This Week’s Question
Basketball seasons are in process of winding down, and heading into the post season. What were some of the things you did in preparation or approach to the post season? Were there adjustments you made as you went into the post season?
Mike Cooper- Ottawa
As the season started to wind down I made sure the team was able to get a few days off so they could be physically and mentally strong as we approached the post season. During practice we would spend more time watching film and tried to cut down on being physical during practice, I didn't want someone getting hurt during a time I could have prevented it. By late in the season most of the kids are in good shape. The players always appreciated a day off or a shorter practice.
Offensively we would try to put in some new sets that opponents haven't seen yet, with all of the film out there it is important to change things up both offensively and defensively.
Late in the season is also a good time to work on special plays late in a game from both the baseline and sideline. We also tried to work on sets with different combinations because you never know when foul trouble or an injury might happen during an important game.
I think keeping kids fresh is the most important thing as the season winds down!
Greg Bennett- Lewistown
The playoffs in football and the tournament in basketball were always “the most wonderful times of the year” for coaching. The whole season was always a build up to the “put up or shut up,” “win or go home,” “there is no tomorrow,” feeling of post season competition.
Football was always somewhat different than basketball, in that all teams do not make the playoffs. I count myself as fortunate, that during my football coaching career, we made the playoffs on far many more occasions than we missed. The years that we did miss were somewhat soul crushing.
In basketball, everyone qualifies for postseason play. In order to make the players appreciate that opportunity more, I always made it a point to celebrate our “making the playoffs” after the first loss of the hoops season. As a focus of my postgame commentary, I always congratulated the team for clinching a spot in the regionals and emphasized the fact that the rest of the season had the goal of learning from our loss and improving as much as possible, in order to put us in the best possible position for postseason success.
As we moved closer to, and then into, the postseason, there was definitely a heightened level of preparation and focus for all involved. Some of the preparatory adjustments that we made included:
1. Shortening practice time. We were already physically conditioned to the point that some drills and activities could be removed from the daily schedule. (After a long season, extra rest and recovery are a key in being prepared to perform at your highest level.)
2. Extra mental preparation. We always tended to spend extra time watching game film, going over opponents tendencies, and reviewing all possible scenarios as we entered the postseason.
3. Maximization of scouting resources. As you move forward into postseason it is very important to pull together as much information as possible on perspective opponents, many of them often being somewhat unfamiliar. Lining up film resources, outside scouting reports, media info, etc. were key to gaining an edge on our opponents. (I years where there were numerous potential first round playoff opponents in football, we sent all of the JV and volunteer coaches out on scouting expeditions, instead of having them on the sidelines or in the press box, during our Week #9 game.)
4. Addition of “wrinkles.” Putting in something new on offense, defense, special teams, etc., that your opponent can’t get off of previous game film or scouting reports, is important, especially during post season. Never underestimate the importance of surprise.
5. Crank up the focus and intensity! Everyone must be zoned in on the fact that the “season is on the brink” and that you either “survive and advance” or you turn in your equipment and cry in the locker room.
Evan Massey- Galesburg
I wanted players to enter post season with confidence. The last three weeks of the regular season, positive in practice and games. Even if we lost, I tried to remain positive and minimize any losses.
I tried to use the same approach to scouting during the regular season that we were going to use in the post season. I never wanted to give the players a sense that this is a “big game” by giving them a bigger scout report than we did during the season. So my approach during the season was to get them used to the scout reports we would use in the post season.
After last game of regular season, at the practice the next day we went through the outline of the entire State Tourney. Once they had the “big picture,” we never talked about State again. When in the Regional, we talked about Regional only.
We never wanted to waste the day after a tourney game. They were tired but we had the next scout ready and used that to go over the next opponent.
In practices during the tourney, we tended to practice longer than we did during regular season. We did less 5 on 5 and avoided physical contact, but we watched a lot of film, shot a lot, did a lot of 5 on 0.
The day before a game, we tried to be quick and short. We wanted the practices positive and upbeat.
For games, we did not talk about winning and losing. Our focus was on playing hard. Our goal was to dominate with effort and enthusiasm.
Bob Anderson- Williamsfield
We just continued with practice as normal, with it only a little shorter toward the end of the year. We knew it was always a long year and we didn't want to be tired going into the regional.
We always wanted to have our opponents well scouted. This is how I felt going into every regional and we always told our team this as well. If we were well prepared and got by our opening opponent, then anything could happen. Then you're in the semifinals and if you could get the upset, anything could happen in that championship game.
We always told our kids there was nothing more exciting than playing in a regional championship game.
Evan as far as adjustments, i always felt this way, if you could hold their main scorers below their averages, you had a great chance to win.
Thom Sigel- Rock Island
Once the pairings were decided, we would start to look at potential matchups in the bracket. As we gathered game film and evaluated what we knew about our possible opponents, the staff would put together some preliminary notes about what we should have in place. In other words, would we see a pressing team, a zone team, etc.?
While we stayed focused on our remaining regular season games that had an impact on the conference standings, there may be days we could also spend some time working on things that we hadn't practiced in awhile. Sometimes this might be revisiting some offensive actions we had in but hadn't shown since earlier in the season, or we would start working on counters or options out of our sets. We had some years we figured we could see a conference team in the post season, so we could work on these adjustments and have them already in without showing them during the regular season. Defensively, we may start spending a few minutes here and there working on a zone or combo defense in case we wanted to use something like that with the possibility of only one day of prep for an opponent in the tournament.
Once we got to the post season, the players knew that practicing on Sundays became likely with games on Tuesdays. (We didn't have many Tuesday regular season games for most of my career.) We generally had shorter practices in the post season, with most of the focus on the scout and game plan. Many years we would have players from the sophomore team practice with the varsity to help be a part of the scout team. We had a chance to get our sophomore coaches taking the scout team and prepping them as the opponents at one end while we worked with the guys in the rotation at the other end. That also allowed us to get more guys to run through our stuff in case the rotation had to be adjusted during the game. One other thing we started to add in the night before a game was to let them have some fun playing shooting games at the end of practice.
Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS
Football playoffs were unique experiences because of the change of the days of the week for games. Originally, I coached on Wednesday and Saturday of the first week of the playoffs. The days and the lack of time between games made it difficult to practice as efficiently as possible.
The Wednesday game changed our routine to have a very light practice on Saturday or Sunday. We watched film as a team on that day plus Monday and Tuesday. The uniqueness of the Wednesday game at added a different level of excitement and concern about our preparation. We locked in our offense because we knew what we were going to do. Our major preparation was always on defense during the playoffs. We had much more walk-through than we did during the regular season. There is no question it helped us.
The Saturday game was very condensed because Thursday would be extremely light physically but very heavy on the film study. Friday was a half pad day, concentrating on offensive timing and still allowing the majority of our time for defensive walk-through.
We also focused 1/2 of our kicking game on the Thursday Friday schedule.
If we were fortunate enough to get through to week number two , it was a much more relaxed and normal type of practice. Of course there wasn't a tremendous amount of intensity needed, but we didn't have that Saturday game, staring us in the face after competing on Wednesday night. I feel we adjusted well to that first week.
We lost some games on Wednesday, obviously, but we never lost a Saturday game when it was game number two. Our approach allowed rest physically and mentally for us. It was an exercise and trial and error approach to finally settle on our system to approach the playoffs .
When the playoffs moved to a more sensible approach physically , we had more freedom as coaches to run what we considered to be normal practices.
Jeff Parsons- Wethersfield, Fulton
First things first, I would try to have 5 scouts on the teams that would be in our regional complex or sectional complex.
Weights went from 4 day a week to 2/3 days depending on the schedule. Practices went from 2 hours to 1:25/1:30. Lots of shooting, review of game plan.
We would take time to go over several situations we might see from a regional opponent while concentrating on the opponent at hand. A lot more break downs on situations and less up and down drills to help save legs.
We focused way more on the mental side of things later in the season that earlier in the year. We would add several offensive sets that no one has seen. We would also have an additional defenses in half court and full court that we would not reveal until post season, so it wasn't on any scout films. We wanted to make sure our teams peaked during end of conference season and postseason.
Mark Massey- Clinton
We always wanted to have scouting reports & video lined up for any potential opponent. I wanted to check with AD on transportation ready on short notice.
With the team, remind them of the potential dates & to adjust work schedules, etc.
Practices - we might back off of very physical stuff, certainly didn’t want an injury. Drills were ones that would increase confidence. We would do a great deal of walk through type stuff - in this rotation be ready to block this swing, in this rotation be ready for a setter attack. Just a lot of repetitive stuff to remind them of what we wanted to do in different circumstances against different opponents, all trying to build confidence.
Bob Anderson- Williamsfield HS
Bob is retired as boys basketball coach at Williamsfield. At a school of only 89 students, in 45 years, his teams won 732 games along with numerous tourney and conference championships. His 1997 team made it to the Elite 8.
Mike Cooper- Ottawa HS
Mike is the retired Athletic Director at Ottawa HS. He was varsity girls basketball coach for 22 years, as well as sophomore football coach for many years. He was inducted in the the IBCA HOF.
Tim Engebretson- United HS
He was varsity head football coach for many years at United HS. He also has coached basketball at different levels. His 2005 team won the Illinois State Title, and Tim is in the Illinois Football Coaches' HOF as well as the United HOF.
Greg King- Sterling HS
In his head coaching career at Sterling, his football teams went 78-28, and had 10 straight play-off appearances and 5 conference titles. In addition to his success as a football coach, he was inducted in the Illinois Athletic Director's Association HOF.
Mark Massey- Clinton HS
Mark was the head volleyball coach at Clinton for 38 years. His teams won 818 games, and twice took second in State. He is in the Iowa Volleyball HOF and Clinton HS HOF.
Thom Sigel- Rock Falls/Rock Island HS
Thom coached basketball for 32 years. His teams won 502 games, and he has the distinction of winning the State Title at both Rock Falls and Rock Island. Thom is in the IBCA HOF.
Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS, Moline HS
Mike coached football at Alleman, UT, and Moline for over 20 years. He is considered the premier football coach in WB6 history. His teams won 140 games, and twice finished second in State. Mike is in the Alleman HS HOF and the Illinois Football HOF. He was also selected Illinois AD of the Year.
Greg Bennett- Lewistown
Greg coached many sports at Lewistown. He had teams go to State in girls basketball and football. He is in the Illinois Football HOF as well as being in the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. He is know for his commitment as a coach and his high energy level.
Jeff Parsons- Wethersfeild, Fulton
Jeff was a highly successful baseball and basketball coach at Kewanee Wethersfield. He was inducted into the IBCA HOF. Presently he is the Athletic Director at Fulton
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