Video of ESPN talking to Coach John Wooden after being named the greatest coach of all sports of all time. The part I liked best was in the beginning when he talked about diversity,

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Going over some more notes the other day and came across some breaking down Jim Larranaga's full court press defenses which he calls the full court scramble. I watched some old footage of George Mason from when they made their final four run and part of what made their pressure defenses -- full and half court -- so effective was the surprise element. Depending on time/score/situation, they would vary the defense and it was the in-game adjustments more than anything they did specifically which caught a lot of teams off guard. From the notes:

Jim Larranaga uses 5 full court defenses labeled as:

- fullcourt man
- quick trap
- slow trap
- twist
- 55 (1-2-1-1 matchup)

Fullcourt Man

The fullcourt man defense is the base defense and the other 4 are adjustments made depending on the offense. The fullcourt man has no traps but the primary purpose is to put extreme pressure all over the floor. X4 is on the inbounder, hands up, can jump, but does not overplay O4 to the middle (his run would be longer). Defenders deny the inbounds pass but try not to get beat with a long pass. Like-size defenders switch on screens. Turn the ballhandler 3 times in the backcourt, nose on the ball. Other defenders are up the line between the ball and their man, faking at the dribbler to make him think a trap may be coming and slow him down,


Quick Trap

The short corner is the trapping area. It's one trap then back if the press is broken, make a quick conversion, it's not so important who you have, but you will be guarding someone, and there will be pressure on the ball.

On the inbounds pass, X4 quickly traps the ball. Everyone moves in the direction of the ball ("three to the ball"). X1 splits the space between O2 and O4 looking for an errant pass off a reversal, X3 splits O2 and O3 looking to pick off the sideline pass. In this way, you can designate X2 and X3 as the interceptors, X5 is back with O5 and is the goaltender,


On a pass out of the trap back to inbounder O4, X2 takes the ball. X4, who left his man to trap, rotates to where the help came from, in this case O2. Now we are in our basic fullcourt man. X1 applies nose-on-the-ball pressure, X2 denies O1, and the other defenders are up the line, faking at the dribbler,


A common adjustment teams will make is to have the inbounder O4 cut up the middle to break the press and create numbers the other way. X2 should be trained to anticipate and pick off the pass. If O4 manages to get a pass up the middle, it's one trap and back.

X4 is the official trapper looking to trap a dribbler before midcourt, especially secondary ballhandlers.

If O1 passes to O2, there is still time for a second trap, by X1 and X4,


Slow Trap

Slow trap is especially good if the inbounder is a non-ballhandler (e.g., 4 or 5). So the idea is to try to deny the inbounds. But if the ball is inbounded to a good ballhandler, slow trap him to force the ball back to the safety who most likely is the inbounder.

X1 forces O1 to the middle. Once O1 dribbles, X1 and X4 herd him until a trap is formed. X2 comes across, X3 moves in the direction of the ball. X5 is the goalie.

Once the pass is made back to inbounder O4, X2 would take the ball and X4 take O2, and we are now at our basic fullcourt man defence (X1 denies O1),

In this way, X2 should be able to put enough 1v1 pressure on O4 to force a turnover or get a steal.

Twist

Twist is a great option after a time-out, and a terrific way to get a 5-second violation.

As the ball is taken out by O4, X4 twists and double teams by face guarding O1 (or the most likely receiver). Other defenders must not allow a long inbounds pass,

If the other team uses a 4-across pressure set, don't front them (except by X4), don't allow any long passes.

55 (1-2-1-1 match-up zone)

This is your standars 1-2-1-1 matchup zone. Look to deny the first pass then trap it if made. X4 is always on the ball, X2 on the right, X3 on the left, X1 in the middle, and X5 is back. X2 and X3 switch any screen and attempt to deny the inbounds pass. X4 immediately quick traps on the pass,


For a closer look at the scramble full court, check out Jim Larranaga's Full Court Scramble DVD or the Scramble in the half court which George Mason used to get to the final four a few years ago.

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I was forwarded this website by a coaching friend one day, and since then it's been one of my favorite websites I visit. It is called DreAllDay, and it is run by a fellow named Dre Baldwin. One of the best parts of his website are his videos that he's uploaded to youtube, showing some individual development drills. One of my favorites are his ball-handling drills, like this one:


For more professional tips, take a look at Ganon Baker's DVD on 42 Advanced Ball-Handling Drills.

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From Yahoo!Sports, earlier in the week at an AAU tournament in Memphis, it was reported that Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings had a verbal confrontation with an AAU tournament official, then left altogether. The dispute? The AAU tournament official insisted that Stallings pay the $295 for the "information packet" which contains recruit contact information. As reported in the New York Times, Stalling had this to say:

"I’m not protesting or insisting that my moral compass is better than anyone else. But mine won’t allow me to do something like that that is that blatantly wrong."

The New York Times also reported that Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo refused to pay the $100 "admission fee" at the Summer Jam in Milwaukee last month insisting that an assistant had already paid them $250. Yale head coach James Jones claims to have paid $350 one time at an AAU tournament just to watch 1 player, his only alternative was to pay for a $600 annual scouting service subscription.

Most of you have probably read the article in the Charlotte Observer a couple of months ago which scrutinized the connections between shoe companies, middlemen, and these so-called "scouting services" -- all of which have made certain individuals extremely wealthy over the past few decades (I won't name names, but you can read about them in the article).

And while Tom Izzo, Kevin Stallings, and James Jones may have shown enough guts to stand up for a principle not only by refusing to pay but by speaking publicly about it, the majority of college coaches are silent. The silence probably speaks more volumes than the voices of discontent. The silence proves that the majority of college coaches have become so dependent on these middlemen and tournament directors that they no longer have the agency to speak out against what they know is one huge scam.

The more you dig deeper, the more it looks like the whole system of AAU club basketball in the U.S. is like the unregulated brokerage houses of Wall Street -- a house of cards that is just waiting to come crashing down. And like Wall Street, those responsible for this mess will find a way to escape unfettered, millions and millions of dollars richer.

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If you haven't heard, Coach K officially announced he is returning to lead Team USA in the 2012 Olympics in London. Here is a short clip of Coach K talking to a group of Team USA hopefuls about the kind of players they had in 2008 and the characteristics the coaches are looking for this time around:



When talking about the 2008 team, the main takeaway for me was accountability and sacrifice of the individual for the team. The players had to take ownership of their own responsibilities -- they had to want to win it, the coaches are just the facilitators. Players had to check their egos at the door, and focus on the singular goal of winning the Gold medal.

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I think most coaches have used some variation of the cut throat drill -- a continuous game of 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 with three or more sets of players. In most cut throat drills, when the offense scores they stay on offense, and a new defensive team rotates in.

I went through some older notes and came across these 2 drills which are basically defensive cut throat where instead of the offense staying on, the defense must gain 3 stops in a row to win. Of course you can add some kind of incentive for the team that gets 3 stops first. You can make sure players are working on their defensive assignments and responsibilities by enforcing "perfection rules":

1. Emphasis of the day
2. High hands, Jump to the ball, Block all cuts, Talking
3. Coach watches and if defense does not do the emphasis they are out.

3-on-3 Defensive Stops Cut-Throat:



1. Defense must get 3 shut-outs in a row to win
2. Coach checks
3. If defense stops they stay
4. If you score on offense you get to play defense

4 on 4 Full Court Defensive Stops Cut-Throat:


1. Play 4 on 4 cut-throat. If the defense stops the offense, they must get back. The B’s will be the new offense and bring it at them.
2. The team that was just the offense must run to the other end so that they can be ready to come in.
3. If the offense scores, they hustle back and play defense.
4. 3 stops in a row wins

If you want to see this and other great defensive drills run live, check out Bruce Weber's DVD on 20 Competitive Drills. Coach Weber is the head coach of the Illinois men's basketball team.

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I've been reading, listening, and watching a lot lately about the debate between the human qualities of optimism vs pessimism, altruism vs competitiveness, idealism vs realism. Indeed, these debates have been going on since the beginning of time.

I watched the ABC Special a few weeks called "Adventures of an Incurable Optimist" hosted by Michael J. Fox who has a book by the same title (click here to see the whole 1-hr special). The show talked about why people optimism despite their circumstances and how scientifically it can be proven the positive effects of being optimistic as opposed to being pessimistic.

I read this great article in Ode Magazine talking about how recent research into behavioral economics shows that altruism and not the selfish desire for personal gain is the primary motivating factor.

In terms of coaching style, this debate is basically broken down into the two polar opposite cliches. There are those who believe in winning by any means necessary, and that nice guys finish last. And then there are those who are always referred to euphemistically as "a good coach, but a better person," -- the dreamy optimists who insist their team improved every passing day despite a winless season.

But I think what gets lost in the debate is this kind of oversimplification of human character. For example, we often ask: is it better to be competitive -- to win every drill, every game, every championship? Or is it better to be a better person -- one who is always thinking of the common good? We often think in manichean terms, polar opposites, instead of greys.

Therefore the more fundamental question we should be asking is whether the two are mutually exclusive? That is to say, can we be both competitive and altruistic at the same time? And exactly how do we develop the good qualities of optimism-pessimism, altruism-competitiveness and avoid the bad ones?

The reality is that there are degrees of optimism-pessimism, altruism-competitiveness due to a variety of genetics, social, and cultural factors. And that to be truly successful in coaching or anything in life you need to have a balance. It's important to be optimistic when you are 5-10 because you may lose your players altogether. But its equally important to be pessimistic when you are 20-0 because it keeps you sharp and aware of the situation at all times. I don't think anyone would deny that you must be competitive in order to be successful in coaching, but not so competitive that you are willing to compromise your principles or values. Conversely, you have to be altruistic in order to feel good about what you are doing, but not so altruistic that you allow other people to take advantage you.

As you can probably tell, I think about philosophy a lot and I don't purport to have all the answers but I hope that by having open dialogues on these kinds of topics we can attempt to improve every aspect of ourselves and how we coach. I would definitely like to hear what others have to say about this topic.

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