Why Hating to Lose More Than Loving Wins Isn't Negative
It's just a guess, but Eric Musselman at times sounds like a guy who hates losing more than he loves winning.
That's not a negative, by the way.
After Arkansas beat Penn down, 76-60, on Sunday afternoon he sounded more concerned about a problem area than he did winning the game.
"I'm not going to sleep well tonight because I just saw too many holes," he said after the game.
The culprits we've heard about before — defense and turnovers — were the holes he was referring to Sunday.
"Defensively at the guard spot, I expect us to lock people up," Musselman said. "I don’t expect guys to go for career nights. That’s not who we have been in the past in the backcourt defensively. I don’t expect to turn the ball over 15 times against Penn.
"I’m on edge today about getting better."
By Monday afternoon at his press conference, he had adjusted the attitude a bit because his wife apparently wasn't putting up with the complaining after a win.
"Danyelle told me to stop talking about the turnovers and the sloppy play and stop talking about the missed 3's and please remember there’s two columns — a win and a loss," he said Monday.
And he admitted she probably had a good point.
"She basically told me I could bring that garbage attitude only after a loss," he said. "She put it in perspective and is right."
But that doesn't mean he's forgotten about anything.
"We do have areas we have to get better at but to be ranked in the top 10 is something that I think is a nice added incentive to get people to Bud Walton," Musselman said. "It’s a Top 10 team."
As mentioned above, that's not a negative. You hear that about some other coaches.
Of course you wonder if there's something to it because we only hear that kind of thing from coaches playing for championships.
Which, of course, is the ultimate goal.
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