Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

Scouting

I seldom mentioned the other team. I believe it takes away from the concentration on ourselves in the preparation.

I did less scouting than any other coach I’ve ever heard about. I wanted our team to concentrate on what we could do—namely, try to execute our style of play to the best of our abilities.

Of course, I needed to know something about the opponent in general terms, but I could read that in a newspaper.

I would know their overall characteristics, such as who was the coach and what was their style so we could be prepared to attack their 2–2–1, or their 1–2–2, or their 3–1–1, or whatever they had. However, I didn’t want to talk much about that with my players.

I felt we were better off letting our opponents try to figure us out ...