Walking out the door for a three day road trip... the very reason I tried to retire :-)
No posts while I'm gone. See you on Friday!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
What's a College For?
This week Grinnell's Jack Taylor scored 138 points to break the NCAA single game scoring record. I couldn't let that milestone achievement pass without a comment.
First, most of the things I heard about the performance were positive. But there were a few comments that questioned the idea of one player, or one team, scoring that much. One coach said to me, "That kind of gimmicky performance gives small college basketball a bad name."
I don't agree. We all know there have been System critics since the day it was created. Something this different is bound to be criticized, if for no other reason than that it is different. If the complaint is based on the supposed "sportsmanship" issue, we've all heard that before. And what does it matter, really, who scores the points? If the issue is the margin of Grinnell's victory, this is an odd time to bring that up. They've been winning big for a long time, and that's the nature of the System. The Grinnell System is designed to maximize offensive production, at the risk of giving up a lot of points. Grinnell has been beaten handily in the past. So have my teams. So has every System team. When you choose this style, that's the risk you take, and despite what some critics might believe, I know that Grinnell does not routinely run up the score on opponents. Quite the contrary, Coach A routinely slows the game down when his team has the game won. He's always done that.
But if the complaint is that it's somehow "wrong" to go outside the commonly accepted definition of "good basketball," in an effort to see what an individual player or a team is truly capable of, then I don't get it. This game and this performance were examples of why Grinnell is good for college basketball. And make no mistake, this was a landmark performance. To say, as my coaching friend did, that the performance was "gimmicky" is to ignore the fact that Grinnell played a fantastic game. How is a 1.44 Offensive Efficiency Ratio (i.e points per possession) "gimmicky?" Grinnell played a great game... they just didn't play a great game using a conventional approach.
No, with 1800 other colleges in America dedicated to playing ball-control basketball, isn't it refreshing that there are one or two that are trying new approaches, and testing the limits of the game? Isn't the purpose of going to college to "test your limits?" Colleges and universities are not just places to earn a degree in order to get a higher paying job. They are environments where we explore the boundaries of knowledge and human performance.
That's what Jack Taylor did. He showed what a college basketball player is capable of. Grinnell has been pushing the boundaries for 20 years, demonstrating 22 nights a season from November to March that teams and individuals can do extraordinary things under the right conditions. Grinnell has been a laboratory for such performances in exactly the same way that an exercise scientist at the University of Iowa uses his lab to measure and improve human performance.
The only difference? At Iowa, they do it in the basement of the Chemistry Building, and publish the results in a prestigious research journal. At Grinnell, they do it in Darby Gym, and broadcast the results on ESPN.
Well done, Grinnell College. Well done, Jack Taylor.
First, most of the things I heard about the performance were positive. But there were a few comments that questioned the idea of one player, or one team, scoring that much. One coach said to me, "That kind of gimmicky performance gives small college basketball a bad name."
I don't agree. We all know there have been System critics since the day it was created. Something this different is bound to be criticized, if for no other reason than that it is different. If the complaint is based on the supposed "sportsmanship" issue, we've all heard that before. And what does it matter, really, who scores the points? If the issue is the margin of Grinnell's victory, this is an odd time to bring that up. They've been winning big for a long time, and that's the nature of the System. The Grinnell System is designed to maximize offensive production, at the risk of giving up a lot of points. Grinnell has been beaten handily in the past. So have my teams. So has every System team. When you choose this style, that's the risk you take, and despite what some critics might believe, I know that Grinnell does not routinely run up the score on opponents. Quite the contrary, Coach A routinely slows the game down when his team has the game won. He's always done that.
But if the complaint is that it's somehow "wrong" to go outside the commonly accepted definition of "good basketball," in an effort to see what an individual player or a team is truly capable of, then I don't get it. This game and this performance were examples of why Grinnell is good for college basketball. And make no mistake, this was a landmark performance. To say, as my coaching friend did, that the performance was "gimmicky" is to ignore the fact that Grinnell played a fantastic game. How is a 1.44 Offensive Efficiency Ratio (i.e points per possession) "gimmicky?" Grinnell played a great game... they just didn't play a great game using a conventional approach.
No, with 1800 other colleges in America dedicated to playing ball-control basketball, isn't it refreshing that there are one or two that are trying new approaches, and testing the limits of the game? Isn't the purpose of going to college to "test your limits?" Colleges and universities are not just places to earn a degree in order to get a higher paying job. They are environments where we explore the boundaries of knowledge and human performance.
That's what Jack Taylor did. He showed what a college basketball player is capable of. Grinnell has been pushing the boundaries for 20 years, demonstrating 22 nights a season from November to March that teams and individuals can do extraordinary things under the right conditions. Grinnell has been a laboratory for such performances in exactly the same way that an exercise scientist at the University of Iowa uses his lab to measure and improve human performance.
The only difference? At Iowa, they do it in the basement of the Chemistry Building, and publish the results in a prestigious research journal. At Grinnell, they do it in Darby Gym, and broadcast the results on ESPN.
Well done, Grinnell College. Well done, Jack Taylor.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
It's Not What You Think
NCC 96- Benedictine 91
93 FGAs (goal 90)
60 Threes (goal 45)
42% ORB (goal 40%)
33 TOs (goal 33)
+16 Shots (goal +15)
My first year coaching the System in 2004-05 was an education. I felt like I was starting all over. I was starting all over. So much of what I thought I knew about basketball was being challenged by the wise System coaches I learned from: David Arseneault, Gary Smith, Bob Belf, Bunky Harkleroad, Ron Rohn, and many others whose posts I read each day on the RunandGun chatgroup.
So much of what I thought I knew about basketball was wrong. It wouldn't have been wrong had I been coaching a conventional game, but it was wrong for the System game. What "wrong" things did I believe?
The System focuses on other things, things which ought to be obvious, but for some reason are not obvious to everybody. It focuses on the "Formula for Success," the five goals listed above (and please note for the time being that not one of these goals has anything to do with boxing out... more on this in a moment.) Today, for the first time at NCC, we met every goal. Five for five. We scored 57 points in the second half, and knocked down 17 threes (both are new school records).
What you cannot see above is that we got outrebounded badly (again) in the first half, which led to an argument among the coaching staff at halftime. "We have to box out!" That was the consensus of four of our five coaches. I'm embarrassed to say I was the lone hold out. Embarrassed because I don't enjoy being the killjoy, and I don't like contradicting my fellow coaches. They are smart people who know basketball. But I know System basketball, and I know that the key to rebounding is effort and hustle and a commitment to getting to the ball. And I know that focusing on a technique (boxing out) rather than on an attitude ("I'm going after that rebound!") is ultimately self-defeating.
Dennis Rodman wasn't the best rebounder in the NBA in the 1990's because he was the biggest or the quickest. He was the best because he had a burning desire to get to every loose ball. EVERY loose ball. He was a great rebounder because rebounding was his priority.
If you are going to coach System basketball, you had better start by assuming that most of your initial instincts are wrong. Or at least need to be questioned. When an opponent breaks your press and scores, is your first instinct to become more conservative? When your offense is not scoring consistently, do you start thinking about some cool plays you can run, "just until they get back on track"? When your team fails to rebound well, do you assume it's because you aren't boxing out? Well, maybe you're right. Maybe you aren't boxing out worth a flip, but that not why you are rebounding poorly.
Today, we played real System ball for the first time. We didn't box out any better in the second half than we did in the first, yet we dominated the boards on both ends of the court. Offensive rebounding and defensive turnovers are the two most critical stats in System basketball. Why? Because turnovers and rebounds lead to extra shots, and getting extra shots is what makes the System work. Is it any coincidence that the key to these two stats is effort? Not pre-planned rotatations. Not perfect technique. Not boxing out. Your players can have the best technique in the conference, but if they lack one other essential quality, they couldn't get a rebound if it hit them on the head.
What is that one essential quality? It's not what you think. It's not technique, it's heart.
93 FGAs (goal 90)
60 Threes (goal 45)
42% ORB (goal 40%)
33 TOs (goal 33)
+16 Shots (goal +15)
My first year coaching the System in 2004-05 was an education. I felt like I was starting all over. I was starting all over. So much of what I thought I knew about basketball was being challenged by the wise System coaches I learned from: David Arseneault, Gary Smith, Bob Belf, Bunky Harkleroad, Ron Rohn, and many others whose posts I read each day on the RunandGun chatgroup.
So much of what I thought I knew about basketball was wrong. It wouldn't have been wrong had I been coaching a conventional game, but it was wrong for the System game. What "wrong" things did I believe?
- That giving up layups matters.
- That you should focus most of your time on developing your halfcourt offense and defense.
- That offensive rebounding is just one (relatively minor) aspect of the game.
- That the shooter should always crash the boards.
- That patience and working the ball are the keys for an efficient, productive offense.
- That taking a quick three in transition is unwise.
- That fouling the driver to prevent an easy basket is no big deal.
- That forcing a team towards our basket is suicidal.
- That scouting opponents is the foundation of defensive success.
- That failure to box out is the reason opponents outrebound you.
The System focuses on other things, things which ought to be obvious, but for some reason are not obvious to everybody. It focuses on the "Formula for Success," the five goals listed above (and please note for the time being that not one of these goals has anything to do with boxing out... more on this in a moment.) Today, for the first time at NCC, we met every goal. Five for five. We scored 57 points in the second half, and knocked down 17 threes (both are new school records).
What you cannot see above is that we got outrebounded badly (again) in the first half, which led to an argument among the coaching staff at halftime. "We have to box out!" That was the consensus of four of our five coaches. I'm embarrassed to say I was the lone hold out. Embarrassed because I don't enjoy being the killjoy, and I don't like contradicting my fellow coaches. They are smart people who know basketball. But I know System basketball, and I know that the key to rebounding is effort and hustle and a commitment to getting to the ball. And I know that focusing on a technique (boxing out) rather than on an attitude ("I'm going after that rebound!") is ultimately self-defeating.
Dennis Rodman wasn't the best rebounder in the NBA in the 1990's because he was the biggest or the quickest. He was the best because he had a burning desire to get to every loose ball. EVERY loose ball. He was a great rebounder because rebounding was his priority.
If you are going to coach System basketball, you had better start by assuming that most of your initial instincts are wrong. Or at least need to be questioned. When an opponent breaks your press and scores, is your first instinct to become more conservative? When your offense is not scoring consistently, do you start thinking about some cool plays you can run, "just until they get back on track"? When your team fails to rebound well, do you assume it's because you aren't boxing out? Well, maybe you're right. Maybe you aren't boxing out worth a flip, but that not why you are rebounding poorly.
Today, we played real System ball for the first time. We didn't box out any better in the second half than we did in the first, yet we dominated the boards on both ends of the court. Offensive rebounding and defensive turnovers are the two most critical stats in System basketball. Why? Because turnovers and rebounds lead to extra shots, and getting extra shots is what makes the System work. Is it any coincidence that the key to these two stats is effort? Not pre-planned rotatations. Not perfect technique. Not boxing out. Your players can have the best technique in the conference, but if they lack one other essential quality, they couldn't get a rebound if it hit them on the head.
What is that one essential quality? It's not what you think. It's not technique, it's heart.
Friday, November 23, 2012
The Comfort Zone
I think we are going to introduce a new defense to our team next week. We will call it the Comfort Zone, and it will be an 0-5 alignment: nobody guarding the ball, and five defenders in the lane playing for the rebound. Should be very, very easy to master.
Pardon the sarcasm... I couldn't help myself. Though we were pleased with our improvement in Wednesday's game, after watching the video tonight after practice it's clear to me that we still don't understand System intensity... we still want to be comfortable. But eventually, I hope and believe, we will get it, even though at this point the statistics verify what I'm seeing on the video. The fact that we are averaging 32% ORBs and 28 defensive turnovers in our first three games is living proof that we are not yet playing hard.
At Olivet, we had a mantra, a team motto that I stole from Dean Smith, then slightly revised to fit my beliefs about what it takes to be a winning team: Play Hard, Play Cool, Play Together, Have Fun!
Play Cool means play with composure, under control but at maximum speed, no trash talk, no worrying about officials' calls, etc. Play Together means we are a team and will be unselfish, which sometimes means: If you are a shooter, you darned well better quit worrying about your field goal percentage and shoot the ball. Never pass up an open rhythm-shot under the misguided impression that this makes you a team player... to do so is, by our definition, selfish. Play Together means that everyone must do their job for the good of the team. So, Rebounders: rebound. Screeners: screen. And Shooters: shoot!
Have Fun reflects my belief that enjoyment of the game is the greatest motivator! All teams go through "down times" but when we lose our zip and sparkle for more than a day or two, we need to be asking "Why?" and fix it.
Which brings me to Play Hard. Every time we broke a huddle at ONU our team said "PLAY HARD!" Every game as we left the locker room before taking the floor, each player reached up and slapped the door frame, where we had painted the words, PLAY HARD! It's that important.
Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because the System is designed around the concept of playing fast that your team will play fast. "The System won't work unless YOU work" is another of our mantras. I know this sounds obvious, but I'm telling you, it's not obvious to some players! They might think that all they have to do is shoot 50 threes and run something called a fast break and they are playing System ball. Ain't necessarily so!
If your team seems to be struggling, try the following experiment. Watch a video of your team for five minutes. Then pop in a video of a good System team. See anything different? I'll bet the first thing you notice is how much faster and more intense the good System team plays.
Honestly, I am amazed that despite playing 40 second shifts, it hasn't dawned on our players yet that there is no need to pace themselves! But that's what they are doing... playing at a conventional basketball pace for 40 seconds at a time.
There is nothing more central to System success than plain, old-fashioned effort. Your team can do everything else right, but if they don't play hard, nothing works. At NCC, so far our best defense is still the Comfort Zone.
I truly believe this team is going to get it eventually. But if we are still playing the Comfort Zone in January, we'll be in trouble, because as long as we insist on being comfortable, we'll never get in the Zone.
Pardon the sarcasm... I couldn't help myself. Though we were pleased with our improvement in Wednesday's game, after watching the video tonight after practice it's clear to me that we still don't understand System intensity... we still want to be comfortable. But eventually, I hope and believe, we will get it, even though at this point the statistics verify what I'm seeing on the video. The fact that we are averaging 32% ORBs and 28 defensive turnovers in our first three games is living proof that we are not yet playing hard.
At Olivet, we had a mantra, a team motto that I stole from Dean Smith, then slightly revised to fit my beliefs about what it takes to be a winning team: Play Hard, Play Cool, Play Together, Have Fun!
Play Cool means play with composure, under control but at maximum speed, no trash talk, no worrying about officials' calls, etc. Play Together means we are a team and will be unselfish, which sometimes means: If you are a shooter, you darned well better quit worrying about your field goal percentage and shoot the ball. Never pass up an open rhythm-shot under the misguided impression that this makes you a team player... to do so is, by our definition, selfish. Play Together means that everyone must do their job for the good of the team. So, Rebounders: rebound. Screeners: screen. And Shooters: shoot!
Have Fun reflects my belief that enjoyment of the game is the greatest motivator! All teams go through "down times" but when we lose our zip and sparkle for more than a day or two, we need to be asking "Why?" and fix it.
Which brings me to Play Hard. Every time we broke a huddle at ONU our team said "PLAY HARD!" Every game as we left the locker room before taking the floor, each player reached up and slapped the door frame, where we had painted the words, PLAY HARD! It's that important.
Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because the System is designed around the concept of playing fast that your team will play fast. "The System won't work unless YOU work" is another of our mantras. I know this sounds obvious, but I'm telling you, it's not obvious to some players! They might think that all they have to do is shoot 50 threes and run something called a fast break and they are playing System ball. Ain't necessarily so!
If your team seems to be struggling, try the following experiment. Watch a video of your team for five minutes. Then pop in a video of a good System team. See anything different? I'll bet the first thing you notice is how much faster and more intense the good System team plays.
Honestly, I am amazed that despite playing 40 second shifts, it hasn't dawned on our players yet that there is no need to pace themselves! But that's what they are doing... playing at a conventional basketball pace for 40 seconds at a time.
There is nothing more central to System success than plain, old-fashioned effort. Your team can do everything else right, but if they don't play hard, nothing works. At NCC, so far our best defense is still the Comfort Zone.
I truly believe this team is going to get it eventually. But if we are still playing the Comfort Zone in January, we'll be in trouble, because as long as we insist on being comfortable, we'll never get in the Zone.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving!
NCC 87- Monmouth 98
93 Shots
63 Threes
29% ORB
28 TOs
+13 Shot Differential
Before heading out to our Thanksgiving family gathering, I'll update our progress! As you can from the Formula Goals above, we've made some improvement, setting school records for FGA and 3FGA, and 3FGM (16-63).
The +13 shot differential is a little deceptive... you can see that we did not meet our ORB goal (40%) or our TOs Forced goal (33), so how did we manage to have 13 more shots than our opponent? Free throw differential, though not a System goal, accounts for this. They shot 19-32 from the line while we wer 11-19, giving us about 6 more opportunities to shoot field goals instead of FTs. There were two reasons they shot so many more FTs than us: First, we beat the snot out of them, lacking defensive discipline while reaching, bumping, and chesting up on every trap. Second, our game officials were new to the System and... say no more... it will even out eventually).
Also, we did create 6+ shots via our TO Differential... we had 22 but forced 28, so even though we didn't meet our defensive goal we did at least gain some extra shots here.
The score was tied 45-45 at the half, but again we lost our focus after intermission. It will take this team some time to realize that they must fight the tendency to have a lull after halftime. My teams at ONU did this all the time, and it's very frustrating to play well for the first 20 minutes, then stink it up the first five minutes of the second half. But this highlights the reality that System success is all about focus and maximum effort, and when we have those letdowns, it shows up pretty quickly on the scoreboard.
You can see, too, that we shot poorly from the arc (25%) and the line (58%). This is also a normal early season occurance. Players just need time to adjust to the faster tempo. They've played their entire lives at one speed (i.e. SLOW), and until they adjust to this new speed they'll feel like they are in a hurry, rushing their shots. It's an art to learn how to sprint the floor, then instantly calm down, relax, and knock down a three at the end of the break.
But we are making progress. Like the Pilgrims, we can't expect a bumper crop the first winter in the New World... so we must hang on, and hope that the harvest comes in before we starve to death.
93 Shots
63 Threes
29% ORB
28 TOs
+13 Shot Differential
Before heading out to our Thanksgiving family gathering, I'll update our progress! As you can from the Formula Goals above, we've made some improvement, setting school records for FGA and 3FGA, and 3FGM (16-63).
The +13 shot differential is a little deceptive... you can see that we did not meet our ORB goal (40%) or our TOs Forced goal (33), so how did we manage to have 13 more shots than our opponent? Free throw differential, though not a System goal, accounts for this. They shot 19-32 from the line while we wer 11-19, giving us about 6 more opportunities to shoot field goals instead of FTs. There were two reasons they shot so many more FTs than us: First, we beat the snot out of them, lacking defensive discipline while reaching, bumping, and chesting up on every trap. Second, our game officials were new to the System and... say no more... it will even out eventually).
Also, we did create 6+ shots via our TO Differential... we had 22 but forced 28, so even though we didn't meet our defensive goal we did at least gain some extra shots here.
The score was tied 45-45 at the half, but again we lost our focus after intermission. It will take this team some time to realize that they must fight the tendency to have a lull after halftime. My teams at ONU did this all the time, and it's very frustrating to play well for the first 20 minutes, then stink it up the first five minutes of the second half. But this highlights the reality that System success is all about focus and maximum effort, and when we have those letdowns, it shows up pretty quickly on the scoreboard.
You can see, too, that we shot poorly from the arc (25%) and the line (58%). This is also a normal early season occurance. Players just need time to adjust to the faster tempo. They've played their entire lives at one speed (i.e. SLOW), and until they adjust to this new speed they'll feel like they are in a hurry, rushing their shots. It's an art to learn how to sprint the floor, then instantly calm down, relax, and knock down a three at the end of the break.
But we are making progress. Like the Pilgrims, we can't expect a bumper crop the first winter in the New World... so we must hang on, and hope that the harvest comes in before we starve to death.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
To Drill or Not to Drill?
Early in my career a coaching friend of mine told me that the head coach he worked for did nothing but scrimmage the entire practice.
I remarked to my friend that this seemed like a poor way to teach the game, an inefficient way to master an offensive or defensive system. To my surprise, he told me his boss was one of the most successful coaches in Illinois basketball history. Yet I still believe this coach's success was in spite of his scrimmage based practices, because pure scrimmaging allows relatively little opportunity for giving feedback. His teams eventually learned what to do (after all, if you scrimmage for 2 1/2 hours every day, you'll eventually figure it out!) But this haphazard, unfocused, inefficient, approach meant that practices ended up being far longer than they needed to be!
On the other hand, we've all known coaches who are "Drillmasters." They disdain scrimmaging, and break the game down into the smallest detail, and yet the teams they coach somehow never seem to reach their full potential. Tell them their team has a problem attacking the press, and rather than working against the press, they create a press-attack breakdown drill. They are so focused on teaching the fine points of the game that their team never learns to play the game! I knew one such coach whose players were the most fundamentally sound of any team in our league, yet they routinely finished near the bottom of the conference standings, because their mastery of individual fundamentals never seemed to translate into solid team play.
Could it be that the correct approach is somewhere in between these two extremes?
For example, yesterday I mentioned that we'd simplified our practice plan in order to address the problems we were having with running the floor, and with trapping on a missed shot. We decided to spend 30 minutes on one drill that addressed the two major problems we'd been having. We call this drill "5/5 Blockout," but a more accurate name might be "5/5 Blockout, Break, and Press."
We start by having a coach shoot, while Team A blocks out Team B. Team A rebounds the miss (or inbounds the made shot), and breaks to the other end as Team B falls back into a half-court man or zone defense. If Team A scores, they will immediately move into their full-court press against Team B. If Team A does not score, they run our Missed Shot Press. Team B attacks the press, and play continues until Team A again gains possession following a rebound or score. We then substitute and reset the drill, using the interval to discuss any corrections that need to be made. Eventually, after we've learned the drill, we will begin keeping score using the game clock, awarding 2 points for a trey, 1 point for a basket inside the arc, and playing to 5 or 7 points. Alternately, we might just see who is ahead after playing for 10 minutes.
The reason I'm going into such detail here is that I think this sort of situational scrimmage drill work is exactly what a team needs to master System basketball. By never going more than 1-2 cycles, we reap the advantages of using a live, realistic scrimmage format, while still allowing the coach to give continual feedback to players after each "bout."
Yes, players can improve by simply scrimmaging for the entire practice, and they can improve via breakdown drills. But when players are learning a new system, I have come to believe that the most productive way to practice is the "whole method" controlled scrimmage. They need to see the big picture, and you need to correct them as they execute realistic game situations.
Sure, you do need to occasionally break down your offense/defense into its parts, and drill those parts! But you also need to break the complete game down into its situational parts, and drill those 5/5 situations using 1-2 cycle controlled scrimmages until players have mastered them.
Fast break after a score... press after a missed shot... offensive attack following a dead ball... defending an opponent who is trying to hold the ball on you. Create 5/5/ drills to work on these situations, while making sure your team is also leaning to convert defense-to-offense and offense-to-defense.
Master the situations, and you'll master the System.
I remarked to my friend that this seemed like a poor way to teach the game, an inefficient way to master an offensive or defensive system. To my surprise, he told me his boss was one of the most successful coaches in Illinois basketball history. Yet I still believe this coach's success was in spite of his scrimmage based practices, because pure scrimmaging allows relatively little opportunity for giving feedback. His teams eventually learned what to do (after all, if you scrimmage for 2 1/2 hours every day, you'll eventually figure it out!) But this haphazard, unfocused, inefficient, approach meant that practices ended up being far longer than they needed to be!
On the other hand, we've all known coaches who are "Drillmasters." They disdain scrimmaging, and break the game down into the smallest detail, and yet the teams they coach somehow never seem to reach their full potential. Tell them their team has a problem attacking the press, and rather than working against the press, they create a press-attack breakdown drill. They are so focused on teaching the fine points of the game that their team never learns to play the game! I knew one such coach whose players were the most fundamentally sound of any team in our league, yet they routinely finished near the bottom of the conference standings, because their mastery of individual fundamentals never seemed to translate into solid team play.
Could it be that the correct approach is somewhere in between these two extremes?
For example, yesterday I mentioned that we'd simplified our practice plan in order to address the problems we were having with running the floor, and with trapping on a missed shot. We decided to spend 30 minutes on one drill that addressed the two major problems we'd been having. We call this drill "5/5 Blockout," but a more accurate name might be "5/5 Blockout, Break, and Press."
We start by having a coach shoot, while Team A blocks out Team B. Team A rebounds the miss (or inbounds the made shot), and breaks to the other end as Team B falls back into a half-court man or zone defense. If Team A scores, they will immediately move into their full-court press against Team B. If Team A does not score, they run our Missed Shot Press. Team B attacks the press, and play continues until Team A again gains possession following a rebound or score. We then substitute and reset the drill, using the interval to discuss any corrections that need to be made. Eventually, after we've learned the drill, we will begin keeping score using the game clock, awarding 2 points for a trey, 1 point for a basket inside the arc, and playing to 5 or 7 points. Alternately, we might just see who is ahead after playing for 10 minutes.
The reason I'm going into such detail here is that I think this sort of situational scrimmage drill work is exactly what a team needs to master System basketball. By never going more than 1-2 cycles, we reap the advantages of using a live, realistic scrimmage format, while still allowing the coach to give continual feedback to players after each "bout."
Yes, players can improve by simply scrimmaging for the entire practice, and they can improve via breakdown drills. But when players are learning a new system, I have come to believe that the most productive way to practice is the "whole method" controlled scrimmage. They need to see the big picture, and you need to correct them as they execute realistic game situations.
Sure, you do need to occasionally break down your offense/defense into its parts, and drill those parts! But you also need to break the complete game down into its situational parts, and drill those 5/5 situations using 1-2 cycle controlled scrimmages until players have mastered them.
Fast break after a score... press after a missed shot... offensive attack following a dead ball... defending an opponent who is trying to hold the ball on you. Create 5/5/ drills to work on these situations, while making sure your team is also leaning to convert defense-to-offense and offense-to-defense.
Master the situations, and you'll master the System.
"But I TOLD them!"
As you can imagine, Michelle and I weren't too happy with our 70 point outburst on Saturday. Yesterday morning we watched the video and were able to determine after just a few minutes that the players have reached a "decision point." The initial enthusiasm and newness of playing System Ball has worn off, and they are realizing, "Hey, this is really hard!"
We see them reverting to comfortable old habits: running back to defend the basket after a missed shot, turning down open three-point looks, etc. In short, they are playing it safe.
I remember when I taught high school that a common topic of discussion in the teachers' lounge was how the students just weren't mastering the material. "I told them that ____ was going to be on the test and they still missed it!" Same thing with our players. We told them and told them to trap the missed shot, yet the only thing the opposing rebounder saw of us on Saturday was the backs of our jerseys. And we saw more jogging out of our players on the fast break than the warmup at a cross-country meet.
We told them. Yes, but we didn't teach them. As John Wooden was fond of saying, "You haven't taught until they have learned." But how do you teach so they DO learn?
Well, the mistake I've been making (MY fault, not Michelles!) was assuming that we could do a lot of breakdown drills with this team before they'd really mastered the pace, before the tempo was "hardwired" into their nervous systems. Before running, trapping, and shooting quick was a HABIT. Too many drills, too few live 5/0 and 5/5 teaching situations.
Maybe I could drill more with my veteran System teams at ONU. But this team needs to get those habits down first, and there's no better way to do that, in my opinion, than creating 5/5 situations and just working on them for 20-30 minutes until you start to get what you want! One Cycle, full bore, stop, correct and repeat. That's it.
Here was our plan:
25 minutes- Warmups and 100 Threes
15 minutes- 5/0 Transition after a Rebound: sprint the floor, score and press
30 minutes- 5/5 Blockout and Break, then press on the made OR missed shot
Pretty simple, huh? It was amazing that for the first 5 minutes they almost refused to sprint the floor. For the first five minutes they almost refused to trap the ball following a missed shot. Whistle blows... "Everybody back! Do it again!" over and over. Eventually it began to dawn on them, "Hmm, they really do mean it."
Now don't get me wrong. We have really good kids. Really coachable kids. But they had arrived at their Moment of Truth: "Are we going to be a System Team, or aren't we?" and it was just easier for them to follow the path of least resistance, the comfortable, familiar approach.
It's at times like this that you realize why they pay you the Big Bucks: because you are the leader. Once your team says, "Yeah Coach, we wanna run the System!" then you have to do what it takes to help them succeed. From that point on, it ain't a democracy any more. You are the leader, so LEAD!
You want to know why so few coaches run the System? Because when players reach this point, it's hard to push them past it, and the coach begins to say, "I'm not sure this will work... maybe next year."
This won't be the last time we struggle this season, but it is a stepping stone in our development. We'll have our ups and downs, but if we coaches can stay focused on the simple things (Run hard! Trap hard! Rebound hard!), and if we can keep after them until the kids get it, we have a chance to help this team eventually succeed.
So when your team hits the wall, figure out how to get them to DO what they are supposed to do. Remember, you haven't taught them until they have learned... and they won't learn by just being told.
We see them reverting to comfortable old habits: running back to defend the basket after a missed shot, turning down open three-point looks, etc. In short, they are playing it safe.
I remember when I taught high school that a common topic of discussion in the teachers' lounge was how the students just weren't mastering the material. "I told them that ____ was going to be on the test and they still missed it!" Same thing with our players. We told them and told them to trap the missed shot, yet the only thing the opposing rebounder saw of us on Saturday was the backs of our jerseys. And we saw more jogging out of our players on the fast break than the warmup at a cross-country meet.
We told them. Yes, but we didn't teach them. As John Wooden was fond of saying, "You haven't taught until they have learned." But how do you teach so they DO learn?
Well, the mistake I've been making (MY fault, not Michelles!) was assuming that we could do a lot of breakdown drills with this team before they'd really mastered the pace, before the tempo was "hardwired" into their nervous systems. Before running, trapping, and shooting quick was a HABIT. Too many drills, too few live 5/0 and 5/5 teaching situations.
Maybe I could drill more with my veteran System teams at ONU. But this team needs to get those habits down first, and there's no better way to do that, in my opinion, than creating 5/5 situations and just working on them for 20-30 minutes until you start to get what you want! One Cycle, full bore, stop, correct and repeat. That's it.
Here was our plan:
25 minutes- Warmups and 100 Threes
15 minutes- 5/0 Transition after a Rebound: sprint the floor, score and press
30 minutes- 5/5 Blockout and Break, then press on the made OR missed shot
Pretty simple, huh? It was amazing that for the first 5 minutes they almost refused to sprint the floor. For the first five minutes they almost refused to trap the ball following a missed shot. Whistle blows... "Everybody back! Do it again!" over and over. Eventually it began to dawn on them, "Hmm, they really do mean it."
Now don't get me wrong. We have really good kids. Really coachable kids. But they had arrived at their Moment of Truth: "Are we going to be a System Team, or aren't we?" and it was just easier for them to follow the path of least resistance, the comfortable, familiar approach.
It's at times like this that you realize why they pay you the Big Bucks: because you are the leader. Once your team says, "Yeah Coach, we wanna run the System!" then you have to do what it takes to help them succeed. From that point on, it ain't a democracy any more. You are the leader, so LEAD!
You want to know why so few coaches run the System? Because when players reach this point, it's hard to push them past it, and the coach begins to say, "I'm not sure this will work... maybe next year."
This won't be the last time we struggle this season, but it is a stepping stone in our development. We'll have our ups and downs, but if we coaches can stay focused on the simple things (Run hard! Trap hard! Rebound hard!), and if we can keep after them until the kids get it, we have a chance to help this team eventually succeed.
So when your team hits the wall, figure out how to get them to DO what they are supposed to do. Remember, you haven't taught them until they have learned... and they won't learn by just being told.
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