learntocoachbasketball.com/main-menu/blog

Moral of the story, if you are interested in playing college basketball, you should have video ready to send to a coach or already posted online somewhere for a coach to find. When a coach contacts you, if you are interested, you should respond; if you are busy, explain that to the coach. If you are interested, go to a tryout, show up for a work out when asked (also, be in shape; last summer, a coach asked if a player could work out as a try out. Ultimately, that type of player is more likely to succeed in my situation than a player who has to be told repeatedly to do something or needs her coach or her mother to do something for her.

To best develop this crucial decision-making aspect of basketball, it is my goal to maximize decision-making reps by committing to motion offense and man-to-man defense. But when it works, when it truly clicks, it’s also the most beautiful form of basketball for coaches to teach, for players to learn, and for parents to watch, because it is a sign that players have gained the skill and basketball intelligence necessary for players to be great players and for teams to be great teams. The reason why I still don’t do those things is because I don’t just want to players to learn how to play man-to-man defense, I want players to learn how to be great at man-to-man defense; I don’t just want players to learn how to play motion offense, I want them to learn how to be great at motion offense. It is my belief that if I stick with it, and that if my players stick with it (some of their parents will take them elsewhere which is fine), by the time they reach the next level they will be great offensive and defensive players.

His contention was that they practiced these simple skills in practice, and my inference was that the players did not take the drills seriously or practice with sufficient intensity and concentration, at least by the coach’s standards. The drill is important; I did the drill when I played; great coaches use this drill. Whether the drills were incorrect because of the context or because of the lack of motivation, it sounded like the drills were the problem. Maybe the players deserve some blame because at some point, a college athlete who wants to be a great player will make the most of the drill; I don’t want to absolve the players completely.

Most players ran for 1-2 steps and stutter-stepped for six or more steps; the best player ran for 2-3 steps and stutter-stepped for 2-4 steps. We do not train for the average or bad offenses and offensive players; if a defender stutter steps on a closeout against our shooters, they shoot, and last year, we had 8 or 9 players who shot over 33% from three-point range in games (good offenses were around 1.0 points per possession). This position allows them to move forward slightly faster, which makes them look better in the drill, but does not position themselves to stop quickly or change directions when the offensive player makes a move, which is supposedly the purpose of the traditional closeout. If I sprint for six feet, and stutter-step for nine feet, I am not covering that 15 feet of distance quickly.