Another week great week of watching basketball. I got to see some great games, with some great strategy. Fun week!!
Inbound Defender Pressing- A strategy I saw by several teams that I really like is to press with only the defender of the inbound passer. The teams have this defender face guard the point guard just to slow up the offense and once in awhile get a turnover. As soon as the ball is inbounded, the defender sprints to get in position to pick the inbounder as they come up. Thus, they give up absolutely nothing.
The twist is then is to sometimes have the point guard defender come up and in effect sandwich the point guard from getting the ball. This does create some turnovers when it is put on as a surprise.
What’s Your Adjustment to Their Adjustment- I listened to an interesting podcast that talked about how effective the Miami Heat’s offense had been early in the year. They had brought in an assistant with a strong European background. The offense was catching other teams off guard, but then the opponents began to make adjustments. As other teams adjusted, the Miami offense had gone from top 1/3 to bottom 1/3. The question posed in the podcast was- “What adjustment will Miami make to the opponent’s adjustment?”
Whether it is your offense, your half-court defense, your ball screen defense, or your press- other teams have now seen those things thru 5-10 games. Are you ready for their adjustments? If you are doing things out of the norm (few other teams run your offense or defense), you will not have the same success the second time around if you don’t adjust.
Wrong FT Shooter- If a good ft shooter goes to the line instead of a bad ft shooter, is that gamesmanship or cheating?
Time Outs- I get that you don’t want to be left with no time outs late in the game. Iowa men’s used up their time outs in a game and had no challenge late when clearly a bad play needed review.
I am just curious in terms of strategy as to why some teams that lose games, still have 3-4 time outs left at the end of the game.
Don’t Build Up a Half-Time Lead- I watched or listened to 8 games over the two weeks in which one team got ahead of the other team in double digits or more by half-time.
** In only 3 of games the team with the lead continued to build the lead in 2nd half.
** In 3 of the games, teams that led by 15, 23, 12- had the other team cut the lead to a single possession in the second half.
** In 2 of the games, teams that led big at half-time lost the game.
We have all heard an announcer say, “The way they are playing, I don’t think they want half-time to come.” Meaning the team wants to keep it going.
I don’t have the announcer but there is certainly a psychology to coming out with a big lead. It would appear that some teams come out wanting “not to lose” vs “wanting to win.” By that, they don’t play with the same aggression of the first half.
I listened to a podcast where someone in analytics talked about how to avoid a “kill shot.” (A kill shot in college basketball is when the other team goes on a 10-0 run.) Their point was that teams who avoid having a “kill shot” go against them are more likely to be good defensive team vs. being good offensive teams. Good defenses slow the offense down, they don’t give up easy shots. As a result it is harder to score the 10 points on these teams, and it takes more time.
So I guess if I was giving advice at half-time to a team with a big lead, it would involve two things- playing good half-court defense and not fouling to allow them to get in the bonus.
Option B or C, and the Counter- There are many things that good coaches do that make their teams standout. Some ways to evaluate a coach’s X/O knowledge and creativity:
** Do their plays or actions have just one thing they are trying to do, or do they have an option B and C, and D to the play. Coaches who run something with one option will struggle more and more as season goes on and teams scout them more and more.
** Do teams have some basic actions or structures to their offense but then late in a game they have a counter to take advantage of the other team “sitting on’ their actions?
** Do teams run plays or execute plays? Obviously teams who execute screens, cuts, etc- they are being drilled.
Blasting Out Your Story- 75% of coaches are pretty good with social media to let you know when their teams play, only 50% of coaches are good at letting you know the score when their teams win, and about 10% of coaches share the scores when their teams loses.
Some coaches rely on Facebook, and some rely on Twitter. In the sports world and in the current events world, if you really want to get info out, you need to use Twitter- that is what the sports world uses.
My Twitter honor roll for teams who let you know a game coming up, the result when they win, the result when they lose, and some stats to see:
UTHS Girls Basketball- THE best use of Twitter- post schedules, day of game announcements, cover all levels of program, other sports at UT, all scores- win or lose.
Union Girls Basketball and Athletic Dept- My adopted Tulsa team does great job. They are like a college program.
Sterling Athletic Dept. - Great news and great graphics.
Metamora Girls Basketball- win or lose, they share.
Bettendorf Girls Basketball- do nice job with both Twitter and Facebook, and share wins and losses.
If you should be on this list and I am just missing your Twitter account. Put your Twitter account in the comments at the end of this post so I can follow you!!!!
