Players Love To Run?

Ask any player if he wants to play on a running team and he will question yes. No question about it. In theory, they want to run. In theory, coaches want them to run. The problem begins when only 2 or 3 of the players run on a break. They start to take plays off both on offense and on defense.

The whole team has to be committed to running. All five guys must bust their butt every play to be a true running team to really punish the opponent. The players have to be in great shape...better shape than their opponent. That's when players start to realize that running is harder than they thought. It's just not running to get lay-ups. It's running to get ball reversal shots. It's running to get the defense scrambling and off balanced.

Those are the things players don't realize from my experience. They don't understand the effort and constant committment needed to be a true running team. Explaining these things to them before asking the question could help them understand, but I'm guessing they will say they want to run no matter what. Them actually doing it for more than a few games will probably be a different story though.