In this video Elijah Bryant discusses the extreme physical and mental demands of the 2025‑26 EuroLeague season, describing how the dense schedule, constant travel, and back‑to‑back games lead to player burnout. He outlines three personal systems he uses to stay effective: (1) prioritizing recovery—sleep hygiene, weight‑room prehab, and nutrition with protein, carbs, and electrolytes; (2) adopting a process‑driven mindset that focuses on consistent film‑study and routine regardless of win or loss; and (3) managing travel fatigue through strategic napping, hydration, hyperbaric chambers, and amino‑acid supplementation. Bryant then provides a scouting preview of Bayern Munich, noting recent coaching changes, key players (Ops, Dinwiddie, Ljusic, etc.) and psychological cues to watch. The video interleaves live commentary of a Hapoel game, highlighting Bryant’s scoring, rebounding, and defensive impact, followed by a post‑game reflection where he praises his aggressive play, acknowledges four turnovers, and reiterates the importance of faith and consistency. Throughout, he emphasizes the 90% mental/10% physical nature of basketball and the need to limit external noise.
Chapters
This EuroLeague season is a brutal one. We haven't even reached the halfway point and it feels like a full season already. Double weeks, back-to-back games, a lot of travel. Honestly, at this point I think the fans are even tired. Burnout isn't just about being tired. It could even feel like heavy legs when you've rested, or being irritated at teammates, or missing shots you usually make, or for me, talking to the refs more than I should. And It's a real thing, and that's why your mental health is very, very important in a long, long season like this. So here's 3 things I do to avoid burnout, and it's not about being perfect throughout the season. It's about setting up systems in order to allow you to have the opportunity to have success every single time you step on the court. Number 1, recovery is a non-negotiable. Sleep is a non-negotiable. You need to try to get better sleep every single night. So that's setting up systems and creating less friction in order to you to get to bed at a reasonable time, putting your phone away, not eating 3 hours before bed, limiting stressful conversations late at night, all those type of things. Also, being in the weight room is a way to keep yourself safe on the floor. So a lot of players are like, oh, I have to go live, this sucks. No, lifting actually is like prehab for your body during a long, long season in order to stay healthy on the court. And one of the most important things is your nutrition. Traveling, playing all these minutes, you have to make sure you're getting adequate protein and also carbs to fuel these long games. And also you need to make sure you're drinking water with electrolytes in order to make sure your muscles are firing and not cramping. As you know, a lot of people say the game is 90% mental and 10% physical, and that is so true during a very, very long season. You have to understand that you play so many games, so you can't be emotionally attached to the result. You have to be process-driven, not result-driven. What does that look like? Process-driven is basically the idea that you are focused on your systems regardless of the result. So for example, you play good, what is your process after the game? Watching film, taking notes, watching more film on what moves do to get better at? What is your process after a loss? Watching film, taking notes, watching more film to see what you can get better at. Regardless of what happens in the game, you have to say— have the same system after. That is being not result-driven and process-driven. And trust me, that isn't easy, because you play well, everyone thinks you're the best player in the world. You play bad, the team should cut you. So with that being said, you have to limit the noise, good and bad, because to me personally, all noise is, is just a distraction. And before we get to number 3, which I'll tell you guys at the end of the video, let's talk about who we're playing today. Bayern Munich, coming off being on the road for 40 days and losing 7 of their last 8 games, coach just being fired. So what does that mean when a coach is fired? That means the team is gonna come out with a lot of energy. Their coach arrived yesterday, uh, legendary coach Pesic, who was in the Netflix documentary, won a bunch of championships, legendary coach for Serbia, and They had film for an hour after their practice yesterday, so they're going to be juiced up. They're going to be juiced up not only to show the coach, hey, I deserve to play more, earn the coach's trust, but also because they've lost their last 7 games. So you have to have some sort of response. Now when it comes to the players exactly, they have a bunch of talent on their team. They have one of the best shooters, I would say, in the world with ops. This is probably the only guy I've ever seen— maybe we could check the Guinness World Records— who's made 10 threes in a row with his right hand and made 10 threes in a row with his left hand. Yes, I said that right. 10 in a row with both hands. They have Dinwoody, who played a long time in the NBA. They have Ljusic, who's been in Byron for many years, very talented player. They have good old Juiceman, who you guys have seen on the vlog play with the Efforts. They have Xavier Rayton Mays, who I think is one of the most skilled players in terms of having everything in his bag. I really like his game, every footwork, and you guys know I like that type of stuff. But let's watch him a little bit and, and see where we gotta lock in. So as I always say when I'm watching this film, especially Um, when I know most of the players on the team, I don't need to watch too much, uh, tendencies. I'm kind of seeing how they start the game off. Um, I need to watch a little bit more on Dinwiddie just because I haven't watched much of him in the EuroLeague, being that he wants to attack. The little things like this that you can notice from psychology and personnel and dynamics of a team— watch Dinwiddie's reaction after he throws the lob and Ike doesn't, or McCormick doesn't slam it. Look at his reaction. Dunk the ball! So that's something you can play into, is like Even during the game, talking to Tim Woody, I don't really talk, but saying stuff like, why didn't he dunk the ball? I mean, it's all psychology, right? We talked about the game being 90% mental and 10% physical. Mike is so good at drawing fouls.
Coach Dimitris Itoudis to get it on here at the SAP Garden. The jump ball between O'Toole and Hoffman goes to Hapoel for the home side, and it's a chance to extend the lead. Elijah Bryant goes to work off the dribble over Andy Hobbs. Free throw for Elijah Bryant, who knocks it down, making it 5-0, and it's 7-4 lead for Hapoel immediately. Elijah Bryant is nuts. Vladimir Ljubicic, a wide open 3-pointer, and the offensive rebound goes to Bryant. And Bryant is a man on a mission. Bullock left alone on the 3-point line by Mislic, short, and rebound went to Elijah Bryant. He's got 7 points and 3 rebounds. He's the top scorer and the top rebounder so far for Hopewell. And a turnover by Jović as he was trying to make a pass inside to Gabriel. Extended 17-27. Bryant, Bryant playing with so much confidence. It looks so smooth, just take it off the dribble. Really good break there after not scoring. Elijah Bryant, the top scorer of the club, who makes both free throws. He drives, pops, misses, and the rebound was taken by Elijah Bryant. A quick leaper off the floor. Bryant with the 3-pointer, knocked in by the bottom of the net. One of their fouls as they were not in the bonus. It's Elijah Malcolm Bryant fakes out the defender, Fockman, and just lays it in. A nice Eurostep there by Elijah Bryant. The ball ends up with Odiasi. Odiasi scores, or he does not.
No, he does not. 3 quarters, uh, exceptional defense, kept them below, uh, 20 points. Also the, the fourth one, kind of relaxed a little bit at the end, but, uh, overall it was a great win. All right, team win. So let's keep rolling. All right, one more game on this tour, 20-25. We need to be solid to go grab the win.
Let's go, let's go, let's go!
Hey, legit, you tired? My goodness. Number 3 is definitely travel fatigue. Flights, time zone changes, early mornings, practices, not a lot of sleep. The key to this is finding ways to get those naps in on the plane, or make sure you're hydrated with electrolytes on the plane, and making sure that you're eating the right stuff in order to maximize your situation. So if you have a late game like we played Red Star, I played 40 minutes, didn't sleep that well, I try to get in the hyperbaric chamber, making sure I'm taking all my essential amino acids Like, I'm not going to be able to make up that lost time in sleep, but I'm doing everything possible to give me the best chance to have success on the court. Now, if I'm tired, I'm tired, but I did everything possible to give myself the best chance to have that. So traveling is one of the biggest components of this brutal EuroLeague season. So we won, we got a good win, very hard-fought win. Obviously, um, they came out with a lot of energy. Two things that did well, one thing I could work on. I think I started out aggressive, played aggressive well. I think, um, I was efficient and got to spots that I felt most comfortable in to help the team win. One thing that I could do better for sure on is the 4 turnovers. Gotta take care of the ball a lot better. As always, faith plus consistency.
