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Breaking down film with Bzdelik

Posted November 5, 2007

I was at men's basketball practice today doing some interviews with players and I started chatting with coach Jeff Bzdelik. He surprised me by inviting me and a reporter from the Campus Press, Brad Cochi, into the film room to watch film with the team.

This is not the kind of thing that happens every day, but after getting this rare behind-the-scenes view of things as the Buffs prepare for the season opener against New Mexico, I think it ought to happen more often.

I wish more coaches were open to this sort of relationship with the media because I'll be the first to say there are plenty of people in the media who have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to writing or talking about specific schemes and tactics.

This is not unique to basketball. I think it applies to media covering just about any sport. I'm not at all saying we in the media are a bunch of dummies. I'm just saying we have a tendency to boil it all down to very elementary concepts, when the reality is there are very specific game plans used by coaches and very specific reasons why those game plans succeed or fail.

I have no doubt that if more coaches took the time to try to educate the people who cover their teams about what they're trying to teach their players, it would improve the coverage of the team in terms of accuracy and fairness.

Of course there is an element of trust involved that is crucial to the whole thing working. Bzdelik had to know that I wasn't going to write specific things I saw or heard, which would give his opponent's an edge, or, at least some information they wouldn't otherwise have.

I also have no doubt there are people in my business who would consider themselves above sitting in on one or more of these sessions because they think they know it all. But I think those people are the exception and not the rule in the media.

Anyway, it was pretty interesting stuff. Bzdelik and his assistants, particularly Steve McClain, seem to be very engaging with the players. They were both firm in letting players know what they want and very complimentary when they saw something they liked on film.

From this one 20-minute session, I learned quite a bit about the basics of some of what Bzdelik is trying to teach and accomplish on offense. I get the feeling what I saw was all pretty elementary stuff to the players. I hope to be invited back.