Blog

One more item from the e-mail sent out by Eric Musselman

BUILDING THE VILLANOVA DEFENSE

Jay Wright

Starts with basic man principles of ball-you-man.

Win or lose – make sure you played “your way.” No one ever likes to lose, but when you watch game film, you always want to see that you played “your way,” win or lose.

The trapping and switching nature of their defense is based on “Calculated Risk.” They don’t want to miss an opportunity to “Blitz and Step-Up.”

Situations where Calculated Risks are appropriate for Blitzing include: 1) anytime the ball is dribbled toward you as a defender. 2) Your man brings you to the ball. 3) The ball is dribbled to the baseline setting up a trap from behind.

They want to Blitz all ball screens or dribble hand-offs when defenders react to the Calculated Risk situations. Teaching point is that the trappers should never foul or get steals. Trappers are deflectors.

When a 2-man game occurs, the other three players “load” to the 2-man game.

Man guarding the screener calls the “Blitz” or “Switch.” If you are guarding the ball-handler, always assume “Blitz” and he must step over the top to trap, or to be put in a ball-you-man position on the roll man if a switch occurs. If a big switches on to a small, the other three defenders should “load to the iso.”

Never want to switch for convenience, would always prefer to “Blitz” if they can.

These rules are all applicable in the scoring area, approximately three feet beyond the three-line and in.

Coach Del Harris commented that it is an effective technique to teach someone going over a ball screen to do so by crowding the man with the ball and then throwing his leg and arm over the top in one motion.

The two videos below came from the Jay Wright: 1-2-2 and 1-1-2-1 Three-Quarter Court Pressure Defense. You can click the link for more information about the DVD.

Here is a short video of some of the concepts of their 2-3 Zone Defense.

Click the play arrow to start the You Tube video. Please make sure that your sound is on.

Click the play arrow to start the You Tube video. Please make sure that your sound is on.

VILLANOVA ATTITUDE CLUB AND SPECIAL SITUATIONS:

Attitude Club is a way to reward players who are doing the critical things that they put a premium on. A good play per minute ratio is .8 or above. Categories include: pass to the assist (hockey concept of 2 assists), screen assist, loose ball retrieval, paint pass, o-board, tap-back on FT, quick outlet, paint catches, deflections, shot contest to change shot.

They like to practice Base OB, Side OB, Endline OB, with specific situations based on clock ( 0-3 seconds, 4-7 seconds). Can run their regular stuff in 8 seconds or more.

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!

Words of wisdom for point guards (presented by Steve Nash at the Nike Point Guard Academy)

“You should always want your coach to be critical.  It gives you an opportunity to learn and to overcome adversity.”

“You maximize your potential by being humble develop a work ethic, strive to be a good person, and to be the best teammate you can be.”

“Use your scoring ability to be a better passer, and your passing skills to become a better scorer.”

“You can’t be a point guard who gets into the lane and always passes. Capitalize on the real estate you have gained.”

“Point Guard must be able to pass with both hands equally off the dribble.”

‘”I am always thinking how can I get myself  better.”

“On the fast break, after 2 or 3 hard dribbles you should see the whole floor and know where all your teammates are.”

These ideas from Steve Nash were sent to me by Coach Eric Musselman

The video below was contributed by Mason Waters. Mason is a college student and aspiring basketball coach.

The video is 11 minutes long. I know that most guards will not be able to make all of the moves, but I hope you can find an idea or two that will help your guards play better.

Please make sure that your sound is on.

Contributed by Coach Ken Sartini

I always had 2-3 “Thoughts for the Day” for every practice.  I would read one before practice started and one somewhere in the middle if I thought they needed a short break and a good message.  But, I always saved ONE for the end of practice, I always picked one of the players to read it.  There were times they asked me what that meant and of course I would throw it back to them first… asking them what THEY thought it meant.

This one day, I had this article and picked a senior to read it because of the message involved.  It was obvious that he was moved by it from the tone of his voice, he was having problems keeping it together.  When he was done, he turned to me and said…..

” I wish you would have warned me about this, it really got to me. ”  The team was very quiet and I could tell that this message had gotten through to them too.

” IF ”

IF I knew it would be the last time that I would see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

IF I knew it would be the last time that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and a kiss and call you back for one more.

IF I knew it would be the last time I’d hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word so I could play it back day after day.

IF I knew it would be the last time I could spare an extra minute or two,
To stop and say “I love You,” Instead of assuming you KNOW I do.

IF I knew it would be the last time I would be there to share your day…..
Well, I’m sure you’ll have so many more, So I can just let this one slip away.

For surely there’s always tomorrow To make up for an oversight, And we always
get a second chance to make everything right.  There will always be another
day to say our  “I love you’s” and certainly there’s another chance to say our
“Anything I can do’s?”

BUT just in case I might be wrong, and today is all I get,I’d like to say how
much I love you And I hope we never forget that …. Tomorrow is not promised
to anyone, Young or old alike.  And today may be the last chance to get to hold
your loved one tight.

SO if you’re waiting for tomorrow, Why not do it today?
For IF tomorrow never comes, You’ll surely regret the day.
That you didn’t take that extra time for a smile. a hug or a kiss.

AND you were too busy to grant someone, What turned out to be their one
last wish.  So hold your loved ones close today, and whisper in their ear.  Tell
them how much you love them and that you’ll always hold them dear.

Take the time to say “I’m sorry,”  “Please forgive me.” Thank you,” or
“it’s ok,” and IF tomorrow never comes, You’ll have NO REGRETS about today.

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!

Other than the John Wooden definition of success at the end, I am not sure where I came across the rest of this, but I thought that it was worth passing along.  I think it is something that is worth constantly reminding your teams about as you work to keep an even keel throughout the season.

In my opinion, one of the most important life lessons to be learned in competitive athletics is that you can work very hard and sacrifice, but not always come out on top on the scoreboard because the other team is also working hard.  It is a different lesson than a classroom, because most high school students can earn successful grades in most classes where they do work very hard.  They are not competing against others for the grades, only against a standard.  I like to use this thought to help players to come to terms with losses when they have put a lot of effort in and seemingly not gotten a return on their investment.

The road to becoming a good basketball player is not by any means an easy road.  It is a road paved with hard work, sweat, skinned knees, and sometimes tears.  Along the way you will find victory and defeat, encouragement and discouragement, disappointment and joy, praise and criticism, success and failure, but you should always retain the satisfaction of knowing you did the best you were possibly capable of doing.  Success is this self-satisfaction.

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!

 

This idea came from Coach Ed Schilling. Ed has been a head coach at Wright State University, Park Tudor (IN) High School–2 State Championships, Western Boone (IN) High School, and Logansport (IN) High School. He has been an assistant for the New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets, UMass, Memphis, UCLA, and Indiana.

A study of 10,000 games high school, college, NBA found that in 96% of the games in the study, you can tell when to start your catch up game–that is taking quicker shots and fouling by using this formula:

1. Round the time up to the next minute.
2. Double the number of minutes  and it turns to points rather than minutes.
3. Add one point.
4. The fourth factor is that the other team has the ball.

For example: 1:22 to go in the game.

1. Round up the time  (1:22 rounds up to 2 minutes).
2. Double 2 minutes, so it becomes 4 points).
3. Add one point makes 5 points.
4. If the other team has the ball and you are behind by five or more points, then you must play in your catch up mode.

The key to being able to execute catching up, or anything in a game, is to:

1. Teach the players exactly what you want them to do.
2. Rehearse it several times in your situations segment.

You can read 13 of the 130 Winning Special Situations eBook. Click this link to read a sample of the eBook.