He made it a math lesson.
"Before the tournament, I asked the players if they could give up 128 minutes of their lives to win a state championship," St. Augustine coach Paul Rodio said.
Four games. Sixteen quarters. One hundred and 28 minutes.
That was all that separated the Hermits from the Non-Public A state title.
It was a gimmick, an old coach telling a bunch of young players to look at things from a different angle, to realize just how close they were to making the memory of a lifetime.
The Hermits won their first game, beating red-hot Bishop Eustace.
"You just took 32 minutes off," Rodio told his players.
The Hermits won their second game, beating Christian Brothers Academy in the sectional semifinals.
"You just cut it in half," Rodio told them.
The Hermits won the third game, beating Cape-Atlantic League rival Holy Spirit for the third time this season in the South A finals.
"Thirty-two minutes to go," Rodio told them.
The Non-Public A state final was different. St. Augustine fell behind Seton Hall Prep by nine in the second quarter. The Hermits still were losing at halftime.
"You've got 16 minutes left," Rodio told them. "Can you dedicate 16 minutes to this? Can you go out right now and play the best four minutes of your lives?"
The Hermits dominated the second half. They opened the third quarter on a 14-1 run. They pulled away for a 71-60 victory that clinched the state title before a rollicking student section of "Richland Rowdies" at Poland Springs Arena in Toms River.
"People always talk about 'buying in,' " said Rodio, who is The Inquirer's South Jersey coach of the year in boys' basketball. "That's what this team did."
Rodio graduated from St. Augustine Prep in 1970, went to Villanova, and returned to the all-boys school in Richland, Atlantic County, as a history teacher in 1976. He has been there ever since.
Rodio has been St. Augustine's coach since 1978. He has won 736 games, second on South Jersey's all-time list to former Camden coach Clarence Turner, as well as 12 South Jersey titles and four state titles.
This might have been the best coaching job of his career.
St. Augustine featured two top guys in senior guard Isaiah Morton and senior forward Charlie Monaghan and a bunch of role players.
Rodio made it work to the tune of a 28-3 record and the No. 1 spot in The Inquirer's final South Jersey Top 10.
"It's his fire," Monaghan said of the secret to Rodio's success. "He wants to win so bad."
Rodio doesn't tiptoe around his players. He's still tough, still demanding, still an old-school guy in the sport's new age.
"There's still a lot of yelling in practice," Monaghan said.
But the veteran coach found a way this season to get the best out of a modern team, with the most modern of players in Morton.
A talented 5-foot-8 guard with the ability to create his own shot on every possession, Morton toned down his flamboyant play this season for the greater good of the team. His improved all-around game - and Monaghan's gradual emergence as a confident interior force - made the Hermits state champions.
"Coach made me see the cerebral part of the game," Morton said.
Rodio toned down Morton's game, built up Monaghan's confidence, and meshed those two stars with a roster that includes seven or eight other players who have made significant contributions.
"The credit goes to these kids," Rodio said. "They had a sense that they could do something special this season. They are not the most talented team.
"But they understand that the best teams are the ones where everybody buys in, where everybody understands and accepts their role."
He made it simple for them.
He asked them for 128 minutes - a little more than two hours on a running clock - to make a memory that would last forever.