To hear Rick (either one) talk during the past week, the other team was going into the Metrodome Thursday with the upper hand over their own talented and worthy guys.
That's what's called sports psych, the big game before the big game, and no one has played it better during the NCAA tournament than the University of Utah's Rick Majerus and the University of Kentucky's Rick Pitino."It's part of what goes on in the sports milieu," says Keith Hen-schen, professor of exercise and sports science at the U. The trick is to make the other team think it's better than it really is without undermining the confidence of your own players.
And that's where the coaches come in. During the tension-filled days before a big game, they strive to stroke the other side - or at least not make them mad - while instilling self-assurance in their own squad.
Henschen, who serves as the sports psychology consultant to U. teams and athletes, said coaches walk a fine line as they prepare for competition.
"The most important thing they're doing is trying not to give you guys (reporters) anything to write about. They don't want to arouse the other team by belittling them. They don't want to give them any additional incentive," Henschen said.
Newspaper articles containing negative comments by an opponent are usually posted on a team's bulletin board to get the players riled up. For example, the U. made good use last year of an article quoting some "fighting words" from Brigham Young University quarterback Steve Sarkisian.
Can sports psych really effect the outcome of a game?
"We think it's a factor," Henschen said. "If a team or a player is overconfident, they don't play well. If they are intimidated, they don't play well. You want them to be confident and cautious, but not tentative."
Sports psych is what caused many fans and probably some of the players themselves to believe the Utes were in for the fight of their lives against "giant-killer" Canisius. Henschen said there was a conscious effort on the part of the U. to build up Canisius' chances, though it was clear afterward that "they were not in the same league."
Going into the game against No. 1-seeded Kentucky, the U. faced the opposite problem, Henschen said. The Utes were not getting the kind of respect they deserve, he said, even though Pitino clearly realized that at this stage of the tournament, any team can beat any other team.
According to Henschen, when Pitino talked up the size of the Ute team, he was using sports psych to guard against overconfidence and trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to portray Kentucky as the underdog. In sports, it's good to be the underdog.
As the perceived underdog, Majerus had the easier task, Henschen said. The U. coach was able to tell his team it was getting no respect, which is always a good incentive in sports.
Like all successful coaches, Majerus is very good at sports psych, Henschen said. "He manipulates - and I mean that in a positive way - the moods of the players. Behind closed doors, he tells them not to read the papers and not to listen to what he's saying in public."
Coaches also tell their players if they can't say anything nice about the other team, they should say nothing at all, Henschen said.
The sports psych game is playing an increasingly important role in college athletics, Henschen said, noting that most of the big schools now employ sports psychology consultants.