Competitive practices make Tigers tougher

A team is a unit. Each part, each player is only as strong as the whole.

Coaches stress the solidarity. The team travels together. The team will often eat together. The team wears the same style of uniform.

Despite the desire for her team to be a cohesive unit, Missouri women’s basketball coach Cindy Stein wants three players to stand out at every practice.

For toughness, a player will find red athletic shorts waiting for her in the locker room. For efficiency, two players will find gold shirts to wear under their practice jerseys.

This year, Stein instituted the slogan, W.T.C.T., which stands for work ethic, toughness, competitiveness and teamwork, to motivate the team. The red shorts and gold jerseys help the team identify who exemplifies those characteristics.

The gold jerseys are used in the same way as the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. When a cyclist ends a day of riding in the lead, he is awarded the yellow jersey to be identified as the race leader. For the Tigers, the gold jerseys signify the efficiency leaders.

Players earn points during games and practices for things such as shooting percentages, number of rebounds, steals and free throws. Players lose points when they commit a foul or a turnover. A daily leader and an overall leader are awarded with jerseys.

Popping out among legs clad in gray, the red shorts were just added to practices this year. Although “Toughness Shorts” were not given out for Thursday’s practice, senior guard Tiffany Brooks, who was wearing a gold jersey as a daily efficiency leader, has worn the shorts several times and said they serve their purpose as a motivator.

“I know from my standpoint, I’m a very competitive person,” Brooks said, “and if I don’t see the shorts in my locker, it makes me want to go out there with more fire and work harder.”

Toughness points, Stein said, come from aggressive play such as offensive rebounding, getting on the floor for loose balls, deflections, steals and charges.

“It identifies them as a tough kid, because that’s obviously an emphasis of ours,” Stein said.

After losing four of their first five Big 12 Conference games, the Tigers will need to remember their W.T.C.T. slogan when they play Nebraska on Saturday. Nebraska (15-3, 3-1 Big 12) beat No. 22 Texas and No. 25 Kansas State, both of which Missouri has lost to.

The Tigers (13-5, 1-4) will also have to combat the Cornhuskers’ Kiera Hardy. Hardy, a senior guard, has 19.5 points per game during conference play and has averaged 16.1 points for the season.

We’re excited,” Brooks said. “We know Nebraska is a great team, they beat K-State. They’re not a pushover.”

In Missouri’s 63-55 loss to Texas Tech on Wednesday, Brooks, the Tigers’ second leading scorer, did not play the second half. After scoring four points in eight minutes of first-half play, Brooks was guarding an apparent ankle and knee injury. Brooks was at practice Thursday afternoon, but did not appear to be playing in her ususal aggressive nature. She said Thursday night the injuries weren’t an issue and were feeling better.

Stein said the special clothing also serves as an objective measure for player performance. Tracy Benne, Coordinator of Basketball Operations with the team, keeps track of the points throughout the season and the points are then displayed for the team to see.

“Everyone works hard, so if people say, ‘I think I should play because I work hard,’ well, everybody works hard,” Stein said, “so it’s who’s the most efficient.

“You’re trying to get them to embrace the things you think are valuable,” she said.