How to get better at basketball . . . and life: tips from NBA stars and Duke University's coach.

As one of the most successful coaches in college basketball, Duke University's Mile Krzyzewki (shuh-SHEF-skee) is asked to sign a lot of autographs. And whenever he signs one for a kid, he writes the same thing:

Always try your best.

"That's because one of the main things that stops people from getting better is being afraid to try," he says. "Don not be afraid to make a mistake. Do not be afraid of having people make fun of you. The only way you'll look bad is if you don't try. If you always try your best, you've won."

Coach K. has given this advice to countless athletes, including three of his former players who are now in the National Basketball Association (NBA): Grant Hill of the Detroit Pistons, Bobby Hurley of the Sacramento Kings, and Christian Laettner of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Recently, these NBA stars gave a free youth clinic at Duke. They offered their advice to an excited crowd of youngsters. Here's what Christian, Bobby, and Grant had to say: Christian Laettner, 1992 National College Player of the Year:

"Find something you love--like basketball or piano--and do it as much as you can. No one should have tell you to practice. You should play every day because you love it.

"If you want to be quick and fast with the ball, practice your layups at full speed. You don't play basketball at half speed, so you have to practice at 100 percent. Push the ball in front of you, and run as fast as you can. If you can't make your layups with the defense not there, you won't make them when they are there."

Bobby Hurley, National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) all-time assist leader with 1,076:

"I started getting serious about basketball in the eighth grade. In the summers, I'd spend four or five hours at the playground, five or six days a week, going through drills for a couple hours, and then playing basketball with friends for a couple of hours. It's a big commitment.

"To be a good player, you've got to spend time doing things with the ball besides shooting. Ball-handling drills are important, too, so that the ball becomes familiar to you.

"One of my favorite drills is the `spider.' You spread your legs wide, bend your knees to stay low, keep your head up, and bounce the ball between your legs while working your hands around your legs--right hand in the front, then left hand in the front, right hand behind the back, then left hand behind the back."

Grant Hill, 1994 NBA Co-Rookie of the Year and member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Basketball team:

"Get an education. Work as hard in the classroom as you do on the basketball court.

"I'm fortunate to be living my dream, but I've always understood that it's important to have something else, because one day I'll have to put my basketball down.

"If you jump out of a plane, you wear two parachutes in case one doesn't work. It's the same thing (with basketball and an education); if your dream of professional basketball doesn't work, you'll have something to fall back on."