The house rules were specific.
“Like any other kid, I wanted to go out and play,” Hawaii basketball coach Eran Ganot recalled. “My parents didn’t let us play unless we did our homework. I got really good at doing my homework. I got to be the best ever at doing my homework so I could go out and play.”
Ganot added: “And then you realize as you get older, doing the homework helped you learn and grow. Did I like it? No. But I did like improving.”
It is that homework ethic that often makes it appear Ganot enjoys preparing for a game as much as coaching in it.
“That’s where you can do a lot of work,” Ganot said of the Rainbow Warriors’ practices, meetings and video sessions. “Coaching is about teaching and educating. (A practice gym) is kind of your classroom. Now the games, you can do a lot of adjustments on the fly and at halftime. But not to the extent where you can sit with each guy and have longer conversations, talk to them, rep it out, see the video.”
The ’Bows are in the middle of an 11-day break between last Saturday’s game against Alabama A&M and next Wednesday’s Big West opener against Cal State Fullerton. Ganot noted the ’Bows did not have proportionate practice time through a stretch of three three-game tournaments. “We’ve had a lot of games in tight stretches,” Ganot said.
The ’Bows are using their longest break of the season to heal nagging injuries, improve an uneven defense and patch past mistakes.
“As a coach, to be honest, you always feel you could do something or should do something,” Ganot said. “That’s why you keep working.”
Ganot acknowledged there are different learning methods. Some players learn best through reading, some through reps in practices, some through studying videos. “Everybody is different,” said Ganot, who employs all those techniques. During a typical UH practice, the coaches will explain a play, discuss the strategy of it, then run it several times. Then the play will be reviewed during a video session.
“That way if different guys learn different ways, it covers each aspect for each guy,” Ganot said. “We take great pride in preparing our guys in every way — whether it’s our stuff, or other teams’ stuff, or off the court, or life. Part of life is work ethic, being a great worker.”
Ganot said his approach is not unique. “What we’re doing, I’m pretty sure everybody else is doing,” Ganot said. “So what is the separator? Do you out-work guys? How do you prepare ’em? You’ve got to build that in your team, guys who want to do that as well. You can see how they talk and how they watch film and how they approach the reps. … If you ask that of each guy, you’d better be doing the same.”
