Backyard Buckets Basketball

Coach Elkin dives into the nitty gritty of how to become an ELITE level Director of Baskebtall Operations at the Division 1 level. Having coached at all levels prior to his time at Yale, Matt shares what he's learned from the coaches he's worked under along with tips for building and maintaining a network within the coaching industry.

Topics:
- Benefits of coaching at various levels
- Time as GA at Northeastern
- Learning your head coach
- Organization and being flexible
- Do your job at an elite level
- Growing in the off season
- Networking and putting yourself out there

Read more about Matt here

Matt's Twitter

Iowa Women's Basketball Video Coordinator and Director of Analytics Ben Lober joins episode 65 of the Backyard Buckets Podcast to discuss the run to the National Championship game and the role that analytics plays within the program. Ben discusses his journey as a video coordinator and his day to day responsibilities within scouting. He also provides some insight and advice for young GA's and managers on how to separate themselves and add value.

Topics:
- Final four run
- Game prep in NCAA tourney
- His film process
- Caitlin Clark's stats
- Delivering info to the staff
- Scouting reports
- Sportscode vs Synergy
- Advice for GA's/Managers
- Analytics websites he uses

About Ben
https://hawkeyesports.com/coach/ben-lober/

Watch the video podcast here on YouTube 

Backyard Buckets Newsletter

Kicking off season 2 with a mashup episode focused on tips for younger coaches. This episode includes 4 shortened segments spanning all areas of the game including on court coaching, work life balance, speaking up and networking. These are 4 clips from previously recorded podcast episodes, the full episodes are linked below.

Segments
1:20 Jordan McCann (Loyola Chicago) - Growing your voice & being a fly on the wall
12:53 Brianna Finch (Boston University) - Feedback and the balance between competition and learning
17:45 Carolyn Smalls (Johns Hopkins)
28:35 Jess Jenkins (Akron) - work life balance, time blocking, off season projects

Link to full podcast episodes:
Jordan McCann
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-57-jordan-mccann-d3-to-d1-recruiting-coordinator/id1521531231?i=1000566790909

Brianna Finch
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-55-brianna-finch-post-season-evaluations-small-sided/id1521531231?i=1000562504565

Carolyn Smalls
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-60-carolyn-smalls-takeaways-from-year-1-as-an/id1521531231?i=1000575355336

Jess Jenkins
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-58-jess-jenkins-st-bonaventures-sweet-16-run-time/id1521531231?i=1000568735973

Quick recap of the Sweet 16 & Elite 8 games along with final four predictions! We also touch on our experiences traveling to the final four and some of the benefits of attending for young or new coaches. Hope you enjoy the episode!

Link to YouTube Video breakdown  

Carolyn's Twitter

Backyard Buckets Twitter 

Joined once again by Carolyn Smalls, we recap the first and second round games and  discuss some of the best Sweet 16 matchups and more. The video version of this episode can be found on YouTube that includes clips from each of the games discussed.

Click here to watch the episode w/ the video breakdown

Backyard Buckets Twitter

Carolyn's Twitter

A casual conversation from two hoops junkies around this years NCAA Women's tournament. This first episode was meant to be more general, giving big picture thoughts on the seeding and potential matchups down the stretch. We discuss a few possible cinderella teams and our final four picks!

Follow Backyard Buckets Basketball on Twitter
https://twitter.com/backyardbball_

Follow Carolyn on Twitter
https://twitter.com/coach__smalls?lang=en

Wrapping up "Season 1" of the podcast with a quick basketball update as we countdown the days until our first game. I give some insight into the daily schedule of our players during preseason and what recruiting looks like for coaches during the fall. 

Season 2 will feature some of the best moments in previous podcasts in a slightly different format. As always thank you for all of the support!

Entering his first season as an Assistant for Longwood University Men's Basketball, Quinn McDowell has published a number of courses and clinics on both the Princeton Offense and Ball Screen Continuity.  After a stellar playing career at William & Mary and overseas, Quinn had several coaching stops including most recently Lehigh University.  He is also the founder of Arete Hoops,  a comprehensive basketball resource for coaches in players. Find out more about Quinn below.

Quinn's Courses
https://coachtube.com/users/coachmcdowell20

Quinn's Twitter
https://twitter.com/aretehoops

Arete Hoops Website
https://www.aretehoops.com

Mike Jagacki enters his first season on staff with SUNY New Paltz Men's basketball after spending the last three years as a video coordinator and then promoted to assistant coach for the Hofstra Pride Women's Basketball program.

Topics Discussed:

- Handling feedback as a content creator
- Making the switch between men's/women's basketball
- Building a defensive philosophy from scratch
- Aligning your general principles with your ball screen coverage
- Matching your system to your personnel
- Defensive protection plans
- Improving individual defenders
- Role as a video coordinator
- Making the jump to a full time assistant coach
- The power of photoshop/graphics
- Scouting process and focusing on personnel
- Seeking knowledge and learning something new everyday

Learn more about Mike

Mike's Twitter

Purchase Mike's book here - Lockdown Defense: Developing Elite Defenders

Listen to the Lockdown Defense Podcast

Really enjoyed this open ended discussion with Johns Hopkins Assistant WBB Coach Carolyn Smalls. Carolyn and I met through zooms and online clinics and were finally able to connect in person at this years final four. She is an active learner and basketball junkie. It was awesome to hear about her experiences and what her takeaways from her first year as a college coach.

More on Carolyn here...

Follow Carolyn on Twitter