'' or anything so Hollywood. After Sunday's game, Chase Budinger said that KO's style is to "just grind out games and play good defense.''
That'll never sell. But it doesn't mean it won't work, either.
O'Neill doesn't posture. He doesn't play to the crowd; for instance, rather than inserting crowd favorite walk-on David Bagga late Sunday, O'Neill preferred to get an extended look at his scholarship subs such as Fendi Onobun.
KO prefers to get to the point.
At each of the many timeouts during a game, O'Neill grasps a small greaseboard from junior manager Jamal Boddie and immediately steps into a team huddle. Unlike Olson, KO does not first exchange thoughts and invite input from his assistant coaches before deciding on strategy.
There is no wasted energy.
Fresno State coach Steve Cleveland on Sunday spent about 30 to 45 seconds listening to his assistants before each timeout session. His team sat idle. By then, O'Neill's mini-clinic had long been in session.
"KO is very intense in timeouts," Horne said. "He gets his point across."
O'Neill appears to be good on his feet, which is not meant to be a play on words. He does not sit down during a game, choosing to shuffle back and forth in the coaching box, actively chatting with his players rather than to observe from the bench.
In the lull of a game, near courtside, you can plainly hear him call plays and instruct a player to perform certain functions.
Shall we say that some of his instructions are less sugarcoated than others.
Strangely, O'Neill has yet to exhibit any sign of sideline temper, which has at times during his career been a not-so-kind calling card. He does not rail at the officials, as Olson does. On a particularly bad foul call Sunday against UA center Jordan Hill, O'Neill told referee Dave Hall "that's a bad call'' but didn't let it linger.
His focus remains on each set, not on a ref's psyche.
As the identity of this unproven UA team continues to take shape, so does that of O'Neill, who, at 50, is beginning his second incarnation as a college basketball head coach. If nothing else, he appears to be more inclined to communicate with his players than Olson is.
Returning from halftime, O'Neill walked onto the court and playfully punched redshirting freshman Zane Johnson in the chest. The message came in two parts: I haven't forgotten about you. And big or small, we're all in this together.
So far, this united, grinding, Wildcat team is 7-2 and getting better by the week. This new way of basketball is working as well as the old way.
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