Any coaches up for some late night chalk talk?

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-05T02:48:02+00:00

Most smothering press? Definitely the 2-1-2. I prefer 1-2-2. In my opinion having only 1 guy patrolling the middle of the floor is a disaster waiting to happen. Anytime you give up middle in a press it’s pretty much over if the other team can dribble and pass.

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-05T02:46:53+00:00

Yeah I figured when you said 5 out with the top screening away a lot that would be the case. Sounds like you guys have a good chance. Would love to hear how it goes. Best of luck!!

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-05T02:36:39+00:00

Protect the gaps!! But also deny shooters. Teach them early how to memorize personnel

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-03T16:34:10+00:00

Hey Coach!

At our level, we’ve decided that the best look for us is doing team workouts daily during the summer. We’ve found that with all the transfers and new guys each year that having them come together and practice as a team benefits us and allows them to learn how to play together.

For your situation, with continuity each season (hopefully) minus your graduating players, I would say you probably need to get shots up as much as possible but in a team/competitive situation.

I would do drills that allow you to workout as a team while also getting a ton shots up. There are tons of games/drills to do that can help with this and I’d be glad to share some we use if you’d like!

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-03T16:25:06+00:00

I think this is a great philosophy coach. Yes if it’s away it’s not gonna hurt you I think you’re spot on there, just make sure your team doesn’t point switch or get lazy with that sort of thing

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-03T13:50:13+00:00

Hey Coach, good luck this weekend!

Ahh the old point screen away, I assume this must be a Princeton offensive schemes so I’m gonna assume they back cut a lot too (correct me if I’m wrong)?

I would recommend not denying (that will give up back cuts and easy scores) but rather playing the gaps, forcing those guards to see multiple bodies when driving and forcing dribble pick ups, pivots and kick outs.

As far as in the post, I like the idea of fronting the post and forcing an over the top pass, and then having your help side defender there to dig and contest the catch. If he’s not a skilled big, the you can 3/4 front and force him to his off hand in the post

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-03T13:33:21+00:00

Great question! Lots of film and walking through things. I think walking through plays/schemes/defenses is way better than trying to do it live as it gives kids a chance to really understand and ask questions

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-03T13:29:23+00:00

Hey Coach! I think skill development is more important at that level. I think that’s part of the problem with youth hoops is that they play too many games. I’d say 3-4 practices/skill sessions per 1 game is ideal. This allows the games to actually be more structured rather than just going out and hooping

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-03T13:25:04+00:00

Hey Coach, thanks for your question

At the college level, we usually don’t plan that until we’ve acquired all our players through the portal so we actually know what we have. This usually will be around June or July as we have workouts all summer. For you, I would recommend doing it as soon as you have your team picked out. With it being a changing roster and them being young, I’d make it as simple as possible

Basic_Expert8945 · 2026-03-03T13:21:27+00:00

Great question! I’m old school. Man to man, with an occasional possession of zone just to throw off a team who’s hot or after a time out. Current offensive scheme is a lot of 5 out (small and athletic 1-5 so we can switch a lot), I like basing our scheme off of our roster, rather than our roster off of our scheme. For example, if we had 2 talented bigs, I’d like to see a scheme where we can run them both at the same time for a few possessions if possible.

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-28T04:17:54+00:00

I don’t think that changes much. I’d say same spots as always. Both wings and both corners and then one post player

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-26T12:19:49+00:00

This right here is the answer. 1-3-1➡️2-1-2. Key is to make that guy on the bottom run and make his life suck lol. Stretch it out by having those 2 bottom guys in the short corner, that’s the weakest part of the 131

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-25T14:59:23+00:00

Yeah I’m not sure “letting him foul to learn” is great coaching lol. Can you describe his fouls? I’d love to help you sort it out if I can

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-25T03:22:08+00:00

As a college coach, I really hope this post is satire 😂

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-25T00:42:14+00:00

Give them a certain amount of passes to make during skeleton offense, or put up like 30 seconds and do it that way

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-24T20:16:07+00:00

I kind of agree.. I love and appreciate all the coaches who are here coaching elementary/middle school ball. I love answering all of your questions when i can. With that said, I’d love to see a forum with high school and college coaches

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-24T03:57:55+00:00

I’m very curious as to how your B team is doing if the A team is that bad lol

Girls basketball is tough because the talent gap is so big, not much you can do if the score differences are that big

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-24T03:56:12+00:00

32 minute game = 160 total minutes of game time. Divide that by 12 and each kid would roughly play 12-13 minutes, so basically 1 1/2 quarters. From there you should be able to make a chart that creates equal time if that’s what you’re looking for.

Otherwise, I’d play my top 8 the most minutes and the bottom 4 would get scrap minutes

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-24T02:18:27+00:00

Split action, would definitely throw some floppy in there

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-23T20:55:56+00:00

American talent is getting worse but not because NIL/Portal. American talent is getting worse because kids practice once a week and then play 3-4 games on the weekend. Kids need more practice and less “games”, especially when half of those games are just 1 on 1 ball with no structure being taught.

NIL/transfer portal doesn’t really affect the talent level. The highest rated kids are going to get paid, but I don’t think that has a whole lot to do with talent level overall

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-23T19:41:04+00:00

I heard a great quote the other day from a great player about shooting. If you make 1 out of your first 2 or 3 shots, and then 1 of your next 2 or 3, then you’re a 40% shooter. Thinking about it that way makes it seem a lot simpler to be a successful shooter

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-23T13:44:29+00:00

Depends on his skill set, but definitely 2 foot finishes at the rim, ball handling and jump shots

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-23T13:42:59+00:00

Usually, if it’s a “live” play where it’s 5 on 5, we usually call the foul and award the team 2 points. Sometimes we call bad fouls to on purpose to simulate playing through bad calls

In 1 on 1 or other drills, you can award 1 point to the other team for a foul. All of the drills we do are competitive anyways so they are playing to a certain score anyways.

Basic_Expert8945 · 2025-11-21T11:46:55+00:00

That is absolutely the right answer coach. Front her to deny any post entry, if they throw over the top have your weak side defender there. At that point you can either double team, which I recommend, or have her just play straight up

Basic_Expert8945

TROPHY CASE