Tom Izzo Rebounding Drill

By Brian Williams on November 5, 2009

“TOM IZZO”S BEST REBOUNDING DRILL”

from Coach Eric Musselman

RULES:

1.) Put 5 defenders in line right under the rim facing half court.

2.) Place 5 offensive players on the perimeter. Put a player in each corner, each wing, and one at the point.

3.) The coach shoots the ball from different spots on the floor.

4.) When the shot is taken the defenders rush out to block out the offensiver players. If they get the defensive rebound the get 1 POINT and pass the ball to the coach and go back to their original positions.

5.) If the offense gets a rebound they get 1 Point and must put the shot right back up and if they make the shot they get another point. They have to put the ball right back up they cannot take it back up top. Every time the offense gets a rebound they get a point.

6.) You play to the first team getting 10 points. Losers run! (You can have either an offensive or defensive winner.

Thought for the Day

By Brian Williams on November 2, 2009

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!

Basketball Team Selection Criteria

By Brian Williams on October 27, 2009

This document was contributed by Mark Williams, Head Boys Basketball Coach, Fremont High School, Fremont, Nebraska

You can click here to Download the document in pdf format.

FREMONT HIGH SCHOOL
TEAM SELECTION CRITERIA
BOYS BASKETBALL

“Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.”

We are very proud of our program here at Fremont High School and are also pleased that so many players want to be associated with our teams. However, to maintain the level of success we have enjoyed, squad selection becomes a necessity.

There are many factors that enter into the selection of members for all of our Boys Basketball squads. This process is probably one of, if not the toughest part of coaching. As coaches we try very hard to be fair in our judgments, as we fully realize the athlete’s desire to be a member of our teams and the disappointments associated with not making the squad.

It is impossible to make a purely objective evaluation, based entirely on the mastery of basketball skills, or any other criteria. Too many other things have to be considered in order to maintain a successful program. Consequently, subjective evaluations are basically opinions and are open to many arguments both for and against these evaluations. Please keep in mind that the coaches have been hired as professionals to make these types of decisions. Also realize that the coaches want to make the teams and the program the best they can possibly be and will not exclude players they believe will accomplish this in the end.

Coaches will make selections based on the following general guidelines:

Players that will make our teams better.
Players we believe have a realistic chance to play varsity basketball at some point in their career.
Players that fit the available positions for the greatest benefit of the team.

More specifically, coaches will consider:

TALENT/ PHYSICAL ABILITIES/ MASTERY OF FUNDAMENTALS

How well has he mastered the offensive skills or shooting, passing, dribbling, and screening?
How strong is he and does he like to rebound?
Does he look like he will grow or has he reached growth potential?
How quick are his feet and his reaction time?
Does he have the ability to think and react quickly?
Does he like to play defense?
If he has any size, can he play the forward position as well as a post position?
If he is a forward, can he handle the ball well enough to play guard or is he big enough to play post?
If he is a guard, can he go inside and post up his defensive man?
Is this guard a leader?

EFFORT/ WILLINGNESS TO WORK

Must not be afraid of hard work, both in season and out of season.

WILLINGNESS TO LISTEN, LEARN, AND THE ABILITY TO APPLY WHAT IS LEARNED.

Can he be coached or does he seem to know it all?

SELF DISCIPLINE

Is he on time?
Can he work hard on his own without having someone looking over his shoulder to push him?
Is he a troublemaker on the court? At games? In class? At lunch? Etc…

*** PLAYERS MAY NOT BE ABLE TO DO ALL THE THINGS THEIR FRIENDS DO!

CONDUCT

What behavior does he display towards the school, administration, teachers and other students?
What is his attendance record, past and present? Tardies? Detentions?
What kind of grades does he have, past and present? Will he have trouble with eligibility?

ATTITUDE

Has he quit the Reserve or JV team after he had been selected?
What will his attitude be if he is not likely to be a starter?
Does he dislike losing or does losing not seem to bother him?
Is he a team player, or is he all for himself?
Will he be willing to accept any role in order to benefit the team?

(Example: Starter, 6^th man, practice player, etc.)

Does he have great desire on and off the floor to be the best that he can possibly be?

In addition the following things are also considered:

How many returning starters do we have?
How many lettermen are returning?
Has the player played on the 10^th grade or JV team?
Have there been any transfers into the district and what level of proficiency do they display?
What kind of offense/ defense do we want to run this year?

By no means is this an all-inclusive list we use to evaluate players but it does cover many of the things we look for in the selection of our teams. We strive to use our best possible professional judgment, and if we error, we try to do so by keeping more players on squads, rather than less.

As always, we appreciate and value each student as an individual, but will base all decisions on what is best for the TEAM.

The Road to Becoming a Good Basketball Player

By Brian Williams on October 26, 2009

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.

Great End of Game Basketball Coaching Strategy

By Brian Williams on September 27, 2009

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:

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

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

Round up the time (1:22 rounds up to 2 minutes).
Double 2 minutes, so it becomes 4 points).
Add one point makes 5 points.
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:

Teach the players exactly what you want them to do.
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.

Larry Brown on Defense

By Brian Williams on August 24, 2009

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.”