OT: Coaching Help

[the Q]

Coach--Just give them a positive experience.. Teach them the rules/fundamentals and protocol of the game.. Help them be winners through their attitude. What else can you do unless your team is loaded with studs??

Yup. Teach them the basics so when they get to high school they don’t need to learn what the defensive shell is and other concepts like that.

Boxing out should be second nature to them, etc

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Four games in…had one of my favorite games ever on Tuesday.

My 7th grade boys’ team (should be 7/8 grade but no 8th graders wanted to play) was down five with a minute to go. In our league, we’re only allowed to press the last minute of each half, so at 1:06 remaining I called a TO and drew up a quick 2-3 press (we’ve never practiced press).

Forced a turnover that led to a layup and then we forced another turnover with six seconds to go, down three. I called another time out to draw up a quick play to get our best two shooters and we hit a game tying three to bring it to overtime.

We ended up losing by 2, but just getting to OT against a very good team was such a blast. The kids were a mix of elated (the weaker kids) and pissed off (the stronger kids) that we lost.

 

[Umami Zen]

Four games in…had one of my favorite games ever on Tuesday.

My 7th grade boys’ team (should be 7/8 grade but no 8th graders wanted to play) was down five with a minute to go. In our league, we’re only allowed to press the last minute of each half, so at 1:06 remaining I called a TO and drew up a quick 2-3 press (we’ve never practiced press).

Forced a turnover that led to a layup and then we forced another turnover with six seconds to go, down three. I called another time out to draw up a quick play to get our best two shooters and we hit a game tying three to bring it to overtime.

We ended up losing by 2, but just getting to OT against a very good team was such a blast. The kids were a mix of elated (the weaker kids) and pissed off (the stronger kids) that we lost.

Sounds like the kids are responding to your coaching and learning about what it takes to win.. A W is right around the corner. Keep pumping them up.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Hi all,

I'm in the midst of a marathon coaching week, coaching every day from Monday-Thursday. Off Friday to spend Friday night at UConn and then watching the Xavier game.

Overall a solid week. Lost both games by 5, so there's good progress there. The first game, the ref said the funniest thing: listen, I've never gotten a call wrong, but I messed up there.

Anyways, my 7th grade team (I freakin' love this team) has a bit of a conundrum. We have a game tomorrow that is on the eve of a four day Presidents' Day weekend. Due to that, I have just six players who will be in school tomorrow. Thankfully, this includes three of my best players, two active kids who can defend but just have sub-par skills, and one kid who has average skills, but sub-par fitness.

We've never done zone this season, but I might want to try it for tomorrow's game to keep the players fresh. I was thinking a 2-1-2 zone with my best defender (a 5'10 kid who's also my best shooter/handler/etc) in the middle of the zone.

What do you all think? Or, I could just stick to man the whole game. We can only press in the last two minutes of the game, which has gone amazingly (about 18 points scored in about 4 minutes of press D).

Thanks!

 

[the Q]

Hi all,

I'm in the midst of a marathon coaching week, coaching every day from Monday-Thursday. Off Friday to spend Friday night at UConn and then watching the Xavier game.

Overall a solid week. Lost both games by 5, so there's good progress there. The first game, the ref said the funniest thing: listen, I've never gotten a call wrong, but I messed up there.

Anyways, my 7th grade team (I freakin' love this team) has a bit of a conundrum. We have a game tomorrow that is on the eve of a four day Presidents' Day weekend. Due to that, I have just six players who will be in school tomorrow. Thankfully, this includes three of my best players, two active kids who can defend but just have sub-par skills, and one kid who has average skills, but sub-par fitness.

We've never done zone this season, but I might want to try it for tomorrow's game to keep the players fresh. I was thinking a 2-1-2 zone with my best defender (a 5'10 kid who's also my best shooter/handler/etc) in the middle of the zone.

What do you all think? Or, I could just stick to man the whole game. We can only press in the last two minutes of the game, which has gone amazingly (about 18 points scored in about 4 minutes of press D).

Thanks!

This is a very common strategy when undermanned.

Putting the athlete in the middle let’s them play centerfield on passes while also blocking shots and rebounding.

If you play man, you probably want to do quicker sub ins and outs.

And can slow it down at the end of quarters to try and steal extra rest

 

[Northbound]

Haha, I do, but the school wouldn’t let it fly having the kid play up. We have separate cohorts between 5/6 and 7/8 because of Covid. Either way, if I ever have a kid play up I always have them still play with their original team also.

For the 5/6 team, I like the idea of a 4 out, pass and cut offense with an added wrinkle to cut to the inside if your man is outside the perimeter. Kinda like a super simple motion offense whenever we need to play halfcourt offense.

I also wrote up a simple play where the the team stacks starting at the high post and then once they split it opens up space for a pick and roll between the 1 and the 5 where the 1 can pass back out to the trailing 5 if the layup isn’t there. One stack in bounds play and I’m good to go for the first game.

We’ll see…there’s a going away party for our IT guy after my first practice so a little alcohol can cure whatever headache that practice might cause. I’m just thankful I coach at a school where no one really cares if I go winless, as long as the kids learn and have fun.

Thanks for the help and entertainment.

You’ve brougjt back nightmares for me - “have fun” - i was coaching a college (ncaa) team, not basketball and first year I asked what we wanted to this season the response was “have fun” only one kid said “win games”. I’m sure a vein was coming out of my forehead - fellas those aren’t mutually exclusive, in fact winning games is fun.

I don’t have a poker face and i’m certain my incredulous reaction to just have fun was all over my face.

But in your case just get them to love playing the game. Parents can take this stuff too seriously.

 

[imno1]

Have you threatened to fight anyone in the stands yet?

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Have you threatened to fight anyone in the stands yet?

It's hard when so few fans are allowed in the gym, but I'm chomping at the bits.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I coached girls in those same ages. Catholic school, one practice a week was all we got most weeks. For the younger ones, all I can say @Hey Adrien! is encourage the guards to practice dribbling on their own time. Worked on catching the ball, dribbling drills and layups in practice. Worked in jump shots later. Rebounding drills, reminders to jump etc. Defense is the hardest part, so really mostly focused on the rules. How do you guard without fouling. What's a foul, staying vertical, etc. These kids miss shots. You don't need to smother them to make those shots more difficult. If you can have say, two players figure out how to rebound or steal and go coast to coast, that's a help. Your boys are probably way ahead of my girls though.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Hi all,

I'm in the midst of a marathon coaching week, coaching every day from Monday-Thursday. Off Friday to spend Friday night at UConn and then watching the Xavier game.

Overall a solid week. Lost both games by 5, so there's good progress there. The first game, the ref said the funniest thing: listen, I've never gotten a call wrong, but I messed up there.

Anyways, my 7th grade team (I freakin' love this team) has a bit of a conundrum. We have a game tomorrow that is on the eve of a four day Presidents' Day weekend. Due to that, I have just six players who will be in school tomorrow. Thankfully, this includes three of my best players, two active kids who can defend but just have sub-par skills, and one kid who has average skills, but sub-par fitness.

We've never done zone this season, but I might want to try it for tomorrow's game to keep the players fresh. I was thinking a 2-1-2 zone with my best defender (a 5'10 kid who's also my best shooter/handler/etc) in the middle of the zone.

What do you all think? Or, I could just stick to man the whole game. We can only press in the last two minutes of the game, which has gone amazingly (about 18 points scored in about 4 minutes of press D).

Thanks!

what's plan b if michael jordan in the middle gets foul troubles?
i've often found that a youth player who can actually make repetitive buckets is worth more than any d player. kids can't score cuz they're too short. lol.

 

[Umami Zen]

what's plan b if michael jordan in the middle gets foul troubles?
i've often found that a youth player who can actually make repetitive buckets is worth more than any d player. kids can't score cuz they're too short. lol.

Tell "Michael" his value to the team is on offense.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

what's plan b if michael jordan in the middle gets foul troubles?
i've often found that a youth player who can actually make repetitive buckets is worth more than any d player. kids can't score cuz they're too short. lol.

Good point.

Here's my idea for 2-1-2

The two post defenders are both my best rebounders and surprisingly best ball handlers. Therefore, once they secure the board, use 8 seconds to slowly bring the ball to halfcourt and then go to work.

The middle guy will be a long, very athletic kid whose not one of my best offensive players.

The two perimeter guys will be my two worst rebounders on the floor.

My only issue is what to do with the one kid with average skills but below average energy. I'll have him at the foul line if/when the team plays zone, but not sure where to put him on D. Maybe post since he's got some heft.

God, I hate zone. Haven't played it w/ any of my teams so far.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

So, the game where I had six players (early vacation for the second home private school folk) quickly became a game with five players.

My AAU kid (soft shot, good handle, poor vision, works hard on D but out of shape) forced up an awful three pointer that was able three feet wide. Getting back on defense, he was hobbling and I immediately took him out of the game where he told me that he strained a back muscle in AAU practice on Tuesday. I ran over to check it out with his mom and she confirmed.

So midway through the second, I was down to five players. After two awful minutes of zone (we never practiced it), I switched to a heavy help man D where we forced the opponents to take perimeter shots (they looked bad at warmups). To tire us out, the other team went for a lot of deep passes off defensive boards, which my guys did pretty well defending in the moment (with the help of me calling out numbers nearly every possession).

My five worked their butts off. Prior to the game, I double-checked with the ref how many TOs I had (he confirmed three per half) and I let him know I planned on using all of them. To that, he looked at my bench and said I'll give you an extra 30 seconds per half and smiled.

It was a pretty close game until midway through the third where my guys were running on fumes. At the start of the fourth, the opponents had five team fouls by that time, so I suggested we attack the rim, draw fouls and then the foul shots would not only help us get easy points, but also give everyone quick rests on the line.

We're allowed to press with two minutes to go, so I called my last TO at 2:06 and asked the kid am I crazy to suggest that we try press? and they all enthusiastically said that they wanted to run it.

I freakin' love this team. They're so young (we're in a 7/8 league and all my players are 7th graders), so they'll be a heck of a squad next year (plus a few of our 6th graders can ball).

We have three more practices before our last game of the season, so would love to finish with a W!

 

[HooperScooper]

So, the game where I had six players (early vacation for the second home private school folk) quickly became a game with five players.

My AAU kid (soft shot, good handle, poor vision, works hard on D but out of shape) forced up an awful three pointer that was able three feet wide. Getting back on defense, he was hobbling and I immediately took him out of the game where he told me that he strained a back muscle in AAU practice on Tuesday. I ran over to check it out with his mom and she confirmed.

So midway through the second, I was down to five players. After two awful minutes of zone (we never practiced it), I switched to a heavy help man D where we forced the opponents to take perimeter shots (they looked bad at warmups). To tire us out, the other team went for a lot of deep passes off defensive boards, which my guys did pretty well defending in the moment (with the help of me calling out numbers nearly every possession).

My five worked their butts off. Prior to the game, I double-checked with the ref how many TOs I had (he confirmed three per half) and I let him know I planned on using all of them. To that, he looked at my bench and said I'll give you an extra 30 seconds per half and smiled.

It was a pretty close game until midway through the third where my guys were running on fumes. At the start of the fourth, the opponents had five team fouls by that time, so I suggested we attack the rim, draw fouls and then the foul shots would not only help us get easy points, but also give everyone quick rests on the line.

We're allowed to press with two minutes to go, so I called my last TO at 2:06 and asked the kid am I crazy to suggest that we try press? and they all enthusiastically said that they wanted to run it.

I freakin' love this team. They're so young (we're in a 7/8 league and all my players are 7th graders), so they'll be a heck of a squad next year (plus a few of our 6th graders can ball).

We have three more practices before our last game of the season, so would love to finish with a W!

This takes me back to my 5th grade travel basketball coaching days. Our best game might have been one game where we only had 6 players. It just so happened that we had the best 6 players on our team and so everyone played major minutes and like your kids, my kids looked at our low numbers as a challenge to overcome and they played their butts off. We ended up beating a very good team and the kids celebrated like they won a championship. Ah, those were the days. I miss it.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

The season is over!

My 5th/6th grade team was a challenge and while not totally surprised, the AAU kid on the team "quit" prior to our second to last game. According to his teammates, he said that there's no point playing with this roster...good riddance to him for now: he'll be whipped into shape when he'll join a very good 7th/8th grade team next year and have to earn his PT. Good chance he won't be back next year anyways: academic and behavioral issues adding with his angry parents...just not a good fit for our school. I'm letting time pass until I check in with him next week to find out the real story.

On the bright side, while the skill set hasn't improved that much, the other kids' understanding of the game has gotten better. Smarter passing and better understanding of help defense. Still a problem: the kids still almost never move without the ball unless I run a basic set, hopefully that'll get better next year.

On the even brighter side, my 7th grade boys team finished the season with a win, the first and only win of the year. What made it even better is that we played against a team that ends in 9th grade, so my 12- and 13-year olds were up against some 15-year olds. One of my shorter players is a scrappy and gifted soccer player and personally requested to guard their tallest player, who was probably around 6'2 with girth. Pestered him like a raptor, boxed him out like a boss and ripped away a few steals. Defensively, an amazing game: generated turnovers for transition offensive when we could and our halfcourt defense was really good: proud of how even the weaker players understand switching and various defensive stances depending on the situation. Offensively, the kids are getting better at reading space: still every freakin' team plays a 2-3, so sleepy teams leave the baseline open a lot, leaving me calling a lot of overload plays.

Only a few of the kids can hit shots: one scored 16, another scored 14 and a few others scored a bucket. When all was said and done, we pulled ahead in the 4th and won by 11.

Most importantly, this team is the most fun group I've had in a long time. Next year, they will all be 8th graders, so we should have a pretty good cohesive squad next year. At the very least, I know it'll be a fun, hard working group to coach: at this level, I'd much rather coach under-skilled but hard working teams over the opposite.

Thanks for all your help this year! Faculty vs 8th grade game is Thursday!