Basketball Coaches' Club: The X's and O's of a Five-Star Coach

Top 10 OFFENSIVE Clinic Notes
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10. 1-4 High Offensive Sets – This is a collection of 1-4 High Offensive sets put together by Dan Kiser. It is the best collection of 1-4 high sets I have seen and includes over 60 plays that start from the 1-4 alignment popular because of its ability to limit help during the initial alignment. Dan is the originator of the coaches’ club and the main reason I am putting this blog together. This is just strictly plays from a 1-4 high offensive set and has some of the best scoring options available.

9. Billy Donovan Spread Pick/Roll Offense – 20 pages of the two-time national championship teams’ spread pick/roll offense. The details of these notes are excellent and it includes a section from UF’s coaching clinic from 2007. Great clinic notes that provide special insight into the offense of Billy Donovan and another version of a penetrating motion offense. The pick/roll is one of the oldest tactics in basketball and is still being implemented at the highest levels of basketball.

8. The New Memphis Offense – This is 24 pages of a basketball clinic that is very organized and detailed describing what John Calipari calls his “Princeton Offense on steroids.” Based on Vance Wahlberg’s system of dribble motion, it has the basic principles, terminology, and some quick hitters included. There are tons of notes out there on this new style of play based on the dribble drive, but this one keeps it simple and allows you to understand the basics to see if you want to learn more. Great notes.

7. McDermott’s Set Play Offense – This is a collection of coaching notes based on his DVD and makes a good case for coaches that like to call out sets rather than rely on motion offense. He says that good set plays have counters for what the defense can try and take away. He also likes the ability of a coach to determine who is going to get the next shot by use of the set play. These notes include his thoughts about teaching set plays and have over 20 pages of different sets and alignments. This is a great set of notes for coaches that like quick hitters or just want to brush up on some sets for late game situations.

6. Duke’s Motion Offense to Attack Man/Zone Defense – Coach Jerry Nicholson reviewed this popular DVD and his website is http://www.winnetkabullets.com/. This is over 43 pages of a video review that offers coaches the chance to learn a, “a sound method that is effective against man and zone defense.” The thing I like the most about this review is that it includes ALL of the breakdown drills needed to make any offense successful. This is a great review of a video by a master of motion offense in Coach K.

5. Vance Wahlberg’s Pepperdine Offense – This is popular offense that led to the success of Vance Wahlberg while he was a high school coach and a JUCO coach. However, he ran into problems at Pepperdine where the platoon system was less effective because of the talent level of division one players. I think it works well in JUCO where kids have a hard time making adjustments to the game and in high school where that same problem is exacerbated. This is a great system for motion coaches, but like the Princeton, you have to play the entire system. This is not a collection of plays, and instead is a style of play that you have to live and breathe for it to be successful. Check out Vance Wahlberg Nation for more information about this system.

4. UAB/Indiana Basketball Playbook – This is a 57-page notebook of Coach Mike Davis’s Hi/Low Offense. This is very similar to Bill Self’s offense at Kansas as well as former Coach John Brady’s offense at LSU. Personally, I have seen this offense at different levels and even used it. I HATE it because it puts too much pressure on you to get the ball reversed to the middle of the floor with one of your post players. It is too easy to force a team to immediately use their counters because it is so basic. While one cannot argue with the results of some teams using this focus on the Hi/Low attack, it is still too dependent on talent for most teams to use. But that’s just my opinion…I know guys that love it.

3. Princeton Rules and Offense – This is quickly becoming one of the most popular offenses to run due to the success of teams like Georgetown, Richmond, Northwestern, and don’t forget Bill Carmody at Northwestern. He still teaches it better than anyone even though he hasn’t had the players to win with it in the Big 10. Jeff Bdzelik at Colorado formerly of Air Force is another genius using this offense. I think that this is a great offense, but more than that, it is a system of play that demands disciplined defense as well as a commitment to ball movement and shot selection. There are several great books out on this offense and I encourage you to seek out someone already running this after you have reviewed the notes.

2. 4 Out-1 In Motion/3 Out-2 In Motion – Two separate packets over 70 pages and 120 diagrams…put together by John Carrier and is very basic while still being detailed oriented. He talks about the different cuts, angles, and types of screens that can be set in a true motion offense. Great details, but you need a basic understanding of motion to really make use of these notes. A great encyclopedia of all of the options available in motion, but none of the adjustments that the great ones make to adjust the offense to their personnel. John did a great job of detailing everything and is a good review set of notes.

1. Jerry Wainwright’s Encyclopedia of Coaching – This is one of the best collection of basketball thoughts that I have seen. It has over 60 pages of thoughts on offense, defense, coaching philosophy, sets, special plays, and motivational quotes. Too much information to describe here. It also includes side outs and under outs…details, details, details…