Tool of the Day Archive January 2009

January 29 XAVIER'S SEAN MILLER ON DEFENDING THE POST We have a clip that is around a minute and 45 seconds of Sean Miller discussing a part of their scheme for defending the post. Sean Miller Defending the Post.

January 28 THE WISDOM OF PETE CARRIL This was posted on Coach Eric Musselman's Blog and I found it reposted by Larry Ronglein of the Yahoo Coaching Hoops Group. You can go to either of those sites by clicking on the link. The notes are from Pete Carril's book, The Smart Take from the Strong.  You can click on the book title's link to read a few excerpts. Here are the posted notes from the book: The Wisdom of Pete Carril.

January 27 THE EDGE IS IN THE MIND I picked this up at one of Don Meyer's Clinics.  It is directed to players, but is applicable to us coaches as well The Edge is in the Mind. It is taken from What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School by Mark McCormack.

January 26 TWO ON ONE DRIBBLING DRILL VIDEO Coach April McDivitt Foster working with some players and going through some teaching points for two on one dribbling.  The video is on My HoopClinics partner Josh Stinson's site.  You will need to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the video. Two on One Dribbling with Coach April McDivitt Foster

January 25 DRLLS, DRILLS, DRILLSSome are youtube videos, some are videos or animations that we have made, and some are from other sites.  I hope that having them in one spot will make them easier to find and reference. Basketball Drills

January 22 DEFENSIVE HELP AND VISION Here is a video segment from Bob Huggins talking about his views on seeing both man and ball.  He then gives his views on how to get players to play the way he wants. As many coaches have said, "Hard head leads to sore rear end" (from sitting on the bench). Bob Huggins Video

January 21 PLAY TO ISOLATE A DRIVER I also wanted to include this link.  It is to a pdf version of the NCAA statistician's manual.  I didn't know if it would be helpful by itself, so I wanted to throw it in with these plays.  It might be too late for this season, but for future reference, high school or middle school coaches might want to use parts of it if you are fortunate enugh to have managers or student statisticians to help them to know what to look for.  I wasn't able to find anything without paying from the NFHS. Statistician's Manual Here is a play that you might think about putting in for the upcoming tournaments to isolate a driver.  It is from our collection of animated basketball plays. We have used it at times when we wanted to isolate a defender who is in foul trouble or we were hoping to pick up a foul on:Kentucky We also have a counter when the defense goes under the screens called: Wildcat

January 20 HOOPCLINICS WEBINAR #2 We will be holding our second HoopClinics webinar on Monday January 26 at 9:00 EST featuring Coach April McDivitt Foster.  Click here for webinar registration details and some video of April in action
She works with Ed Schilling at Champions Academy and has compiled a very impressive basketball resume including:

1999 Miss Basketball in the state of Indiana
Played collegiately at Tennessee and UC Santa Barbara
Played in the WNBA for Washington, New York, and Minnesota
4 year D1 Assistant Coach for UC Santa Barbara

Click here for webinar registration details and some video of April in action During the webinar, you will be able to submit questions for April to answer.  At the end of the webinar, we will once again provide an opportunity for anyone who is interested to purchase April's DVD "Ballhandling and One-on-One concepts.

Coach Rick Allison of the Lone Star Basketball Academy had this to say about the DVD:

"I purchased April McDivitt-Foster's DVD a couple of months ago and she also has a special talent and skill set for training players.  April's DVD is one of the best in my collection.  I would highly recommend it to anyone."

Click here for webinar registration details and some video of April in action

January 19 JAMIE DIXON SHOOTING DRILL Not only do I really like this drill, I think it is a good philosophy to apply to all of your shooting drills to have the players go to their rebound assignment when they shoot in a shooting drill. Jamie Dixon Shooting Drill.

January 16 THE LEADERSHIP SECRETS OF THE ARMY'S TOP GENERALS Here is an article on leadership from Jeff Janssen's Sports Leadership Center.  The article was written by Shelley Johnson. The Leadership Secrets of the Army's Top Generals.

January 15 TAKE THE CHARGE DRILL My friend Josh Stinson at Perfect Practice has posted a drill to simulate taking and avoiding a charge in a full court transition setting. Full Court Take the Charge.

January 14 LAST SECOND PLAYS I like this as a play to run against man to man at the end of the game because it involves three screen the screeners, which I think it tough to guard. Bulldog. Bulldog is a to the play that we run at the end of the first three quarters called Butler.  We hope that by running it the first three times we are going for the last shot, that the defense might be cheating to stop Butler which will give us an edge in executing Bulldog. Butler I like this as a last second play against a zone as it forces coverages that the defense is not use to making if you have not run this play previously in the game. Stack

January 13 CLOSEOUT, CONTEST, AND CONTAIN DRILL Here is a version of the closeout, contest, and contain drill that Frank Martin uses at Kansas State.  In my opinion, having a variety of drills that teach and reinforce fundamentals and then finding ways to make them competitive, helps keep things fresh for the players. Closeout, Contest, and Contain Drill

January 12 WORTH TO THE TEAM I like this story as a way to illustrate the difference between doing what is expected and the type of extra effort that it takes to be successful in anything. Worth to the Team

January 9 THE BIG FOUR FROM THE MID-SEASON COACH OF THE YEAR Butler's Brad Stevens recently was named the recipient of the men's mid-season Hugh Durham Award is giving annually by CollegeInsider.com to the top mid-major coach in America. Stevens says that everything they do is centered around these four areas:

1)  Being great defensively
2)  Not turning the basketball over
3)  Taking great shots
4)  Winning the hustle plays

January 8 CHOICE ZONE INBOUNDS PLAY I have posted a Zone Inbounds Play that was included in a recent newsletter from Coach Creighton Burns. Choice Zone Inbounds Play

January 7 BRUCE WEBER BULL IN A RING DRILL Here are a two drills from Bruce Weber to develop toughness while dribbling the basketball. You will probably need to scroll down the page to see the drills Bruce Weber Bull In A Ring Drill

January 6 VINCE LOMBARDI--WHAT IT TAKES TO BE NUMBER ONE Here is the Simple Truths movie of the month.  What It Takes to Be Number 1. To follow up from yesterday's clock management, here is the play we like to use at the end of the game when we are behind by 3 or less. Denver

January 5 END OF GAME CLOCK MANAGEMENT Here is a link to a post that I made regarding my thoughts on managing the last few seconds of a game when tied trailing by a basket. End of Game Clock Management