In the regular season you always say, 'Take it one game at a time.' But the playoffs, they kind of make you do that.
Every year is a new year, and when you look at the turnover year to year, teams that made the playoffs last year aren't a guarantee to make the playoffs this year.
The goals for Virginia lacrosse don't change a lot from year to year. We look at the lineup, start every year on Sept. 1 with the realistic goal to play at the end of the season, the very last game. This team has the talent to be able to do that.
I am poised and confident in what I do, so I think whether it's shot clock winding down in the playoffs or regular season game, I'm going to have the same mentality.
Not only do you have 16 regular-season games, you also have four preseason games. Then if you make the playoffs, you can have four more games before you get to the Super Bowl. So you can already have 24 games without the 18-game season. And 24 games takes a real toll on somebody's body.
When I was 18 it was my last season in Milan. I was 18 turning 19 and it was my last season in Milan and I knew that that year was very important for me. A lot of scouts were coming to every game.
Whatever happened in the regular season seems to not matter in the playoffs.
Whatever you do during the regular season doesn't matter once you get to the playoffs.
Last year was a tough decision for me, to end my season so short. But it was the right decision for me, because right now I feel great. I can go out here and sprint full speed right now, but I'm just going to pace myself for April 5.
I get excited for the regular season also, but it's just added excitement when the playoffs start.
During the regular season, you don't have the sort of time you do in the playoffs to prepare for people, so you've got to go to your strengths.
The most important thing is not the regular year, it's the playoffs.
You try to say every week that you're facing a faceless opponent. No matter who it is, you want to have the same mindset, no matter what type of game it is - first game of the season, last game of the season.
I'm way different than I was last year. You learn something new every year. I learned a whole lot from last season and a whole lot from this season. I'm still learning.
If it's a card game, or it's a preseason game, or it's a regular season game, I just go out there to try to win. For me, that's all I know how to do it and I'll never change that.
It's all about the playoffs for me. I don't care about the regular season.