One of the struggles the team is having is that I’ve completely changed the way they think about offense.  I’m trying to train them to react to what they have and not live is so much of a structured world.  I believe that for their long term development this is best… unfortunately it is not conducive to them winning in the now.  The initial concepts of the offense are simple…but it’s so different and allows them just enough freedom that they are having a hard time with it.  It involves them playing together more so they can recognize situations at the same time.  Maybe one player sees a back cut open, the guy with the ball also needs to recognize that opening and feed the ball.  On the surface “pass and cut” seems to be so simple…but the actual execution of it effectively is not appearing to be so simple.

One of the main issues with executing the ideals of this offense is that almost every player who has ever played the game in the history of basketball is inherently selfish.  Everyone wants to score there is nothing wrong with that…but it’s the process I’m having them go through to score that is difficult to get across.  I want them to give up the ball to score…I want them to pass to get open.  In their minds, at this age, the way to score is to get the ball…no matter where you get the ball.  With what I’m trying to train, that is not the case.  They need to pass the ball so they can make the movement to be open.  Our warm up drills focus on spot up shooting drills, pass and catch drills…all of which you shoot as soon as you catch.  Pass and cut, a guy fills in..pass.  If you aren’t open, back cut…it seems simple.  If someone is covering you to the point you can’t receive the pass, you will inherently have a step on them in the back cut to the hole.  Jab step out to get them further out of place and then break to the hole.  In the 2nd half of game 2 they were starting to get it, and we got a couple of chip shots…so it’s coming along.

The first game wasn’t a really good test of where we are as a team this early in the year.  We played westhope, which I was informed before the game plays some of their younger guys in the JV team.  I don’t have a problem with us playing age appropriate guys that play JV…the problem I had was they would have had several weeks worth of a head start on practice.  In the 7th grade game we played a mix of 7th and 6th grade boys.  I play a mix of 7th and 8th grade boys.  I have four 7th graders…so I play five or so 8th grade.  At the beginning of the year I was toying with bringing up about three to four 6th grade kids to play, but I wasn’t completely clear on the rules governing their participation.  Also, I have 12 or so 8th grade boys and mixing them in the 7th grade game is a good way to give guys more time per night.  This game I was short 3 players.  1 was in hawaii, another was sick a day and started the season late so he didn’t have sufficient practices to play and another is out with an unbasketball related back injury.  All of these players would have played in the 7th grade game…1 would have played in the 8th grade game.

The game started pretty rough, our guys were standing around and just unenthusiastic about playing.  They made some horrible passes and just didn’t execute well.  Size wise we matched up well with westhope and execution wise we were both about even.  Still it doesn’t mean I was happy with the effort.  Given that we were playing a few 6th grade kids I expect a much better performance from our team.  They boys did alright though and we ended regulation in a tie.  The OT didn’t go our way for the most part.  They were up by 2 with a few seconds left on the clock.  I told my boys to go hard for the ball and see what happens.  We fouled and put them on the line for a bonus with 2.7 left on the clock.  Now pay attention…we’re down by two, 2.7 on the clock they are at the line for a bonus and their coach decides to pull his guys back off the lane.  Seeing this, I told the near ref that I want a time out as soon as we are able to call it.  If my guys get the rebound instantly I want a time out.  I’m not “pre calling” a time out…what I’m doing is making him aware of when I will call a time out so as soon as I signal I can get it.  This is very common at all levels of sports where the coach can call a time out.  I’d done this a couple of times during the game…I would say something like “as soon as we cross the 1/2 line, gimme a time plx” he’d watch play and as soon as they cross the line I’d signal and he was prepared to look at it.  Nothing wrong with this type of conversation.  I did this in our 2nd game as well.  When we were bringing the ball up, I’d make eye contact with the ref, point to the other side of the 1/2 line and mouth time out…everyone knows what’s up, the ball crosses, he looks at me, I signal.  So…2.7 left on the clock.  Their guy misses, my guy rebounds I say “time out”…nothing..my guy looks around confused (I’m sure he hadn’t been in a position where the opposing team wasn’t lined up on the lane with him before) he looks around..not sure if it’s 2 shots or what…takes a couple of steps towards one of the refs and tosses him the ball.  The ref calls a foul, the clock had started as soon as he touched it…horn sounded.  I immediately talk to the other ref “whoa, I called time…you knew it was coming..what’s up”  He agrees, talks to the other ref and I get 2.4 back on the clock.  It seems reasonable that something comes off.  The other ref wasn’t happy…even when the first ref explained it to him and told him of the mistake…he wasn’t happy.  The thing is I said it to the other ref at a distance of about 15-20 feet, loud infront of the crowd.  No one from the opposing team’s crowd said anything in objection to this…they heard me talk to the ref.  I was talking across the opposing coach…he didn’t object, he had heard the conversation and knew what was coming.

So, 2.4 on the clock.  I tell my boys “we are going to toss it {kid’s name} at 1/2 court, your going to take a couple of dribbles…and just stroke it”.  We break the huddle…and the wrong kid starts going forward to catch the ball (didn’t we just talk about this…man) I yell from the bench, “no {name} is shooting”.  The correct kid comes forward, catches the ball…turns…dribbles a few times and lets it go about 5 feet behind the 3 point line, the horn sounds in the air and the ball hits nothing but the bottom of the net…game over, us by 1.  The kid is a good spot up shooter and of the guys on the floor he had the best chance of hitting the shot.  Still, there is a certain amount of luck involved in something like that.  Their guys were too concerned about fouling to play any defense on him at all.  If I was in a similar situation, he had 2 (I believe) fouls before we were in the bonus…I’d have fouled him on the ground…twice…and seen what happens.  A game that close could go either way.  Even if we had lost, our performance was close enough to theirs that if we met them in a tournament we might have beat them.

The 8th grade game was next.  When the game started they quickly overwhelmed us.  They executed the fast break very well.  Knocked on our heels like that, the boys didn’t really know how to respond.  I should have probably called an early time out and chatted with them a bit, but this early in the season I wanted them to try to play through it some.  The first quarter ended 2 – 14…I was not happy.  In the 2nd the boys came out of their shock and played quite a bit better…we put up 10 to their 2 going in to the half 12 to 16.  This gave us a bit of a confidence boost and a chance going in to the 2nd half.

The 3rd quarter we came out of the gates slow again…we only put up 2 points for the quarter to their 6.  We got to the rim alright, but we missed too many layups (the same problem the girls had).  Also, one of the main reasons we didn’t score many this half was due to a decision I made at the beginning of the quarter.

Westhope had 1 player that put up 1/2 of their points in the first half.  Going in to the 3rd he had 4 fouls.  I decided we needed to work on him which would yield us 1 of two results.  Either we would get him on the bench with 4 fouls or we would tire him out on defense and he wouldn’t be able to work as well on offense.  I cleared out the side and put the guy he was guarding into the post.  He had explicite instructions to foul him out.  I didn’t care about points…I wanted him out of the game.  The guy that was posting him up had no fouls…so things were in my favor.  The refs let quite a bit go in the post for both players.  My guy was rougher than he needed to be getting to his position, their guy was pushing him quite a bit.  After a couple of trips down the floor one ref finally called a double foul (one on each player).  This worked in my favor, putting one on my guy and 3 on him.  We get the ball back and go right at him again…this time we got a quick whistle and his fourth foul.  I stand by the decision to go after their leading scorer like that, putting a guy in foul trouble is a part of the game.  In retrospect, if I had known it would take that much time and our offense would be stale for that long I might have gone with a different approach.  I have a 7th grader that is a really nice post player, if I had to do it again I would have put him in and hopefully their guy would have matched up on him…and we would get the fouls quicker.  He didn’t score the 3rd quarter and put 4 up in the 4th.  1/2 his point total from the first half.

We enter the 3rd quarter 14 – 22.  8 points wasn’t huge, and we might be able to make it up but we had to play better in the 4th than we had the entire game.  Starting the 4th the boys seemed to play a little harder.  I had them run a couple of high picks to setup one of our outside shooters for the 3 ball, and he hit a couple.  they converted a couple of layups, so we were slowly chipping away at their lead.  Now that we made a couple behind the arc they brought their defense out some and the inside was suddenly opening up.  Seeing this, he slashed to the basket…and disaster struck.  He got fouled and came down hard…twisting his ankle…bad.  He waved me off and managed to struggle to the line for the 2 shots…missing them both.  He took 2 steps down the floor and dropped.  He couldn’t put any weight on it.

I got him off the floor, his parents came to the bench and my wife went to get him some ice.  Since there were people tending to him, I focused back on the game.  Him coming out was a big blow to our offense and we never fully recovered.  We ended up dropping the game by 12 points.  He went down with about 3min left, he’s a solid free throw shooter so without the injury I expect he would have made at least one of 2 with a good chance at making both.  That puts us at a 4 point deficit with lots of time left.  Who knows, maybe we would have been able to fight back.  But, injuries happen and the team has to move through it.

After this game, I was not happy with the results.  When a few days passed, thinking back and looking over the score book (as I do when I write these posts) it wasn’t near as bad as I thought.  The boys need to move more, box out better and work on the defensive rotation…but overall we played decently against a team that had more practice than us.

Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/02/05/vs-westhope/

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I am glad we stayed for the entire boys game. It was a close game…but more interesting than that Ryan had a guy on the team that looked just like me when I used to play. He was a wide body, belly over his belt, got winded fairly quick…but he was agile and could score around the rim…just like me when I played. One of the things that he, me and every other decent wide body I’ve seen play the game, does well is shield their shot with their body. I’ve tried to explain how to do this to some of the players I’ve coached, but I can’t come up with a good way to show them how to do it. I know several of the boys were at this game, and I’m hoping when monday comes they will be able to recall how this guy played as I’m talking to them and they can make the connection.

Basketball is a physical game…and the boys are going to be getting a lot of contact down low. One thing I’m trying to teach them is to not avoid the contact, seek it out, initiate it and control the contact with your body. If you embrace the fact that shots under the hoop are going to be body to body shots, if you control that contact with your body and learn how to keep the opponent off your shooting hand they will become far more effective post players.

Something else that I am going to try to explain to them and reference this game is the difference between a good player and a great player. Our varsity team has a very good player who is the star of the team. He can score, is good defensively…all that. In my mind though, the difference between a good player and a great player is a good player gets his points, can control the tempo of the game and keeps his team in the game till the end. A great player will bring out the best of his teammates. Sometimes it’s necessary to forgo your own shot at the beginning of the game just to get your teammates involved. What a lot of good players don’t realize is that once you get every one involved it makes scoring opportunities easier to come by for the “star”.

We still have two weeks before our first game, so there is a lot of training left to do. I’m really curious to see how these boys come together as a unit. There is a lot of potential there, but since I wasn’t involved with them last year…I have no idea what their competition will look like.

Oh, and since I watched my girls play ryan’s freshman team…I was able to see that when we went to Ryan and got beat up on…we were playing their freshman team. One of the girls, the main one that shut us down in the lane, saw significant time on Ryan’s JV team. Utterly ridiculous…but that is getting to be a more common story. As I watch the teams that either gave us a significant challenge or that beat us down…their main players are starters on the freshman teams and seem to see time on JV. I don’t get it…

Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/22/teaching/

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As I’m evaluating how fast they are digesting the system and how many practices we have I’m starting to see that it’s not worth the money to buy the “complete dvd set” for the read and react system.  At one point I had contemplated it.  I’m interested in all the various drills you can run to enhance the player’s understanding of the system.  Given the relative shortness of the 7th and 8th grade season, I’m not going to be able to go deeper than about 4 layers.  I can find out information and technique for those layers on youtube.  Beyond that, I can create a few different drills on my own for them.  The only way I could see the dvd set being worth the price is if you are the varsity coach and you want to start implementing this over the course of years.  Where I would have to start over every year..the varsity coach could bring guys into the system and not have to start from the beginning each time.  Also, if he pushed it down to the Jr. High level he would be able to get deeper and deeper with it at the high school level.

I’ve been trying to make the connections for them in their heads between the drills we are doing.  One warm up drill we pass, cut to the hole, catch the ball and hit a layup.  In the 5 out drill we pass, cut to the hole, don’t get a pass, fill the empty spot.  We did a post up shooting drill yesterday, pass in to the post, relocate, post kicks it back out..take a shot, after the post player passes out, they work to the other side of the lane, catch a pass and make a move to score.  It re-enforces the pass and move concept and adds in some shooting and post work.

I think the levels I’m going to implement are the pass and cut, feed the post with a laker cut, drive and bounce off, dribble at, and the back pin.  It doesn’t sound like much…but when you think about how these athletes have been trained to this point, it gets a little difficult.  Most athletes at this age are trained like robots, they go to this spot…set this screen, move here…blah blah blah.  There are obvious problems with this, there is no creativity, there is no taking advantage of the defense sleeping, guys are not always looking for the ball and they are not always looking to pass the ball.  The players need to be aware of proper spacing…they need to not just know to do something, but why they are doing it.  Once they start to make those connections the game comes alive and so many other areas open up to them.  Doing the natural progression some athletes will come to this on their own…but I think using the read and react techniques they will gain a deeper understanding of the game.

Time will tell.

Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/18/read-react-day-2/

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We started out with the very basics of the read and react.  It was a little rough for them, but by the end of the quick drill about 2/3 of the team seemed to have a good idea how the first level is done.  I’m expecting the ones that seem like they are having the most difficulty are the 7th graders, but we’ll see today.

So far, their attitudes are good and the skill level is around what I expected.  Lots of them need to work on shooting though…they are still doing the grade school shoot from the face or neck technique.  they need to realize they are older and stronger so that ball needs to move over their head.  That will take some time and dedication on their part.  It’s always tough to change something that someone perceves as “working”.

Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/17/boys-jr-high-first-day/

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We get there and I’m watching them warm up…they seem like a very sharp team. If this is their lower skill players their upper end must be pretty good. Whatever, it is what it is. The girls will go out and play hard. I spoke with their coach briefly before the game…he told me this was their JV team and he would be playing a couple of their varsity starters. He confirmed with me that we brought our 8th grade team. After talking to him, he said they do in fact have a Jr. High team. I was a bit confused as to why we were not playing that team.

I let the girls know out of the gate what they were up against. I told them about mid season that I expect some of them to be challenging for starting jobs on the c squad and a couple of them to have a really good shot at some time on the JV team. I told them this would be a good test for them, and to come out gunning.

For this game we had 3 refs, 8min quarters and a shot clock. I didn’t expect the shot clock to come in to play at all really…even on our slow days we don’t slack that much on offense. I saw the 3 refs as being beneficial to us…a lot of our game is based on free throws. It seemed like more refs would mean a better chance for accurate calls. The 8min quarters I was a bit concerned about. My rotation is based on 6min quarters…so I’d have to make an adjustment. It’s not really as simple as a rotation adjustment though. The girls have been conditioned for that type of game…their speed and endurance relies on getting rest at specific times. I had hoped using time outs and subbing could make up for that…during a normal 6min game it’s got to be pretty bad before I’ll take a time out.

The girls started off very well. They were running the floor, moving the ball…getting easy layups, defensive stops…I was quite impressed. At the end of 1 quarter we were up 13 – 11. That is probably the biggest point total the girls have put up in a first quarter all season. It was clear after this quarter though they were more winded than usual. I did burn a 30 sec time out to set up a press breaker…they executed well, but it didn’t give them the rest I had hoped for.

I lay the blame for their being winded on myself. I didn’t have a practice after xmas break started. The starters were practicing with the high school, and at some point one of the other girls started working with them as well. So that left me 6 girls that were not getting practice. Also, the freshmen practice doesn’t focus on conditioning as much as I do. Just different coaching philosophies, I’m not going to say ones better than another. Couple those things together and we have a team that was a bit different than the one we had before the break. Clearly this is what college football coaches feel like during bowl season! Working with/against the freshmen has helped these girls a bit. They are seeing different and higher level competition every practice and clearly that’s paying off. I wasn’t sure how they would respond. Two of them I figured would work very hard, then there were a few that started out kind of in a “shell” with me. They seemed timid on the court and really didn’t like physical contact. With the freshmen team they are building on what they have been trained to do…and are working out well (IMO).

Starting the 2nd quarter of this game, we started to let up a bit. A lot of the mistakes we’ve been making all season at times started happening all at once. We were not rebounding, our defensive rotation was slow and our passing got very sloppy. Any one of these mistakes would have made for a difficult game for us…all of them at once opened the door wide for them, and boy did they take advantage of it. We started to fall behind and seemed all out of sorts. At this point, I started subbing in the other girls that would be done after this game. I wasn’t sure how we would open up in the 2nd half, so incase the starters came out and played inspired basketball I wanted to make sure that everyone made at least an appearance.

Given this was being treated like a JV game, there are certain expectations of team behavior. Generally at half time with my teams I do not go in the locker room. I huddle them up, give them a quick break down of what needs to keep going right and what we need to work on…then it’s water and shooting around. During the JV and Varsity games they expect you to go into the locker rooms. I wasn’t going to until I saw they had half time entertainment lined up…little kids (3-4th grade) playing some ball for the crowd.

We went into the locker room, and it was the longest half time I’ve been a part of. I believe you do your coaching in practice, and come game time you just make minor corrections. While we made several mistakes over and over again…they are all common and really don’t need that much conversation. Instead of lecturing or drawing many plays on the white board, I gave the girls the opportunity to talk with each other. Several of them had things to say, and all the information was topics I would have covered. They talked about technique, expectations and things of that nature. What that didn’t do, which I was most pleased with, was rip on each other and yell about the negative things that were going on. We were down 30-15 and they were trying to work together to correct things and not just blaming each other for problems. After the entertainment finished, we took the floor…instead of warming up, the girls huddled up with each other at the bench and again tried to encourage each other to work hard and do all they could in this game. I think they even prayed. I’m not a religious guy…but I’m not going to discourage them from making choices to do that stuff. As long as they are not pressuring other teammates and making them uncomfortable, it’s fine.

The second half didn’t go well. We continued to have the same problems, which was unfortunate. When it became clear we were not going to close the gap, I again put in the girls that were going to be done after this game. This caused the score to be a little more lopsided that it would have other wise been, but these girls deserved some time.

The season went well for these ladies and they improved a great deal. The parents and the girls themselves seem happy with their improvement and seem to want to improve themselves even more. At the beginning of the year, they seemed like a group that was content to “just play”. Once they discovered that they actually have the potential to be a very good team their drive kicked in to gear and they worked very hard. I’m happy with the progress they have made, but I’m disappointed we won’t get another month or so to work on things. If we could add a game or tournament and spread everything out over another month I think we’d have a pretty decent season for them.

This group of girls has a very solid core to build on. They have 5 starters, none of them being forced into positions they are not natural for. They have a few reserves that can easily fill in…they have a very nice grouping. The major deficit of this team is their lack of another slashing point guard. I tried giving a few different girls time handling the ball but we just didn’t have the practice time to develop someone as much as I’d like. I would love to have had another slashing point, but even a “ball control” point guard would have been good. There are a couple of girls that could fit this role, but they have not had the playing time with the ball in their hands to develop as much as they should have. Next year, with the freshman team, these other girls will get more game time with the ball in their hands…that should help out their development quite a bit.

It will be interesting to see how these girls develop over their high school years.

Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/11/langdon/

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I had a pre-season meeting with the boys to get a feel for who would be playing and what kind of numbers I’d be looking at.  For whatever reason…there are not many guys playing.  I expect hockey has quite a bit to do with this.  In the 7th and 8th grades it becomes highly difficult to be involved in both hockey and basketball, in high school it’s virtually impossible.  Between the two grades I have 12-13 guys.  4-5 7th grade and 8ish 8th grade.  One of the 7th grade guys plays hockey, so I’m not sure how that’s going to work out.  What I’m going to try to do is keep the top 5-6 8th graders off the 7th grade team.  Everyone else will dress and play in the 7th grade game.  I don’t like playing the upper level starters in the lower level game.  Maybe I’ll end up doing that anyway, I don’t know.  I’ll need to keep track of quarters played, the boys are only allowed 5 quarters a night…that is different from what I thought it was.  In high school they are allowed 6 quarters a night.  I looked up the NDHSAA rules and there is a subset for Jr. High (nothing for 5th and 6th from what I could see).  The boys are going to have to be in better condition than the other two teams I coached so far this year.  The pee wee’s and 8th grade had enough players to work in that we could cover up some conditioning issues.  The boys will not have this luxury and are going to have to learn to vary the pace of the game.

One of the major differences between the way I’ll run the first practices with the boys as opposed to the girls is I’ll start drilling the read and react system from day one.  They are going to start working on spacing concepts, and build on things little by little.  I think the 5 out work the rotation idea will meld decently with the first 3 days of conditioning.  It’s pretty fast paced and I’ll call out changes of direction once they get going so they start to fully understand what I’m looking for.  It’s too bad I didn’t get hipped to this system until the girls were done with their first 11 practices.  I tried to implement the principles but there just wasn’t enough time.

I’ve worked out two basic outlines for 90min practices.  One for conditioning and basic skills, the other for more offensive work.  I’ll paste them in here so anyone creeping the site can take a peek.  The first few days are going to be a little rough for the boys, but once their bodies get use to the physical activity they will handle things much better.  Every season I get such a kick out of how much the athletes complain about the running…then watch them towards the middle of the season when we do the same amount of running and they still have gas in the tank.

Conditioning:

high knees

butt kicks

karaoke

backwards

dribble

dominate down forward back backwards

off hand down forward back backwards

2 balls down forward back backwards

(7min)

layup warm up drill (10min)

fast break drill (10min)

2 crushers

1 crusher

(5min)

water (5min)

Defense reaction drill (sprint to 1/2 court, shuffle back to the side line between baseline and 1/2 court, drop step and shuffle back to starting point. Sprint to free throw line, shuffle to side line, touch side line and shuffle back to mid free-throw line, sprint to the end line, jump x10 trying to touch the rim/backboard/net)

(10min)

partner dribble/shuffle drill (7min)

passing drills:

partner shuffle

sprint

3 man weave

(10min)

2 crushers (3min)

water (5min)

2 crushers (3min)

free throws/water, 2 shots, then 2 sprints with your arms in the air. 10 shots (15min too long)

5 out spacing drill (remainder of practice)

3 crushers

Offensive:

high knees

butt kicks

karaoke

backwards

dribble:

dominate down forward back backwards

off hand down forward back backwards

2 balls down forward back backwards

(7min)

layup warm up drill (5min)

fast break drill (5min)

2 crushers

1 crusher (5min)

water (2min)

shooting drills:

chair box shooting (10min)

catch and shoot (5min)

2 crushers (3min)

water (2min)

number box out (10min)

2 crushers (3min)

free throws sprints, 10 (15min)

read and react training (rest of practice)

3 crushers

The first 15min or so of practice is the same every day “warm” warm ups, then the 2 quick drills.  I really liked the layup/jump shot drill when I started it with the girls…and the fast break drill works on a few different skills that are important.  These plans are not set in stone and will only take us through the first 8 practices.  During that practice week when we start games, we’ll work on more shooting drills and spend time developing a press breaker.  For the first 10 practices we are not going to work on defense at all.  It’s going to be totally focused on offense.  If they are willing to work hard and are in good shape I think the defense will take care of itself for the most part.  The last practice before the first game we’ll talk a little bit about defense and what we want to do.  Overall though, I think if they work hard and communicate defense will take care of itself.

We have 11 practices, then 4 games 2 practices and another game.  It would be nice to have just one game right off, then another practice or two before we start to have multiple games in a row.  I’d like to see how they perform in a game then look to make some adjustments.  Like the girl’s season though we’ll see what adjustments we can make on the fly.  I like how we have a tournament at the end of the season though, it gives us something to work for.  During the girls season we looked at it on a game to game basis, but it would have been really nice to have a tourney at the end to measure how far they have come and give that extra incentive to the competition.

I’ve looked forward to starting every different coaching season this year, and the boys are no different.  It is nice to watch them develop into a team and work out the different hitches and bad habits they have developed over the years.  It would be nice if the season was longer though.  With the girls, it felt like they are just getting on a roll and starting to understand what I’m preaching.  The different concepts are starting to come together…and then we stop.  I’m not sure these shorter seasons are the best for their overall development, but it’s what has been established by the schools in this area.  From what I understand, many of these kids play on offseason traveling teams…so they get more time in the gym.  Those are nice to get them playing together more and have the ball in their hands.  It would be nice if these leagues were all 3 on 3 so everyone touched the ball more.

Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/06/boys-jr-high/

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Something else I’ve got positive feed back about is the way I coach during the games. Parents and spectators seem to appreciate the methods I used to teach the athletes. There has been one point during each season so far, where I thought there would be some parental backlash. Once during the pee wee season, when I called a time out during a game and had them run sprints…and again during the jr. high girls season when I called a time out and had them just hold their arms in the air. At the time I’m making the decision to do these things I think that’s what is necessary to get the message across that I’m promoting at that particular moment. Then, when the game is over and it’s time to shake hands and spend some face time with the audience…that’s when I think about potential back lash to the decisions I’ve made. Reception has been great though.

Now it’s entirely possible that any negativity and dissatisfaction parents/spectators have had with my performance has been shared with their families, the athlete(s) and the administration but not myself. I would really hope that if someone had something negative to say or some area they wished I would improve they would say something to me directly. There is no way I can know I’m not meeting the needs of the community if that community doesn’t let me know of their dissatisfaction.

Overall, I personally am content with the results of the seasons. There are some aspects that, upon retrospect, I would have changed…but overall I’m good. It is a trade mark of my teams that we seldom take time outs. It’s a matter of pride for me that I have trained my players to the point where I believe they can handle situations that arise. I like to save the time outs for the end if I need to stop the clock for a chance to win. During the pee wee season, the mistake I made was not making sure they listened to me only in high pressure situations. The one game we lost was a close game, one of my boys decided to foul on his own. Now, to be clear, that’s not the reason we lost the game. When it comes down to a couple of points…there are so many different decisions that could have been made by the players and myself through the game that would have changed the outcome. Maybe I should have taken a time out before the break and make sure everyone was very clear on what I wanted them to do…I didn’t…no biggie. During the girl’s season, at cando…I probably should have called a time out and explained to them how I want them to break the press. It might have helped…I don’t know. Overall, I don’t think that would have been a huge tipping point.

Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2012/01/02/public-perception/

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Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2011/12/29/girls-moving-up/

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The 7th grade did not do very well. They struggled against westhope as well (which was kind of a tough game to decide. We could have gone with the 8th grade…but they’d have far over matched westhope. I had hoped the 7th would fair a little better than they did). I think the 7th were pretty much done with their season after the TGU game. I understand how it was difficult for them to get amped up for each game. They were very competative and right there in several games…but they just didn’t break in to that win column. That had to be hard on the girls.

I had high hopes for the 8th grade team. We had done very well against these girls in Bottineau, so I didn’t think there would be a whole lot of difference in Minot. Out of the gate we didn’t do to` o bad…but we couldn’t pull away. In the 2nd quarter they pulled a head by a point or two. My girls started struggling with the little things, passing angles was the biggest one. They kept tryint to feed the post from the top of the key. My point would pick up her dribble between the 1/2 line and the top of the key. I’m not really sure why. The officiating wasn’t good either…I hate to get into a position where I’m blaming the officials for a loss. I’m not really…but so much of our game is built on bodying up underneith and slashing the lane…when that aspect is taken away due to lack of calls it is difficult for the girls to adjust mentally. It’s something they will have to learn to adjust to as they get older.

The second half went down hill for the ladies. It seems like when a few things go against them the girls start to get timid and hesitant…they begin to doubt themselves and their training. One of the big things that I get on them about during times like these is when they stop on a play. Instead of going after the ball or trying to make up for their error, they will make a mistake…get mad, make a face or throw their arms up…and not tear after the ball and try to get it back. That’s a bit of mental training that needs to be addressed.

We ended up on the wrong end of a 6 point gap…and couldn’t seem to make up the difference. I started subbing in players that do not get much time, so they could have time. It was clear we wouldn’t catch up.

We have a couple of games left, but both of them are after christmas. My starters are going to be practicing with the high school from the 26th on, so I won’t have a practice with my group now at all. I’m not thrilled about this, but we’ll see how well they handle it. Hopefully those 5 practicing with the older girls will do them some good. They are on top of the pile in practice at their age group…having to work harder and not being the top dogs, I think, will make them better players.

Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2011/12/24/minot-ryan/

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Starting with the home game against Ryan (last post before this one) the girls started putting things together and executing very well.  The final score of each game doesn’t adequately reflect how dominate the top 9ish girls on the team played over this stretch.  Because they have run up the score so well and been able to handle these teams I’ve had the luxury of playing players that wouldn’t see so much time for extended min.  Generally in the 1st quarter I’m very predictable with my rotation.  I take out my small forward around the 3ish min mark and replace her with another player of comparable defensive tenacity.  I use my small forward at the beginning of the game as my primary defender on the ball.  She could probably go the entire quarter and not need a break…but there’s no reason to run her down that much.  Also, around this time I start the rotation of my post players.  I bring in another post to replace either my power forward or center, then at the end of the quarter the one that didn’t sit gets replaced by whomever was sitting from those 3.  In the waining min or seconds of the 1st I’ll usually replace my point as well.  This is to help her not pick up a cheap foul and also to give her an extended quarter break essentially.

At the end of the 1st quarter against Kenmare we had 12 to their 2.  Our scoring was spread between 4 of the starters.  Given a 10 point cushion I was able to break from my standard rotation at the start of the 2nd and get players into the game right away that might not see action until the end of the 2nd.  This did bring down our offensive production a little bit, and I run the risk of the girls that started off well cooling off…but at this age it is very important to give everyone time while still keeping the game competitive.  As parents and coaches we like to tell kids in this age group that it’s not totally about winning.  We are working on building up their skill set for the next level.  Ideally the entire program from 3rd grade hoopsters to Jr. Varsity feeds into the skill set that the varsity coach is looking for.  Some of the skills do not necessarily translate into victories at the level you learn them…I might tell a 6th grade kid to drive and dish instead of shooting the layup every time.  It’s important that they understand how the defense reacts and learn to pass.  At the same time, it is important for the kids to taste both victory and defeat.  They need to know what it feels like to win so they know their skills are paying off…and they need to lose so they work hard to never let it happen again.  For the rest of the Kenmare game we played them fairly even.  This was a product of my subbing and I’m O.K. with that.  We started to pull away again in the final quarter…and that’s traditionally when I like to give my starters the nod to finish the game.

The next game was vs MLS in sherwood.  It had been probably 15-20 years since I’d been in the sherwood gym.  It reminds me of the souris gym…the floor is great…and nice wood floor, beautiful to play on.  There are not much for bleachers on either side though, maybe 4-6 rows.  Some kids from the smaller schools like playing in a gym like this.  In the larger gyms you get the echo and the court feels so much bigger than it really is…in these smaller ones it’s more like what most of our kids are practicing in.

We had another pretty good start against MLS, scoring 9 to their 4.  I stayed with my standard rotation for this game and we finished the half up by 6.  At this age level with these girls the score doesn’t always accurately reflect how they are taking control of the game.  We were harassing them well on defense and missing a few close shots.  Overall though the girls were playing well and hustling all over the court.  Opening the 3rd quarter the ladies started pulling away from MLS and we ended the game comfortably.

Over these past 3 games everything has clicked for the girls…they are looking up the court for the easy layup, they are working the angles to make good passes…they are moving without the ball.  The girls are starting to look like the team I was hoping they could be at the beginning of the season.  We’ve compared ourselves to the other teams in the area and we are in better shape over all, we dive for more balls and the girls fight harder for each and every ball.  There are so many things they are doing right that isn’t recorded in the stat book, I could go on and on.  The biggest single thing I’ve seen improve to this point is their desire to win games.  In the beginning they seemed to want to play…but they didn’t really seem like they thought they’d be competitive.  It’s not that we felt like we were going to lose, but I didn’t get the sense they felt like they were going to win.  Over this stretch their attitude has changed and they are on each other to get better and better…they want to win and are working hard to make it happen.  There are a few players on the team that throw themselves after the ball without thinking about that wall just a few feet beyond the side line.  I don’t want anyone to get hurt…but you can’t win games if you aren’t willing to get on the floor after the ball.

The next game was a home game against TGU.  I posted here before about the last time we played these guys.  I wanted to win this game badly.  I was really disappointed we were not able to get the win against Rugby the 2nd time we played them…and I didn’t want to see that happen again.  The girls played hard enough to win against these guys the first time, and I felt that my personal history with one of the refs might have cost us the game.  I didn’t like the taste that left in my mouth.  I also was a huge fan of the rotation this coach uses against our 7th grade…like I said before, if someone sees every quarter in the 8th grade game I don’t feel they should see time in the 7th grade game.

We opened up well against these guys, 8 to their 2.  The majority of our scoring was done by our point.  I would like to see it spread out a little more…but having on person start off hot like that might open things up for the other players.  I rotated through a few girls, but for the most part I kept the players on the floor that I felt gave us the best chance to win.  Unfortunately, that meant that 2 girls didn’t get to see the floor for this game and 1 or 2 others didn’t get the time I would have liked them to.  I think over the course of the season, it’s O.K. to be in that situation for 1 or 2 games at this age level…but not more than that.  It’s justifiable to go for the win, but if every game came down to the wire I’d have to find a way to work them in better.  Also, I made it clear that participation in practice was going to be a large factor in determining play time.  One of the girls had blown off a few practices and a couple of games…in my mind that was justification enough to cut her play time for one of the girls that is there every practice and game.

We were outscored in the 2nd half of the TGU game.  One of the big reasons was the girls getting a bit lazy on defense.  They would play with their arms at their sides.  On the court at any given time I have 2 if not 3 girls that are tall and long for their age.  They plug up the middle really nicely and could almost shut down the offenses we’ve seen to this point…but they play with their hands at their sides.  After 3.5 quarters of yelling “get your arms up”…I finally took a time out.  I -hate- taking time outs.  I would much rather make the other coach burn theirs…to me it’s a sign your winning if you don’t have to stop the action.  Beyond that, on the teams I’ve run so far their condition has been such that it’s to our advantage to not take time outs.  In this case…I had to get a point across.  I called a time out…30 seconds.  The whole teams comes out on the court to huddle.  I tell them “get your arms up”  they do…and we stand there…I don’t say a word to them.  The team stands in the huddle with their arms in the air for 20-25 seconds.  The first horn sounds…and we break the huddle.  I believe that got my point across.  A couple of the girls ran back out on the court with their arms in the air.  They were yelling at each other to get their arms up.  It’s too bad I don’t have detailed enough stats to see their scoring after that point…but we shut them down from the field I believe.  Although we were outscored in the 2nd half, we did win the game.

Like I said earlier, the girls came alive over a 4 game stretch.  With the play they’ve turned in they would be competitive with every team we’ve seen, and have beat all of them except Rugby.  The girls are coming together as a team and learning that they have the makeup to be competitive with anyone for years to come.  The leaders are starting to emerge both by their play and vocally to their team.  It is going to be interesting to watch this group develop through highschool.  The way they look now I would be awfully disappointed if they didn’t content for a shot at the state tournament for 1 if not 2 years.

Article source: http://www.hillbillycoach.com/2011/12/21/vs-kenmare-mls-vs-tgu/

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