The basketball coaching blog that brings you the best drills, philosophies and learnings from the world’s greatest coaches
Tryouts begin the season tomorrow. Good luck this season to all coaches. I hope to keep posting, but priorities do get rearranged this time of year. Thank you to everyone who gave me their time and…
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I just read Kevin Eastman’s book Why the Best Are the Best. My favorite anecdote from the book relates to players waiting on the sideline during practice. Eastman, a former Celtics assistant, tells the story of…
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After the skill work portion of practice, the entire practice was scored and competitive. And from the look of it, the teams were balanced with blue going against white. As a result, there were points in…
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I wrote the other day about Villanova’s defensive skill progressions. That was only one drill during a three hour practice. Villanova allocated time to a variety of fundamentals in their brand of basketball. Among the skills…
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Villanova used three managers and coaches to go through six levels of progression in their half-court defense. Here they are labeled 2, 3, and 4. For teams without the luxury of three (or one) manager, players…
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For reader discretion this write up on Villanova ball screen actions is based on watching them during one practice. My interpretations might not be one hundred percent accurate with what their coaching staff would endorse. Take…
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In his book, Eleven Rings, Phil Jackson helped clarify how to confront a team member that struggles with focus. There are two sources where lack of focus can occur. The first is on the competitive level.…
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I recently read Chop Wood Carry Water by Joshua Medcalf. This quote put the ‘one day at a time’ slogan in more eloquent terms: “Think about your warrior dial from one to ten. One is ultra…
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When our high school season ended in early March, I made our team pick out three measurable goals that they would work toward in the off-season and beyond if necessary. One of mine was to read…
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Coaching priorities at the beginning of the season have always been a challenge for me. There is so much to do and so little time to do it all. Skill development, offensive sets, baseline out of…
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