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These defensive bites from Larry Brown were included in the same newsletter from Xavier that contained the Shell Drill with the interchange.  Here is the link in case you missed it:  Shell Drill with Helpside Interchange.

“I never remember losing a game because of constant back doors or lobs by the opponent. That’s why I want to make offensive players ‘drivers” by pressuring the ball. And, off the ball, I want to take away passes by denying. ”

“You can’t pressure the ball on the perimeter and then allow It to be easily passed to the post. Front the post when you pressure the ball. ”

“In the NBA you can’t allow the offense to run their plays. They will kill you. You must disrupt.”

“As a college coach I spent 30 minutes per practice on guarding the dribble.

“On defense I love to deny one pass away. Don’t let the offense change sides with the ball.

“Why would the defense double team in a late clock situation? You will give up a shot unnecessarily.”

“Work on “shell defense” everyday. Don’t get caught up in the offense’s alignment, mix it up.”

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!

Find a way to chart and reward players for the things you emphasize in your system of play. There are kits available with signs and stickers for players lockers, but it is very easy to make your own as well.

As you watch the video of your games it is easy to chart block out percentage for each player, deflections, going to offensive rebound position, or anything else that is vital to winning but that often goes unnoticed and not rewarded. Come up with a system to give players who meet your standards a visible symbol on their locker or on a bulletin board in the locker room.

For example, anyone with 90% blockouts will receive a sticker on their board. It can be anything or several things that you feel are important and since you are emphasizing it, that area will improve.

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!

I once heard Thad Matta say at a clinic that the number one goal he sets for his coaching staff is to:

“establish a life-long relationship with every player that cannot be broken.”

I changed it a little for our program to include managers and changed the word “player” to “participant” so that the managers would be included.

I carry that statement around with me as a part of my written goals and have continued to look for ways to meet it as I have been at five different schools.

I wanted to share an idea that I had that we put together with a lot of help from some former assistant coaches and one of my former Athletic Directors.

I coached at Winamac High School in Indiana from 99 until 03 and we had a reunion of our teams including players, coaches, managers, parents, administrators, and support staff such as our bus driver, scorekeeper, athletic secretary, etc… and anyone who wanted to bring girlfriends, wives, or children was welcome to.

We didn’t organize any activities (at least I thought we didn’t) other than a cookout lunch. On the invitation, we invited everyone to bring frisbees, corn hole games, and the like. I didn’t know they were going to do it, but the players and some of the assistant coaches put out the word to bring shorts and shoes to play some pickup games on the outdoor court that was right by the pavilion we had reserved. It was fun to see them playing together again. I know they enjoyed it too.

It really wasn’t that difficult or expensive to put together. I started working on it about six months before we had it. Working with my wife, the assistant coaches, and our AD, we reserved the best pavillion in the park which was right next to the playground for the young children, close to the restrooms, and close to the basketball court.

Using e-mail invitations, facebook, and free cell phone long distance, it was very inexpensive to contact everyone that I needed to get hold of. We made it a pitch in and that made the food prep easy.

One really odd coincidence occurred as my wife and I stopped for dinner on the way back home. The drive for us was about two hours and we stopped about half way in Kokomo, which is the main artery for traffic heading from Indianapolis north or heading south to Indy. Of all of the people in that area at the time we were, we ran into the father of one of our 2003 graduates who is serving in the military in Iraq and obviously could not make the reunion. I wonder what the chance of that happening are?. I had not seen the dad since I left Winamac in 2003, but have corresponded online with the former player.

I am putting this idea out for you because I know that those who were able to come really had a good time renewing some dear friendships. We are going to do it every other year and I am already looking forward to the 2011 gathering!

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!

During a webinar that I did with Coach Bob Hurley, he gave us a lot of great information. 

One of the things he said that resonated with me was the idea of validating drills. 

He said that he picked it up from Coach Vance Walberg of Dribble Drive Motion fame.

Consider telling your team at the beginning of some of the competitive drills that you run that at the end they will need to “validate” it.  For example, if you split your team into two groups and do a competitive shooting drill, the team that wins the drill must then make a free throw (coach chooses the player to shoot so that all players have a chance to shoot the free throw eventually) to validate their win.

If the player makes the free throw, the team that lost the drill must run.  If the player misses the free throw, then the team that won the drill must run.

It is a good way to shoot some pressure free throws and to teach that for most of the games you win, you have to close them by making free throws.

We use the traditional coach grabbing his arm at the end of a gameto signal that we want to take  an “intentional unintentional foul.” We verbally say “ball” to communicate to our players to get the ball (and a clean foul in the process of making a play on the ball is acceptable), rather than saying “foul” which is going to be called intentional when the official hears you.

We teach our players in practice that we are not fouling, but that we are going to make a clean and aggressive play to take the ball away from the ballhandler.  We either want them to take the basketball or an get called for an unintentional foul.  There have been times when we have come up with the ball and not been called for a foul.  The situations we practice doing this are at the end of the first half with “fouls to give” before entering the bonus, “fouls to give” at the end of the game, needing to stop the clock to catch up at the end of the game, and fouling with three point lead to keep the opponent from taking a three point shot.  I do not believe in fouling just to foul when we have fouls to give.  We use them to be more aggressive in going for rebounds or loose balls and if we are beaten and are not able to get help.

Here is the link to the blog entry on: Fouling at the End to Preserve a Three Point Lead.

We do our best to instill in our players this mindset that our mission is to take the ball and if we get a foul called in the process it is okay because that stops the clock and forces the opponent to shoot free throws.  Hopefully, this “get the ball” mindset rather than the “foul” mindset has saved us a couple of intentional fouls through the years.

We also have a signal to call off our “ball call” by raising an open hand. We use this if we have caught up and no longer need to foul because hopefully if that is the case, the gym is too load for verbal communication. We don’t take it for granted that the players know the situation or the score. Even if you are tied and you have been fouling, that is no reason to believe that the players know the situation and will react as you want them to.

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 an effort to emphasize the importance of being fundamentally sound and improving our execution, I have always told teams that I coach that the outcome of a game that is decided by less than 10 points can be changed by altering four possessions of that game. The problem is, we won’t know what plays that we would want to change until after the game.  Since we don’t know ahead of time which possessions are game changers, it is absolutely necessary to properly execute every phase of every possession because as each possession occurs, it might be one of those four that change the game.  Then, we won’t have to look back and look for those plays and wish we would have executed properly and given a better effort.

We have not been anywhere near perfect in this area.  The purpose of this post is to give you some ideas that I have picked up from other coaches that have definitely made a difference in our execution.   As Don Meyer says, it really is “Not what you teach, but what you emphasize.”  Presenting to our teams as four game changing plays has helped me to emphasize this concept.

They could be plays that lead to the “four point swing” such as not meeting a pass leading to a steal and a layup.  Eliminating other senseless turnovers such as trying to force a pass that isn’t there, not chinning a defensive rebound and getting stripped, three second calls, or getting in a hurry help to stay away from game changing swings.

Taking a bad shot that gives us less of a chance to score and gives our opponent a chance for a numbers advantage break is another of the crucial plays.  I heard Jay Bilas say in the pre-game show for the Mens’ Championship game that “a bad shot is the first pass for your opponent’s fast break.”  I think that is a great way to put it.  Trying to dribble a loose ball and not picking it up and chinning it which allows the other team get it is another play that is easily corrected with proper execution.  Being aware of the clock at the end of a quarter, the half, or the shot clock is another play that we can control.

I heard Thad Matta at a clinic (when he coached at Butler) and he talked about “The Butler Way.”  One of the things he said he used was a tape that showed several individual plays that typified what that “Way” was.  They would periodically watch that tape of diving on loose balls, making the extra pass, a possession where all five players got their blockout, all five players sprinting back on defense after a made basket, etc…  This type of tape reinforces what our players should be doing.

I think for a high school coach it is good to have that kind of tape that shows plays from your team and your opponents for the current season, plays from your teams in previous seasons, and players that your team can identify with in the pros or college.  Rick Majerus had a “Be like Mike” tape showing Jordan taking charges, diving on loose balls, and fighting for rebounds.  In my opinion, the best play to add to the tape that I saw this year was Levance Fields of Pitt against Xavier.  He trailed a teammate on a break-away, which is an easy hustle play not to do, the teammate lost the ball as he was going to dunk it, Fields got it, layed it in, and then as the other player was laying out of bounds, yelled at him to get up and get back on defense.  Bruno Chu of the Xs and Os of Basketball posted the video on YouTube and on his site if you didn’t record that game.  Here is the link:  Levance Fields on YouTube.

Take any four of those possessions and have them go in favor of the losing team and you have a game that is played differently the last few minutes which could change the outcome.  I have framed it in this manner which I believe has helped our players to understand the importance of each possession.  My point is that these are plays that collectively can change a game and are completely within the control of the players who have been properly taught and drilled to execute them in games.  The mindset I strive to establish is to have repeated and emphasized these plays in practice and pointed them out at timeouts in games so that we are aware and prepared to make these plays when they happen rather than watching them on film and going over what we “shoulda, coulda, woulda.”

Not only do these plays make a difference on the scoreboard, but that difference is multiplied as a factor of the momentum they can create or negate.  Here is a link to an article I posted about these plays and their effect on momentum: Momentum Killers and Momentum Getters.

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!