THE SYSTEM

Ok so as anyone who actually reads this blog knows that im gonna go coach the UoB womens team next year. And at the moment im looking at offences to run with them, and defences. I went to bed last night thinking about offence and woke up, literally, continuing the exact point in my train of thought that i had left off. Crazy!!
So what i did today was, instead of go for an offence i think is cool, like the DDM or R&R or even a cool version of flex i found, I listed some facts about the girls team. So here they are:
1) In their unbeaten season they relied heavily on a few stand-out senior players backed up by some adequet freshmen.
2)Their current offencive system is flawed. It isn't really a system but more of a series of plays and, as i am an advocate of teaching players, not plays; i feel this is detremental to their development.
3) A lot of their point last year and this year came from fast break situations, secondary break situations and very few from set offence against set defence.
4) we have very few all-star point guards and shooters
5) we have a GREAT work ethic and the girls all work hard
6) In their unbeaten season many of the 'splinter jockeys' complained of a lack of playing time> this created a bad vibe within the team as some players were seen to be 'favorites'.
7)We have a big time post player, Steph, and another good forward, Jenny. Both are tall and can rebound like h*ll
8) The new captains know very little about basketball tactics/strategy/x and o stuff but are good players.

Then i matched up the characteristics of some of my 'favotite' offences to see how they fit with the team. Here they are in order of fit and preferance combined:

UCLA - not really enough of a post game to run this as only one of the post is experianced enough and she needs some work on her touch around the rim.

Flex -Players not plays, and i don't think the majority of them have the IQ so i can develope the reads to really expand the flex.

R&R - Good for teaching fundementals but i don't really agree on the circle move and i think they need more direction during games. Would like to have some basic control instead of a freelance (make it up as you go) kind of system.

DDM - Probably my favorite offence overall, and with skilled enough ball handlers and good enough shooters this is perfect. Players love the freedom it gives them and as a coach i love the spacing, constant attacking preasure and all the ways to tinker with it. However i don't feel we have the players to run it...yet.

Grinnell (the system) - This is probably the best fit with our team. It solves a lot of the problems we have previously aswell. Lets look at the matches compared to the points above
1) The system relies on everyone, not just the 'star' players but gives the stand-outs freedom and structured space in which to flourish, similar to the DDM
2)Not a system of plays, Just a system
3) Perfect for fast breaking as its all based on EXTREME fast breaking.
4)Shooting % not so important as were aiming for quantity not quality and shooting/handling can be improved through drills.
5) Work ethic and giving 110% is what its all about. During your shift on the floor you work flat out
6) All players are used to theres no need for reserves to be upset.
7) Posts can be vital in securing rebounds
8) I think the captains would be on board once they understood the system.

For those of you who dont know, let me just describe the DDM and The System styles to you.
DDM stands for dribble drive motion. This offence is not based on screens as traditional offences are but rather on drawing help defenders. The idea is that when you beat your man 1-on-1, if no one helps you get a lay-up. If a defender moves to help you kick it to thier man for a 3-point or dump it into the post for an easy lay-up. The motto is 'KEY OR 3' meaning get into the paint for a lay-up or shoot a 3-point on a kick out. This offence hates mid-rang jumpshots. It also relies heavily on good penitration and shooting. If you cant shoot then the defence sags and penitration becomes more difficult. If you cant drive, then you wont draw the help and therefore cant kick it to an open man.
'The system' run famously by Grinnell, is based on a series of goals that the team tries to reach during the game. these are
shoot 100+ shots
shoot 1/2 from 3 point range
Shoot 30 more shots than opponents
get 33% of offencive rebounds
force 32 turnovers
Shoot within 12 seconds of gaining possesion of the ball.
The system relies heavily on an aggressive tight full court press and often gives up open lay-ups in favor of trying to get a steal or force the turnover. Players also play in 2 minute shifts. This allows them to go flat out during the time they are on the floor. Players are often substituted within 35 seconds and always 5 at a time. The idea is to create a pace that the other team cant match and grind them down with constant 3 point shooting and rebounding, with all 5 players going to the boards on every shot attempt. Go on youtube and type in 'grinnell basketball'. It really is a sight to behold.

Back to us. I dont think we have the capacity in terms of handling ability and shooting to make the DDM work for us. But what is still drawing me to it is the amount of information i have on it. I can tweak it any way i like, to combat zones, sags, preasure and to take advantage of specific situations and the players on the floor. I also have about 100 pages of drills and practice plans that i can implement and we all know as system is only as strong as the drills and practice that enforce it. An players will get better/smarter the more we run the drills, especially the remarkable blood drills.
But what draws me to 'the system' grinnell runs is the constant pace and preasure. Watch their opponents crumble against them. They just cant keep up. Most teams rely on 5 starting players and about 2-4 good reserves but against a team going flat out, using all its subs and constantly attacking and pressing, exchanging 2's for 3's, the opposition get so tired they start missing open lay-ups and throwing the ball out of bounds. I want this. I want us to be the team everyone HATES to play. I want to be the grinnell of England and as far as i know, no one else is doing this in the UK, please if someone is, contact me i'd love to hear how its going.
Anyway, i have a long time to decide and will probably loose a lot of sleep over it in the mean time (its 3:50 am here).
Peace
Coach Scott

Wow its been a while

Well its been a while for sure...
Not sure why i havent been writting. Mainly because i've been busy playing ball and havent had too much time. Plus i just accepted a new job to coach the college girls team next year and have been scouring the internet for ideas. DDM, Flex, UCLA, Read and React. Probs go with DDM or possibly the grinnell system if we dont have a good intake of freshmen (or do i say freshwomen???).
Anyway the season is going ok. were mid table after losing a lot of players to teaching placements. I love playing but have decided to, at the end of the year, retire my jersey to pursue my coaching ambitions. Im really quite exited at the prospect of running my own team. I've coached two before but never at this level so it will be interesting to see what happens. I'll start another blog next season and let you all (if anyone actually reads this stuff) know how im getting on. Or i'll continue on here.
Anyway im off merry christmas, happy holidays, and have a good new year all
Martin

Bulls

Just come back from bulls training (the bulls are the bedford local team, they play at a higher level than the uni team so i train with them to get better) and it was amazing, i made some quality passes and got some great breaks. Cant wait for uni training to start tomorrow. Should be great, hope the freshers live up to the hype. I'll post tomorrow after training.
Martin ;)

Freshers

Well the freshers fair was the other day so what do i think?
I think our plan is gonna work out. We Gained a compliment of new guards and they mostly look quite athletic. Among the picks were two stand-outs, dave and angjas ( sorry for the spelling) the former (dave) claiming to have won the high school nationals as a point guard before comming to uni and the latter (angjas) comming from the Ukraine, where bball is thier national sport, having played since he was three and shoots three points. Sounds promising but words are meaningless, we'll have to see on monday.

Wednesday night was great aswell.
We do no team bonding apart from training twice a week so wednesday night socials are especially important not just for drinking but for getting to know one another. Fresher dave and Tom both came along. The cirlce went well not heavy drinking but enough to have a good night. Will, as the new social sec forgot a lot of the games and rules so got fined more than any other person. Dave seems to be a real character and should be a great adition to the team IF he can play.

So all in all high hopes for the freshers.

The Story So Far.

Hi there and thanks for checking out my blog. Its pretty basic at the minute but when i can figure out how to upload video/audio i'll upload some VLog footage and some generally interesting things.

Ok so the story so far. Im Martin and i attend the UoB. I spend five days a week playing basketball and if im not playing, im thinking about playing or researching offensive/defensive plays or systems, reading about basketball or listening to music...oh and Iwatch family guy/scrubs/south park. Oh and i sometimes go to lectures, but don't count on it.

Now i know what your thinking. 'wow this guy needs to get a girlfriend/a life/a hobby/high'. Well what i say to you is im a commitophobe, my life is fantstic thanks and i wouldn't trade it for the world, reading is my hobby (to be fair i really only read books on coaching, basketball and sport, but it still counts as a hobby) and as for the getting high....no comment.

So as for the team: Well last year the team was relegated, but this wasn't due to bad performance, but becasue our captain didn't submit our last result so the league docked us a load of points and because the league tables were so close we were moved form a play-off contesting position to relegation. So were all pretty upset. But on the plus side were in a division that we have a very good chance of winning this year.
Also last years team was very corupt. Due to the lack of a coach our captain ran training and ultimatly decided the team. And so a culture developed where the captains friends got to play and the rest of us didn't. So we didn't have the best players on court and as such ended up playing games of 1-on-1 because the team wasn't working together. As a result the 1-on-1 turned into 1-on-5 and we got hammerd some games.

This year should be different though, for a number of reasons. We have lost a lot of dead weight over the summer as seniors have graduated and this should allow us to be more dynamic this year. Our old offence revolved around feeding the post, we had two big post players, craig and grizzly, who posted up and tried to score. However with thier graduation brings about a movement similar to when shaq was traded to the suns. This allowed the heat to become faster and more dynamic. This year we have more skilled and better conditioned guards and agile post scorers. So we are integrating a form of the dribble-drive motion offence and focusing more on fast breaks and transition offence/defence. My ideal scenario is for us to mirror teams like Memphis tigers (NCAA) but with better shooting hopefully.

So the team this year:
Greg: Greg is the captian of our ship. Hes a short point guard whos passing and knowledge of the game is top quality.
Will: Will is our social sec and one of our post players. Will is more of a power forward with a stocky figure and good height
Martin: Thats me. Im a centre but i also play small forward, can jump high and am pretty quick around the basket. Love playing defence and getting rebounds.
Dave: Dave was our shooting guard last year and will probably still be there this year. Dave is a good shooter and is unselfish
Adam: Adam played point gurad for a bit last year but is more of a small forward, quite and alrounder he doesn't excelle at any one thing but he is a solid player.
DJ: DJ is our best point guard, an inner city baller whos been playing since he was born. He has a comprehensive understanding of the game and the skills to execute the plays he makes. Should have played more last season but was benched far too much.
AJ: Aj is big, tall and athletic. He also has a lebrone james complex. He thinks hes and outside shooter or a drive and dunk player and practices his shooting non-stop but never seeems to get any better in games. We have loads of small quick guards who can make it to the basket but we dont have big athletic post players. So he should play in the post or he wont get any court time this year.
Ash: Ash or flipper as he is know due to his conections to the swim team. And this is just his problem, he lacks comitment to the team. He obviously lacks some skill but has made massive improvement over last season. But he just isn't comitted enough to basketball, so on the bench he will remain.
Tim: Tim is asleep, all the time. But when he wakes up he actually shows patches of brilliance. Again he lacks comitment to the team and appears sparodically. So unless he shows some considerable comitment he will continue to be a splinter jockey.
Deep: Deep was looked over considerably last season due to the amount of characters at training and the lack of a coach. He has considerable talent and is a jack of all trades. He could be quicker but has a considerable knee injury which could contribute to his slight lack of speed. He is a solid defensive player and a great rebounder. As long as that knee is 100% he should expect minutes this season.
Kas: Kas is an average guard, not physical enough to go through his defender effectively but not really quick enough to beat them off the dribble. He can hit threes but only when standing still and uncontested and he lacks a consitent jump shot. Hes a great guy but in my opinion is over-rated as a guard and needs considerable improvement to gain any court time.
Dan: Dan is the loudest person in the world. He is obviously part of the team for the social side. He has improved vastly since last year, but his achillies heel is his inability to listen. If he absorbes even half the advice he is given, with a bit of practice he could move his way up the bench to a contesting starting spot.
(sorry if the above seems a bit judgemental, all these people are my friends and im not judging them as people. This is just my honest opinion of thier basketball ability)

So with that said I have high hopes for this year. Our combination of quick guards, dribble-drive offence and work ethic combined with the fact we are in a lower divison means there should not be a single game we don't win.

Maritn