You can attack a zone by moving the ball or moving people.  We use a combination of ball movement and people movement.

1. Have a Gap Rule.  That means getting between a baseline and wing defender.  We use a saddle dribble to gap so that we are only facing one defender and not two when dribbling between them.  We don’t dribble straight into the gap, we dribble at one of the defender’s shoulders.

2.  Have a Screening Rule.  Do you screen people?  Do you screen the interior or the perimeter of the zone?  We screen the interior of the zone more than we screen the perimeter.

3.  Have a Dribble Rule.  Our dribble rule is that if I dribble toward you, you run away from me.  If I am behind the dribbler, I follow the ball.  This rule helps maintain our spacing and helps us get shot by throwing back to the trailer when the zone shifts.

4.  Have a Flash or Duck In rule.  We flash from the front of the zone, the interior of the zone, or from behind the zone.  We like to get behind the zone so that the defense cannot see us.  We define a flash to be a short burst or a quick cut.

5.  Have a Cutter Rule.  Do you want to cut from the strongside to the weakside or from the weakside to the strongside?  We feel that cutters from strong to weak are better than from weak to strong.  That way we are not running players into the heart of the defense and it sets us up with good ball reversal and skip pass possibilities.

6.  Have a Step Out Rule.  You have to reverse the ball to beat the zone, so step your post players out to the high post to assist in ball reversal.

7.  Have a Post Cross Rule.  We X our posts when the basketball is on the wing.  We run the second cutter right off the hip of the first cutter.  Make sure you know whether your players shoot better off the move or stationary.  That applies to both your interior and perimeter players.

8.  Have a Man Behind the Zone Rule.  Do you stand him or cut him?  When we cut him, he goes from side to side and then into the heart of the defense.  We like to stand a man in the short corner.

9.  Fake a Pass to Make a Pass Rule.

10.  Diagonal Rule.  Do you make diagonal cuts and diagonal passes?  We feel that is very important.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coachingincluding basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills,basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

“Can you do conditioning with a ball in your hand instead of just running?” This drill evolved from this question.

Drill involves 10 players —5 on offense vs. 5 on defense. It is executed for :45-:60 seconds in the NBA and :90 seconds in college.

Rules: No dribbling, no screening, no shooting. Emphasize passing! As one player has the ball the other four offensive players make 10-15 ft. cuts — no 3 ft. cuts are allowed.

The drill is initiated by a coach or manager who is out of bounds. This initial pass does not count. From this pass forward every time a pass is completed the receiver yells the # on the catch. A coach always encourages offensive movement. Anytime that you make a pass as a player you then cut.

On any deflected pass or turnover pass a manager or coach who is out of bounds quickly passes the ball to an offensive player to keep the pace of the drill moving. This pass is not counted.

As a defender, your responsibility is to NOT allow your man to receive a pass. Deny everywhere. At the end of the allotted time you count the number of catches by the offense as a unit, or the number of catches by individual players. The drill flip flops with the offense going to defense and the defense going to offense. Use two rotations. Great conditioner, very competitive, high accountability. Beware of “brother in law” deals happening. Make players guard different offensive players.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coachingincluding basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills,basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

Being a basketball player does not imply merely wearing the uniform and just being a member of a squad. There are many more important phases to think about if you want to be a winner not only in basketball but in life as well. Ask yourself these questions, and answer them honestly.

1.         Are you coachable? Can you take coaching? Can you take criticism without ever looking for an alibi? Are you a “know it all”? Will you always do your very best to try to improve?

2.         Are you possessed with the spirit of competition which fires an intense desire to win? Does it bother you to lose?

3.         Are you willing to practice or do_you want to practice? You must want to work every day with the same zeal, speed, and determination you use during a ball game. Do you have two speeds‑‑a Practice speed and a game speed? The great playes of the past were the ones who had one speed, and it was the same every day, every practice, every game. If you loaf and cheat in practice, you will loaf and cheat in a game.

4.         Are you willing to make sacrifices? Conditioning to play is not fun. It is stark punishment at times. Training is exacting; the responsibility is heavy. It is rough and includes personal denials in order to remain in tiptop condition, but it has its rewards. You thrill with an inner glow that reflects a feeling of happiness when you are able to dive and save a ball from going out‑of‑bounds. The only way for you to remain in good shape is never to get out of it.

5.         Do you have an ardent desire to improve? Will you practice the things you cannot do three times longer than the things you can do? Are you willing to put in long grinding hours, concentrating on a skill until you have perfected it? Are you eager to work so diligently at the skills you lack that they eventually become your strongest assets?

6.         Do you have the ability to think under fire? Can you concentrate on the work to be accomplished at the moment? Can you shut out from your mind a previous failure, success, rule infraction, or personal insult in order to give undivided attention to the offensive and defensive maneuver in the here and now? Games are not won by yesterday’s score, but by what is happening now, at this moment.

7.         Are you willing to be impersonal‑toward your opponent? Do you shut out all personal feelings about your opponent except to beat him as often and quickly as you can, in accordance with the rules? Our experiences have taught us that the moment a player becomes personal he plays only to release individual grievances and ceases to play basketball as a team member.

8.         Are you willing to study just as hard as you did before coming out for basketball? Basketball was never meant to take the place of studies. The athletic tail must never wag the academic dog. If you must eliminate something from your schedule, it must not be study time. First things come first, and your academic growth is of paramount importance.

9.           Do you believe in your school, your team, and your coach? Your school is as good as you make it. Your coach is a genuine employee of your school given the responsibility of coaching, not his team, but your team. Are you willing to work toward that spirit of oneness so that everyone possesses the feeling of belonging through their contribution? Will you keep uppermost in mind that when a coach blisters the team with criticism his remarks are never meant to be personal affronts? The only intent is to pressure you to want to correct your mistakes so that success for everyone results. Despite his scathing remarks he loves all of you as if you were his very own.

10. Will you strive daily to improve your muscular coordination and speed.  Basketball is a game of movement and daily drills will tend to speed up your reaction time. Speed and coordination are necessary ingredients in a winning combination.

Finally, remember this saying: Hard work guarantees nothing, But lack of it does.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coachingincluding basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

Here are some notes from his “Staying on Course” section about dealing with an extended losing streak.  In my first year as a varsity head coach, we lost our first six games in a row before ending up 10-10 on the season.  I don’t wish that on you, but almost every basketball coach must deal with that at some point, so hopefully you can file these thoughts if that rainy day comes.

Restraint must be exercised in blaming a single player or a group of players for the losses.

Continue to emphasize the development of the players’s individual skills–regardless of whether the team is losing or winning games.  Such development will translate to improvement on the field which will eventually pay dividends in the winning column.

Maintain your level of professional ethics.

Do everything possible not to personalize your team’s losses.  Exhibit an inner toughness emanating from three of the most effective survival tools-composure, patience, and common sense.

Hold regular discussions with members of your coaching staff on the potential impact of continued losing on human nature.  Using examples of previous situations involving disruption in turmoil, you should review about individuals can turn against each other.  These matter should be discussed both in staff meetings and on an individual basis.  To a point, these discussions help prevent coaches from falling prey to losing their nerve.

Maintain team standards.  Every rule and practice that was in place before the losing streak began should continue to be followed.  The atmosphere in meetings and on the field should be retained.  The atmosphere should not become tougher or more intense, nor should it become more lax or loose.

All teaching efforts and presentations should remain the same.  Expectations from the players should remain unchanged.

Be careful not to label any concept or idea that you’re implementing as the ” thing that is going to get this team back on track.” If you’re proposed plan doesn’t work and you fall into a practice of instituting a gimmick each week in an attempt to reverse the team’s losing ways, the players can begin to lose faith in your abilities to identify the team’s problems and correct them.  This admonition includes the old saying, ” we’re going to get back to fundamentals and concentrate on basics,” as being the singular answer to the team’s dilemma.

Don’t isolate yourself.  Regardless of how poorly the team does, you must be highly visible doing your job and assisting others in doing theirs.

The focus must be on properly executing the next game plan not on your opponent, the team’s chances of winning, etc.

The detail oriented.  Pay attention to every detail including teaching techniques, carrying out a sinus, maintaining established organizational procedures, etc.

Avoid continually threatening or chastising your players.  Eventually your players may tune out such verbal assaults.

Keep in mind that as the losses mount, the individual relationships between you and the players become critical.  These relationships will be the key to holding the squad together.  You must, however, your role as the top executive.

Bill Walsh: Finding the Winning Edge

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

1.  The mind does not know the difference between a real and an imagined event, that is why visualization and self talk are so powerful.

2.  The ideal performance state is calm on the inside and energized and alert on the outside.

3.  Two factors that seem to be consistent for athletes “in the zone” are preparation (both mental and physical).  The second factor is the ability to maintain concentration.

4.  Statistics show that locker room pep talks don’t seem to do much good a low keyed suggestions and stories do seem to be of some benefit. 

5.  The most powerful motivators come from within.  Team spirit and expectations are extremely powerful motivators.  This takes place when there’s commitment to a shared goal.  The goal is an internal decision to do something rather than to wait for external forces to make something happen.

6.  Emphasize performance goals as well as outcome goals.  Performance goals are things like being ready to play, giving 100%, having a great attitude, always looking confident, sticking to your performance rituals maintaining concentration, and attaining individual goals such as individual free throw percentage. 

7.  Two points about goal setting:  goals should always be written down and athletes must be committed to attending to the details of accomplishing the goals beyond their comfort level.  Great athletes practice beyond their comfort zones.

8.  Commitment to narrow your focus is a major key.  Players need to see what they need to do to reach their goals and not be distracted. 

9.  Ones realistic goals are set, next step is preparation for competition.  Aside from previous success in competition, nothing gives an athlete greater confidence than thorough preparation.

10.  John Wooden model:  Practice the physical skills until they are so automatic that you can perform them without thinking under stressful competition.

11.  The key to consistency is concentration. 

12.  Five keys to maintaining concentration in competition.

        Stick to performance rituals before and during the game.  Load your players with performance rituals.  It keeps their minds from wandering.

        Eye control.  Players and keep their eyes on the court.  If a player is looking into the crowd that player is losing focus.  The mind follows the eyes.

       Emotional control.  Nothing blows up concentration more than losing emotional control.  Just as the mind follows the eyes, the emotions follow breathing.  If someone is upset, their breathing is shallow.  Teach players to lose their temper to take slow deep breaths.

       Make use of visualization during competition.

       Stay in the present moment.  The most important play in basketball is the one that is happening right now.  Human beings tend to not be in the present.  We’re either worrying about the past or worrying about the future.  Those projections into the future are almost always negative.  For example a player standing at the free throw line is thinking “what will happen if a miss the shot?” All these projections into the future are 90% negative in 90% untrue, but it really affects performance.  Emphasize two players to keep their minds in the present because that’s where the action is.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

1. I will lead from the front.

2. Everyone must prove himself and earn what he gets.

3. Better training leads to better performance.

4. The easy way is not the best way.  If it is tough, then you are doing it right.

5. Keep it simple.

6. Don’t assume anything.

7. Don’t ask someone to do something that you would not do yourself.

8. Questions he asks himself to start each day

What is my mission today?

Was I always this way?

What will satisfy me?

Do I ever recognize defeat?

How can I turn today’s negatives into positives?

What is my ultimate goal?

9.  I will test new ideas on myself first.

10. I am totally committed to what I believe and will risk all that I have for these beliefs.

11. I will back my subordinates completely when they take reasonable risks to help me achieve my goals.

12. I will not punish subordinate’s mistakes, except for when they do not learn from their mistakes.

13. I will not be afraid to take action, almost any action is better than inaction.  Sometimes not acting is the boldest action of all.

14. I will always make it crystal clear where I stand and what I believe.

15. I will be easy to find and at the center of the action.

Click here to read a part of the book

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coaching including basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

In your individual workouts and as you play 5 on 5, make sure that you have a plan and a series of drills to expand these three areas of your game.  Our skills training sessions at Alodia are designed to help players be more effective in each of these areas, and to learn when to apply each in a game.

Three Point Shot:  Work to develop the ability to hit the three point shot after coming off screens and to relocate when the ball is dribbled into the lane or fed to the post.  You need to improve (through practice) your ability to get the shot off quickly, but without hurrying on all of your catches.  You do that by being prepared before you catch the ball, not by increasing the speed of your shooting motion.

Midrange Game:  If you can hit the three point shot consistently, defenders will jump, or at least come out of their stance, to challenge your shot.  Learn to believably shot fake the three-pointer and make a getaway dribble for a midrange shot, or to get into the lane for a “runner” or “floater.”  Having the ability to hit that running shot in the lane is key as defenders in the lane get bigger and better when you move up the competitive ladder.

Driving Game:  Once you can hit that one dribble pull up shot, a helping defender will come after you, so you need to have dribble moves to beat that helper and get to the basket to score.  Attack the basket to score, and not just to draw a foul.  If you drive with the mindset to score (even if you are fouled), you have a much better chance of getting the basket and a free throw.  The other benefit of this mindset is that you might not always get the foul call, but if you put the ball in the basket, you don’t have to rely on the official’s call to score.

Make sure that you are consciously practicing each of these aspects of individual offense to be able to fit them into your team’s offensive scheme.  Look for how and when to apply those areas in games and then evaluate the effectiveness of each and what you need to work on to improve each one.

Here are some things that coaches expect of their perimeter players:

1. Be aggressive and make good things happen for the team and your teammates
2. Be a leader.  Not everyone is a vocal leader, but anyone can lead by example.
3. Be a smart player.  Soak up everything your coaches teach you and study the great players.
4. Know what your coach wants done and give it everything you have to make it happen.
5. Encourage your teammates.  Be there for them if they are struggling.  Bring out the best in them.
6. Focus your vision under the net so that you see the whole floor when you have the ball.
7. Use your dribble to get out of trouble, not to get into trouble.
8. Make the easy pass and the simple play.  Trying to make ESPN type highlight plays gets you beat.
9. Don’t pick up your dribble without a pass or a shot.
10. Never cross the half court line and pick up your dribble.  That invites double teams.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coachingincluding basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills,basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

I believe that you can change from losing to winning quickly–that means this season.  What it takes is talent (which you have) and a change in mindset which your coaches will instill in you.   That change in mindset means that you are going to have to make major improvements in these six areas.

None of this stuff is easy, but you know what?  It is not supposed to be easy!!

In my opinion, winning is about six things.

These things are things that your coaches are going to work with you on.  You Have two of the six–you have a good program culture and you play hard, so you aren’t starting at the beginning, but there is a long way to go.  The good news is that you can, and I believe that you will, get there!

I am going to tell you three things that I want you to take with you and I hope that they contribute to your progress.  I am going to give you those three things now, and then will expand on each of them:

1.  Your school has won in the past, can win again, and it can happen this year and with you guys.
2.  For it to happen, you must listen to your coaches and do more than they expect!  I will talk about what I mean by that in a few minutes.
3.   I believe that mental toughness is essential to being the best that you can be.  Anyone be as mentally tough as they want to be.  It is
a matter of making up your mind that you are going to be tough and then sticking with your decision, and not let others influence you or
keep you from being tough.

Now I would like to expand on those three points a little.
1. You can win and you have the chance to make it happen and be a part of the team that caused the change.  You have a great opportunity to be remembered as the team that changed your basketball program for the better.  We won in the past and anything that has happened in the past can happen again.

Your average game was a 10 point loss last year–changing one play per quarter means an 8 point swing for the game–which gives you a chance.  It is certainly easier said than done.  Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, but the opportunity is there for you.  You have a great opportunity.  Are you willing to give the total effort every possession, 50 times a game, that is needed to Make an 8 point swing on defense?  Your coaches can help on offense by teaching you to play smarter and by improving your skills.

You don’t win without playing defense. Take the NBA and NCAA final games.

The score for the 7th game of the NBA finals would have been LA 55 Boston 53 for  a 32 minute high school game–and that is with a 24 second shot clock.

The Butler–Duke score would have been Duke 49 Butler 47 in 32 minutes.   Butler held every team but Duke under 60 (48 in high school) to get to the finals.  My point is that the best teams are great defensively in addition to being able to score.

What does it take to play together?  A lot, but one one thing is for sure, no team has ever been great without great role players.  Can you think of one?  Lakers?, Celtics?, Duke?, Butler?  The best teams on your schedule? They all have outstanding role players.

What is a role player?  Here is my definition:  A role player is a player who is more concerned with team success than with individual recognition because he knows that team success comes from doing what the coaches want him to do.  Even bad teams have leading scorers and all conference players.  No coach ever has a problem finding guys who want to shoot the ball.  All coaches are always looking for players to do the dirty job.

I coached a lot of great guys.  I am going to tell you one story about a role player my first year as a head coach.  He averaged 2 points a game and led the team in minutes played.  He guarded the other team’s best player, he was our primary ballhandler, he was a designated screener.  If he was in the game he took the ball out.  We were tied at the last game of the regular season.  He turned his ankle and was on the bench with his shoe off and ankle in a bucket off ice water.  We had the ball out of bounds with 2 seconds left and I wanted to put him in the game.  He stood on one foot without a shoe on the other and inbounded the ball.  We scored and won the game.  That is a team player.  I wanted him to throw the ball in because he gave us a far better chance to win with him inbounding the ball.

It is your job to get so good at something that the team isn’t as good if you aren’t in there for that role.  I guarantee that your coaches will know who the inbounds passer they want inbounding the ball is.  They will know who their best on ball defender, off ball defender, block out player, screener, and so on.  There is no reason that each of you can’t find a way to contribute.  We had guys who came in the last minute to foul.  We had guys who contributed by working extremely hard in practice.

Work as if everything depends on you performing your role–act as if nothing depends on you.

2. The best advice that I always give players is to listen to your coach.  When it comes to basketball, you have to tune them in and tune everyone else out.  There is no doubt that the people who give you advice care about you, but they are not at practice every day and don’t have the information to know what they are talking about regarding your basketball team.  They don’t have to have a big picture view of everyone, they only focus on you because they want you to do well.  The bottom line is that someone who is at practice every day and does have the big picture in mind is going to be who you need to listen to.  Everyone on the team has to listen to one voice and be pulling in the same direction for team success. That voice is your coach’s voice.
3. You can be as mentally tough as you want to be.  You don’t have to be big, you don’t have to be mean, you don’t have to be talented.  You can think anything you want to think in your mind.  Mental toughness is the ability to maintain a focus on your role and the coaches instructions even under pressure from the fans, the other team, the scoreboard, and yourself.

You saw an example of how to be tough and play as a team when you watched Butler.

As far as mental toughness.  Did you ever see a Butler player even look concerned, scared, or worried?  Even after they lost a big lead against Syracuse and when they were playing in the most pressure packed game of their lives–the national championship game–you could see it on their faces.  They never lost their faith in each other.

Developing Mental Toughness can happen in one minute.  You can make a determined decision to be tough.  It is up to you and you alone.  Then, the hard part is keeping your commitment to be mentally tough every day.  That is what separates the winners from the losers.

Here is what mental toughness is:  You keep your mind focused on your assignment and playing the game the right way.  You don’t get distracted by anything that ANYONE says or does that is keeping you from what you want.  You don’t lose an unshakeable faith in yourself and your teammates to come through even in the toughest circumstances.  You create your own attitude by what is inside you, and are not influenced by what is going on around you.

It doesn’t help to think about the worst that can happen in a tight game.  If you are shooting a free throw with the game still in doubt, how does it help to worry about missing?  It doesn’t.  It does help to envision yourself making the shots.  That is one part of mental toughness.

I have coached tough players whose families had a lot of money.  I have coached tough players whose families had nothing.  I have coached mentally tough players who were good students and those who were average students.  Talented players and “role” players.  All Conference and guys who played 2 minutes a game.  It doesn’t have to do with age.  I have coached mentally tough freshmen on the varsity.  None of that matters.

I plan on coming to see you guys play some this winter and I want to see you playing together as a team by fulfilling your roles, playing the way the coaches want you to play, playing hard and smart on defense, and being the most mentally tough team on your schedule.  Good luck!

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coachingincluding basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills,basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

His concepts were written in a general format that applies to any area and I have adapted them to basketball coaching and basketball programs.  I use all of them to measure myself, but there are several thoughts that you can share with your assistants and your players.

1.  Most victories in life are achieved through small wins sustained over a long period of time.

2.  Set up a thinking schedule and put it on your calendar.  He suggests half a day every two weeks.  I think most of us would be better suited for 20-30 minutes a day. Think on paper, at your computer, or with a digital recorder.  The goal of thinking is to improve your actions and your results.

3.  Most people who are successful, find that their greatest success was achieved just beyond the point where they were convinced that their idea was not going to work.

4.  You measure a leader by influence, nothing more, nothing less.

5.  Regardless of how well you do your job and how smoothly your program runs, there will always be conflict and there will always be tough calls to make because you can’t please everyone.

6.  People have to buy into the leader first before they will buy into the vision.

7.  To add growth lead followers, to multiply growth, lead leaders.

8.  Your leadership ability determines your effectiveness.  Measuring leadership ability on a scale of 1-10, a leader will only attract others with lower levels of leadership ability.  So if a leader is a 7, she will only attract people to her organization who are 6s or less in terms of leadership ability.  The more we can improve ourselves as leaders, the better leaders we will attract to our organization.

9.  Your life today is a result of your thinking from yesterday.

10.  What you think leads to what you believe.  What you believe leads to what you expect.  What you expect changes your Attitude.  Your attitude changes your behavior.  Your behavior changes your performance.

11.  One major difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.

12.  We should be talking to ourselves rather than listening to ourselves.  Listening is passive and talking is active.  When we are discourages, uninvited thoughts come into our minds and start talking to us and we listen to them rather than talking to them.

13.  Another difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that successful people know that their behavior determines their feelings.  Unsuccessful people allow their feelings to determine their behavior.

14.  Believe in, serve, and add value to others before they do for you.  People tend to move toward others who increase them, and away from those who devalue them.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coachingincluding basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills,basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!

Hopefully you might be able to find a way to makes some adaptations and use it with your team.

My rules for the one possession game is as follows:

If you have two 5 player squads that are equally split, start with a jump ball (give you a chance to go through your jump ball situation).  Team that gets the jump ball has one offensive possession that is played like a game.  At the end of that possession continue to play like a game.  The team that started on defense now has the ball whether they got a defensive rebound, had to inbound after a basket or a turnover, or got a steal.

The winner is whoever has more points after each team has had the ball once.  If it is a tie, continue to play live like a game until one team has a lead after both teams have had the same number of possessions.

If you have a team with your five starters superior to the second unit, let the second group have the ball to start, so that the first group must get a stop, score at least two points on their possession, and then get another shutout before they win.  So, they must get two stops and score at least two points to win.  If they fail on any of those three possessions, they lose.

Of course, you are going to want to set your own parameters, but here are a couple of rules that I think are good.  One is that on every foul, play it like the double bonus plus the ball back.  That way if the first team scores, they can’t foul the worst free throw shooter on the other team to preserver a win, or at worst get a tie.  You might want to wait until they figure that one out to make it a rule.  Depending on your philosophy and the situation, you might want to foul late to preserve a three point lead.   Decisions like those will be based on what you want to get out of the drill.

You might also want to consider awarding all jump balls to the defense.  You will want to limit the number of timeouts, but I think that it is important to allow timeouts if you like to use them late in the game to preserve possession.

I like competitive drills and you can decide what consequences the losers suffer or rewards the winners get.  I think that this drill teaches players to compete, to value every possession at both ends, and gives them some confidence when the game does come down at the end to getting a stop and then getting a score.

If you have a manager or an assistant write down the score of each one possession games and how many possessions each one lasted, you have a way at the end of the week to show what a quarter is like when you value every possession and at the end of the month to show how valuing every possession every quarter builds up for 4 quarters.  I truly believe that kind of teaching point helps players understand what you mean by the importance of each trip at both ends.  Then, once they understand the value of that mindset, it is a matter of building the toughness to play each possession as if the game depends on it, because it does.

The Coaching Toolbox has hundreds of resources for basketball coachingincluding basketball practice, basketball plays, basketball drills, basketball quotes, basketball workouts, basketball poems, and more!