We know how hard coaches work to not only teach basketball skills, but to instill a positive, respectful, aggressive (and hopefully winning) culture.

Some coaches seem to have real knack for creating tough players who go out and confidently take charge...and when you get a whole team of those players, good things are going to happen!

Northwest Missouri State Head Coach Ben McCollum is one of those coaches...

And this is a big reason McCollum has won 4 out of the last 5 NCAA DII national championships and has not lost an NCAA tournament game since 2018!

His coaching style and Bearcats players have been described as high-level basketball equal to that of D1 schools:

"I coach Division I basketball, and I promise you they (Northwest Missouri State) were a top-100 team in the country (last season)...How they play, what they do, it's high-level basketball - their skill level, their feel, their player development, it's really done in an admirable way."

The "BearCat Way" is an Art of War...

Over the last 13 years, McCollum has developed the "BearCat Way" culture by instilling one important motto that he took from the book, The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu (probably between 475 and 221 B.C.), a Chinese war general who believed...

The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.

So Coach McCollum has made this his team's motto, and it's bringing them success...

In other words, take control of the game or situation, or your opponent will.

When and How to Develop the "Impose Your Will" Mentality

The Bearcats start by imposing their will with offseason workouts. Their preseason workouts are extremely difficult.

McCollum tells his players to IMPOSE THEIR WILL whenever they're tired, pouting, or getting a bad attitude...or they're letting that workout impose its will on them.

He wants his players to attack the workout regardless of external circumstances.

Then the motto and the mindset trickles into every other part of their game, like defense.

Likewise, you can tell your own players - Go out there and IMPOSE YOUR WILL on the opponent's defense.

You want to do it to them. You don't want to allow them to run their defense. Be a "clever combatant" and take them out of their game. "Strike" first (but make sure to tell them not to literally get a foul!).

Then you can even apply this belief to other aspects, like officiating.

If players get upset with an official's call, remind them that the official's call just imposed its will on you...when what you really want to do is act like it didn't bother you and move on from it and play through some of those calls.

It's basically not allowing any external situations (physical or mental) to affect the way you're playing.

You keep the control.

That motto - that take-charge, confident culture - has contributed to these accomplishments for McCollum and the Bearcats:

• McCollum is the first 5-time NABC Division II National Coach of the Year and a 7-time MIAA Coach of the Year.
  
• Over the past 6 seasons, McCollum has guided Northwest to a mark of 193-13…and 4 NCAA Division II national championships (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022).
  
• McCollum has guided the Bearcats to 9 straight MIAA regular season titles and 6 MIAA tournament crowns.
  
• In 13 seasons at Northwest, McCollum has an overall record of 334-83. Over the past four seasons, Northwest has gone 130-8.
  
• Northwest became the first NCAA Division II men's basketball program to capture 3 consecutive national championships in the 2021-22 season.
  
• The Bearcats won their 6 NCAA Tournament games by an average margin of +14.0 points per game.
  

Now is the right time to teach your players to IMPOSE THEIR WILL and take control of their basketball lives.

It's even a great life lesson they can take with them to be successful in any situation!

Related Resources

• Former Breakthrough Campers who have fared extremely well under Coach McCollum's tutelage - Not Recruited... To 2x NCAA Player of the Year & 3x National Champion - An Underdog Story All Players Can Use To Change Their Life
  
• "Impose Your Will" style of play & training - The Attack & Counter System and Individual Workouts with Don Kelbick
  

Do you have any questions or suggestions for this article? Let us know by leaving your comments...

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