John Brady: Offense vs. Box-and-1 Defense

Here are some good ideas Coach Brady uses against a Box-and-1 defense.  I really like the simplicity of his attack and the number of scoring opportunities it provides.

Hope it helps.

John Brady: Offense vs. Box-and-1 Defense

Alan Stein: Measure of a Great Program - 2009 Vegas Clinic

Here is a great set of clinic note from Alan Stein from the 2009 Vegas Clinic.  Coach Stein is one of the best out there when it comes to strength training and injury prevention for basketball athletes.  He has a number of videos and I highly recommend them all.  We use a number of his dynamic warm up drills, ankle drills and in-season workout drills.  We have a seen an increase in core strength, injury prevention and muscle fatigue recovery.

Alan Stein 2009 Vegas Clinic

Coach K: Practice Planning Process

I got these great notes on practice planning from Alan Stein at Stronger Team.

Ask yourself these questions yearly and most importantly, daily:

1. Who am I coaching?
2. How old are they?
3. How much experience do they have (Not just playing, but in your system)?
4. How many players do I have?
5. What do I coach? How do I coach my system?

How do I teach it?

1. Develop physical habits that fit your system
2. You need intelligent, intensive, persistent work
3. Drills should be intelligent
4. Drills should make sense

How much time do I have?

1. Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly

What resources do I have to help me teach? Facilities?

1. How many baskets
2. How many coaches
3. Use of managers is the key to the program
4. Some of the smartest

When do we practice?

1. Use time effectively
2. Make weekly practice schedule and adapt beginning and ending times accordingly based on events-personal or school
3. Do a weekly practice plan, but make a daily practice plan each day!!
4. Keep yourself current based on your teams needs on a daily basis
5. Be flexible within the practice sessions
6. Be organized, but…"Do Not Be A Slave to Your Practice Plan"

Pre-Practice Meeting with Coaching Staff

1. Practice plan is already written; Discuss who will do what

Pre & Post practice Work

1. Have organized pre-practice work
2. Ex. Practice might be at 3:00, but you have the facility from 2:30 to 5:00; You would have from 2:30 to 3:00 for pre-practice work
3. Pre & Post Practice work on individual or small group work that individuals might need to work on
4. Can get lots of shooting in
5. Can review a drill a player didn't understand
6. Have an organized stretching routine

Practice

1. Should be no longer than 2hrs (Not counting Pre & Post Practice)
2. Eliminate as much standing time as possible
3. Allocate all of your resources to get players as many reps as possible (Especially on individual drills Ex. 1 on 1 Denial Drill)
4. Good physical habits are not developed without reps
5. Match-up players for drills so they don't end up going with the same person every time
6. Throughout practice, let players sub for each other…If you want a definite group…then call for them
7. Make drills and practice situations…Game-Like (including instructions)
8. Don't walk and talk players through drill instructions (Not Game like)
9. Have a 10 minute period where you have a "Sprint Practice"
10. Change things a bunch
11. Continually alter what you are doing on the run (Like in a game)

Practice Game Situations

1. End of quarter, End of Game, All Game Situations

Simulate Halftime

1. Vary the places and times you talk to your team (limited attention span)

Videotape everything that is 4 on 4 and 5 on 5

1. You might focus on an individual player or specific drill
2. Remember: HEAR-SEE-DO

Do Pressure Free Throw Drills

Post-Practice Meeting with Staff - Critique Practice

1. "We did a good job with this"
2. "I think we need more work with this"
3. "Let's come back tomorrow with this"
4. "I was going to come back tomorrow with this, but I think it is better that we do this"
5. DO NOT BE A SLAVE TO THE PRACTICE PLAN

Coaching Quote #22: Game Conditions

"How do your players respond under game conditions?"

--- Coach K

Attacking a Box-and-1: Dragan Sakota

1. Best attack is for an attacker to dribble penetrate the gap between the two defensive guards, opening room for a pass to a wing
2. The “scorer” should always set up outside or near the baseline to give space to teammates
3. If it is the point guard, switch positions with another player

My Favorite Drills #11: Transition Shooting Series

Being that we are a team that plays an uptempo style of basketball, it is vital that we do a lot of shooting in transition situations.  One drill that I particularly like is what we call Transition Shooting Series.  It allows us to focus on footwork, balance, triple threat and finishing in a transition setting.

Transition Shooting Series

Basketball Lettering: A Unique Approach

Lettering in basketball can be very rewarding for players.  There are a variety of different standards used by coaches when it comes to lettering.  Some coaches will set a specific number of quarters that a player needs to play in order to letter, which is the most common approach in our area. 

When I was coaching high school girls a few years back, I used a different approach.  It did involve a lot of work on my end, but I felt it was worth it because any of our players, regardless if they played varsity, could letter if they wanted to put in the effort.  In fact, one year, one of my starting seniors did not letter because she did not reach the required elements.  Her mother was not to happy, but I had clearly explained the lettering requirements to the parents and the players the year before and had sent home consistent updates on their progress.  On the other hand, I did have a number of non-varsity players letter because they had met the requirements.

I am not sure who the creator of this type of lettering process is.  I got it from our wrestling coach, after he attended a wrestling clinic.  The whole premise is for players to accumulate 50 letter points in a year.  There a wide variety of ways to accumulate points, which are all described in the files listed below.  I must stress, that it takes a lot of organization and attention to detail.

Basketball Lettering Requirements
Basketball Lettering Spreadsheet
Basketball Fitness Goal Sheet
Basketball Lettering Athlete Record Sheet

Coaching Quote #21: Will

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."

--- Vince Lombardi

Team Perception Test

As you may have gathered, I am a huge fan of Don Meyer.  To this day, I am amazed at how he ran his program.  One of the things that Coach Meyer would do is give his players a Team Perception Test.  He would use this to get a feel about the team from his players point of view.  To my knowledge, he wouldn't show the results to the players.  Instead, it would give the coaching staff all kids of information on the team's perception.

I used this when I was coaching girls, and I found it very valuable.

Team Perception Test

Lend Me Your Ears: William Safire

"The greatest teacher makes a few simple points. The powerful teacher leaves one or two fundamental truths. And the memorable makes the point not by telling, but by helping the students discover on their own. Learning takes place through discovery, not when you’re told something, but when you figure it out for yourself. All a really fine teacher does is to make suggestions, point out problems, above all, ask questions, and more questions and more questions…teaching encourages not only discovery, but initiative.”