A high school basketball team doesn't win championships in March, it wins them in July, in empty gyms, with no crowds and no hype. The work you do when no one's watching is what shows up under the bright lights.

GIRLS TRIPLE JUMP Top 3 finishers: 1. Havana Olander (Little River), 11.30m (37' 1")(1.3) 2. Kinsley Plumer (Valley Center), 10.53m (34' 6.75")(0.0) 3. Callie Porter (Manhattan), 10.46m (34' 4")(1.1)

I caught up with Will Berg, Dillon Battie and T.J. Williams to discuss why they bucked the trend in college basketball to enter the transfer portal and explore their options. My story on why they wanted to come back to Wichita State for next season: kansas.com/sports/college/wi…

It never gets old watching Nathan “Nasty Nate” Webb do what he does… helped his team to a 2nd place finish in the 4x8 Relay and two golds in the 800 and 4x4. Here’s his anchor leg of the 4x4 Relay - electric finish from one of the best runners in Valley Center history! #BeGreat

🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 Billy Butler received 88% of over 32,000 votes and is now officially the 61st member of the Hall of Pretty Good!

Main highlights sr. season @MichaelKnight_3 @VC_Basketball for putting this together

Cleanthony Early That guy rocked.

Congrats to Junior guard Ray J Logan for earning 2nd Team All-AVCTL honors this year! #ValleyHoops

Congrats to Senior guard Nash Jamolod on being selected All-AVCTL Honorable Mention! #ValleyHoops

15 degrees and wind chill makes it feel like it’s below zero? Must be Spring Break in Kansas! Had to move inside today - indoor workouts are just a case of making the best of a bad situation. Had a solid cardio workout capped off with some abs seen here! #BeGreat

Frank Martin (@coachFMartin) said, "The season teaches you to either become a winning team or a losing team." "You don't go thru the season and stay the same. Winning teams take ownership - individually and collectively." Winning teams create a culture of ownership👇

Awesome action to get a wide open catch & shoot 3pt.

ATHLETES: Protect your mindset. One of the fastest ways to lose confidence is to listen to outside voices that drive you to blame, complain, and make excuses.

“The Mamba Mentality is about being the best version of yourself.” - Kobe Bryant x.com/Mindset_Machine/status…

Ben McCollum didn’t flinch after losing three straight games in brutal environments. “When you’re losing, the world is ending. When you’re winning, everything’s perfect.” That’s the lie most people believe. Inside his program, nothing changed. No panic. No celebration. No emotional whiplash. Just a continued commitment to the process. McCollum kept the evaluation simple. Against Illinois, it was a poor start, some growth, and losing plays late. Against Purdue, too many losing plays and a costly offensive rebound. The next game? Fewer losing plays and more winning ones. That was the entire adjustment. Not narratives. Not results. Plays. Here’s what most people miss: the outside world lives in extremes. Inside great programs, everything stays boring. Stable. Grounded in the work. McCollum filters noise ruthlessly. He listens to people who help him improve his bosses, famiand ly, mentors. Social media? Useless. That discipline wasn’t accidental. It came from years in Division II. Getting exposed. Learning how far he still had to go. Making quiet adjustments. Building real confidence through repetition, not praise. The takeaways are simple but uncomfortable: Results lie. Process tells the truth. Don’t chase wins, eliminate losing plays. Noise doesn’t make you better; honesty does. Faith in the work is built long before it’s rewarded. Sometimes it won’t pay off tonight. Sometimes not tomorrow. But if the process is right, it always shows eventually. Question: Where do you see people abandoning the process too early—sports, leadership, or life?

Yeah this was worth every penny

This is going to stick with me forever

A high school basketball team can have all the talent in the world, but if the players don’t trust each other, they’re just five individuals in matching uniforms. Trust turns “good” into “great.” Build it every day—on and off the court.

Why Coaching Is Harder Than People Think (A Holiday Reminder)… Because coaching isn’t just about plays, drills, or game nights. It’s about people. It’s about walking into practice every day and managing emotions you didn’t create but are responsible for. Your own. Your players. Your assistants. Parents. Administrators. Fans. It’s about teaching kids who are all at different stages. Different maturity levels. Different confidence levels. Different home situations. And somehow holding them to the same standards while still meeting them where they are. It’s about decisions that look simple from the stands but feel heavy from the sideline. Who plays. When. Why. How you communicate it. And how that decision might land on a 16-year-old who ties their identity to minutes. It’s about losing sleep over kids who won’t buy in. Over conversations you need to have. Over mistakes you replay in your head long after everyone else moved on. It’s about being judged by people who see the outcome, not the process. The scoreboard, not the hours. The result, not the relationships. And yet, you show up again. You plan. You teach. You model. You care. As the season slows and the holidays arrive, this is the reminder: What you do matters. Even when it goes unseen. Even when it feels heavy. Even when it’s hard. Coaching is about influence. And influence lasts longer than any season. That’s why coaching is harder than people think. And also why it matters so much. As the year winds down, I hope you find a little rest, a little perspective, and a lot of pride in the work you’re doing. 🎄Happy Holidays, Coach.

The work is just beginning, but we’re excited to bring our vision to life with the State of Kansas in 2031.