College basketball madness has begun today with ESPN's 24 hour marathon of college hoops. Part of their great coverage is all of their great all-access features. I watched a bunch of them today and yesterday and I'm embedding the one from Coach Bill Self of Kansas here. The following quote by Coach Self stuck out for me,

The only things you should be judged by as a coach are:
- how hard you get your players to play
- how unselfish your players want to play



Enjoy these other great all-access clips:

Roy Williams of UNC
Jay Wright of Villanova
Tom Izzo of Michigan State
West Pointers: Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, Bill Parcells

If you've read this blog for the past year or so, you've probably figured out that I'm a huge Bill Self fan. If you like Coach Self and the way Kansas plays, then check out Bill Self's DVD on Breaking Presses. It is one of the best videos out there on the topic of press break.

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The start of college basketball is upon us and it was great to take in a bunch of games. On friday night, I was able to watch a bunch of games and I took in the Baylor game against Norfolk State. It wasn't a particularly great game but I did catch this inbounds play that Baylor ran against the 2-3 zone.

I've been seeing this a lot recently, teams using a 2-3 zone on the inbounds. Generally, it does a good job in the paint as you don't have to worry about switching or how to deal with screens. But every zone has its drawbacks, and here, you see Baylor run a nice give and go play to the most dangerous player on the inbounds, the inbounder, for a nice 3-pointer:



In this screenshot, you can see Norfolk State in that zone. The forward who receives the pass and hands back to the inbounder is basically screening the low defender in the 2-3 zone. The high defender on the 2-3 is in no man's land, and basically watches the 3-pointer go in, because in the 2-3, the high defender is taught not to go below the free-throw line extended,


Here is the breakdown of the inbounds play again. Really, they just get the ball into the forward in the middle,

O1, the inbounder bolts for the corner, O4 hands back the ball and screens the low defender on the 2-3, and its an open 3-pointer,


For more simple ways against zone defenses, take a look at Jerry Petitgoue's new DVD on Attacking Zone Defenses. I like Petitgoue's approach because he doesn't complicate the problem, he simplifies things and makes it easy to understand what he's trying to accomplish.

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Watching the first half of the UNC game tonight because you figured it would get away from NC Central and indeed the score is 72-30 right now with 8:00 left in the second half.

I just like this sequence from UNC because I think that if you play a half-court M2M pressure, much like the way Duke plays their M2M, the assumption is that you will give up backdoor layups. Yes, the chances are higher, but that doesn't mean you can't teach and drill your players to counter those tendencies. With good footwork and active hands, a good defender can still put a ton of pressure on the wing pass AND still recover against the backdoor as shown in the following video clip:



In the picture, you can clearly see that Justin Watts has both hands in the air, not on his hips. With great lateral foot movement, he's able to adjust to the backdoor cut.


Also notice that he doesn't attempt to turn and face the ball, instead he just focuses on getting back on his man with his arms up and hands in the passing lane, and getting the steal. I see a lot of young players in that situation pivot towards the ball, back facing their check, then try to make the play when their check is already at the rim.

And the Tar Heels finish it in typical fashion, on the fast break.

For more info on the Carolina M2M defensive system, check out Roy Williams' DVD on The Carolina Defensive Numbering System & Drills. With so many new faces, its hard to imagine the Tar Heels repeating as champions, but if Coach Roy Williams is able to groom the younguns he has on this team, they could do some real damage in 1 or 2 years.

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One of the reasons why I don't like playing a straight zone as a base and especially at the end of games is because it allows the offense to dictate the numbers advantage. In the stunning upset earlier in the week when Division II Le Moyne stunned Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, Le Moyne was able to get off a 3-pointer with time left on the clock to over-take the Orange.

Check out the video first from the ESPN highlight:


If you look closely, you'll see exactly what happened. Le Moyne had 4 players above the free-throw line extended. Syracuse is in their 2-3 extended zone, but the 3 low defenders are below the free-throw line extended,

So, essentially, Le Moyne was playing 4-on-2 above the free-throw line extended. Le Moyne's best shooter, O2, Chris Johnson who had already nailed 5 x 3-pointers, shuffled to the open spot on the arc and launched the game winning shot,


Now, I think it's easy to say, play zone regular, and switch to M2M at the end of close games. But the problem with that philosophy is, players who get used to played straight zone, have trouble re-adjusting to playing M2M. That is the reason why I personally, prefer to use a M2M defense as your base. In those crucial situations when you really need everyone matched up, you can be sure your players will be in the right spots. If the other team hits a 3-pointer with a defender right in their face, then so be it. But at least you can be sure that your players defended the play as best they could.

For more buzzer beating strategies, take a look at Homer Drew's DVD on Late Game Situations. Coach Drew is the head coach of the Valparaiso University.

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Going through more notes today and this one caught my eye. From a coaches notebook of University of Florida assistant Larry Shyatt, defensively, the Gators track hustle stats for players during practice. Obviously, as a high school coach, you won't have the number of assistant coaches to do this, but you can definitely adapt it to your situation.

I think this is a great idea to do for 2 reasons. Firstly, I like the idea of rewarding hard work in practice. Sometimes as coaches, we fall in love with the talent, and we don't recognize nor reward effort nearly as much as we should. Also, one of the hardest things to do is to get players motivated for practice. Too many players come in to practice to loaf, because they're only motivated by games. So anything to get players really going hard in practices in my opinion is definitely worth looking into.

Coaches Focus at Practice:
Affected shots/passes – Assistant 1
Blockouts – Assistant 2
Going to the glass – Assistant 3
Hustle Stats – Assistant 4

Keeping Stats: (Compilation Daily)
Unaffected shots/passes – Assistant 5
No blockout – Assistant 6
Not going to off. glass – Assistant 7
Hustle Stats/other negative (not ready, etc.) – Assistant 8
Assists/Turnovers, no floor balance – Assistant 9

• Any unaffected shot/pass, no blockout attempt, no attempt to go to the
offensive glass or no floor balance, results in a minus.
• Any hustle play: deflection, loose ball, forced turnover, steal, offensive rebound,
charge taken, charge attempted, blocked shot, or 1st to the floor results in a plus.
• Coaches Wildcard: Player can receive a plus or a minus at the coaches’
discretion (ex: negative – poor closeout, dive by, poor communication; ex:
positive – great step-up, great communication).

Assist/Turnover Ratio:
• PG’s must be at least 2 to 1
• G’s / F’s must be better than 1 to 1
• C’s must be at least 1 to 1
• If your ratio is achieved, you receive a +2 for the day to be added to your
score.
• If your ratio is not achieved, you receive a -2 to be added to your score.
• Players must be in the positive at the end of practice. If they are in the negative they have sprints (10’s/Suicides/etc.) to run based on whatever negative number they finish with.
• Sprints will be completed the day after practice/game.
• Every 7-10 days, we will have the “Hustle Award” winner for that week(s). The
guard & interior player with the best score will receive an “F” on their shorts.

Here is a screenshot of a sample hustle stats sheet:


For more great practice ideas, take a look at Larry Shyatt's 2-Pack DVD with 1 DVD for Defense and 1 DVD for Offense. Coach Shyatt is an assistant on Billy Donovan's coaching staff at University of Florida.

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Most of y'all have probably seen this already, if not, you really must see it. It is an interview with legendary coach John Wooden talking about Victory with Honor. The idea of coach as teacher and to remember that we ultimately we teach people not basketball. Here is the youtube link below (about 10 minutes long),



Some notes from the video, if you want the coles notes version without watching the video:

Victory with Honor

- there is too much emphasis on winning today

- the coach is first and foremost a teacher

- before Coach Wooden was a coach, he taught English for many years

- the 4 laws of learning in English, are the same applied to coaching

- the teacher has to be more concerned about the entire learning process, than just in the content. Same goes for sports

- its easy to get carried away with win loss record

- Coach Wooden was more disappointed in parents who were concerned with their children getting an A or B than in whether they really learned anything

- Our society is too concerned about athlete first, and not student before athlete

- high school coaches, are really just teachers

- it made Coach Wooden a better coach, the fact that he taught English before. It helped in organization skills, and helped in dealing with athletes as individuals

- the job of the coach is therefore to analyze each individual and help them achieve their maximum potential

- each player is different, therefore they must be treated differently

- Please always ask, "what is your most successful team??" Coach Wooden's response, "I won't know in 25 years."

- most treasured medal or prize according to Coach Wooden was the academic medal, it holds the most value for individual achievement

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Halloween all of a sudden becomes a big deal again once you're back in schools teaching. From late last week, I was browsing through some game footage of the Chicago Bulls home win over the San Antonio Spurs and a few things caught my eye. Primarily, I was impressed with how much more refined the Bulls seemed on offense, they ran this play below and even Flex continuity a number of times, I was pleasantly surprised. They have more purpose and with a full year under Derrick Rose's belt, he looks even more confident running the offense from the point.

From the third quarter, the Bulls ran this play 5 or 6 times and got some nice production out of it. I've clipped just the first 2 times when Tyrus Thomas was able to hit the mid-range jumper, plus the TNT replay with Doug Collins commentary on the slow motion, take a look:



1-4 Flat to Mid-Range Jumper

Really just a simple 1-4 flat with a high PNR to start. Derrick Rose, O1, starts the play up top. Joachim Noah, O5, comes to set the pick, the defense tries to hedge, but Rose still gets by both the hedge, Noah rolls after the pick,

As Rose turns the corner, Tyrus Thomas, O4, moves off the block to the weakside elbow. X4, Tim Duncan, is forced to stay in the lane for help position since Rose would otherwise have an open lane after beating all to the lane. X1 is in a trail position, Noah is rolling to the basket with X5 following,

As the lane gets clogged up, Rose kicks it out to an open Thomas for the mid-range jumper,


Now as you can hear Doug Collins say in the commentary, if X3 comes to close out early, then it's an easy pass to the corner for the 3-pointer. The Spurs did readjust later in the game, by having X1 go underneath the screen allowing him more time and room to catch Rose after the hedge, allowing Duncan to hedge a little better between help position and his check.

If you're looking for a comprehensive video on more PNR options, check out Fran Fraschilla's 2 DVD set on the Encyclopedia of the Pick and Roll Offense. The 2 DVD's show just about every scenario you could want to know about executing PNRs in the half court.

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