Principles over Pattens - Being like Water

There is no doubt in my mind that Motion Offense is the toughest offense to teach in basketball. That is because there are so many options and combinations that can occur on and off the ball that the mind wobbles when I think of all the information a player must digest in a split second to make it work. I suppose that is why we have plays and patterned offense, to help eliminate some of the guesswork needed to have five co-ordinated players on the floor. The other reason is to get the ball into the best players hands at the best spots for the best shots.

I hear many coaches often say 'Take what the Defense give us you' however this contradicts the very idea of set movement. Since a good defense will never conform to your offensive pattern or set, a player must break pattern to make the correct adjustment based on what the Defense gives. It's a fact that 80% of all made baskets come for open court play - yes, its true that the open court play may have originated from a set movement but it's usually a deviation in that set play that results in the basket and in doing so, usually justifies the play.

However, principled basketball such as the read and react offense provides simple rules which can be builf up in layers depending upon skill, experience and receptiveness to a new way of playing ball. Using rules to simplify decision-making while still adhereing to the fundamentals of good offense - spacing, movement etc and letting the ball do the work is really what principled ball is all about. Its like water - put water in a glass, it takes the shape of the glass; put water in a bottle, it takes the shape of the bottle; but water itself has no natural form or shape; it moulds to its environment and that what principled ball is all about.

We are looking to be like water this season with the adaption of the Read and React Offense. Watch this space for developements.

Looking for the Empty Cups

With tryouts over a week away, it was time to revise my original tryout plan to see if I needed to change it since we have decided to philosophically shift to Read and React. I'm glad to say that no changes were required.

Without giving too much away, Trials are about challenging participants both mentally and physically. Testing skills are a given as is scrimmaging but how do you test toughness? How do you test coachability? Adaptability? How do you see potential leadership? How do you see performance under pressure?

I'm sure every coach has their pet drills for skills testing but it has been my experience that sometimes the best players I've ever coached were what I call 'Empty Cups'. I remember the quote from legendary Martial Artist, Bruce Lee, but originally comes from a Zen proverb.

One day, a professor decided to visit a Zen master to learn about their philosophy. It was obvious to the master from the start of the conversation that the professor was not so much interested in learning about Zen as he was in impressing the master with his own opinions and knowledge. As the Zen teacher spoke, the proud man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like "Oh, yes we have that, too" and so on.

Finally, the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured until the cup was full... and then kept pouring until it overflowed.

"Enough!" the professor once more interrupted. "The cup is overfull, no more will go in!"

"Indeed, I see," answered the Zen teacher. "Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. If you do not first empty your cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?"

Many of the players I have coached over the years came to me with their cups full or near the brim, in other words a pre-conceived notion of how the sport is taught and played. These players, though skilled, are not usually receptive to new ideas or methods however 'Empty Cups' are, by their very nature, more coachable, more adaptable and open to new ideas allowing them to develop a wide and diverse range of skills.

Students of Bruce Lee, who were often practitioners of other martial arts, were often told to 'empty their cup' before they could train with him. Although we cannot discount talent or skill, there is no doubt I will be looking for the 'Empty Cups' next week ... watch this space.

So it begins ...

It's the first day back to school and the sun is shining for the first time in two days. In fact, it looks like it’s going to be a brilliant day!

During the weekend, Coach Steve and I ‘synced watches’ philosophically and we share many ideas and targets although we may take different roads to get there. Still, our discussions has been valuable in shaping some the decisions I had made earlier, especially regarding what we were going to run and how we were going to run it. As you all know, I was leaning heavily toward running System Basketball this year but with the extreme mix of skill, talent and basketball smarts that could be in the team, we both decided that a return to basics is what we really needed.

As some of you may know, I am an avid follower of Rick Torbett's Read and React Offense - It is a principled based framework that develops off-the-ball reactions to ball movement. I personally consider it the Holy Grail of Offensive systems because I see the potential this framework could deliver in a 2-3 year program. And therein lies the rub (to misquote Shakespeare)

Not many people are willing to invest the time or effort to implement this program because so many coaches or schools are looking for results RIGHT NOW. However we recognise with the diversity of skill and talent available to us, that we must make a fundamental investment in each player; knowing that improving them individually improves our team exponentially.

And at the end of the day, isn't that what good coaching is about?

T minus 1 and counting

Well with less than a week before the 2010 school term begins, the circus that is the execution of the season master plan begins.

This week, coach Steve and I received the green light as the Senior A coaches for 2010. For us, it is a milestone event and kickstarts the preparation and running of tryouts.

With school starting Feb 2, the wheels are well in motion. This season, we have agreed on a two step trial process, a single mid-week session to determine skill with a repeat session during the weekend to determine commitment. I believe we are on the verge of something special this year and we could see a large turnout hence the weekend 'commitment' test.

Only time will tell, watch this space.

Out with the Old, In with the New ... well, not quite

There is a saying that goes along the lines "Learn from the past today to inprove the future" which seems fitting given the big clean up we did today. I found alot of my old notes, practice plans and score sheets from my years at Mana which made for some interesting reading to say the least. Don't get me wrong, its not all bad, in fact most of it brings back some great memories and I laugh now thinking about what we did back then compared to now.

Case in point, Platooning. For the uninitiated, platooning is the practice of 5-for-5 subbing. One of my philosophies has always been "Everyone plays", from starting five to the 12th player. This in turn led to my another philosophy of mine, "Its not the Starting Five but Final Five who make the difference". This came about because the Starting Five never determined the fate of our games; all thing being equal, our games were usually won or lost based on the performance of the players on the court at the end of the game. So in games, we would sub five-in-five-out every two to three game minutes (which is a lot longer than you think) and readjust at the quarter and half based on player performance. The 4th Quarter however belong to the Final Five, the five players who had the best performance on the night and we would use a regular 8-player rotation depending on the situation.

It would be fair to say that the practice had it fans and foes. There are a lot of good arguements on both sides but I personally felt most of the negative comments were people being selfish, win-oriented or did not have the teams best interests at heart. But in my experience, the comradery and motivation that happens through platooning more than makes up for any downside to the practice.

I will end by saying that Platooning is not on the cards for 2010 but its just one of many practices that have helped shaped my basketball philosophy over the years and one I was happy to read was successful for us back then.

3 weeks and counting

Only three weeks to go until the start of the new year. Got a few things on at the moment regarding Basketball but I spent the last week finalising the plan for this season but it was tough.

Although I am strong believer in the System, there are a lot of influences that are changing some of my ideas about what would be good for our team including the success of Oregon Womens Basketball under Coach Paul Westhead and my recent interest in Coach Walberg's Dribble Drive Motion.

Defensively, I am influenced by Coach Rick Pitinos Black and White press which has seen a revival under Coach Billy Donovan (Yes, I do know that Donovan played for Pitino), Coach Tarkanians Amoeba defense from the famed UNLV Running Rebels days but I am grounded in the solid man-to-man principles of Coach Bobby Knight.

When we consider our talent, timeline and opponents for the 2010 season, the decisions we make now will have a great impact on what we coach, how we coach it and what results we expect to see. However with a stake planted firmly in the ground now, we can start making plans towards building success.

Kiwi goes up-tempo with a Legend

The 2009-2010 season for the Oregon University Womens Basketball team has been boosted by the arrival of new Head Coach and Up-tempo Legend, Paul Westhead. Coach Westhead comes from a three-year tenure with 2009 WNBA champions, Phoenix Mercury, and looks to give back to the sport by running his unique brand of basketball at the green and gold.

At the forefront of this change is Senior Power Guard, Micaela Cocks, who is a Tall Fern and a product of the New Zealand High Performance program. Hailing from North Shore, Auckland, Micaela enters her last year at Oregon under Coach Westhead and is excited to play the up-tempo style. Click the link below to hear Micaela talk about it! (Please wait for the arrow to appear, there will be pause between action)