• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

  • Basketball Plays
    • Ball Screen Sets
    • Horns Sets
    • Man to Man Post Up
    • Man to Man Isolations
    • Backdoor Plays
    • Man to Man 3 Point Shot Plays
    • 2-3 Zone Attack
    • Baseline Inbound Plays
    • Sideline Inbound Plays
    • Combination Defense Attack
  • Drills
    • Defensive Drills
    • Offensive Drills
    • Competitive Drills
    • Passing Drills
    • Rebounding Drills
    • Shooting and Scoring Drills
    • Toughness Drills
    • Transition & Conversion Drills
    • One on One Drills
  • Blueprint
  • Practice
  • Mental Toughness
  • Skill Development
  • Offense
  • Defense
  • Store

D1 Basketball Coaching Lessons Learned

By Brian Williams on March 15, 2010

D1 Basketball Coaching Lessons Learned

This list is from 100 things I’ve learned from coaching at the college level

By: Phil Beckner, former Boise State Assistant Coach

This is the third  part of three parts of this project.

Here is the link to Lessons 1-37 from this same article

Here is the link to Lessons 38-66 from this same article

Basketball:

67) It hard to make time to work on situations but always keep your last second plays the same and have them rehearsed regularly

68) Keep your ballscreen defense simple. Have a game plan, but be ready to adjust

69) When you plan to “hedge” ballscreens, bigs want to “hide” behind the screener and then jump out to hedge—teach “inside hand to screeners outside hip” This allows bigs to show chest and not be late on the hedge

70) Have a plan for FT blockouts.  Where you put each guy and which side you double with.

71) If you play man and zone during games and you’re not sure which is best, ask players how they want to guard- it keeps them aggressive, and it puts it on them! They buy in to guarding more!

72) Penetrate and kick is the best offense in college basketball

73) If you are a set play team and do not want to “dummy” every set during practice then emphasize                  A) Great pace and B) Great Screening

74)If your post players aren’t great at scoring at the block: “cut and fill” instead of “stand and space” keeps the help defenders occupied w/movement

75) Do not let players throw back on a 2on 1…most times it ends up as a charge!

76) Take 2 to 3 min to emphasize a core principal when warming up.  We closeout, and stay down on shot fakes before we shoot in post/perimeter EVERYDAY.

77) In scouting: players care more about opponents personnel than the actions the team is running.  They will remember other player’s tendencies because they want to be better than that player! Be detailed about this.

78) Practice “bluffing” or “stunting” (quick/fake help) every week in a variety of ways/situations.  Players will start to see more opportunities to do this during live action.

79) Some of the best UOB actions have multiple options once the ball is thrown in (double screen, single double, etc)

80) It’s important to drill defensive principles/defensive actions every day! “Practice what you emphasize”

81) 3 keys to be in every game: transition defense, rebounding, turnovers!

82) Work on transition defense everyday…our mindset is: “we run-they don’t”

83) “Simple plays are great plays”…you don’t need a homerun to be successful

84) Work on blockout situations: it is the end of the shot clock and bigs have had to help on penetration, who blocks out who? (Situations: scramble mode, switching screens, transition, etc.)

85) You have to DRILL “help the helper” all year long.  It has to become habit and instinct.  Drill it in a variety of ways.

86) Teach players every detail for your sets.  They need to know exactly what you want, when you want, and where you want! (screening, cuts, passes, operational area’s, timing)

87) Going for shot fakes will result in points or fouls almost 90% of the time.

88) “Shooting Passes” against a zone are a must.  Make sure players are throwing passes players can shoot off of, you can’t have a poor pass take a guy out of a shot.

89) Look for common “themes” in scouting opponents.  Use this for team prep.  Players understand it better, and will identify the “giveaways” ex: dribble lead to wing: screen under/screen down, a guard sitting at the block: stagger screen action, last 15 seconds of shot clock: random ballscreen

90) When guarding motion: tell players to engage in the entire action, not just guarding their man

91) Post players need to be “active defenders”.  Do more than one thing in a possession! ex: hedge ballscreen, recover to man, bluff help on penetration, discourage post entry pass, then box & rebound!

92) Rebounding-the more you chase the more you get.

93) Post Players can not just watch the shot go up while getting back in transition defense, teach them to box the players running into offensive glass-this is where we give up a lot of offensive rebounds!

94) Teach “ready for the next play” do not let players stand after passing, SPACE for the “next play”.  This is harder to guard, and gets players more shots.

95) Find common terminology for your entire staff and players to use.  Different terms/teaching points can result in confusion.

96) Have a counter play or 2nd option for your best play

97) Make sure to have a “come from behind” plan.  Even if you are not a pressing/trapping team, you have to have something for the last 2 minutes if you are behind.

98) Individual workouts: It’s a great time to send the same message your head coach tries to send to specific players. Ex: driving the ball more vs. shooting more, shot selection for shooters, finishing w/the weak hand etc.

99) Practice and emphasize “game changing plays”.  Ex: Taking a charge, Offensive rebound kicked out for 3, chasing down a wide open lay-up, offensive rebound at the FT line.  FIND momentum changers!!!

100) Always look for a new “competitive” drill (keeping track of time or score) late in the season.  It helps keep practice fresh and players look forward to it.

Thanks for sharing Coach Beckner!

Here is the link to Lessons 1-37 from this same article

Here is the link to Lessons 38-66 from this same article

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!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related Posts:

  • The Best Deals
  • Best Gifts For Basketball Coaches & Trainers for 2020
  • St Andrew’s College Brings Their Basketball Program into…
  • Seven Key Principles For Coaching Youth Basketball
  • The Whole Picture: How High School Film Can Be a Great…

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brock Trice says

    March 16, 2010 at 12:54 am

    Great information and very useful. Sometimes you forget some of these points and its good to hear them being repeated. Coaching is the process of continuous improvement.

Primary Sidebar

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin
coachestoolbox
personaldevelopmenttoolbox
basketballplayerstoolbox
basketballtrainer
athleticperformancetoolbox
coachingbasketball

© Copyright 2023 Coaching Toolbox

Design by BuzzworthyBasketballMarketing.com

Privacy Policy