Buford 30 Series

If you are looking for some nice offensive sets, you should look at the 30 Series sets.  You will find a variety of great screening (floppy, wide pins, shuffle, narrow pins) and cutting actions that will put your players in ideal scoring situations.

Buford 30 Series

Todd Schlimgen: Tom Izzo DVD Breakdown

Coach Schlimgen breaks down a some Tom Izzo offensive man and zone quick hitters, sideline out of bounds, and baseline out of bounds.  Tom Izzo is known as one of the best when it comes to designing offensive actions to get quality shots.  I think you like the diagrams provided by Coach Schlimgen.

Tom Izzo DVD Breakdown

2011 Final Four Roundtable: Marlene Stollings

Came across this great set of notes from the 2011 Final Four Roundtable Ole Miss clinic headed up by Marlene Stollings.  In these notes, you will find some great practice drills along with some nice quick hitters.  This is a great set of notes and I think you will be able to find a drill that you can incorporate into your system.  Personally, I like the 8 Point Defensive Drill because it involves so many defensive concepts.  I would make some slight modifications to fit what we do defensively, but it provides the ground work for a drill that our program could use.

2011 Final Four Roundtable: Marlene Stollings

Don Meyer: Evaluating Possessions

Don Meyer has influenced my coaching career more than any other coach.  I had the fortunate pleasure to here Coach Meyer talk numerous times, had personal conversations with him and was able to get feedback on some philosophical items as well.  He always made time to help other coaches and to give back to the coaching community.  Today, we are going to look at same game analysis resources that you can use to evaluate the effectiveness of your games.  I will be the first to admit that analyzing each possession can take some time, but the information you gather from it is so useful.  Hopefully, these resources provided by Coach Meyer will help you improve your team's efficiency.

Don Meyer Possession Chart

Don Meyer Analysis Key

Brad Stevens: Butler Offense

Brad Stevens has become a very popular coach over the past few years.  One of his greatest attributes is his ability to relate to his players and get them to buy into his system of play.  When he was at Butler, his teams utilized a lot of ball screen concepts.  I think you will like the breakdown of his offensive system used with his Butler teams.

Brad Stevens: Butler Offense

Tom McKinney Practice Planning

Practice planning is one of the most important aspects of coaching that determines team readiness for a game and for player development.  Very few things are more frustrating that watch a poorly planned and structured practice.  Tom McKinney provides a great example of practice items that can be incorporated into a practice plan.  I hope there are some valuable components that you can use to help design effective practices.

Tom McKinney Practice Planning

Backdoor Plays

I think all offenses should have backdoor concepts built into them.  It creates scoring actions towards the basket and serves as a good pressure release against teams that like to get out and defend hard.  Therefore, I am sharing some backdoor plays that can be ran as sets or simply added as actions within your own offensive base.

Backdoor Plays

Jeff Capel Shooting Workouts

As the off-season continues for many of us, I am always looking for a new shooting drill for my players.  Jeff Capel shows us some different drills in these workouts that we can implement into our own basketball program.  As I have always said, I think it is really important to not only find new drills and ways of doing things, but more importantly, it is vital that you modify the drill to fit your philosophy and style of play.

Jeff Capel Workout 1

Jeff Capel Workout 2

1-on-1 Practice Drills

When structured appropriately, 1-on-1 drills can be great for individual development.  We like to put constraints on the 1-on-1 drill such as:

• 2 or 3 dribble max
• Players only score on defensive stops.  If a player gets a stop, he stays on defense
• Play to 3 or 4 - this places more emphasis on the defensive component of the drill
• Post players can start on the block - makes perimeter players have to learn to defend in the post

I am sure there are lots of other variations or rules that could be used, but these are some that we are going to focus on this off-season.  I am including some other 1-on-1 type drills for you to look at.  As always, modify them to fit your system or philosophy.

Spartan 1-on-1 Progression

1-on-1 Outlet and Score

KU Women 1-on-1 Drills

Basketball Skills Checklists

Here are some great resources that you can use to help develop player workouts for this off-season.  I think these lists provide a great foundation for developing a list of basketball skills.  I would probably want to break it down into specific age appropriate skills for our program.  Hope they help your off-season development.

Coach Largos Basketball Checklist

Stan Dodds Basketball Skills Outline

Greenvale Basketball Skills Checklist

Chicago Bulls Sets

Here some great set actions ran by the Chicago Bulls.  I appreciate the offensive spacing and movement within these actions.  Hope they help you in your preparations for next season.

Bulls 3 Rub

Bulls 15 Thru

Bulls 35 Power

Bulls Curl Post

Bo Ryan: Wisconsin Badgers

I must admit that I have really enjoyed watching Wisconsin play this year.  Coach Ryan has done a great job of adjusting to his team's strengths this year.  Wisconsin has always been known for their Swing offense and strong half-court defense.  I have been also impressed with the high inclusion of ball screen actions that have been built into their base offensive foundation.  Today, we are going to examine a variety of Wisconsin Basketball Resources.

Bo Ryan: Man-to-Man Defense
Bo Ryan: Swing Offense
Swing Sets
Swing Playbook

Defensive Thoughts

Greetings,

I know it has be a LONG while since I have shared some basketball resources.  My spare time has completely vanished with basketball, school and graduate school.  Any free time that I have had has been devoted to my family.

Ok, we are reaching the end of our season with playoffs starting this Thursday.  We all hear that defense wins championships and that defense can win you games on the road.  With that in mind, I am going to share some defensive resources to examine.  Whether you are still playing or you have begun planning for next year, I think these defensive resources will help expand our knowledge of defending.

Bruce Weber Transition Defense

Defensive Anchors

Steve Moore Post Defense

Norm Persin Defensive Notes

Bo Ryan Practice Drills

Meet The Press (Herd Drill)

Quick Hitters and Quick Strikes

Take a look at these quick hitters and quick strikes that will get your players quality shots in the places they like to score.  It is important to know how your players like to score and where on the floor like to score from.  Hope these quick hitters help.

Bruce Weber Illinois Quick Hitters

Doc Sadler UTEP Quick Hitters
Greg Marshall Wichita State Playbook

Pick and Roll Basketball

The ball screen, when ran effectively and with the right players, can be one of the toughest offensive actions to defend because it can put so much pressure on the defense.  Furthermore, there are so many different variations to the ball screen it makes hard to prepare for. Therefore, we are going to look at some variations to the pick and roll.  I hope you find these resources beneficial.

International Pick and Roll Sets

Jerry Petitgoue Continuity Pick and Roll

Opponents Pick and Roll Sets

Teaching On Ball Screens

Jamie Parish: Stronger Team Great Outdoors Article

Coach Parish shared this article written by Alan Stein from Stronger Team.  Personally, I could really relate to this article because I grew up on outdoor courts as a kid.  Everyday, I would meet with my friends and we would play for hours.  I remember being excited when we got some chain nets.  This article really gives perspective of how today's players are not the same as when many of us coaches played.

Alan Stein - The Great Outdoors

Jamie Parish: Basketball Thoughts

I am happy to have coach Jamie Parish share some of his basketball thoughts with the coaching community.  I have known coach Parish for a number of years.  He is a very successful coach and has a great mind for the game.  I think everyone will be able to take away something from Coach Parish's thoughts.

Jamie Parish is in his 2nd season with the Sioux Falls Washington Warriors boys’ basketball program (2013-current).  He teaches Physical Education at Hawthorne Elementary in Sioux Falls.  Coach Parish brings a variety of experiences to Washington.  As a head coach Parish has stops in Vermillion (2003-2009) and Centerville (2010-2012), SD.  Most recently at Centerville he was the athletic director, physical education teacher, and girls’ basketball coach.  As a head coach he was fortunate to coach teams in four state tournaments including a state championship with the Vermillion girls in 2007.  During that stretch he was named the SDHSAA Girls Regional Coach of the Year in 2005, 2007, and 2011, the Region 4A Coach of the year in 2005 and 2006, and was honored with coaching duties in the SDHSAA All-Star games in Aberdeen on two separate occasions.  During the summer, Parish coaches for the Dakota Schoolers Girls Basketball Program.  Parish has assistant coaching experiences under Chad Lavin at USD, Chuck Iverson at Mount Marty College, Kraig Blomme at Hot Springs, and Mark Stadem at Brandon Valley.

Originally from Yankton, SD Parish earned an Elementary Education Degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD and a Masters Degree from the University of South Dakota.  Parish married his wife Laura (Johnson) of Wessington Springs, SD in May of 2012.  They are expecting twins in April of 2014.

I have had the good fortune of spending the last two years as the sophomore boys basketball coach working with an outstanding staff at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, SD.  It has given me the opportunity to do some things that I would not have been able to do as a head coach.  I have watched and learned from our head coach, I have attended college practices, several high school practices, and summer traveling team practices.  This stint as an assistant has given me an opportunity to see new ideas, confirm old ideas and reflect on my personal coaching experiences and philosophy.  Instead of a narrative I am going to make a list of things that I have thought about over the last two seasons. 

   

• Practice Repetitions

·         We all know that repetition is beneficial but the thought I ponder is what do you do when your kids are performing bad / lazy repetitions?  

·         Do you continue with the reps?  (are bad reps better than no reps?)

·         Do you punish them then continue with the reps?  

·         Do you move on and come back to it at another time?

• Ball handling

·         We all agree that ballhandling is beneficial but to what degree?  

·         Should it be practiced on a daily basis?  

·         Should it be an individual unsupervised warm up?  

·         Should it be worked on only in the off-season?  

·         Do post and perimeter players both need the same drills?  

·         Should ballhandling be game specific or should you use two balls?

• Shooting

·         We all agree that making baskets is a part of the game

·         How many shots should your athletes get during practice?

·         Should shooting be done before and after practice?

·         Should everyones shot look the same?  

·         Do you try to change someones form in-season?

·         Do you take a narrow/specific or broad approach to teaching the fundamentals of shooting?

• Private workouts

·         How beneficial are they?

·         Can a private workout make your 10th man into a starter?

·         Can a private workout make an average player into an all-stater?

·         Can a private workout make a high school player into a college player?

• Offense

·         Motion or Continuity

·         Motion is difficult to defend.

·         Is a high school season long enough to teach motion?

·         Continuity can be hard to defend.

·         Continuity can be too predictable.

·         Continuity can make your players into robots.

·         Continuity is easier to scout and take away than motion.  

• Staff Responsibilities

·         Do you delegate or take it all on?

·         assistants in charge of substitutions / offense / defense / blobs / practice input etc.

·         Do you approve all decisions or allow some freedom?

·         Who you you ask for advice?

·         Staff

·         Another Head Coach

·         Others

·         Do you make your assistants keep stats?

• Random Thoughts

·         Do you teach skills or drills?

·         I will weigh in on this topic, at some of the practices I have observed drills are too complex in my opinion.  The athletes are focusing so hard on running the drill correctly that they are doing the skill poorly.

·         Do you speak To your athletes or At your athletes?

·         How do you teach

·         Few big concepts

·         Specific and detailed concepts

·         How do you handle your off-season?

·         How many hours do you expect of your athletes?

·         Is your offseason “Mandatory”?

·         How much is too much?

·         How much is not enough?

These are some of the many thoughts that I have pondered over the past two years as a lower level coach.  I hope these random thoughts encourage you to question, evaluate, or even reinforce the things that you and your staff do.  I am uncertain at this point in my personal and professional life if I will have another head coaching opportunity or if the timing will allow me to pursue one.  I am however fairly confident that I could do a better job next time around after having this time to take a step back and look at the game through different eyes.  Good luck to you and your teams this winter.

Make a great day