Who knew Dr. Seuss was a basketball expert

Maybe John Calipari gets some of his best coaching advice from children's author Dr. Seuss

Theodor Geisel … aka Dr. Seuss .. is an award-winning, world-renowned children’s book author and illustrator who has penned over 60 books. Those books have sold over 700 million copies and include such titles as The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish and Green Eggs and Ham to name a few.

 If you’ve ever been a child, had a child, or entertained a child you’ve probably read one of Dr. Seuss’s books. Those same books have also been adapted into 11 television specials, five feature films, a Broadway musical, and four television series.

But with all his knowledge of writing and children who would have thought that Dr. Seuss also knew so much about how to play championship basketball.

Here’s what I mean. In his book “On Beyond Zebra” Dr. Seuss wrote, “It’s high time you were shown, you really don’t know all there is to be known.”

Who would have thought that every college coach — men’s and women’s — would start out each new season with that exact same Dr. Seuss line (or some variation of it) and the coaches that are most successful at instilling that idea into their players are usually the most successful by season’s end.

Or take this Dr. Seuss quote that coaches use when players are discouraged with their own results or playing time and are thinking about the transfer portal or even giving up the sport completely.

In his book “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?”, Dr. Suess said, “You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot, for the people and places you’re lucky you’re not.”

I’m sure that Oscar Tshiewbe or Savhir Wheeler have thought about that line more than once this season. Tshiebwe said in an interview earlier this season that “For me, being in this place (Kentucky), it is a blessing” and about his previous school West Virginia, “I did not want to put that jersey on.”

Tshiebwe clearly understands where Dr. Seuss was coming from. I’m sure many other players across the country do also.

Dr. Suess also clearly understood coach John Calipari’s coaching methods. Coach Cal always tells players to be the best version of “you” that they can be. I didn’t realize that the UK’s coach was stealing his player development ideas from Dr. Seuss. In his book “Happy Birthday to You” Dr. Suess said, “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.”

So it’s easy to see that according to Dr. Seuss and Calipari if players can’t be true to themselves and develop into the best version of themselves they won’t be successful.  Calipari said as much about the strengths of a player like Kellan Grady and how he has become the best version of himself to help the team.

Calipari said, “He’s very intelligent. He’s made suggestions in games like he’s coaching. He works at it, he’s laser focused on game planning and can talk teammates through stuff. It’s like having another coach on the floor.”

That’s why his teammates call him Grandad — over time he has become the best version of himself he can be or in Dr. Suess’s words “no one alive is youer than you.” 

When it comes to in-game adjustments, Dr. Seuss was right on top of it also. Just like when UK women’s coach Kyra Elzy drew up the SEC Tournament Championship winning play with only four seconds to go in the game Dr. Suess was already ahead of her. Elzy, in the midst of all that was happening at the end of the game, was able to clearly go with what she knew would be successful and her players ran it to perfection.

The moment was not too big for them and that’s exactly what Dr. Suess said. In his book “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” he wrote, “If things start happening, don’t worry, don’t stew, just go right along and you’ll start happening too.” 

That’s exactly what the UK women did on that last play. The drive to the basket wasn’t open (as Elzy said it might not be) so they had to go with what was happening, they didn’t force the drive but instead took the pop out shot to Dre’ Edwards for a wide-open three-pointer. They didn’t worry, they didn’t stew, they just went with what was available and it led to an historic milestone of a win for UK.

Now that most teams have reached the point in the season everyone plays for — March Madness- – it seems like Dr. Suess has very insightful words for those situations also. With so many players trying to help their teams win games they need to remember Dr. Suess’s words from “The Lorax,”

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not,” he wrote.

That’s why this time of year players spend extra time in the gym putting up shots, extra time in the film room studying their opponents or the flaws in their own games and extra time devoted to understanding the game plans because “unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot” the team is not going to get better.

The last bit of advice Dr. Suess had for players and coaches alike pertains to their pathway through their conference tournament or ultimately the NCAA Tournament. Dr. Suess said, in his knowing way in “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”, that surviving and advancing was the key to making a long run in any end of season tournament.

His actual quote was, “Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”

He knew that players need to only focus on today, have fun and after winning remember that tomorrow is another one. Most coaches will echo those same words to their teams as the prepare for their own tournament runs.

So there you have it. Dr. Suess was a basketball expert along with being an award winning children’s author. But he also had parting words for any basketball fan this time of year (and especially for Kentucky fans). When it comes to tournament games Dr. Suess had this last little bit of wisdom that every fan should embrace.

He said about life in general (but also about basketball games and tournament runs), “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” 

That’s great advice for fans of any sport, be it basketball, baseball, football, gymnastics, track and field, swimming and diving, or any of the other many sports that are available today. Savor these moments because they will never come back again, only the memories.