MINNEAPOLIS -- In basketball parlance, the term isn't original. A Google search turns up multiple DVDs and articles with the same phrase Minnesota Lynx associate head coach Jim Petersen used to describe one aspect of the team's workouts during the WNBA's Olympic break.
It's a phrase that conjures white gloves, proper posture and old-fashioned roles for women that, thankfully, no longer apply.
But it's perfect for what Petersen is trying to accomplish: finishing school.
For Lynx players, it means laying the ball in the basket time after time while Petersen, a 6-foot-10 former NBA post player with a shaved head, slides at them yelling "Hey!" or something equally distracting.
"It's being able to finish when you're driving to the basket over a big that's stepping up, instead of panicking and looking for somebody to pass to and turning it over," Petersen said. "How many times have you seen us do that in the pick-and-roll game, driving into the paint and turning it over?"
Often enough that Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve told Petersen and assistant coach Shelley Patterson to emphasize it while she was away in Rio assisting Geno Auriemma as the U.S. women's basketball team won its sixth consecutive gold medal.
"The [Olympic] break gives us the opportunity to do something we don't get to do much in our league -- skill development." Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve
The WNBA shut down for four weeks during the Olympics. That break, commonly known as the "hiatus," is often the only time players can find time to work on their games.
Because the league pays so little compared to the NBA (top salaries run about $104,000), women must play overseas in the winter to make serious money. The 11-month grind of games leaves little time for hoisting 500 jumpers a day or any other improvement drill.
"The break gives us the opportunity to do something we don't get to do much in our league -- skill development," Reeve said prior to leaving for the Rio Games.
By league rules, players get at least seven days off between their last WNBA game and the start of workouts. And those workouts can't be as frequent or demanding as training camp.
So the Lynx -- who have the WNBA's second-best record at 21-4, just a half game behind league-leader Los Angeles -- trained Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. With Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen and Sylvia Fowles competing in Rio, Petersen and Patterson supervised starting power forward Rebekkah Brunson and five reserves.
"Basically, what Cheryl wants us to focus on is execution, and improve on things players are deficient at," Petersen said.
"With the guards, we're working a ton on in-between game, finishing moves, floater game, adding things to their game they don't have. The other thing that's really important, we never have time to make them work on perfect shooting. It's a lot of reps, making perfect shots, shots in a row. They're working on perfect shots on one end, and finishing on the other."
Lynx backup forward Keisha Hampton, a 26-year-old rookie from DePaul, relished the time. A knee injury as a senior kept Hampton out for more than a year, and she struggled adjusting from college power forward to pro small forward.
She never played a minute for Seattle, which drafted her in 2012, or for Connecticut, which signed her in 2014 and cut her in training camp.
Hampton's strong 2015-16 season in Israel, averaging a team-leading 17.8 points per game for Bnot Hertzeliya, attracted Reeve's attention. In camp, Hampton had one goal: make the team. She hardly played at first. Now her role off the bench is growing.
"I'm still developing my ball skills, becoming a real wing, not like a 4-3, more like a 3-4 now," Hampton said. "I'm working with [video coordinator Wes Bohn], Jim P. and Shelley on ball handling, finishing, decision-making, trying to expand my guard game."
The break also allowed the coaches and players to dive deeper into Reeve's playbook, learning nuances to better understand their foundation and exploit certain options.
"It's small things," Brunson said. "Going through the offense, making sure we understand exactly what you want to get. When you put the offense in, you get the grasp of it, but you might miss a couple of details. Everything happens so fast, especially getting new players in. It's going through the offense and making sure we all understand what we're trying to accomplish."
Four years ago, Petersen said Moore, Augustus and Whalen returned from the London Olympics exhausted, and the Lynx lacked the bench depth to rest them. (Fowles was still playing with Chicago.) The Lynx won nine straight out of the break anyway and reached the WNBA Finals, losing to Indiana.
This year, with veteran guards Jia Perkins and Renee Montgomery, impressive young forward Natasha Howard, plus Hampton and Janel McCarville in reserve, the Lynx expect to give the Olympians time to ease back into things. Even before the hiatus, Reeve leaned on her bench much more than previous seasons.
"This group right here could legitimately win basketball games," Petersen said after a recent practice at the Mayo Clinic Square. "Renee, Jia and J-Mac [McCarville] have been starters. Brunson is a starter. Hampton is coming on. Natasha Howard [has] been simply amazing.
"The thing about being a second-team player, you've got to be ready to run anything, because you could be in there with a combination of starters running starter play sets. So they've got to know the entire playbook."
Another benefit for Brunson: getting to know her newer teammates better. The Lynx often schedule fun non-basketball activities on days between workouts. Early on the group met for whirlyball, a mash-up of hockey, basketball and lacrosse played in bumper cars.
"It was very entertaining," Brunson said, laughing. "It was fun. You don't get a chance to do those type of things."