| | | Coach Brown’ has Mount one win from dancing | | By Bob Blubaugh, Carroll County Times Staff Writer | | | |  | Kyle Nosal/Staff Photo
Mount St. Mary’s head coach Milan Brown yells during the first half of the Mount’s 80-70 win in the quarterfinal game of the Northeast Conference Tournament in Emmitsburg Thursday.
| |
Seven minutes, 52 seconds remained in Sunday’s Northeast Conference Tournament semifinal when Mount St. Mary’s guard Chris Vann committed a foul some 25 feet from the basket.
During the ensuing media timeout, as the rest of the Mountaineers made their way toward the bench, MSM coach Milan Brown locked eyes with Vann and walked with a purpose toward the top of the key. Then, with 2,000 fans wondering what was going on, Brown demonstrated for Vann the proper technique of defending the ballhandler.
Never mind that the Mount was ahead by 16 points and the game was effectively over. Never mind that Vann is a senior who might never be in a similar situation again.
It was a chance to teach. And Brown wasn’t about to miss such an opportunity.
For the Mount St. Mary’s players, advancing to Wednesday’s NEC championship game at Sacred Heart has been about the end result. The games. The winning.
But for Brown it’s much more about the process.
As much as fans want to think coaches’ mastery of strategy and the X’s and O’s are the important part on game days, Brown thinks otherwise. In fact, when the most is on the line, he’s liable to inject himself into the flow less than usual.
“Sometimes in big games like this, you can maybe do too much as a coach,” Brown said after Sunday’s 83-65 win at top-seeded Robert Morris. “We were prepared the last two, three days. No need to change the game plan.
“This is the players’ time when we play. Practice is my time. And after we practice the way we practice, they definitely have a better time playing the game than they do messing with me.”
|
|
|
