A Pen And A Napkin

We had a great time in this month's Zoom roundtable with Jamie Smith, the GBB HC at Solon (IA), Ken Kulus, the BBB HC at Omaha Concordia (NE) and Todd Fergot, the BBB HC at Lacrosse Central (WI)! In this pod, we discuss terminology in your offense, implementing your base offense and defense, how you organize your staff and things that you should be working on before the season starts! In addition, we have an impromptu discussion on the falling numbers in high school girls basketball and how it can be fixed. This was alot of fun to record, and I hope you enjoy listening to it!

Get your copy of Hoops 365: A One Year Guide to Becoming a Basketball CEO here! Hoops 365

Get your copy of The Last of the Cowboys: The Story of Snow Valley Basketball School here! The Last of the Cowboys

Get your copy of King Of Their Court: Three Teams, One City and the Greatest Season in Nebraska High School Basketball History here! Kings Of Their Court

Want to get more from A Pen And A Napkin? Go to apenandanapkin.com for videos, handouts, links and more!

Want to learn more about coaching basketball and becoming a complete basketball coach? Subscribe to The Opening Tip newsletter on Substack! https://apenandanapkin.substack.com/?utm_source=global-search

The entire floor we coach is 94 x 50, so in many ways, we should use that entire space to our advantage, right? In today's podcast, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of full court pressure defense, how you can use it to control the tempo of the game and ways that you can implement it throughout a game. We also have a great quote from Denzel Washington, and we breakdown the importance of studying one of the most successful modern coaches of the game, John Calipari!

The lifeblood to almost any high school program is its youth program, so today, we break down the important elements of developing a quality youth program. We discuss structure, areas of emphasis, bringing in the right people and much more! In addtiion, we've got a great quote from Bob Starkey, and we study one of the legends of college basketball, Jerry Tarkanian, also known as "Tark The Shark". Enjoy!

99% of your players are going to play under the rim, so you've got to work on finishing around the basket. In today's podcast, we discuss the importance of finishing around the basket, how you sell the importance of finishing and techniques you should use to help with finishing. In addition, we've got a great quote from Geno Auriemma about finishing and a study of Jody Conradt, one of the important pioneers of the modern women's game!

We discussed Defensive Pillars just a few days ago, and we're back discussing the same thing, just on the other side of the ball! Today we take a look at the 7 Pillars on offense that we used in our system and program, as well as ways to make sure that it is engrained in your players minds. In addition, we've got a great quote from Steve Kerrm, and we also study one of the least well known but brilliant head coaches in modern basketball, Rick Byrd.

Pregame doesn't start with the 20:00 warmup; it starts long before that. In today's podcast, we break down the routines and rhythms that you should establish, both for yourself and the program, in your pregame preparation. This ranges from arrival times to personal focus to getting a great warmup going, your pregame will often determine your success level. We also have another great quote from Marcus Aurelius, and we are studying one of the most influential coaches of modern basketball, the great Dean Smith.

You can't do this job alone, and one of the things that you should seek out in life is strong mentors, people you can ask hard questions, get hard answers and learn from their experiences. In this episode, we break down the importance of mentors, and I take the time to discuss some of the really important mentors of my life. In addition, we have a great quote from the Roman philosopher Seneca, as well as a study of one of the great early basketball coaches, the one they called Mr. Iba . . .

Todd Kuntz, the head boys basketball coach at Cedar Rapids Prairie (IA), jumps on episode #340 to discuss his growth as a coach, important influences (including Mr. Tony D. Vis!) and serving on the IBCA board, making the leap from a small school to a big school, offensive basketball, building a culture and communicating with both administration and parents. This was a lot of fun chatting it up with one of the up and coming coaches in state of Iowa!!

Get your copy of Hoops 365: A One Year Guide to Becoming a Basketball CEO here! Hoops 365

Get your copy of The Last of the Cowboys: The Story of Snow Valley Basketball School here! The Last of the Cowboys

Get your copy of King Of Their Court: Three Teams, One City and the Greatest Season in Nebraska High School Basketball History here! Kings Of Their Court

Want to get more from A Pen And A Napkin? Go to apenandanapkin.com for videos, handouts, links and more!

Want to learn more about coaching basketball and becoming a complete basketball coach? Subscribe to The Opening Tip newsletter on Substack! https://apenandanapkin.substack.com/?utm_source=global-search

It is imperative that you have a strong half court defensive philosophy within your program, so how are you going to construct it? In this episode, we breakdown all of the important questions that you need to ask yourself about building your half court defense, suggestions on how to implement it and more! In addition, we've got a great quote from Rick Pitino and a study of the recent Hall of Fame inductee Doc Rivers!

There is a MASSIVE difference between rules and standards; rules should be few and far between, where as standards should be what actually rules your program. In this episode, we discuss standards, what good standards should look like, and how they should be implemented in your daily execution of the program. We also have a great quote from the great Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus, and we focus on learning about the master of the Triangle offense, Tex Winter!