Brad Keller’s Trojans finished 7th overall last year, recording a 22-10 (13-7) record in their first season in the Big Ten Conference.
This season, Keller wants his athletes focused on their mental game, so he implements games like Connect Four and Sequence.
“It's about patterns and trying to create patterns and stuff. All that stuff translates to sports and volleyball and what your mindset is,” Keller explained Tuesday at Big Ten Volleyball Media Days. “If you know what you're doing ahead of time and you know how to get there, you're playing a different game during the volleyball match or what have you. And so a lot of the stuff that I'm really incorporating now is, how do you become an elite thinker, an elite mind?”
The coach went on to reference a famous video featuring MLB greats Barry Bonds and Greg Maddux, in which the pair rewatch an at-bat in separate rooms, but have almost identical commentary.
“The level of conversation that they're saying is so elite,” Keller said. “I mean, they're saying — it's just a different level, which is why they were so good. So I think a lot of what we're trying to do in our gym is [to] find different and creative ways to teach us how to become elite.”
Keller acknowledged there has been a good amount of change around the Trojans’ volleyball program recently, following the graduations of Mia Tuaniga and Ally Batenhorst, and the increased level of activity within the transfer portal. Despite their losses and as the game changes, USC is maintaining a positive outlook ahead of the season.
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“I believe that the teams that do really well down the road over the course of time are going to really invest in their culture and really -- that's going to be the backbone of what they do,” Keller said. “So they'll avoid a little bit of the transfer market, whatever that is.”