Teams must adjust and find new options

Every year, there are injuries, suspensions, transfers and academic casualties that change the course of a team's season.

It is rare when a team can go through an entire year without having to make adjustments, shift lineups or increase the load of a "role player" to make up for personnel losses. It is part of the game, and it has to be handled the right way by both players and coaches.

In practice, players will go down with a significant-looking injury in a drill or scrimmage (and we're talking about a knee, an ankle or the like ... not a life and death situation). While the player is down on the floor, and a trainer or doctor hurries out, everything stops for a second, and the gym becomes eerily quiet. Almost immediately, the coach will calmly shout out, "everyone down to the other end," and practice will immediately resume in the same spirited fashion.

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