PREPARATION PHILOSOPHY

Having the will to succeed is not enough, everyone has that. What matters is having the will to prepare to succeed!             To me basketball is not just a sport. Playing the game of basketball is a tool that can be used in every young person’s life to better prepare themselves for their future. I …

Top 3 Box Sets

https://twitter.com/Coach_Hickey5/status/1386665421672169473?s=20 Results are in and this week you all choose "Box Sets" to talk about. In this blog I will share my top 3 favorite box sets and then I will release the playbook of them next Tuesday. "Pop" 2. Box Iso from Baylor Men's Basketball 3. U.S.A Be on the lookout on Twitter for …

Top Four 1-4 Sets

The overwhelming amount of people who voted on this weeks poll chose the 1-4 set option. This is not surprising to me as a lot of plays are moving in this direction at every level. Below I will share my 4 favorite 1-4 sets that I have run and been successful with. Later next week …

SMART Timeouts

Something that always has interested me is what teams are doing during timeouts, how they organized themselves during them and got the most out of the seconds that they are given. Below I want to talk about 3 things that I have seen/come up with that I believe are good ways of having efficient timeouts. …

End of Clock Situations

Below you will find some of my favorite end of clock plays that I have run at every level. I will make sure to release these in a PDF as well! Full Court: Half Court: There are a ton a variations to all these plays but the biggest thing for me is to pick a …

Under Pressure

The poll was close this week but presses and press breaks won out. Below you will get some of my favorite press breakers that I have used in the past as well as 2 of my favorite presses. For me being good at one or two things is better than having a bunch of different …

Top Plays Of The First Round

What an exciting time as a basketball fan and a coach! After watching some incredible basketball, we decided to collaborate on our favorite plays of the first round on both the Women's and Men's sides of March Madness. We put this together to help coaches find some awesome plays that they can incorporate with their …

Sweet 16 Preview

#8 Loyola Chicago vs #12 Oregon State Loyola Chicago: Their 5 out offense is spectacular and beautiful to watch. It is a series of DHO with ball screens, stagger screen, back screens, they screen you to death. The whole thing runs through Krutwig who is a force. Defensively Porter Moser will have a game plan …

3 Simple Zone Plays

More and more zone defense is being played at all levels of basketball. Whether you agree with it or not your team needs to be able to attack and score on zone offenses. The biggest mistake I see teams make against the zone is taking really quick shots and not making the defense work. There …

Simple Motion Offenses

This week I wanted to share a few simple motion offense options that can be used to help your team. The diagrams below will show you the initial actions and then follow with a few reads that can be used once the basic concepts are implemented. The best part about motion offenses is the ability …

Teaching the Screen Game

Teaching the screen game is one of the most important things we can do as coaches. In my opinion the screen game needs to be started in the elementary grade levels. In order to do this it needs to be implemented in an easy and concise way. One thing I do with players is construct …

3 Simple Transition Basketball Reads

Before I dive into the 3 simple transition reads I use, I want to express my belief in the fact that ANY team can play in transition. Young teams, slower teams, etc. what ever it might be you can run in transition if you follow three simple things: 1) get ball to nearest sideline on …

3 S.L.O.B. to Win a Game

For me SLOBs (Side-Line Out of Bounds) plays are situational. I like to get the ball in and run a half-court set when I can but I think it is always a good idea to have a few sets in your pocket when you need them. Here are three of my favorite SLOBs that I …

Communication: The Universal Key

I would first like to point out that I am in no way an expert at communication. However, I have a Masters degree in Secondary Education and I have been teaching and coaching for the last 8 years. My knowledge of communication comes from research and the all-important life experiences. I could go on and …

Successful Practice Plans

Practicing planning is one of the most important things coaches do because we do it EVERYDAY! I believe a successful practice plan has 3 aspects to it. Practice Plans have SMART Goals Too often coaches have plans but have no real data to whether they achieved what they wanted to in a practice. For example …

Quick! Here are some Hitters!

Coaches, quick hitters are some of my favorite things to run for any team I coach. They are fun and allow you to get the ball in the hands of your scorers. I especially like quick hitters when I coach AAU because they are easy to remember and put in when practice time is limited. …

Every Game Ends, Are You Prepared?

Every game doesn't just have one ending, there are multiple ending scenarios that if you have the right play for you can take advantage. No matter what level you coach, you cannot expect your players to be able to complete a play that they first see on a whiteboard during a high-stress moment like a …

Practice Drills

Practice drills, there are so many out there to choose from but how do you know which drills are the right ones for your team? The quick answer is, you don't, not until you have tried them at least. My philosophy is to try and find or come up with drills that are simple but …

BLOBs: Every Coaches New Years Resolution

What should every basketball coaches New Year's Resolution be? Find out here with #ShareTheGame

Player EvalYOUation

Player evaluation is one of, if not the, most important things we do as coaches. Evaluating a player does not just help you improve your ability to see things in players, but it gives the player a blueprint in how you believe they can improve. However, what if I told you there was a better …

Defense Wins More than Championships

Check out this week #ShareTheGame blog all about defense

TOP PLAYS OF THE ELITE 8

Another round of amazing basketball! We pulled the top plays of the Elite 8 rounds of the women and mens sides! Some amazing sets and some nice spins on old classics. Check out the plays below! Download the entire clip set and plays below as well. Share on your social media to continue to help …