From 1995 thru 2003, Galesburg won 9 Sectional Championships in a row. During that time, we made the Final Four 5 times. The number one reason for our post-season success was our players- we had GREAT players. During that time, we developed a plan that we thought was successful for us.
First Post-Season Practice- Our last regular season game was on a Thursday. We made sure all levels of our program were done with the regular season on that Thursday. I wanted the best players in the program to be able to practice with us and dress with us in the post-season.
Our practice on Friday, we would go about an hour on the court. We would shoot and go thru all of our offense in 5 on 0. We did man offense, zone offense, ob’s, and press break- we tried to cover it all. It was a great way for us to refresh memories and to re-emphasize the details of our offense.
Then we would go into the locker room to meet. In the meeting, I would have written up the entire brackets for the State Series. I believe firmly that you need to play one game at a time and that it is a mistake to look ahead— BUT I found some of our young players were totally unfamiliar with how the State Series worked. One year a player expressed surprise that if won the Regional that there were more games involved. So we went thru the whole thing- I showed them who the best seeds would be at each spot on the tourney for us. They had the WHOLE picture.
The players were give a schedule of games, buses, and practices for the next three weeks. I did not want a player saying they had scheduled work on a Sunday when we were going to practice.
Then we shifted gears and looked just at the Regional. Many coaches do this- we explained our entire focus was on winning this tourney. (And later it would be winning the next tourney.)
I assigned each assistant 2-3 topics to talk to the team about, basic things that they had heard before…
** Next play mentality
** Practice mentality
** Not listening to outside noise
** Importance of scouting report
** Still can improve
I finished by drilling on these things…
1- From here on, ALL players ride home with the team from ALL games. I wanted to be able to have some control of what they were hearing and wanted to be able to increase sense of team bond.
2- We would either have food on bus after every game from then on, or we would stop to eat after each game.
3- On the practice schedule, the players needed to know that we might go shorter than what was listed or we would go longer if we needed- clear your schedule.
4- Remind the players when they were interviewed to always be respectful of our last opponent, respectful of our next opponent, and praise their teammates.
5- Whether we won or lost, for every game our goal was to have everyone who left the gym that night say, “Galesburg played harder than the other team.”
Practice #2- When we had an our good run, we were not usually concerned with our first game. Our second practice on Saturday morning (there was always a school dance that evening), we went hard for about two hours. We shot and we did a lot of 5 on 5. Usually we would have 15-18 players so we had our top 8 vs. the rest.
In 5 on 5, we tried to cover everything- MM Offense, Zone Offense, OB’s, MM Defense, Presses, etc. We went full court. We wanted this to be an intense practice. We would work on one thing for about 10 minutes and then move on. We would break up things with shooting and individual work but we would go back hard. We never went more than three trips- Offense/Defense/Offense, or Defense/Offense/Defense.
My intent was to have our players leave feeling like they had just played a game. It was usually fun for the players because they like to play, and we were playing.
Seven Days- We practice 7 days a week, once the tourney started, there were no days off.
Practice Adjustment- Once we got thru Practice #2, our practices were usually lighter and quicker and designed for success. We wanted everything to be done with tempo.
We would do full court fastbreak work early in practice for maybe 10 minutes, but they tended to be the last of full court work. Most offense work was in half court.
During season we did a lot of 3 trips scrimmages (O-D-O, or D-O-D). In post season we did two trip scrimmages. Offense then Defense and stop, or Defense into Offense then stop. We lessened the running.
We emphasized shooting. Players had two shooting sessions instead of just one shooting session.
I wanted our top players to get a lot of free throw shooting in. We had 8 baskets. The top 8 players would shoot 10 free throws at a basket. The next 8 players would rebound. Then the top 8 would rotate, and rotate again. The top 8 would get in 80 free throws in this way. And then we would do a team ft drill where they would get another 20 free throws.
We spent more time on late game situations- delay game, last shots, fouling when behind, inbounding when ahead.
Scout Report- My biggest belief is that in the post season, you CANNOT waste the practices after a game. When we won a Regional Championship, the scout report for both possible teams in the first game of the Sectional was written up before the Regional Championship game so I could give a copy of the report to the coaches when we found out who won.
The day after games, we always wanted to practice in the evening. This gave the players time to go home and take a nap if they wanted. And it made sure I could get ahold of the game tape of last night’s game of our Sectional opponent.
We tried to do a 10 minute walk thru at the beginning of practice. I felt this got the attention of the players, it helped them realize it was time to quit celebrating and move on. We would do a 10 minute walk thru late in practice, and then watch 10 minutes of film after practice. We repeated this pattern each day until the game.
While the top 8-10 were shooting, an assistant coach would take the other players and teach them the other teams ob’s and offense so they could walk thru it.
Next Game- After the first practice in prep for the next game, I would move onto our next two possible opponents. Each evening after our practices I would watch their tape with the goal to have their scout reports written up by our next game.
It was crucial to have game tapes always lined up ahead of time. And in the old days with VHS, it wasn’t always easy.
I would give each assistant some games for them to watch and give them questions about the opponents to look for in the game tapes.
Night Before Game- I wanted to be done with work on the next two opponents and have a scout reports written up. I would spend the night before a game looking at clips of the next night’s opponent.
Get Assistance- In the old days, the hardest game to prepare for was the Semi-Final Game at State. As a coach, for every other game you had at least a day and often 2-3 days to prepare. For the Semi-Final game you had less than 24 hours to prepare. Any edge we had because of prep and scouting seemed to be lost. We were 1-4 all-time in the Semi-Finals.
Our win was in 1999 when I reached out to Mike Cooper from Ottawa and asked him to be our scout at State. So when we beat Loyola and were celebrating, he was watching our next opponent and scouting. We had general info but he brought the scout reports to our hotel and went thru it for us. We won by 1 or 2 points, and I am convinced having someone to just focus on the game and scout the opponent certainly made the difference.
He did the same in prep for the State Championship game. We did not beat Marshall but we within 5 with less than 3 minutes to go.
Before Games- Before games, we went over the opponent when we got to the gym or in the hotel before the game. Usually this was about 90 minutes before the game. We might spend 10 minutes going over their top players, any trick plays, and things to expect from their defense.
After that last scout session, it was all about Galesburg. When we met in the lockeroom, there might be just a couple reminders about the opponent. Before we went out on the floor, I wanted it to be ALL about Galesburg. We talked about what we wanted to do. And the last thing we talked about was our #1 goal- “Everyone in the gym will recognize that we play harder than _____.”
Confidence- By no means would I say that we “figured it out” when it came to the post-season. I am sure there may be better plans that other coaches have had. What was important for us was that we had developed a plan that our coaching staff understood and believed in. The plan gave us confidence as coaches, and our confidence helped the player to be confident.
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