NCHS Practice #4

Today the freshmen and sophomores practiced together, which worked out fabulously. Six baskets, four players apiece enabled lots of repetitions to be done, and doubled the amount of energy in the gym. Half the players wore white and half orange.

Five minutes of 2 v 2 rebounding. Eight at a basket. Two lines at each elbow. Orange-white-orange-white at one elbow, and white-orange-white-orange at the other. Shot goes up, two front guys in each line go for rebound. First color to five rebounds wins, losers five push-ups. Then have lines switch elbows. I was all-time shooter, but in it would have been better to have someone else so that I could focus on coaching. Also I focused on keeping score, and should instead have had the players call out the score. Again, so that I could do what I'm there to do. Live and learn.

We've had defenders playing without their hands, so as not to tip passes but to enable them to get through, while still working on positioning.

Notes: Try having the defense play all-out to simulate game action as much as possible. Also, continue to emphasize fundamentals of our defensive philosophy even though it's an offensive drill. For example, don't have players on the help side guarding their man.

Lots of 2 v 2 R&R drills, about 5 minutes apiece, broken up by free throws/drinks, partner shooting races to 10, and...

Five minutes free throw 1-and-1 drills. Basically Feeney FTs, but any running is done individually rather than as a team.

Note: Too much jogging going on here.

2 v 2 R&R:

L1. Circle
Point & wing. Point drives either side, wing reacts. Wing drives middle or baseline, point reacts.
Point & corner. Point drives either direction, corner reacts.
Wing & wing. Wing drives either direction, opposite wing reacts.
Wing & opposite corner. Wing drive middle and dump to cutter.

L2. Baseline
Corner & corner.
Corner & opposite wing.
Corner & point.
Corner & wing.

L3. Pass & cut
Start two spots apart. That is, point & corner or wing & wing. One has the ball. The other comes toward him as if filling the position in between. Have defender either try to overplay or hang back. If he overplays, back cut. Otherwise, pass and cut (front or back cut, depending on defender).

5 v 0 R&R:

L1.
All drive right, and react. All drive left, and react. Drive either way, and react.

L2.
Drive from each corner.

Five minutes Princeton shooting. One passing line, one shooting line. If you miss the shot, you must get your rebound and lay it in. First one to ten baskets (not counting layups) wins, the loser runs.

Notes:
- With two weeks to our first game, this might be the time to pick starters and get them used to playing together. Figuring that next week they'll get a chance to struggle, and by the following week they can get some momentum leading up to the game.
- It's time to ramp up to game-level intensity during drills. Far fewer soft passes, cuts without looking for the ball, and jogging.
- Should our first look be to drive in the R&R when receiving the pass? Play a game where you can only score on layups and threes... but maybe make the threes worth four so that defense isn't motivated to sag.
- Increase focus on never taking eyes off the ball in R&R... get too obsessed about getting to a spot rather than reacting to the ball, will disrupt the flow.
- Suggest replacing our "progression to six" or 3 v 2 warm-up drills with R&R transition - get rebound, come down into the set, and run L1/L2. Then put in defense, and give three points for a layup (i.e. to motivate penetration or pass-and-cut).