A Coach's Diary

Duke ran a couple of good 'Floppy' variations.  Butler had its chances to tie or take the lead, including a great look at the final 3 from Gordon Hayward, but Duke held on for the win and the National Championship.

Be who you are.  Coach because of the relationships.  Have balance.  Pace yourself.  Don't be irrationally emotional.  Have goals, but embrace your path, stay committed, and don't measure yourself against anyone else.  Get over yourself and empower others around you.   USA Today Sports recently posted an article in which it asked some of the premier coaches in college basketball one simple question: "Knowing what you know now, what is advice you would give your younger self about coaching and your career if you could?"    As a relatively young coach, I took a lot of good gems from this article.  A couple of the lessons I was forced to learn early, a couple I was blessed to learn by having such a great staff, and some I am still working on now.  Read below as some of the greatest coaches, and leaders, in the world talk about some of the things they would have done differently if given the chance. Mike Krzyzewski...

When our kids catch the ball, we want them to think ‘score.’  Every time they catch, they should look at the basket and see if they are open first – we call this ‘show shot.’  We want them to show shot on the catch so that they are ready to score if open and to get the defense off balance if not. In the split second that it takes to show shot, if they are not open to shoot or not open to drive, they should look in the paint and see if a cutter is open or the post is open.   Showing shot demands the same good footwork it would take to make a good interior pass to an open player. We put 5 minutes on the clock and practice catching the ball, squaring up, and showing shot using different actions out of a 3 out and 4 out setting. In the video below, Duke demonstrates how they practice showing shot in a 3-out setting by setting away screens or interchanges. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaymSSwIDDQ We work on doing it out of the following actions: - ...

Coach K is coming off of his 5th National Championship, and if he hasn't done so already, he is really starting to create and even larger gap between his legacy and those of even his most successful peers, and he's done so in large part because of his willingness to buy-into adapting to his players and the changes in the sport in general Bucky Gleason at  Buckyandsully.buffalonews.com wrote a great article on Coach K's ability to adapt, and even recived some words from two of college basketball's all-time greats, Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley to comment on just how much Coach K has evolved. I have listed some key takeaways that I have found useful below.  You can read the full article here . Christian Laettner On Coach K Evolution Over the past quarter-century, Laettner has realized that Coach K didn’t compromise his ideals when it came to Hurley. Krzyzewski was evolving into the greatest coach in the past 40 years. Laettner came away with even more res...

Post taken from MensBasketballHoopScoop.BlogSpot.Com http://hoopthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/hows-your-bench-chemistry.html Watch what Duke basketball does.  In specific, watch the end of Duke's bench...all game long.  Preseason, early season, midseason, it doesn't matter' you'd think they were playing in a world championship.  They're on the edge of their seats.  They're high-fiving and hollering.  And they look exactly like the players at the starters' end of the bench.  There's a no difference between #1 and #12 on the depth chart.  When a player comes off the court, every single guy stands up, claps the player off, and pats him on the back.  They're all totally engaged; they're all prepared to go in the game.  The best way to describe it: they  love  being there. 
From   "Help The Helper"  by Kevin Pritchard and John Eliot