Playing with offensive freedom – four keys to playing with more freedom and less complexity. There is a spectrum of coaches and we all fall somewhere along this spectrum. On one end is the rigid coach who calls every play and coaches every dribble. On the other end is the coach who basically rolls the…
Basketball Strategy: There’s No “Right” Way to Play or Coach
It’s all about preference – teams with various styles of play are succeeding in today’s game, as evidenced by recent champions. During the 2019 men’s NCAA Tournament, basketball coaches and fans across the world saw a collection of some of the best games in recent memory. Specifically, the Sweet Sixteen and Eight Eight featured teams with…
Coaching Tip: Be Consistent in Your Leadership and Messaging
No matter the talent level, wins or losses, it’s important for coaches to maintain a standard of leadership at all times. I was out of town on a college visit trip with my son last month. While we were there, he was telling me about how one of the top high school basketball teams in…
Las Vegas Aces XsOs: Part 3 – Pinch Post Actions
An inside look at the XsOs of one of the WNBA’s most exciting teams, the Las Vegas Aces, to kick off the season which begins on May 24. Full Series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4 The meat and potatoes of the Las Vegas Aces offensive attack lies in its Pinch Post Series. With the…
Las Vegas Aces XsOs: Part 2 – Baseline Double Cross
An inside look at the XsOs of one of the WNBA’s most exciting teams, the Las Vegas Aces, to kick off the season which begins on May 24. Full Series: Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4 The Las Vegas Aces run two base offenses that have numerous options to get great looks at…
What’s Your Basketball Genre?
Counseling Coaches Series: Basketball Coaching, like music, has genres. You don’t have to know or even pretend to care about all of them. (Note: This blog originally appeared at radiusathletics.com and is reposted with permission.) Imagine you have a friend, and this friend is into classical music. He can tell Beethoven from Bach within the…
Crash the Glass: Making a Case for Offensive Rebounding
There is no doubt that offensive rebounding can aid your overall efficiency as an offense. It creates extra opportunities for an offense and can produce high quality looks versus a scrambling defense. For teams that do not shoot the ball particularly well it would seem that offensive rebounding should take on an even more important role. They would seem to need those extra opportunities in order to maintain the kind of offensive efficiency that is necessary to win games.
NextGen Coaches: Key Takeaways and Videos from the Inaugural Event
NextGen Coaches was created by FastModel Sports and CoachingU to do just that: develop the next generation of elite basketball coaches. The 2019 Final Four in Minneapolis saw two leaders and long-time partners in the basketball coaching industry, CoachingU and FastModel Sports, team up to present the first ever NextGen Coaches event. An audience of…
Ball Screen Defense: Analyzing Effective Methods
Experimenting with a new ball screen defense in addition to your primary strategy could have huge benefits for your team. What is your team’s primary method for defending a ball screen? I recently asked that question via Twitter poll. What is your team’s primary method for defending a ball screen? (If vote is “other,” please specify.)…
Focus Is More Important Than Genius
Counseling Coaches Series: How focused you are on what you do is more important than how much you know. In this day and age, the ability to filter out information is a Coaching Superpower. In the hundreds of hours each year I spend counseling coaches this is a constant battle; especially when they are faced…