One Thing Wins in College Basketball, and One Thing Only

Every year teams load up with talent and try to get as many Top 100 recruits as they can. And every year  there is a trend that ends up on all the winning teams. DEFENSE. At the beginning of the year many teams are searching for their identity. Unless you have to luxury of returning all 5 starters from the previous year, there is a high chance that your team will go through growing pains.
The most recent example of a great TEAM is the Butler Bulldogs. Coach Brad Stevens always has his group of young men ready to compete at the highest of their ability, TOGETHER, for the entire 40 minutes. This year you have an early contender in the Cleveland State Vikings who went into Memorial Gymnasium and knocked off the #7 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores.
A team characteristics will tell how well of a defensive team you will be. TOUGHNESS is the biggest element of being a great defensive team. Things branch off of toughness, but without toughness playing team defense will not be 100% effective. Some elements that go into a tough team can be are very important, and without them, a team can rip itself apart from the inside. Are you willing to make the extra pass? Are you willing to sacrifice for your team? Sacrifice minutes, sacrifice your body, sacrifice personal success for the greater of the team. Individualism is not a successful mentality when playing college basketball. Are you willing to learn from your mistakes, can you take coaching. There are many drills to help build a TOUGH team.
Those elements are just the tip of the ice berg when coaching a team. You are going to run into detour after detour on your journey to the end. Your ability to be able handle each situation in the most efficient and necessary way to uphold your respect as the coach will factor in how successful a team you are at the end of the year.
Shaka Smart of VCU has come up with 5 steps to what he thinks factors into having a successful team. As one of the youngest coaches to take is team to the Final Four, I have the feeling that Coach Smart knows what he's doing on the court. Not only was he one of the youngest coaches in Final Four history, he did it while taking the Mid Major VCU Rams their in the 2010-2011 season.
So keep pushing your guys to play the right way. Keep pointing out what they do wrong, and strongly encourage them to play the RIGHT way.