As the calendar turns over, basketball coaches begin conference play, and hope to have the answer to how their team can win. Through the experiences gained from October to December, most teams have had an opportunity to be challenged, learn from adversity, and establish an identity. Below are three questions that you had better know the answer to, if you want a chance to win your league:
✔ What does your team do better than anyone else in your league?
✔ What is your team’s biggest weakness, and how can you help your team overcome it?
✔ Do your players know and accept their roles?
These three questions are guiding thoughts, which will give your team a chance to play their best basketball. We hope this helps your coaching staff evaluate where your team is at, as you prepare for the most important stretch of the season.
You can follow Dynamic Coaching Tools on Twitter at @DynamicCoaches
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DCT Podcast – Episode 2 – Coach Leasher
Coach Ethan Leasher, Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Davenport University, joined us on the Dynamic Coaching Tools Podcast. Coach Leasher is in his fourth year at Davenport (D2 in Michigan). In this episode we talked about offense, analytics that can be measured within the game, and what it is like to be a young college basketball coach. Below is information for Coach Leasher, as well as a few other items from this episode.
Coach Leasher Bio
Ethan Leasher enters his third season as an assistant coach for the Panthers. He will be the co-offensive coordinator and the recruiting coordinator this season. Leasher will also be handling all compliance tasks and alumni relations.Leasher is a native of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan and graduated from Central Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting/finance. He played one year of college basketball at Adrian College in 2009-2010 under Mark White. Leasher served as head student manager of the CMU Men’s Basketball team under Ernie Ziegler in 2010-2011 and also coached the junior varsity boys basketball team at Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart Academy in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 compiling a 35-5 record. Leasher coached AAU basketball for Hoopgrind Michigan from 2011-2014 and saw seven athletes sign collegiate athletic scholarships. He spent the 2014-2015 season as a coaching assistant at Chadron State College (Neb.) and was responsible for recruiting, opponent scouting, film breakdown and team travel arrangements.
Coach Paddock said, “Ethan is a tremendous addition to our program. People sometimes say it is better to be lucky than good. In the case of Coach Leasher we are lucky and he is very good. Coach E is a basketball junkie. He spends tireless hours at his craft: studying tape, relationship building with our players, recruiting, etc. He loves the game, our program and is a tremendous asset to the DU community. There is no doubt he will help us continue to get better as a program as we move forward!”
WHAT WE DISCUSSED IN EPISODE 2:
- Offensive Concepts
- Analytics – In game measurable stats
- Life as a young College Coach
“Success lies in simplicity, confusion lies in sophistication.” -Kevin Eastman
Offensive Keys to Success at Davenport:
1 – Play fast
2 – Get to the free throw line
3 – Room for improvement: Take care of the ball, without taking players’ aggressiveness
“What are we going to hang our hat on? How do you measure it?”
“Players do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
“How do you manage being a “go to person” for them (players)?… You have to behave in a way that you are not their best buddy or pal… There is a big difference between being someone’s friend, and being someone that they look up to and respect.”
PAST EPISODES:
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The Truth About Shooting More Threes
“The Truth About Shooting More Threes” by Coach Doug Brotherton was originally published by HoopGrind Basketball
In the NBA, teams are embracing the analytics, which encourages teams to shoot lay-ups and threes. According to the data, mid-range jump shots are inefficient and do not lead to success. Like most things in basketball, the NBA is the trendsetter, so now college basketball coaches are doing the same thing, and even high school coaches are preaching that lay-ups and threes are the key to building a successful team. High School basketball is where the debate heats up, as a lot of long time successful coaches are not interested in adapting to this new strategy. After reading a recent debate on Twitter, I decided to dive into the numbers. Below is the process that was used for this project.
- Use MaxPreps to gather three-point shooting statistics
- Find the three-point attempts per game numbers for all of the 200 teams that qualified.
- Separate the teams who shot the most three point shots per game (30+ attempts per game), from the teams who shot the fewest three pointers per game (under 20 attempts per game).
- Look up the WIN/LOSS RECORD of all of these teams, to find out if increased three point attempts per game correlate to a higher winning percentage.
- Gather the POINTS PER GAME for each team, to find out if increased three point attempts results in a higher points per game average.
Here is the table that I created:
THE RESULTS
DOES INCREASED THREE POINT ATTEMPTS RESULT IN MORE SCORING?
After diving into the data, it supports the belief that shooting more three pointers will result in scoring more points offensively. In fairness, this study does not include pace of play, or any metric to judge the caliber of opponents. It simply shows that high school boys teams who shoot 30+ three pointers per game, score significantly more points than teams who attempt less than 20 three point attempts per game. This remains true, despite the fact that the teams shooting more three pointers, shot a much lower percentage from deep.
- Teams shooting 30+ three pointers shoot at an average percentage of 31% and score 76.9 points per game.
- Teams shooting under 20 three pointers make 37% of their attempts, but only score 63.7 points per game.
DOES INCREASED THREE POINT ATTEMPTS RESULT IN WINNING MORE GAMES?
The results here actually show the exact opposite. Shooting more three pointers, at the High School level, does not correlate to winning more games. In fact, teams shooting under 20 three point attempts per game won 73% of their games, while the teams shooting over 30 three point attempts per game won only 67% of their games. As one can see, this study only involved the 200 teams that MaxPreps listed. The requirements to be listed are that a team must have played at least 18 games, and attempted a minimum of 226 three pointers on the season.
- Teams shooting 30+ three pointers won 67% of their games.
- Teams shooting under 20 three pointers won 73% of their games.
In conclusion, this project is far from perfect, but it supports something that most experienced coaches already know. There are a lot of different ways to win high school basketball games. If your philosophy is to score more points, then attempting more three point shots should help your team accomplish this goal. It is just important to note that shooting more three point shots does NOT guarantee that your team will be more successful. If you want your team to maximize their ability, then you must find the balance between what your players do well, and how that can be incorporated into your system.
To further the discussion, you can contact Coach Doug Brotherton via Twitter: @CoachBrotherton
Or you can reach him via e-mail at: CoachBrotherton@gmail.com
You can also reach us via Twitter at: @DynamicCoaches -
DCT Podcast – Episode 4 – Coach White
Episode 4 of the Dynamic Coaching Tools Podcast features Coach Greg White, the Head Coach of West High School (Northwest Arkansas). Coach White is also a speaker for USA Basketball, at their Coaches Academy. His topics include building a program, as well as offensive systems. Coach White also has a website, www.3fromthecorner.com
Coach White spent time talking to us about his ball screen offensive system, the foundations of building a program, establishing a culture, and the impact of AAU basketball on the future of our game. There were countless takeaways from our conversation, but here are a few of them.
3 C’s of a Program
- Community
- Classroom
- Court
Foundations of Building a Program
- CULTURE = Blueprint
- IMPACT = Thumb Print
- Must DEFINE SUCCESS
Program > Team > Player
You can reach Coach White via Twitter:
You can also find great resources at his website: