All season long, men’s basketball head coach Larry Eustachy has preached toughness within his team, one of the angles that has encompassed his coaching strategy ever since he arrived at Iowa State in 1998.

The word toughness comes from his mouth so often that most of us media folk who cover Iowa State basketball could probably write a post-game story without ever having to interview him because we know exactly what he is going to say. If Iowa State loses, Eustachy will say, “We weren’t tough enough,” or “This team needs to get tougher.” And if it’s an ISU victory, he’ll say something along the lines of, “We were the tougher team out there, but we still need to get tougher.”

But there is a reason Eustachy has won a conference title at three different schools, including back-to-back titles at Iowa State en route to an Elite Eight appearance. The more I become intrigued with athletics and the art of competition, the more I realize just how right Eustachy is.

You see, sports, as it is with many other aspects in life, largely ride on the mental aspect. The physical talent is there with millions of athletes across the world, but it’s being able to put yourself in the right state of mind to use your talents to their fullest ability.

Nick Bierbrodt is a young pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who was guaranteed a roster spot at the start of last year’s spring training. But when Bierbrodt got to spring training, despite being as physically fit as everyone else on his team, he hit a mental block and couldn’t throw the ball at a specific target.

According to a story on ESPN, he couldn’t even play regular ol’ catch with another player at one point because his throws just weren’t going where they were supposed to.

Imagine being a baseball player your whole life, let alone a pitcher, and you wake up one day and it just isn’t there. That can be very devastating — and all it comes down to is a problem in the mind.

Bierbrodt ended up getting shot and has had to recover from that as well, but that’s a whole different story altogether. He pitched great on Wednesday — his first appearance of the spring.

Golf is probably the most obvious example of how important a strong mindset can be in sports. I’ve been playing since I was 9 years old and I have actually become pretty good over the years. But the one aspect of golf that I have never quite conquered is having a strong mental game.

A lot of it comes down to dealing with high pressure situations, something my whole family admits to having problems with. But when I was playing in a tournament about five years ago, one I was expected to win as I was the oldest and most experienced golfer playing, I literally came down with a nasty case of the shanks.

If you haven’t seen “Tin Cup,” the shanks is when pretty much every shot you hit shoots off to the right or left and usually skims the ground along the way — everything you’re trying not to do when golfing.

With a handicap of about 9, which is pretty good, I couldn’t connect on a solid golf shot no matter how hard I tried. It was beyond me how I could one day be winning money off my dad, and the next day not being able to hit an eight-iron across a creek.

The weird thing was that the harder I thought about my swing, the worse it got. By the time I realized that I was thinking too hard and that everything that was wrong with me started in my head, I was about to go cross-eyed from all the confusion.

So what did I do in this tournament as a short-term cure? No, I didn’t get drunk, though I’ve come to learn that can help you relax on the course. I decided the best thing to do was to withdraw from the tournament and put an end to my misery.

It’s not one of my more proud moments, but it was that or let my temper take over and toss every piece of golf equipment I own into the creek.

My experience with golf is why I’m so amazed at what professional golfers are able to accomplish, especially Tiger Woods. It would be pressure enough to be playing on the PGA tour, the greatest stage for golf in the world, but to be the best in world and know it and know you must continue it, is what Woods must deal with on a daily basis.

So what does he do? He comes out after recovering from an injury and wins his first tournament of the year. Even one of Woods’ greatest competitors, Phil Mickelson, said he couldn’t believe that Woods was able to get himself into the right frame of mind to come out and win.

Michael Jordan is another one of those athletes with mental toughness made of steel. At 40 years old, he is still out there battling for a playoff position on his young team.

In a game earlier this week, he called out his teammates because, even though he was the oldest player on the court, he was diving for loose balls and doing whatever he could to win, and he didn’t feel the effort was being reciprocated from his teammates.

Anyone and everyone can play sports — most of us do. But not many of us can play on a high level like college or professional, and it’s because we don’t have the mental toughness to do so. This toughness I speak of includes such qualities as concentration, intensity and dedication.

So when you read a game story in which Eustachy is talking about his team’s toughness, he’s not just looking for something to say, he’s actually on to something.

Don’t believe me? Take up golf and you’ll know just what I’m talking about.