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I coach at the high school level so it may be different with dealing with younger kids, but in the rare instances we've been blown out, I tell my guys there is something to be learned from taking your whooping like a man. Remember how it feels to be whooped and how helpless it feels, and practice your butt off to make sure it never happens again. You can't classlessly take your frustration out on the other team because they're supposed to try to beat you. And if they are really that much better, faster, stronger, more skilled, you should take advantage of the 8 minutes of "scrimmage" time against athletes that we can't duplicate in our own practices. Several years back, my merry band of JV guys were getting our butts kicked in a Varsity summer league (our var guys had an SAT prep course). We were down by 30+ Mid-way through the 3rd Qtr, and the opposing team stopped pressing. During a time-out, I asked the opposing coach to let his guys keep pressing us. By about 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter, we were able to manage their pressure and actually get some layups. The opposing coach looks at me and tells his guys to call off the press.
During the season that year, we were in a tournament with this same team, and we were playing in a game right before that opposing team was supposed to play, so they were there watching us. We shredded the other teams press and won by 20+. As we were leaving the floor, a couple of my players walked by that opposing coach from the summer and thanked him for pressing and helping them learn how to break the press. When we played them the following day in the semi-finals, they pressed us for a total of 1 minute 12 seconds. The 6 pts we scored off their press were the only 6 pts we managed in the first quarter. They beat us by about 7 or so, but didn't press us for the rest of the game. That coach has vowed not to listen to anything I say every again...
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