Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1420595
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 1 41 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M We'll get to that point, but we're teaching a system. This is how we're going to do it, this is how you guard this, and then you can adjust as the games go on. BWI: Do you have a sense for where you are in that trajectory? SHREWSBERRY: I don't know. It's still so early. It's still early in the pro- cess, but we're learning from film. We watch film before practice, we scrim- mage a little bit and watch film of prac- tice and just try to teach these guys and let them know that we're one of the most competitive groups I've ever been around. These guys are literally going after each other as hard as possible in practice … in a good way. I try to let them know that you can't jump over the fight. I can't let my com- petitiveness take me out of our disci- pline. So now let's channel that. Let's play with that same tenacity, and let's do it with discipline, let's do it the way that we're taught to do it. And that's when you become really good. We're in the beginning stages. I've still got the training wheels on right now. There are a lot of things that I want to do defensively to really make it hard for people to score on us. But we have to get the basics in first. We're still doing that. We're still learning how to ride the bike with the training wheels on and then hopefully as we go here, I can take the training wheels off and they can pedal freely on their own. BWI: You have a reputation for being able to create open shots, but there's a difference between getting open shots and making them. Do you feel you have the personnel to make those shots this year? SHREWSBERRY: I think so. The one thing that I like to do is, I like to be real with everybody. Early on, sometime this summer, we took a really long time to get through a shooting drill. And I just told those guys, I want every single one of you guys to reach your goals. And if playing beyond college is your goal, then I need to help you, I need to be real with you and help you get there. But if you can't shoot, you can't play. Or you have to be so special at some other skill that it covers for that. So if you're struggling with that, you need to get in the gym more. You need to get in and shoot more. You need to spend more time in here honing your craft, because yeah, it helps us. It helps our team this year. But I'm trying to help you beyond here. I want you to reach your goals. So, be able to do that. And if you're spending time in here, if you're putting in the time doing that, you're OK with the results. If we're sharing the ball and we're moving it and we have an unbelievable possession and a guy misses a wide- open three, I'm OK with that because I know that this guy has put the time in on his own to shoot. I know that our offense is executing it the right way. We just didn't make the shot. Some- times that happens. Sometimes that's life and you can't control everything on the court. If we're doing everything possible, you can live with the results, and that's what we're trying to get to. We want to be OK with the result be- cause of what we've done prior to it. BWI: Have you attempted to change the mechanics of players' shots, or do you just work with what you have at this point? SHREWSBERRY: I think it's more a matter of working with what you have. I've seen guys shoot a lot of different ways and have success. There are guys who aren't picture perfect or textbook in how they shoot, but the ball still goes in because of how much they've done it, how many shots they've taken. So that's where you have to put the time into it. We really focus on the footwork, that part of it. If you start the right way, you usually end the right way. We've put a lot of time into developing that, mak- ing sure they have great balance, mak- ing sure their footwork is OK. That's Shrewsberry is looking to employ a time-tested formula for winning in the Big Ten, which has been embodied by "half- court, gritty, tough, man-to-man defensive teams." PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS