February 16, 2006
16-7
I haven't written anything about coaching basketball this year. However tonight was a game for the ages. It was round one of the playoffs. We were leading 3-0 at Q1 and losing 6-5 at halftime. Coaching offense has never been my thing. We've excelled over the last 4 years by playing the best defense in the league.
The game ended 16-7 us. That's right, they scored 1 point in the second half. And it's not like they didn't have some talent. They had two kids larger than my biggest kid, and several guards that could handle the ball.
With 3 minutes left in the game the other coach instructed his kids to foul at every opportunity to stop the clock. That's about as bush league as you can get in youth basketball. It really wasn't that much of a change in strategy though. Hack and foul seemed to be the MO the entire game. We were probably 5-20 from the line.
I've been losing by 1 in the last minute several times and I've never instructed the kids to foul to stop the clock. The point at this age is to teach them to NOT foul.
Our reward for the win is the #1 seed in the next game. We lost to them 31-28 earlier this year. We ended the season 4-4. Our 4 losses were to the teams seeded 1-4 in the tourney. There are 14 teams in the league and we play 8 games. It's a random draw on the schedule. Could my luck have been any worse?
Now that we are in the playoffs I've spun it to the kids that we are the only team in the league that has faced all the best teams, and we know we can beat them all if we bring our A game.
Permalink | Comments (1)February 22, 2005
28-27
Once again, we fall short in the final four. Oh well, Breck has already told me he is playing next year, so I'll be coaching next year.
It was a great game, close all the way. We had a good shot at the buzzer that just wouldn't fall. We could of won, probably should of won. The ref let them play, to the point that it looked more like a rugby scrum than a basketball game at times. That always work against me because I teach the kids to play defense with their feet, and if the other team is allowed to hack away with no penalty it hurts us. Ultimately we had a personnel advantage in the 4th quarter and some lazy defense led to 6 points that ultimately cost us the game. I can't play the game for them. If you can't keep track of your man on defense that is what happens. If you don't want to play hardcore man defense you should not be on my team :)
One thing I noticed, or at least I'm telling myself this. I think my kids are improving at a much greater rate than a lot of the other kids in the league. My system may not lead to county championships, but it is leading to fundamentally sound basketball players, at least for the kids that listen to me.
I have no doubt that if I were to check in a few years, the kids I've coached will be starting for their junior high teams. Fundamentals always win in the long run.
On to baseball season.
Permalink | Comments (0)February 15, 2005
5th grade basketball
I have not written about the basketball team at all this year. Now in my third year of coaching, I've got the system down. Hard nosed man defense, and a motion offense. It led to a 6-2 record and the 4th seed in the 15 team playoff that starts this week.
Our results this year:
W 27-13
L 28-20
W 27-12
W 20-9
L 13-10
W 29-16
W 24-15
W 41-7
Again, I'm the only coach teaching man to man defense exclusively. One other team did play a half-game of man against us, but he went to zone when he fell behind.
We held 7/8 opponents under 20 points. Our goal every game is to hold the opponent under 20. Not too shabby...
I teach them to make the proper pass and take the proper shots, regardless of who is involved. The fact that the kid wide open under the basket is our weakest player is no excuse to not make that pass. My kids make that pass. To me, the play is successful at that point, the resulting shot going in the basket is a bonus.
Pass to the open guy and then move, take only good shots, stay between your man and the basket at all times, pressure the ball, and pounce when they pick up their dribble. It really is that easy at the 5th grade level.
I have had some success this year getting them to help each other on defense. They've gotten pretty good at switching on screens, and the inside guys are getting better at helping cut off drives into the middle. 3 years of teaching man help defense and finally a few of them start to get it.
I'll update through our playoff run. We do have the talent to win out. Maybe it will happen :)
Permalink | Comments (2)February 25, 2004
Season Over
We lost 40-12. We finished the season 8-3. Defensively, it was a pretty good effort. We had no answer for their junk 3-2 zone / trap defense. It shouldn't even be allowed at this age - but I've beat that dead horse enough around here. I had a great time, and the kids had a great time. They all got better at playing the game, I got better at coaching it. A complete win-win scenario. Now if the youth sports gods will just smile on me and grant me a little league team this spring....
Update from the scorekeeper fiasco of last game. The offical timekeeper turned in a time sheet that indicated my kids played 177 minutes of basketball. There are only 160 possible minutes in a game.
Permalink | Comments (1)February 23, 2004
Blazers 16 - Bearcats 15
Ah, the sweet sweet smell of victory :) After finishing the season 6-2, we blew out our first round playoff opponent and had round 2 tonight. We were down 8-4 after the first quarter and 11-7 at the half. However, I told the kids at half time that if they played defense in the second half like they played in the 2nd quarter, we would win. At the beginning of the third quarter I got my time sheet, showing how many minutes each kid still needed to play. (every kid must play 2 quarters). I normally barely look at the thing because I run a set rotation subbing kids at the 1/2 point of each quarter so that every kid gets plenty of court time. I don't sub out for situations or do anything special to try to win. Interestingly tonight, 2 of my weaker players still owed 10 minutes each - with only two 8 minute quarters to go. This is interesting since they both played 4 minutes of each quarter. So I put them both in the game at between 5-6 minutes left. At the end of the quarter the official timekeeper claimed that they both still owed six minutes.
Did I mention that the official timekeeper was the other coach's wife?
Anyway, I called timeout with 6:05 left in the game just to get those two kids in. With about 2 minutes left and his team trailing by 3, the other coach called time out to notify the ref that I was in violation of the rules because the kids still owed 4 minutes.
Did I mention the official timekeeper was his wife?
I calmly pointed out that I called timeout with 6:05 left just to get them in. Of course, they didn't remember that, but since they couldn't prove otherwise the ref gave me benefit of the doubt.
Did I mention that his wife was the timekeeper?
Shortly thereafter the ref warned the opposing parents for bad sportsmanship.
After the game I gathered my kids and parents within earshot of the opposing fans and very loudly thanked then for being good sports.
There is no way the other team did not hear me :)
We are in the final four, and will most likely get spanked on Wednesday. But I don't even care. My kids have improved dramatically over the course of the season. The look to pass first, shoot second (most of the time.) And they (and the parents!) have exhibited good sportsmanship at all times.
They are winners, no matter what happens on Wednesday.
Permalink | Comments (1)January 17, 2004
On Coaching Youth Basketball...
I haven't posted anything about this years basketball team (9 year old boys). The only kid back from last year is my son. The 6 pre-season practices were uneventful. Generally speaking, the kids listen well, and I have a very average team talent wise. No one player is a go-to stud. At our last pre-season practice we scrimmaged a team that should be one of the better teams in the league. We played them even, which was very encouraging to me.
We won our first game 22-18. Low scoring, tough defense. Just how I like it. I am the only coach in the league teaching man to man defense.
Today's game was againt the league champions from last year. Those of you that followed my progress as a basketball coach last year may remember this post where I was totally freaked out by the team that took us apart with the 1/2 court trap. That is who we played today. The key kids from last year's team are all back. So is the trap.
We lost 18-16. They played their best player every minute of the game. It's legal, but not really in the spirit of 9 year old basketball. I stuck to my rotation designed to give everybody about the same playing time. I'll take the moral victory. We held a high scoring team accustomed to scoring 40+ a game to under 20. And we didn't do it with gimmicks. We did it with hard-nosed man to man defense.
Permalink | Comments (0)February 15, 2003
Buckeyes 17 - Orangemen 20
Season over. We finished 4-4 for the season, and this game was round 1 of the single elimination tournament. It was a very even game and a lot of fun. For the first time this year, the kids did a really good job of playing basketball the way I wanted them too. We had a great high post game going. Unfortunately, my high post kids were about 1-15 on the 8 foot jumper just inside the foul line. We took a lot of shots, almost all of them the right shots from within the offense. The shots just didn't fall for us today. If we play this game 10 times we probably win 7 of them. Oh well, the next game would have been against the Rangers, that team with the 3-2 trap that freaked me out back just before the season began. In a lot of ways its better that the season ends on a relatively good note, We lost, but we played real well. It would be hard to make that point after the likely 30 point loss to the Rangers.
So I handed out trophies after the game, and now I get a coaching break until baseball season starts in April.
Sometime in the next week or so I'll post my "what I learned, what I would do different" thoughts, partly as a reminder to me in case I am doing this again next year, and partly to help the next clueless parent who finds himself coaching his son's basketball team and happens to stumble into this site.
Permalink | Comments (1)February 09, 2003
Jayhawks 37 - Buckeyes 14
We lost, to finish up the season 4-4. We still have the single elimination tournament, so we'll play between 1-4 more games. The jayhawks have been scoring 50 points a game, so we did an OK job on defense. As usual, there is no teamwork on offense. One pass and throw up a stupid shot is our MO. It's frustrating that the kids with the most actual basketball talent are the ones that won't listen. Several of the kids that came into the season clueless have improved dramatically, both in ability and understanding of the game. The kids that came in thinking they play basketball still can't, primarily because they refuse to play within a team system, and just dribble until they lose it or are stopped, in which case they throw up a 30 foot prayer.
I'm frustrated. I don't know if I've decided I don't like coaching basketball, or this particular group of kids has just worn me down.
2 months until Little League practices start!
Permalink | Comments (0)February 03, 2003
Nuggets 26 - Buckeyes 17
So now we are 4-3. We were down two going into the 4th quarter. but we fell apart. It didn't help that we were whistled for 6 fouls in the 4th quarter, while the other team was whistled for two. I'm sure we committed six, but I'm damn sure they committed twice that many. Oh well...
For some reason I don't understand, this team performs very poorly when my two best players are on the floor together. I thought it was just a first quarter thing, because we always fall behind early. But I realized tonight it not just the first quarter, it whenever those two are in the game together. I think they are worried that if they pass it to the other they won't get it back, so they don't pass.
We have one game left, against one of the best teams. I've seen them play a couple of times when they had the game before us. They have one kid who we absolutely can not handle one on one. he will eat us up. So I am going to teach the kids a triangle and two defense at practice this week, and have the two kids outside double the super stud every time he touches the ball. from what I've seen of them, super stud does not like to pass, and the teams entire offense seems to be to get it to him and get out of the way.
They play a 3-2 zone and trap the wing guards when they get the ball. However, the leave the middle wide open when they double - so I'm going to try to get my wing guards to make a quick pass into the middle before the double team gets to them. It won't work, because the wing guards will panic and freeze when they see the double team coming. As I've said before, double teaming should not be allowed at this level. It's a cheap tactic to win without teaching the kids basketball fundamentals. And it works.
So, we'll end up 4-4. Not bad considering the coaching handicap these kids have had to work with all year :)
Permalink | Comments (0)February 01, 2003
Buckeyes 26 - Barons 17
We are 4-2. This was the roughest kiddie basketball game I've seen all year. The other team had apparently never been introduced to the concept of a foul. The hacked, pushed, and tackled my kids like we were playing Rugby. We did the usual Buckeye thing and fell behind early. It was 6-0 and the end of the first quarter. It was 14-8 at halftime as we came back big time. We were actually in the bonus in the 2nd quarter. I don't think I've seen 5 fouls called on the same team in a game, let alone in a quarter. And being that these are 8-year old boys, the ref lets them play for the most part. We pulled away in the third quarter and the ref stopped calling fouls on them. If he had continued at least 2 of their kids would have fouled out.
I've come to realize that 8-year boys are not going to run an offense in basketball, even a very simple one with 1 or 2 options. They are going to dribble around and throw up 25 foot shots. Or, they are terrified and won't shoot at all, no matter how open the look is. Breck was standing wide open on the foul every single time we had the ball on offense. I think they passed it to him twice. I even called time out to point out to the guards that the high forward was wide open for an easy shot. They didn't pass it. Oh well, they are having fun, even if they don't care that they could score twice the points with half the effort of they would actually listen and try to do some of the things that we work on in practice.
2 more games, and then the single elimination tournament. And then baseball season!
Permalink | Comments (0)January 28, 2003
Gators 27 - Buckeyes 21
So now we are 3-2. Learning to lose, and why you lose, is an important part of learning a game. This loss was all about lack of effort. I don't know if it was a long day at school, kids not getting enough sleep, etc. However, we were about 1/2 step slow all night. The Gators got every loose ball, and I'm sure they had a huge rebounding advantage too. The kids just seemed lethargic out on the court. Even when we do get a rebound, we don't hang onto the ball. Looking back, I should have spent more time in practice on the simple act of catching a basketball.
I really should have spent a lot more time on rebounding. We did work on rebounding a little, but it is a tough concept for an 8-year to pick up in a couple of practices. They don't go after the ball. They stand there and wait for the ball to come to them. Same thing on passes too. As you can imagine, there are a lot of missed shots at this age, and a lot of opportunities for offensive rebounds that lead to easy scoring opportunities. Oh well, I'm learning as I do this too. I'm having fun though, and the kids are too. That is all that really matters. Hopefully some first year basketball coach will stumble into this site next year and avoid a few of the mistakes that I made.
Permalink | Comments (0)January 26, 2003
Buckeyes 17 - Hokies 11
We are 3-1 now. It was a very odd basketball game. We were losing 8-0 at the end of the first quarter. I have my best rotation in for the first quarter. I suspect maybe they were a little cocky after the blowout win in our last game. Our practice last week was not good either. The kids weren't listening, weren't paying attention at all. So they were introduced to suicides. Any of you that has played competitive basketball knows that those are not fun.
So, its 8-0 and I have my weakest rotation in for the second quarter. I got on the kids about the need to play defense hard all the time and that there is no time for taking it easy on the basketball court. They pitched a shutout in the second quarter and we went into halftime tied 8-8.
We were outscored 1-0 in the third quarter.
The Hokies scored the first bucket of the 4th quarter on an offensive rebound putback, and them my kids clamped down on D, stole a couple of passes for break away layups, and won 17-11. Breck finally scored too. He made 1/2 freethrows with about 30 seconds left for the final points of the game.
Normally, you would expect to lose if you didn't score in two quarters. However, the Hokies only scored 3 points over the final 3 quarters of the game. That, my friends, is defense :)
Permalink | Comments (2)January 20, 2003
Buckeyes 40 - Bulls 17
Wow. From now on ya'll will address me as Mr. Wooden :) What a game. Granted, the other team was smaller than us across the board, but still, the kids played a hell of a game. Our total offensive output for the first two games was 36 points. We had 28 at halftime tonight. They really understand the concept. Pass to the wing, pass it into the big guy in the middle, shoot. I tried to keep it simple for them. What is especially gratifying is that a couple of the kids whose skills were really well behind the others are catching up. I can see that their understanding of the game is growing with every practice and game. And understanding is what I am after. If they know how to play the game properly, as they grow and their physical skills develop, they will be way ahead of the other kids their age.
Breck again played very tough D. He's got a nice short range jump shot, honed from hours and hours of shooting in the driveway. But their was no defense in the driveway and he is having a hard time getting himself free for shots. He also understands that shutting down your opponent on defense is just as important, and I think he pitched a shutout in his two quarters in the game tonight. I'm not sure the guy he was covering even touched the ball, let alone got a shot off.
At practice Wednesday, I'm going to teach them to back cut, that should help get them free for a pass and shot.
Permalink | Comments (1)January 18, 2003
Game 2
Woo Hoo! The Buckeyes won 22-14. It was so exciting to see the kids start to "get it." Ridiculous wild ass shots on the offensive end were at a minimum, and the man-to-man defense was downright stifling. They are starting to find the open guy on the offensive end too. Most of the other teams points came from offensive rebounds and a couple of long prayers from way outside. I only remember one or two serious breakdowns on defense that led to points.
Breck has decided that he likes to play in the paint with the big boys. Since Breck is at best in the bottom quartile for height/weight for his age, you would think he would be more comfortable as a guard. You would be wrong. He plays some tenacious defense on the inside. I saw him and the other kid talking in the 4th quarter and when I asked Breck what they were talking about, Breck replied that the kid was telling him to go cover somebody else! Seriously, Breck does great job of denying the ball. I haven't even tried to teach that concept to the kids either!
A parent called me after the last practice to withdraw her son from the team. They were concerned that her son didn't really understand what he was doing and he was getting frustrated. I thought I talked her out of it, explaining that as long as her son was having fun on the court, nothing else really mattered. And that most of the kids really didn't know what they were doing. They didn't show up for the game, so I may have lost him after all. On the bright side, everybody else will get more playing time.
Update: I asked Breck where he learned to deny the ball on defense. As I mentioned above, I have not covered that concept in practice. The answer?? He borrowed Curly Neal's Basketball Camp from the library. I should have known...
Permalink | Comments (1)January 13, 2003
Diary of a Youth Basketball Coach - Game 1
We lost our first game tonight 29-14. The other team had one player that scored at least 20 of their points. I'm dissapointed, but the game was about what I expected - pure chaos. My kids forgot everything we worked on in 7 practices. They did not run the pass and cut offense a single time, and they had the absolute worst time remembering to get back and find their guy on defense. They are 8, all of this is completely expected. Most of them had no idea what to expect from a basketball game. However, we outscored them 8-2 in the fourth quarter and played some tenacious D in the process. If I can get them to play like that every quarter we will rock!
The problem is these kids have grown up watching Iverson and his streetball junk and they have no concept of team basketball. I don't have one kid who can dribble around, break down the D and score every time. Even if I did, I wouldn't coach that way. it doesn't teach the kids anything. So, on practice Wednesday it back to the basics. The shell drill for offense, emphasizing again the pass to the cutting point guard. And more work on defense. I thought they really understood rebounding after the last practice, but I was wrong. You would think the ball has cooties they way they avoided it!
Maybe I'll give them a homework assignment and have them all watch Hoosiers.
Update: Michelle videotaped the first half and I feel a lot better after watching it. We had 4 or 5 shots roll off the rim in the first half, and there was a lot of evidence that they are "getting it." Also, I got the game scores today and we outscored two teams that won last night! I'm psyched about practice tomorrow.
Permalink | Comments (1)January 09, 2003
Diary of a Youth Basketball Coach - Chapter 1
This may or may not be a reoccurring feature on ODonnellWeb, we'll see how it goes.
We had our 6th basketball practice last night. This team we scrimmaged is playing a 1-3-1 half court trap, except that there really isn't any defense after the trap. His entire team is built around intimidating the ball handler at half court, stealing the ball with no regard for the possibility of a foul, and them scoring on a breakaway layup. If we had a ref calling fouls he would have been out of kids by halftime. It was more like a Rugby match than a basketball game.
Did I mention these kids are 8? A half court trap at that age defeats every purpose of youth basketball.Its only purpose is to win games. If your stealing the ball at half court every other trip your kids don't learn to play defense and don't learn to play offense. That was apparent last night as we did an OK job when we got by the trap, and we stopped them most of the time when they had to actually play basketball against our defense.
I'm teaching my kids straight man-to-man defense, which explained to an 8 year old becomes, "stay between the basket and your man," and that we play defense with our feet, not our hands. The offense has two steps:
1. If you can drive to the basket for a layup, do it.
2. If not, pass to somebody and cut to the basket.
That's complicated enough for 8 year olds.
I'm hoping this guy is just a bad coach, and that in a game situation with refs, the fouls will mount up quickly on the other team. However, I was awake pretty much all night worrying about the possibility that I'm the only coach in the league that expects his kids to play by the rules. I'm not going to lower my standards just to win. I will spend most of this Saturdays practice on beating the trap through. The next coach that tries that crap against the Buckeyes will abandon the strategy quickly.
Permalink | Comments (4)December 18, 2002
On Coaching Youth Basketball...
Anybody have experience, or an opinion, on the how best to teach offense and defense to a 3rd grade basketball team?
Keep in mind that this is a county league and I get 2 hours of practice a week on a half court . The other coaches in the league all seem to be going zone because they think its easier to learn. However, my feeling is that zone is too easy and the kids will learn a lot more about the game and improve a lot more over the course of the season if we play straight man to man. To keep it simple my plan is to teach straight up man to man and as soon as they seem to get the concept of staying with their man and can avoid the temptation to all rush the ball handler I'll add ball side deny and weak side help and recover concepts. That will be it for defense.
On offense, knowing all the other coaches will be in a zone, I figure I should just teach the kids to spread out, pass a lot, maybe do the Gene Hackman thing and require 4 passes ;)teach them to cut to the basket after passing the ball, etc. Again, keep it real simple and force them to involve everybody in the offense.
Any opinions?
Permalink | Comments (0)