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

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

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

Practice Shooting Drills

As practice closes in for most of us, we are starting to narrow down specific drills that fit within out philosophy of the game.  I think that can be one of most challenging yet most fulfilling elements of practice planning. I like the challenge of evaluating an existing drill and tweaking it to fit our style at Tea Area.  Our head coach is very good about analyzing what we do and modifying existing drills to fit our system.

Therefore, my challenge today is for you to evaluate the shooting drills that I am going to share with you and modify them to fit your philosophy on footwork, offensive actions, and so on.

2 Minute Shooting  Drill

2 Ball Pass and Shoot

3 Ball Baseline Drive

Chair Lay-ups

Post Figure 8's

2 Man Competitive Shooting

USA Basketball Shooting Drills - Don Showalter

Sean Miller: Practice Drills

If you are like me, I am always looking for a new drill that I can adopt or modify to fit our style of play.  Sean Miller is a great coach who has some great practice drills that I think you will all like.

Sean Miller: Practice Drills

Ronnie Enoch: 3 Man Defend Drill

Here is a nice defensive drill that encompasses a number of defensive concepts.  One of the most under taught defensive concepts, in my opinion, is footwork on a closeout.  This is something that should be worked on every day.  Hopefully this drill is one that you can use to help your players in this area.

Ronnie Enoch: 3 Man Defend Drill

Competitive Practice Drills

Coaches are always looking for new competitive practice drills to improve the play of their team.  The tough part, however, is finding a drill that fits with your system or being able to look at an existing drill and then modify to fit what you do.  Today, I offer a number of different drills for you to look over. Hopefully they fit what you do. If not, study them and modify them to fit your philosophy.

Steve Alford Competitive Shooting Drills

Stop and Score Drill

Perfect Lay-ups

Iowa State Combination 1-on-1 Drills

1-on-1 Rebound Outlet and Score

Competitive Rebounding Drills

Teaching rebounding can be a tough area to teach.  Teaching rebounding out out of a man set than teaching rebounding out a zone set.  Teaching rebounding out of a zone set can be different than teaching it out out rotational concept. Therefore, we are going to explore some different rebounding philosophies.  Hopefully, you can find something that fits your philosophy to the game.

Competitive Rebounding Drills

Andrew Gantz Rebounding

Skip Prossor Rebounding Drills

Sarunas Marciulionis: Guard Play 2013 2013 Adidas Eurocamp

Here is a good video on guard play as taught by Sarunas Marciulionis.  Lots of good teaching points that I think will help you develop your guard play.  This video was shared by Troy Culley.

Sarunas Marciulionis: Guard Play 2013 2013 Adidas Eurocamp 

Onley Central College Basketball Drills

If you are looking for some new basketball drills, I think you will like these drills provided by the Only Central College Blue Knights basketball team.  It has some great defensive, transition defense and rebounding drills to add to your library of drills.

Onley Central College Basketball Drills

ACM Practice Drills

I found this resource rather interesting.  Has a bunch of nice practice nuggets that I think will be very beneficial to coaches.

ACM Practice Drills

Aaron Johnston: SDSU Women's Drills

Being from South Dakota, I thought I would share some drills used by Aaron Johnston from South Dakota State University.  Coach Johnston does a great job with the women's program which has made some great runs in the NCAA tournament.  I think you will like this drills.

Aaron Johnston: SDSU Women's Drills

Bounce and Chase Drill

Here is a good drill that emphasizes transition defense.  I love transition defensive transition drills and I think it is one area of the game that is under taught and under emphasized.

Bounce and Chase Drill

Matt Kellet: 2012 Individual Skills Workout

This is a great off-season workout that you should really take a look at.  It has a great breakdown of drills that address fundamental play.  Coach Kellet provides descriptions and diagrams of the season individual workout drills.  Hope you can take away something from this great resource.

Matt Kellet: 2012 Individual Skills Workout

Akin Shooting Drills

If you are looking to change up some of the shooting drills you are using this off-season, you should take a look at implementing the Akin Shooting Drill series.  These drills have a lot of repetition, are high intensity and are game like.  All which make up an effective drill.

Akin Shooting Drills

BCG Diamond Drill

Well, I want to start off by saying that graduate school sure takes up a large portion of my day.  I recently started working on my Masters in Pre-K-12 Administration.  Needless to say, this has been eating up most of my day and night, which is why I have not been able to post as frequently as I would like.

With that being said, I wanted to pass along some resources that I have come across lately.  The BCG Diamond drill is a good defensive drill that Billy Gillispie used as a part of his pressure defensive system.  I think you will like the effectiveness of this defensive drill.

BCG Diamond Drill

Mark Swasey: 3-3 1/2 Court Sprint, Breakdown and Play Drill

Of all the practice drills out there, one of my all time favorites has to be the 3-3 1/2 court drill referred to as "Sprint-Breakdown and Play".  I was introduced to this drill by Keith Boucher, an extremely successful Women's Basketball Coach at Keene State College, while I served as his graduate assistant in the early 1990's.  Of all the drills over my career as a head coach, this is one of a handful of drills that I utilized on a consistent basis every year. 

3-3 can be a tremendous teaching tool for a coach and provides unlimited learning opportunities for players.  This particular drill can be used to stress virtually any aspect of the game that you desire and all while in a competitive, fast paced environment. 

The basic pattern is to pick two teams, I will base this on having 2 teams of 6 but any number can play.  I have often used captain schoolyard picks or if I wanted to have a few certain players get more time together/or apart, myself or an assistant could pick.

Once the two teams are established the rules for that day are established.  Each team will play offense for 3 minutes and defense for 3 minutes.  There is a 1 minute break in between for a transition and rest period.  A coach can use different methods for selecting which team goes first.  Shooting free throws or giving the option to the team which didn't get first pick are two options I like.  Getting the players to think for themselves and strategize is something I feel to be important in every practice session.  Would a group want the ball first and then have only 1 minute of rest to play defense?  The scenarios are great ways to get the players to think about strategy and learn from the decisions they make.  The goal of putting players in situations where they have to think the game in practice should be paramount in a coach's mind when preparing a practice plan.  I believe that when players are put in situations where they learn to think on their feet in practice, it helps them develop the confidence to figure things out on the court in games, by themselves.

Once offense and defense are decided the coach will stand under the basket with the ball.  Every possession starts with the coach passing the ball to one of the 3 offensive players in the wing/wing/top of key spots.  The defensive players must have all feet in the paint.  On the pass the players must assume a proper defensive position.  For the sake of the drill, I do not stop play.  After the drill is over, I like to ask the players what they thought worked well and what didn't.  Inevitably the players figure out that not jumping to the ball, closing out well and getting into the proper lane lines or helpside position is the main cause for giving up baskets. 

Once the ball is caught by the offensive player he/she can shoot it immediately, drive or pass.  The game is on!  A defensive team that doesn't anticipate where I might be passing the ball, is slow and/or low on the close out or not jump to the pass will typically struggle in this drill on the defensive end.  From an offensive standpoint I always give 2 points for a 3, 1 point for a 2 and 1 point for any foul by the defense.  A manager or an injured player keeps track of turnovers and 1 point for each turnover is to be taken off at the end of the 3 minute possession. 

For the Offensive Team, you can also create additional scoring opportunities.  You can give points for offensive rebounds, a point for an assist, really anything that needs to be emphasized can be scored.

For the Defensive Team I give 5 points for taking a charge, 1 point for a deflection, 2 points for a steal.  I don't give a point for a defensive rebound.  Depending on the day and if there were certain areas that need work, I like to award or take away points at the end on the defense as well as the offense.  Great block outs, great seal in the paint, great post feed etc..  Not closing out, not jumping to a pass, not communicating etc..  Any area you want can be focused on.  I try to keep it simple early in the season and as the season goes on, add to the difficulty with more take away points on both the offensive and defensive ends.

The coach calls the fouls and a manager or injured player runs the clock and keeps score on the board.  I want to give the offense as many possessions as possible and make life as hard as possible on the defense.  The 6 players involved in the first possession have to get off the court immediately following a change in possession.  The ball should be passed to the coach appropriately or a take away point results for that team.  Immediately upon receiving the ball the coach throws it to the next offensive player at either wing or top positions.  This can sometimes lead to confusion on both offensive and defensive ends if the teams are not being alert and communicating early and often with each other.  Keep an eye on those defensive players for trying to cheat outside the paint, that is the only time I call them back and the players learn quickly that getting into a low defensive stance, anticipating my pass and being on their toes is the only way to stop that 3 pointer from going up.  Offensive teams learn that just shooting the 3 is only effective if they are making them!  Many teams lose because all they shoot are 3's, making the defensive team's job easy.  The lessons to be learned from this simple drill are endless.

I like mixing up the "consequence" for the losing team.  Most times, I'd allow the winning team to determine the losing team's fate.  It's always interesting to see how the players would handle that responsibility. Sometimes it was just 5 push-ups, other times it was a ladder and other times it was something foolish or funny.  The best teams I ever coached would actually all run together, win or lose.  It was those few precious teams that were the most fun to coach.  Getting to that level of teamwork is truly special.

Enjoy the drill.  I certainly welcome any feedback on this drill should you choose to use it and am always available for questions if you have them.

Mark Swasey

3-3 1/2 Court Sprint, Breakdown and Play Drill

Hurdle Shot Drills

Here are some interesting shooting drills you can use to improve the footwork of your players.  They are called Hurdle Shot Drills, and they will add some creativity to your shooting drill collection.

Hurdle Shot Drills

Contact and Catch Drill

Today's drill is a good drills to teach players how to play through contact, make a quality catch and then score.  Good drill to add to your off-season and in-season drill book.

Contact and Catch Drill

High Repetition Shooting Drills

If you are looking for shooting drills that get your players a high volume of shots, you should check out these shooting drills.  Each of these drills is competitive, requires conditioning, and game-like.  These drills can be used in the off-season or during the season.  I particularly like the Colony Shooting drill.

High Repetition Shooting Drills