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

When to Be Dejected

You are entitled to be dejected when you know you didn’t do what you should have done in preparing yourself to execute near your own ability level. Yes, then you have reason to be dejected.

But if you have prepared yourself properly, there is no reason to be downhearted. Disappointed perhaps, but not excessively so.

The most disappointing thing that happened to me in basketball was losing the final game of the Indiana state high school championship by one single point. That was back in 1928 at Butler Field House in Indianapolis. We lost to Muncie Central 13–12 in the last seconds of the game on a shot that seemed to clear the rafters before it finally went through the basket.

When the buzzer signaled the end of that game, ...