Gaining Buy-In

Coach Gayle Coats Fulks of Davidson College talks about gaining buy-in from her new team at a program that had not seen a lot of recent success.

Is it important to you that your team “buys-in”?

Is it important to your players that they “buy-in”?

What does buy-in look like to you or to your players?

Are there different levels of what it looks like?

When did your team feel like they were bought in?

When did you feel like your team bought in this season?

Why did they choose to get on board?

What were some strategies you used?

Was there a time that you thought you might not get what you were looking for?

Was there a time that you thought you might lose what you worked hard to achieve?

It won't happen over night.  It's a process that takes time, effort, and consistency. Do you have a philosophy that you can buy into yourself?  Are you passionate about it? Are you so passionate about it that every one knows it's your philosophy without you even having to say it? Can you hold people accountable even when it seems like it's not working?

Changing My Team's Identity

Every team will develop their own identity whether you want them to or not.  It is up to coaches to shape and focus those energies appropriately. Coach Mock arrived at UNC Asheville and the program had a culture that she wanted to change.  She discusses how her program evolved into a program that won back to back Big South tournaments and earned back to back NCAA tournament appearances.

What was your team’s personality?

Why was it that way?

What did you want your identity to be?

What strategies have you used to "get there"?

If you’ve "arrived", when did that happen? How long did it take?

What’s next? Maintain or evolve to something else?

As she discusses, it's always a process. It always takes attention and effort to make sure your team is what you want them to be. It's impossible for players to flip a switch.  However, if we're always focused on what it takes to improve every day, our team will develop the identity that we want them to.

What Do My Players Think I Think Is Important?

Do you know what is important for you and your team? Have you ever felt like you and your players weren’t on the same page? It seems like your team just doesn’t think what you say or do matters. You're probably right, but then you have to decide what to do. You could just kick everyone off and start over next year, but let's examine ourselves first to see what we can do better.

The truth is that everything you say and do matters to them. The problem is if you're trying to say or do too much, they get confused.  Keep it simple and make it easier on yourself and everyone else.

Decide on your priorities

Pick something.

It can’t be everything, otherwise it is nothing.

It has to be something, otherwise it is everything.

Less is more.

Communicate your priorities

Words

What gets emphasized in practice

How you spend your time in practice

How you react to success or failure in game situations

Who gets to play in games

Ask them what they think you think is important.

Ask them why they think you think it is important.

 

Changing My Least Favorite Part of Practice

Here are 8 reasons why you might dread a certain part of practice.  In this episode we discuss some strategies to help you address these situations. Your players probably enjoy your favorite part of practice. Your energy is definitely contagious to them. Maybe you have to fake your energy, or maybe there is a better way for you to execute those parts of practice that are traditionally not very fun for you. If you have a scenario that you'd like some feedback on, let us know.

Players think it is pointless

It’s at the end

It’s at the beginning

Intensity always seems to go down

It’s too hard for players

Players don’t understand it

You’re not comfortable with it

It's hard to keep everyone engaged

My Favorite Part of Practice

Practice is our classroom. If we don't get excited when we get to teach this game, then we probably should find a new profession.  Of course, we can still get excited on game day, but we need to value the process. We need to enjoy our limited opportunities to help our players and teams improve every day. Coach Wierzba talks about his favorite part of practice.

What is your favorite part of practice & why?

Where does your passion come from?

How do you make practice unique?

If you could only use one word, what would you say is most important quality of a practice?

What is one attribute that stands out that separates a good practice from one that is not?

Implementing the Read & React with Your Personnel

How are we most likely to score?

How do I get my shooters shots?

What can I do to make my players most consistent game to game?

How do I implement running sets and running the Read & React?

Which Read & React Layer Should I Teach First?

Are any layers more important than the other?

Does one layer require more emphasis?

Is one layer more important to scoring?

Does my alignment affect what I teach first?

Gaining a Defensive Advantage in BLOB Situations

 

We mentioned in the last episode teams have a defensive advantage when the ball is out of bounds on the baseline.

The inbounder can't dribble or score. It is about being in good position, defending cuts and screens.

The backboard defends part of the court, part of the court is difficult to pass to

It is 4 on 5. You have an extra defender because you don't have to guard the ball.

What are the different ways to take advantage of the extra defender?

Ball Pressure.  Impact their vision. Make it hard for them to see open players.

Inside the inbounder. Parallel to the side trying to force strong side pass & protect the basket.

Outside the inbounder. Take away strong side pass and trust defense at the rim.

Double Team the other team's best player. Make someone else beat you.

Help & Tag. Stay or Switch.

On ball in a zone.

Off ball in a zone.

Why do so many teams lose this advantage?

Players don’t know how to defend when the ball is below them.

Teams need to spend more time practicing these situations.

Teams need competitive ways to practice them.

Players don’t know what they are supposed to do.  They just know they aren't supposed to give up a layup.

Gaining an Offensive Advantage on BLOBs

 

In the first episode of the Hoops College Coach's Podcast, we discuss ways for you to get an offensive advantage on a baseline out of bounds play. Sometimes those one or two possessions in the middle of the game can make a big difference in the outcome. Maybe having a good offensive BLOB strategy can help you steal an easy bucket without having to call a timeout. Yes, some out of bounds plays might be better than others. However, sometimes it's not about the plays you run, but how you teach them or how you disguise them so that the other team can't predict what you're going to do.

Making use of the time between when the referee blows his whistle and your player touches the ball

How to get the call

You say one thing but your assistant is calling the play through hand signals.

Can your players call their own play in a huddle? If they call it, they might feel more ownership and actually run it better.

Having more than one “play” in an alignment

This could be about teaching your players to read the defense.

It could just be simply about having multiple calls out of one alignment.

One alignment with multiple looks is better than one look out of multiple alignments.

How to control “getting set”

Players should have a sense of urgency to get where they need to be.

The inbound should step out of bounds when they want to, or they should make the referee tell them to.

How to know when to go

Since we have hustled to our spots, we will go when we want to.

We don't need to smack the ball.

If everyone is watching the inbound, we can go as soon as the in-bounder has the ball.

Helping the players be most successful by keeping it simple

Same plays vs. man and zone

Any moment could be a scoring opportunity

Sometimes you don't even have to run the play because someone is open already.

Are you running the play or are you reading the play?

Sometimes just getting it in is ok.

Do you players know time and score?

Do you have a better chance scoring out of your half court offense?

Crossing the midline

The ball might not be able to change sides of the court, but your players can.  Defending players with the ball out of bounds is not a natural thing.  When players cross the midline, defenders have more chances to make mistakes.

We would love for you to share how you gain offensive advantages on BLOBs.