#FivePossessions – Five curated possessions from the Villanova Wildcats where they demonstrate their exquisite brand of fundamental soundness. Powered by immaculate spacing, sweet shooting, a lethal drive-and-kick game and exquisite fundamentals, the Villanova Wildcats have captured two recent NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championships. A slightly different cast of characters won each of those two titles,…
Scoring Made Simple: 3 Easy Yet Effective Shots to Practice
Don’t sleep on the fundamentals – add these three simple shots to your player development routine and see scoring go up! There are several ways to score in basketball, with the jumpshot being a primary one (especially in today’s game where the three-pointer is so heavily emphasized). But, to become a complete player, it is important to…
So You Want to Be a College Basketball Player?
Some quick advice on what it takes to be an impact college basketball player from a Division III basketball coach. “There’s a difference between being a college basketball player and being an impact college basketball player.” Every spring, I enjoy scrolling through my social media feed looking at all the college commitments by graduating student-athletes…
Pre-Practice Drills: Setting the Tone for Success
The 15-20 minutes before official practice begins are crucial, and having a routine of pre-practice drills can help set the tone for success. Designing and organizing a successful daily practice plan may be the most important quality of any successful coach. Practice plan design, time length, and goals may be differ for each coach, but…
Footwork on the Catch: Creating an Advantage
Footwork is a very fundamental basketball skill, but it can turn an average offensive player into a dangerous one. Whether 10 years old or 20, footwork is a key fundamental to a player’s overall game. Proper footwork can help a player gain an advantage, create spacing, draw fouls, and prevent travels and other types of turnovers. Footwork is the…
East Region – Josh Hart Jumpstops
The East Region #1 Seed Villanova Wildcats are lead by senior guard Josh Hart and his powerful jumpstops. The top seed in the East Region belongs to the defending national champion Villanova Wildcats (31-3, Big East Champions). The ‘Cats are lead by senior guard Josh Hart (18.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.1 apg) and Hart may…
Player Development: Keys to Using Down Screens
Setting screens off the ball for effective shooters can be a great way to free them up to score the ball or to draw multiple defenders towards them and free up space elsewhere on the court. In this blog, I will talk about all the ways you can use a down screen. Be sure to…
Drills to Start Practice
Coaches are always looking for effective drills to start practice. Drills at the beginning of practice should get the players loose and prepare them for the mental and physical grind of a typical practice. The start of practice is also a great time to work on fundamentals such as dribbling, passing, footwork, and shooting. I…
35 “Secrets” of Brilliant Coaches
The following comes from a 2014 article in the Huffington Post done by Anne Josephson titled, “35 Secrets of Brilliant Coaches.” Later that year, Bob Starkey, who is an Assistant Coach at Texas A&M, passed the article my way. I have included the first 25 points that she shared, to read the rest, you can…
3 Drills to End Practice
Just as there are many ways to begin practice, there are plenty of drills to bring practice to a close. Below are five drills that offer a good balance of competitiveness, conditioning, and skill work. USA Shooting: The set up for this drill includes 2 players at the far baseline and 3 lines of…