Sorry for the slight delay, closing off the loop on practice planning by looking at a defensive emphasis practice. We usually get 2 practices a week during the season, so one of the practices will have a defensive emphasis. In the pre-season, we will practice 3 or 4 times a week, in that case, the ratio is more like 3-to-1 offensive to defensive since early in the season there is a lot more offense to install as compared to the defense. But by mid-season, it is definitely almost 1-to-1 and by the post-season you may end up even more defense as you prepare for specific opponents.

The plan I have chosen to breakdown (click here to see a PDF version) is during the same week as the offensive one I broke down earlier, that way you can see a little bit of how the two work together. I follow the same rough structure as an offensive practice:

1. Dynamic warmup
2. Mental concentration drill
3. Early Offense drill with FTs right after
4. Play Insertion/Walkthrough period
5. Individual defensive development drills
6. Defensive team breakdown drills
7. Team period
8. Team shooting drill

I won't explain again the parts at the top. It is the same as an offensive practice. I will however, setup teams more evenly for a defensive practice, mixing in starters and second unit players. In an offensive practice, I like to keep the starters together for chemistry purposes. But in a defensive practice, I want them even so that they can really go after each other.

Overall, I really keep the periods shorter in a defensive practice as compared to an offensive practice. For example, in an offensive practice, I may have periods that go 10-15 minutes, whereas in a defensive practice, rarely will I go more than 5-10 minutes. Players tend to get bored when the defensive drill lasts too long, and then the quality of the reps goes down. I feel it is important to keep the content fresh and moving quickly so as to keep their attention focused.

I'll skip the dynamic warmup as I covered that in the offensive breakdown and it is exactly the same.

Mental Concentration Drill:
I covered the rationale behind the mental concentration drill in the offensive breakdown. I just want to make a little comment on this drill I picked up from an Alan Stein DVD. I call it sprint/circle/pickup. And what happens is each player has a tennis ball, they roll it along the ground, then they speed dribble and try to circle around the ball, then pickup the tennis ball (all the while dribbling the basketball in the other hand), then finish with a layup. We go half-court only, and work left and right layups. It really is a great drill to work on ball handling and finishing, but mostly it is a great concentration drill because you have to be really dialed-in to do it right.

Early Offense drill with FTs right after:
You can do play insertion before or after fast-break stuff, the problem I found was that I wanted to get after my guys a little when running the fast-break drills and if I did play insertion first they tended to be more sluggish, so I found that doing fast-break stuff before was better overall.

I covered this in the offensive breakdown, and it is basically the same. The only difference being that I usually shorten the time duration for a defensive practice. My goal here is to get them running, bust their tails, and like the mental concentration, I want them focused and finishing hard.

We do FTs as usual after fast-break stuff, to simulate shooting while tired. 

Play Insertion/Walkthrough period:
You can see here, we're going over what we called "Magic", which was a full court matchup press. Last year, we basically ran the Pitino white and black presses. It worked really well with the players we had, it's a kind of pressure that only works when your players have a high basketball IQ. I would not recommend it if you have players that are new to basketball, as it requires players to see the floor and make reads appropriately.

In this practice, I've picked a couple of things to focus on. First is an adjustment versus a team that goes 4 across in their press break. This can present a problem for a man press, so our forwards have to let those bigs get the ball if they cut to the baseline, but then we bump them with our chest if they try to beat us long, to buy some time and turn and run with them. We're also working on backpursuit once we do get beat, stunting and/or jump-switching. I usually setup a 2v2 backpursuit drill full court to rep this.

Individual defensive development drills:
The order of the actual plan might be backwards. I think what I wanted to do here was to do the exchange to closeout drill first, then ballscreen defense afterwards. I like to work some form of individual defense here after an install and before team stuff. I believe in doing a lot of 1v1 work. I think it's vital for players to work 1v1, and understand how to defend 1v1. To many players I see do not really know how to defend a person 1on1. And if you cannot defend 1on1, you rely too much on help and then defenders get out of position and you cannot recover in time.

Specifically, this drill is a 2v2 on 1 side, and 1 shooter on the other side of the floor drill. The 2v2 on the one wing are working exchanges on a coach's call, and when the coach throws it to the shooter, the help defender has to closeout on the shooter, the other defender has to block out 2 players and rebound the ball. It's a great drill to work on closeouts and weakside rebounding. It is a drill I got from the Billy Donovan All-Access DVD.

Defensive team breakdown drills:
I will either choose a modified shell drill or in this case we're working on ballscreen defense. It is usually 2v2 or 3v3. This is where having an assistant coach is important. You can split players up to different baskets and then give some 1on1 attention to specific players.

Everyone has a different way to defend ball screens, the important thing is always teach in a progression, so that's why 2v2 is important. You break things down into smaller parts, and have the players master the skill with specific parameters, before introducing them to the entire sequence.

Team period:
Defensive practices are a little different in that there will be a few different things we will do in team. We will usually work on some kind of team press scrimmage, or team trapping scrimmage. The idea is to work our press or half-court traps in a live like situation.

We will also work our shell drills in this time. I like having the guards and forwards cross as they come into half-court so I can see ball to help side positioning right away. You must have a "live" call so that as a coach you control when the players can score. Before the "live" call, I'm watching if the help is where it needs to be as the ball is reversed and players are cutting through. I'm also looking for good closeouts (under control), communication by the players, and how they are playing the cutters. I will also have the players play cutthroat shell, so defense needs 2 stops in order to go on offense.

I like to insert a short shooting drill somewhere in between team periods. As mentioned, players everywhere hate defensive practices, so having something in between to break the monotony is good, especially as you go into a team scrimmage period where you want players to be a little more enthusiastic for.

I've talked about the team scrimmages I like to run in the offensive breakdown. I will the same thing here at the end of practice, but the period duration will usually be shorter. I will usually incorporate full-court pressing or some of our half-court trap calls in the scrimmages too for defensive emphasis.

Team shooting drill:
Like in the offensive practices, I like to end with a team shooting drill. Again, I find it useful to take 5 minutes to gather my thoughts about practice, and to remind myself of any things I want to say to the team before we break for the end of practice.

End of Practice:
Same as offensive practices. I will give them an evaluation of the practice and lecture them a little about something we worked on. I will also remind them of any important details for our next game or next practice, such as rides, or early dismissals, or forms they need to hand in.

So there you have it. My philosophy on practice planning in 3 separate posts. I hope you found that helpful and even if there was one or two things you can take from it, I hope it was worth your while to read my posts. Definitely would like to hear from the rest of you on your philosophy on practices, feel free to email me or make a post about it on the X's and O's basketball forum.

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As promised, I'm forging ahead and talking about how I approach an offensive practice. First off, I'll just say that I do like separating practices with an offensive and defensive emphasis because I think that if your practices are 2 hours or shorter, you cannot go into the kind of detail needed for either offense or defense unless you separate them out. But as you will see, we still work on some component of offense during defensive practices and some defense within offensive practices, but there is a focus on working on offense or defense on a particular day. I also do not like having practices longer than 2 hours. I find that after 1.5 hours, the players' attention spans go sideways, and the law of diminishing returns begins to take into effect.

Before I breakdown the nuts and bolts of the plan (click here to see a PDF version), here is a rough chronological summary of how I organize offensive practices:

1. Dynamic warmup
2. Mental concentration drill
3. Play Insertion/Walkthrough period
4. Early Offense drill with FTs right after
5. Shooting or individual development drills
6. Offensive breakdown drills
7. Team period, controlled scrimmage
8. Team shooting drill

I always have the date and our next opponent listed at the top. It keeps me focused on who we need to beat next and not on anything else. I like to setup who will be the teams for the practice before practice begins, that way I think about which players I want playing with who that day. I also use it to take attendance (I just check them off with a pen).

I like to plan the first 1hr or so of practice in either 5 or 10 minute chunks.  I always use the scoreboard timer to time everything, it really helps to keep practice on time. I think like all of you, there is usually something that goes overtime in practice, and you end up having to skip something, but I try my best to stay on time, and the scoreboard timer really helps. If you can't use a scoreboard, definitely use a pocket timer, I use it as a backup when I have to split the gym or practice in our mini-gym.

Dynamic Warmup:
I give 10 mins for a dynamic warmup. Our dynamic is pretty simple. They do high knees, quad stretch, hammys, groin, etc... If it were up to me, I'd cut it down to 5 mins, but I also use this time to talk to the players, sometimes it is a little bit of a pep talk, other times it is logistical (how are we going to get to the next game). So I don't mind 10 minutes. Also, sometimes our practices start late because of prior games, or the gym needs to be setup (put the wall up), or the previous team went over time which can happen a lot. So, 10 mins, is good as a buffer, when you need to cut time out, you do it here and you can get away with a 5 min dynamic.

Mental Concentration Drill:
Next up, I always like to start practices with some form of drill where the players have to think a little. I think it's important to set the tone where players have to concentrate on something very specific. At the end of a busy school day, a student can have any number of crazy things going on in their head. I need them zero'ed in on basketball so I always start with something that will get them 100% focused on what we're doing. In this case, I have chosen a semi-circle passing drill, where the player in the middle has to really concentrate on 2 balls being thrown at him. Another series I like to do in this period is to do 2-ball dribbling. Not only is it skill development, but the players really have to concentrate with 2 balls in their hands.

Play Insertion/Walkthrough period:
It's not shown in this practice plan, but early in the season, I will use the time right after the first mental concentration drill to do any play insertion. I find that if you are introducing new material to players, especially using the whole-part-whole method, that you introduce it early on in practice. I like it right after the mental concentration drill because that is when you have their greatest attention. I spend no longer than 15 minutes doing install, doing a walkthrough of the new play or continuity, and switching players often so that everyone gets at least 1 rep going through the new play.

Early Offense drill with FTs right after:
I like working some form of early offense drill, like a team fast break or a 3-on-2 2-on-1 drill right after play insertion. I like getting this done early in the practice when their bodies are fresh and I can really push them hard on the break. There is always some goal they are trying to reach (25 layups in 2 min as a team) and if they don't reach it they run, or 2 pushups for every missed layup. Right after the drills, I have them break up individually and shoot FTs. I always have them shoot 10 in a row and start them off trying to make 7. If they make 7, they don't have to run. Then I give them a short water break.

Speaking of water breaks, I always put 45 secs on the clock, as soon as the horn goes, the players know they have to go to the baseline and be ready for the next drill. This way, you cut down on wasted time after they go for water and they mess around shooting, and you get distracted talking to a player. It's 45 secs and we're on to the next thing.

Another thing on FTs. You'll notice throughout, I have bolded FTs for winners. After any competitive drill where there is a winner or loser. I chose a player from the winning team to shoot FTs. They have to hit both of them to avoid the consequence. If the player misses both, their whole team shares the whole consequence with the losing team, if the player makes 1, their team does half the consequence.

Shooting or individual development drills:
After fast break stuff, I like to breakdown and do individual skill development. This is usually some form of a shooting drill or as you can see in the picture above, I have a hustle drill listed. Each practice is different, but I want to focus on 1 or 2 of the following if it is an offensive day:

- effort (hustle drills, rebounding drills, finishing drills)
- execution (3-on-3 breakdown like flex drill or blood drill)
- technique (shooting drills, passing drills, cone drills)

In my opinion, you can't work on everything in one practice. So early on in the season, it is mostly technique or execution. Footwork is really important to me, so I want them using the right steps to get into their shot. Or passing with the outside hand, extending the outside hand to call for the ball. Or how to cut to the basket, how to post up, etc... I also want to work on executing the offense, so this is where the "part" of the whole-part-whole comes in. I break them down into 3-on-3 or even 2-on-2 and they work on the specific components of the offense. This way, the floor is more empty and you can give more focused instruction, if you have assistant coaches this is where they can be invaluable. Later on in the season, I want to keep the intensity up so I focus more on effort and finish. This practice is in mid January, the doldrums, so I want them to stay sharp, so my focus is on diving for loose balls, banging the boards. But we're also doing the blood drills for the DDM stuff, and I also have another fast-break drill, but instead of it being fast-fast-fast, I am teaching in this period, I'm working on specific things that I want them to do in a 2-on-1 situation, how to get the rebound, how to outlet the ball.

The second half of practices is some form of team period. Early in the season we will go 20-30 minutes of team. As we get into mid-season or later, it is less time. As you can see here, I've injected a team conditioner and a high-intensity rebounding/finishing drill in between team scrimmage and team shooting, since we are in mid-Jan and I want them to focus on effort and finishing.


Team period, controlled scrimmage:
Now we get to the team period. There are all kinds of philosophies on scrimmaging. Here is mine. I think in any practice, you have to go 5 on 5 at some point. The players need to be able to put together what they've been learning in a 5 man setup. However, I do not believe in just putting up 8 minutes on the clock, and just having them play. At the same time, I do not believe in going 5 on 5 half-court only, and switching every 3 reps. In offense, you have 2 distinct phases, transition and half-court. Players have to learn how those phases are executed from start to finish, you can't do that in a 5-on-5 half-court only, and you can't do that in 3-on-2 fast break drill. You have to practice the phases together. You need to setup a scenario which is as realistic to the game as possible. I have 2 scenarios I like to setup the players in for a controlled 5-on-5 scrimmage for offensive practices:

1. Circle Setup. Setup 9 players (5 defense and 4 offense) running the circle near one of the baskets, the offensive player inbounding the ball is standing out of bounds. I talk to the players quickly (15 secs) to give them instructions that I want them to execute, like a play call, or defense is going to press, etc... I also name 3 or 2 or 1 players on defense that will have to run back to the baseline before they can play defense. This way, I can control the fast-break situation (either a 5 on 4, 3, or 2). When I throw the ball in to the inbounder, it begins. The players will go down the floor, and then the defense becomes offense and comes back down. So basically each team gets 1 rep on both offense and defense. At the end, I can quickly debrief, then we go again with the same teams or different teams. These are the teams that I have specified on my sheet at the top.

2. FT Setup. Another setup I like to use is a FT setup. So I as the coach will pretend to shoot a FT. The player lineup as either the defense (closest to the hoop) or offense (1 man away). Same as first setup, I can call out instructions, play to use on offense, etc... I lob the ball up, and the defense has to rebound, then run offense going the other way. If offense gets the rebound, they play offense on the same hoop. They go there and back and we run it again.

I usually will start with the Circle setup and move to the FT setup around mid-way through team period. In 20 minutes, I hope to get about 8 good mini-scrimmages going back and forth. In my opinion, it's as realistic as possible to a real game, but I also get a chance to stop the scrimmage and give my coaching points so that it isn't just 8 mins of free scrimmage. 

Team shooting drill:
Finally, I always like to end every practice with some form of team shooting drill. I always make it competitive, so it's usually Team A vs Team B, and whoever scores the least has to run. If time is running short, the loser has to put all the balls away. I have used the Walberg around the world 3-point shooting drill, or 5 balls 5 lines, or what I call Iowa shooting. You can do whatever you want, but the idea is that they are competing, working on shooting, and building team chemistry. I also use the 5 minutes to gather my thoughts about how practice went, write down some notes, and prepare what I want to say to the players at the very end of practice.

End of Practice:
I try to give the players a short lecture towards the end. Sometimes I come down hard on them, sometimes I pump them up. I also give them an evaluation of the practice, so they have an idea as to my expectations. Finally, I remind them of any important details for our next game or next practice, such as rides, or early dismissals, or forms they need to hand in.

I realize that was a lengthy post, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible. I'd be very interested to hear what others do in terms of practice planning and organization. When I go to observe other coaches, I always want to see how they plan and organize practices. I also coach football, so I always look for things that I can incorporate into either sport that I coach. Efficiency is a big one for me, I'm always looking to squeeze as much into a 1.5 or 2 hour timeframe as possible. Next up will be a breakdown of defensive practices.

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Yes Allen, we're here to talk about... PRACTICE

One of the things that I really came to enjoy doing this past season was planning practices. After being an assistant the past 5 years, I never really had much input into the practice plan so I just filled in to coach wherever needed. As a head coach, I think it's one of the most important aspects of the job. To me, practice time is sacred, I feel like the best way to evaluate a coach is to observe that coach running a practice. And so I take it extremely seriously as to exactly what I am teaching, why I am teaching it, and what I want the players to be able to do. There really is so much that goes into it, and here are just some of the philosophical questions to answer as you plan your practices:

- How many periods do you have in your practice?
- When do make announcements on housekeeping and logistical items (rides, fundraising, etc..)?
- Do you have an offensive practice and a separate defensive practice? Or do you do both each day?
- How do you setup your teams? Starters vs non-starters, or do you even up the teams?
- When do you do install periods - beginning, middle, or end?
- When do you do conditioning?
- Do you have closed or open practices where parents and other coaches can observe?

I don't think there are any right or wrong answers, but there is a lot that you should think about when preparing for the season, and for each practice. I will make this a 2 or 3 part series of posts (hopefully done over the weekend), and I'll start off by explaining a little bit of how I've structured my practice plan template. Below is the link that I used this past season for planning my practices and the rest of the post explains how it works.

Practice Template in Excel Format

It is an excel worksheet template and I use the same file for all practices in a week (we practice 2 times a week). The last sheet is a drill worksheet that lists all the drills that I use by category (ball-handling, dribbling, shooting, defense, 1v1, team, etc...). The drill worksheet is handy because when I start planning and want to look for drills that I want to use that week, I can just scan it and pick the ones that I want and paste them into the practice plan sheet. The template also includes small court diagrams on the second page when printed. I always print double-sided, so I get the practice plan for the practice on the frontside, then the court diagrams on the backside. That way, I can draw in any X's and O's on the fly on the backside if something comes to me just before practice, during practice, or after practice.

I always print off 2 copies of the practice plan (sometimes 3 if I have an assistant coach working with me). The first copy goes into the binder that I keep, and the second copy I fold up and carry with me in my pocket during practices. I often take notes during practice of what worked, what didn't work, etc.. I then go back to the copy in my binder and record the attendance, and write down any final notes. The folded up copy goes into the recycling bin. In my opinion, you must keep a recorded copy, that way when parents come up with any number of questions and concerns, you can go back to your records and show who was at practices and what they did during practice.

In Part 2, I will upload a copy of an offensive practice, and break down my philosophy of how I break down an offensive practice (and yes, I do believe in having an offensive emphasis practice and a separate defensive emphasis practice).

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What an incredible game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Purdue Boilermakers. From the incredible first half by Robbie Hummel (when ended up being his last college game), to the switching defenses of the Jayhawks which allowed them to come from behind for the win. One thing is for sure, Bill Self knows how to coach.

Elijah Johnson came up with perhaps the biggest play of the game, getting the steal and going the length of the floor for the layup with under 30secs left. Afterwards, he was asked why he and the Jayhawks were so inconsistent throughout the year and appear to be peaking at the right moment, his response was "I was learning, I was learning". Right there, that statement tells me that this player has the right attitude. He can see his mistakes as opportunities to learn, and then applies what he has learned to the present.

As a coach, being able "to learn" is an important part of the process (for both coaches and players). Having a bad half, and learning, making adjustments, and being better in the second half is important. Having struggles early in the season, learning from your mistakes and becoming better is important. I really believe that as a team, you have to know how to lose before you ultimately how to win.

Anyways, as a big Bill Self fan, I'm hoping that they go far this year. I have a little more time with Spring Break upon us, so hopefully I can blog a little more with the tournament going on...

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It's been an amazing couple of weeks for one Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks. Everyone is talking about his Cinderella story, first asian point guard, comparisons to Tebow, etc... In my opinion, the most important angle and the most overlooked aspect of his story is the fact that the reason why Lin was passed over by so many teams even going back to high school is that he had to work his tail off to get to where he is now (A great read by the NY Times if you haven't read it yet). He was passed over by so many schools and teams simply because he wasn't good enough. I followed Lin going back to his Harvard days because as a person of Taiwanese heritage, he was someone that I could relate to. But, I knew he wouldn't get drafted out of college because at the time he was too weak, and his game was too one-dimensional.

The amazing part of Lin's story is therefore one of hard work and perseverance. When you knock on so many doors and are told you aren't good enough, a lot of guys would've taken the easy way out and just given up. Instead, Lin battled on, he got up earlier, worked harder, did everything he could to make himself better. Because when you're not blessed with the talent or athleticism like most of the other NBA players, you HAVE TO make it up with hard work, there's just no other way. Something that hopefully as coaches, the story of Lin can be one of inspiration that hard work does pay off.

Anyways, I hope to be blogging a little more again with the NCAA tournament ramping up, and due to my schedule easing up now that our team's season is over. We had a great season, capped off with a thrilling playoff run at regionals which saw us, a #14 seed, knock off the #3 seed, and come within 2 points of going to the ship. To those of you lucky ones who still get to practice and get ready for state, good luck to you all.

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Pat Knight is taking a lot of flack the last day or so after his post-game rant which publicly called out his players for their lack of effort, saying they were essentially stealing from the university through their full-ride scholarships.

My own opinion on the matter is that is that what I say to my players in the locker room, stays in the locker room. Our conversations are between our team. It's a matter of trust, that the locker room is sacred, that we can be honest with each other in the room and that in that setting I hold no punches.

Having said all that, I'm leaning towards calling the whole thing a big publicity stunt. The things he came up with were just a little too carefully planned to be something that he just thought of at the end of a bad loss. Knight has already said afterwards that he pre-warned the other coaches about what he was going to say that night, I would think that he probably also pre-warned, if not at the very least hinted, that he was going to say what was probably already said many times in private, publicly. His objective, to help motivate the seniors, and to get the team a little bit on the college basketball radar. I think it worked, at least for one night...

Watch it for yourself and let me know what you think...

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The Super Bowl is coming up this coming Sunday and one of the coaches roaming the sidelines will be Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots. I've long looked up to Belichick and have done a lot of research as to what makes him so good at what he does. And one of the aspects of coaching he is most known for is situational practices. The idea that clutch situations are won and lost by those who are the most prepared. Confidence is gained by those who eliminate the unknown. Do your players know what to do in every critical situation that presents itself?

Like many of you out there, playoff basketball looms on the horizon, and we are always looking for that extra competitive edge. One of those in my opinion is to come up with and have players go through critical situations in practice. When I draw out my practice plan, I come up with a scenario: say starting unit vs 2nd unit, starters down by 4, 1 minute left, both teams in bonus. Most of the time, the players screw it up, and then you have to back it up and scheme it out for them, for example, down 4, we don't need to take a quick 3 pointer, lets work for an easier 2 pointer because it is a 2 possession game anyways.

I try to come up with scenarios to practice. Here are some I've used and plan to use this season:

- Up 3, 30 secs, other team has the ball at their own baseline.
- 5 secs on shot clock, 20 secs left on the game clock, down by 1, other team has the ball on your baseline.
- Down 10, 4 minutes to go, after 2 minutes, tell them starting point guard has fouled out.
- Up 5, 1 minute to go, every offensive rebound given up is an automatic score.
- Up 3, 3 secs to go, shooting 1 FT.
- Down 1, 5 secs to go, other team just scored.


"You just never know what set of plays [will determine the winner] this week and what situations are going to be the key situations in this game or any other game in the future. You just try to cover all your bases on that stuff and react to [situations] as they come along." -- Bill Belichick.

For some more situational ideas, check out Coach Morgan Wooten's DVD on Coaching to Win in Special Situations. Coach Wooten is the winningest high school coach in the history of basketball.

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