Breakthrough Basketball eBook: Fun with Youth Basketball

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Breakthrough Basketball has produced a fantastic new eBook about how to have fun youth basketball practices. Any high school coach that has a successful program will tell you how important the feeder program(s) are to the success of their varsity team. The thing most coaches forget is how to make practices fun while still improving their players. I think it takes a special person to coach at the middle school/elementary/AAU/USSSA level and do it RIGHT. If you have a coach that is willing to sacrifice a loss in order to teach kids how to play basketball the right way (ie. man to man defense, a few plays on offense, motion, transition to half court) then you are blessed. Most are devoted to proving how smart they are or how much knowledge they have and get caught up in trying to be a Bobby Knight clone on the sidelines instead of keeping basketball fun for these kids.

How many of us have seen a kid that wasn't skilled or developed at the middle school age turn into a beast by the time they are in high school? If it hasn't happened yet, it will. My point is that the more we can get a basketball in these kids hands AND have them enjoy it, the better off basketball will be in our program. Breakthrough Basketball has put together a ton of great drills that will keep our kids interested when so many of them simply want to go home and play XBox.
I reviewed their eBook 60 Fun Drills to Make Youth Basketball Fun this week and was impressed. We all want effective skill development as early as possible and this book provides numerous drills/games that can be used at any level.

What separates this eBook from just another book of drills are the 7 Critical Elements to Making Practice Fun section that precedes the drills. Many of these drills are used by coaches already, but the 7 Critical Elements contain coaching wisdom useful for any coach designing an effective practice. The 7 Critical Elements are:

#1 - Make Practice Fast Paced
#2 - Set Your Players Up for Success
#3 - Establish Discipline
#4 - Get Your Players' Attention
#5 - Structure Your Practice Properly
#6 - Stay Positive and Upbeat
#7 - Make Your Drills Fun

They go into great detail into how to accomplish these seven goals and I have picked out some of the key coaching points that I thought were insightful and included them below.

Transition to New Drills Quickly - In the pursuit of the newest play or drill we often forget the importance of getting those kids moving to the next thing IMMEDIATELY. Just so you know, our players never move fast enough the first week of school...Thanks Dad.

Use Stations - Just like basketball camps, any coach that hasn't included stations in their practice at least once a week is missing out on something that will teach kids many skills in a short amount of time. Also, they suggest great drills to use as stations and this is important to a youth coach that is solo.

Keep Everyone Busy - They also suggest 10 different drills designed to keep your players busy and active - THE ENTIRE PRACTICE! What good is standing around in a lay-up line? They have many drills that can be done to develop skills instead of waiting around...this is critical because many youth coaches only have one gym or even worse, one end of a half court. Do as much as you can with what you have...isn't that the heart of coaching?

This is just a review of the first section and this eBook has many more nuggets to offer any coach, not only a youth coach. To order this eBook, go to http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/fun-youth-drills.html for more information or to order this eBook. They also have many other titles available.

NBA Miami Heat, KY State Tourney & Princeton Offense

I just got my hands on some NBA stuff that I will post soon. It is a huge manual that is basically the Miami Heat playbook when Riley was there. It has all the NBA defenses and offenses. Most people dont believe the NBA runs anything and that all they do is come down and shoot. Nothing could be further from the truth and they do try to score in the break, but almost everything they do is a read/set play...at least according to this mini-book that I have.

Coaches, I am interested in hearing from you on this one. Can you win championships running the Princeton offense? I have ran this in the past and it is fantastic if you want to stay close with a more talented team and is a motion offense that will help you later in the season. BUT have any teams won championships running this offense? I am interested in hearing more from you. Thanks!

The state of Kentucky has the best state tournament in the country. Only one champion from the entire state...there is no class system. I think there are a few other states that do this (New Jersey & Vermont), but I am not sure if they sell out each session with over 15 - 20,000 people in attendance. I just watched Mason County beat Louisville Holmes with Darius Miller (UK signee) leading the way. Oh yeah, somebody better sign Scotty Hopson (University Heights), he is the most talented player I have seen in a long time...6'5" athletic that can finish in a variety of ways...nice floaters in the lane...NBA player.

Feedback & March Madness Conspiracy

Coaches who have bought the DVD, please send me some feedback. What did you like? Was the organization helpful? Etc.

March Madness is here...I am not a big conspiracy theory guy, but the next time you watch a televised game see if this happens. Division one schools have media timeouts at 4 minute intervals. They have them at 16 mins, 12, 8, and 4 on the next dead ball. For example, if the ball is called dead at 16:02 then they have to continue play until the time is under 16 minutes and would stop the clock as soon as 15:59 if they could.

Where is the conspiracy? Well, let me guarantee you that as soon as the clock runs below one of these benchmarks you are going to see the most ticky-tack, "nickel dimer" foul you have ever witnessed. Just WATCH! I can promise the next time you see a D1 game, you won't see it in the same light...there is going to be a push, handcheck, 3 second in the lane, illegal screen...something to stop the game so we can go to commercial.

I think that as a coach, I would have a play that we would run when the clock got under these times to get the ball into the post or to drive at the other team's best player. There will be a foul called and you will be at commercial before the announcers can ask...what happened there?

New Notes and More...3 cents per article!

Coaches, I am not the best guy with math, but if you are interested in more than 20 articles then I suggest you buy the DVD. Right now you are paying 3 cents per article regardless of the size. Pretty good deal.

This is one of the best sites on the web and has a link that I found interesting because it talks about the type of defense that we play. While some coaches prefer to force baseline and take away the middle of the floor, this defense focuses on funnelling the ball into the middle where there is built-in "elbow help" thus eliminating the need for help AND recover. Check out this link on the "PACK" http://www.coachesclipboard.net/BasketballPackLineDefense.html

These are the new notes:

Nike Coaches Clinic 2004
Memphis 2nd Annual Coaches' Retreat (128 pages) PDF
Features NBA Coaches Larry Brown and others, covers man offense/zone offense and rotations that NBA coaches use to defend the pick/roll and all other screening situations. Also includes coaching anecdotes as well as drills used by these guys. Big time stuff.

New Notes for March 11

Coaches, I have received the following notes and added them to the total. If you want to know about the 600+ notes that I have then go here:

Tim Floyd - Playing Without Size Clinic
North Carolina Complete Conditioning - 17 pages
Open Post Motion Notes - 32 pages
Steve Smith - Oak Hill Conditioning & Defensive Drills
Rob Evans - Arizona State Program - 23 pages

http://bestbasketballnotes.blogspot.com/

I have listed all of the notes that I have received.

Dribble Drive Notes and Memphis Attack

Click below to download the notes on the Memphis System of Attack:

http://www.mediafire.com/?tzzuzlzmryx
Email: coachdeforest@gmail.com
Pass: coachdeforest

This has been the most popular request from coaches. Also, I have uploaded the following notes to mediafire for you to download for free.

Kloppenburg's SOS Defensive System - 21 PowerPoint Slides
Don Meyer - Building a Program Clinic Notes 61 pages
Mike Dunlap' Defensive Notes - 7 pages

If you want to learn more about how to coach youth basketball, this is a great web page full of anecdotes. http://www.coachingyouthbasketball.net/books.htm

Top TEN Clinic Notes on Offense and Defense

I have taken a collection of notes and organized them into the very best for you coaches that are interested. If you want to see the top ten lists, log in to www.mediafire.com with the username(email): coachdeforest@gmail.com and pass: coachdeforest. Good luck the rest of the season!

I have updated the mediafire notes to include the most requested notes which include the Memphis Offense Attack, Practice Organization Notes from Don Meyer, and Mike Dunlap's Defensive Notes.

New Notes for March 4

Coaches,

These are the notes that I have received. Keep emailing me with ideas and we can make this a great resource for everyone. Good luck the rest of the way!

UCLA Offense on PowerPoint - 21 slides of the old offense on PowerPoint
Primal Leadership Competencies
Primal Leadership Styles at a Glance
Steve Klaas 1-3-1 Zone and Adjustments
5 Steps to the Perfect Shot

Also, go to www.mediafire.com then username:coachdeforest pass:coachdeforest
and check out free notes there as well as the Top Ten Lists.

Top 10 OFFENSIVE Clinic Notes
E-mail me with a trade

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…

New Stuff Feb. 22

NEW NOTES...

4 out 1 in Motion Overview (40 pages)
2 and 3 Man Drills - Newell (4 page PDF)
Book Review: A Passion to Lead by Jim Calhoun (Thanks Pete)
Greek 1-4 High Offense
Basketball Quotations
Checklist for Championship Coaching

Thanks to all who are participating...keep the notes coming.

On another note, most of these notes were purchased on a DVD full of notes. I am combining those notes with my own. I have had to filter some of them which are books that have been scanned with no credit to the writer or publisher and then resold.