WBB related - UofA coach's Chalk Talk

[KnightBridgeAZ]

On Saturday, the U of A held a "chalk talk" for season ticket holders, where one of the Assistant Coaches gave a scout of the opponent (UC Riverside). He even provided a "dumbed down" version of the scouting report given to the players and gave a 40 minute entertaining talk detailing the other team's style of play, player personnel and "keys to the game". Fascinating, even to the point of explaining the opponents style of play in detail because the descriptions (5 out motion flex to the triangle, etc.) were over some of our heads.

One of the areas he commented on was what was difficult with teams today - men or women - citing

• getting players to communicate on the court, which he considers key
• getting players to "make each other better" - not his phrasing exactly, but the point had to do with specifically looking for opportunities for other players and not focusing only on your role - and he's not talking about being selfish, either, just sort of going with the flow
• getting consistent effort from players. That you don't do something "sometimes" you do it all the time and you don't do it sometimes with effort and sometimes "half arsed", but should do it all the time with effort
• and, one of the keys to the game, playing in your "box"; "keep it simple" - in other words not suddenly trying to do something you normally wouldn't, thereby confusing everyone.

I have to say that - all in all - these are precisely the sort of things that I think your team does so well and others not so much - although this was a rare case where we did blow them out. Even if they are not very good, they had just lost an OT game to one of the other weaker Pac12 teams; technically, no one is supposed to be worse than us.

 

[JellyBean]

Pretty cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jsloanjr]

Good idea........Great marketing idea to get more fans to get to games earlier and offer them some free grub and Vino or water or whatever.......

 

[Zorro]

Players would probably communicate better on the court if they were allowed to use their cell phones. Just a thought.

 

[UcMiami]

Very interesting and a great idea - the more knowledgeable the fan the greater the appreciation and enjoyment of the game.
Agree that this is along the lines of what Uconn coaches complain about with incoming players, and work so hard in preseason and practice to develop.