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Home , Brian Daboll, Dwane Casey, Dylan Ennis, Eric Musselman, Ime Udoka, Josh McDaniels

APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

The Raptors trusted to remake his team without rebuilding it (SBNation)

-“We felt like we were better than a 4-0 sweep,” Webster said. “It was really just Masai’s challenge to all of us. Let’s take a look at what we’ve done, and let’s be proud of how we’ve gotten here, but if we really wanna be a championship contending team, we need to make some changes.”

-In the days following that low , the Raptors’ internal braintrust burned the midnight oil to put

Ujiri’s “culture reset” into action. When Webster and Ujiri asked Casey what he saw, they were, in

Webster’s words, “exactly on the same page.” The league was passing the Raptors’ plodding, isolation style by. And so the mandate was born: more ball movement, more spacing, more running, and an increased focus on developing their young talent.

-“[Culture reset] suggests that change is coming. But that doesn’t mean you have to change personnel,” Webster said. “People can change.”

-When Ujiri demanded a “culture reset,” he issued a simple decree for every part of the organization: honest self-assessment. The result has been a that challenges the sheer notion of putting a ceiling on human capability.

What Villanova AD Learned From Working for (SI.com)

-For interviews, Belichick gives a person a project to work on. Has a guy break down 4 games of an opponent.

-ZB note: When this is done in CBB, it’s often “do a scouting report” and it really just becomes how many buddies does the guy have in the league who he can get a scouting report from? BB way:

Break down just these 2-3-4 games and tell me about the team. I don’t want a scout, I want you breaking down this exact film. Tell me what this film tells you.

-Rob Senderoff has guys on an interview put players through an individual workout.

-The value of promotion from within has stuck with me. It’s the people that understand your culture and have grown up in your culture, and that’s and and

Josh McDaniels. They paid their dues early on as quality control and went through that meticulous nature of all the film breakdowns. I definitely try to apply that here. I’m trying to APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

invest in the younger people in our athletic department so that they understand our culture and can get brought up in that.

-I don’t know where I can compare and contrast Jay to Bill, but what I can say is whether it’s

Pete or Jay or Bill—and I’ve been around a lot of really good coaches—they know their philosophy. They know who they are. They know what they’re about. These are programs.

These aren’t just teams. These are systems. They know every element of it, and they know what works, and they don’t deviate from it. Although they’re very different in styles, they’ve figured themselves out and they’re very, very confident in who they are. That’s the one commonality in the great coaches I’ve been around.

-When [Carroll and former USC assistant Yogi Roth] wrote the book [Win Forever], that’s the key. If you’re gonna lead people, you have to figure out yourself first. You have to go through that self-discovery process. I figured it out. It wasn’t ’til I was around 35 and back at

USC for a second time. Pete mandated it. ‘Hey, you gotta get serious about what you wanna do. Do you wanna be in the NFL? Do you wanna be an athletic director? Do you wanna pursue something entrepreneurially?’ It was that self-discovery process where I took a summer and just figured myself out that is really helping me out now as an athletic director.

Playing for Pop (San Antonio Express-News)

“I said, ‘Pop, you want me to get to this spot and then get all the way back to that spot?’” Elliott recalled. “He said, ‘Well if you can’t do it, I’ll get somebody else who can.’”

-If young players are not aware of his style, they will quickly be told of Popovich’s passion for getting the most out of players for the good of the team. And then, they’ll be informed of the armor needed to endure it all. “You have to have a thick skin, that’s for sure,” Elliott said. “You have to park your ego, and you have to realize that you can’t take things personally. That’s the biggest thing.

-Parker had felt Popovich’s wrath earlier in his career and offered Ginobili the same advice Tim

Duncan gave Parker. “I was like, ‘Be patient. He’s going to see you do way more positive stuff than just that crazy pass you just did. At the end of the day, he’s a great coach, and I think he’s going to APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

see that,’” Parker said. “And it took some time for Pop to get used to it too because we were a halfcourt team when I first arrived. It was all for Timmy and David (Robinson). We had to evolve as everybody was evolving. Slowly but surely, Pop gave more stuff to me, more stuff to Manu, more responsibility. … It took a little bit to find that happy middle.”

-Pau Gasol hears Popovich’s voice even when he’s not speaking. He reminds himself always about how to play solid, with edge, competitiveness and execution. Playing smart and playing hard. It’s what Popovich calls playing between the ears.

-“What he likes about guys are the basic things,” assistant coach said. “Things you learn in middle school, in the eighth grade. And then the other part is egoless people. If you’re not a superstar, if you’re not a Tim, Tony, Manu, Kawhi, those guys, then he wants a well-rounded team player with fundamentals. But you have to be mentally tough.”

-Asked if every player could play for Popovich, Elliott responded: “Not everybody can. There are a few guys that are in the league. They’ve been around a long time and are set in their ways. They don’t like a coach being this demanding. And some guys just don’t have the mental makeup for it.”

Smooth Operator: Dwane Casey Is Still Ironing out Every Wrinkle He Can Find (SI.com)

-Seven years ago on Biscayne Bay, he implemented a defense that helped change the sport, forcing teams to reevaluate conventional lineups, stilted sets and the definition of a good shot. This season he finally joined the freewheeling movement he spawned, and the Raptors sit atop the East.

-“You can’t allow yourself to get typecast as a recruiter, because that label sticks and carries,” Casey continues. “I fought it. I made myself learn the game and teach the game.”

-When Toronto acquired Miles in July, Casey called him that night and chatted for almost an hour, describing ways he could use the sniper as an inbounder. “You could tell he’d already been thinking about specific plays,” Miles says.

-Casey landed in Dallas as a defensive coordinator, with more aging stars, and he wanted to devise a zone the Mavericks could use like an eephus pitch. P---y defense, players grumbled, and point guard abandoned the zone if it allowed a basket. At APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

training camp in ’10, Casey told the Mavs they were going to build the best zone in the league, and grousing continued. “I like to lock up, man-to-man,” said. “Trust me,” Casey replied. “We’re going to need this at some point.” The Mavericks spent 10 minutes on zone slides at every practice and deployed the zone for an entire preseason game in . Still, they used the zone sparing during the regular season, until the Finals against Miami. The Mavs had no one to match up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Dallas was too old, too slow and too small in the backcourt. “It was finally time to whip out that f------zone,” recalls former Mavs guard . Dallas alternated between a 2–3 and a man-to-man defense in which they sank guards to the elbows and bigs to the boxes.

“Miami ran iso like 80% of the time with LeBron and D-Wade,” Terry recounts. “You beat me, here’s another guy waiting. You beat him, here’s waiting. There was nowhere to isolate and nowhere to kick out. Remember, they didn’t have Ray Allen then.

LeBron had to shoot jump shots. And what was LeBron’s weakness at the time? Eighteen foot jump shots.”

-“That zone made me a better coach,” Miami’s told Casey. The Heat captured the next two titles, trumpeting pace and space; the Spurs and the Warriors won the two after that, touting the same. “Everything was different,” Terry says. “It was all about movement and shooting.”

-Casey revisited his Dallas days and dusted off elements of ’s system, called

Flow. “It’s not so many play calls for Kyle, play calls for DeMar,” Casey explains. “It’s more random pick-and-rolls, move the ball side-to-side, read and react.”

Bob Brown,

-“Years ago, we (the Spurs) coached Robert Horry,” Sixers Coach Brett Brown said. “And if you really studied his percentages, it wasn’t like he was knock-down. But he had the reputation of being a shooter. That, all by itself, gave Tony (Parker) driving lanes, and gave Timmy (Duncan) space. And so I still think, even if you don’t have Steph Curry and (Kevin) Durant, I still think you have to shoot ‘em, and you have to space the court accordingly.” APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

Toronto Raptors embrace offensive adjustment after playoff disappointments (NBA.com)

-But Casey’s experiences in Dallas, with and Rick Carlisle, helped shape his view that a good team still had room to grow and improve.

-“It took us a while to get out of habits that were successful for us,” he said. “We still won 50-plus games with the way we was playing. But once we bought in, and understood how we could be better at it, you started to see the effects of it during the season. It took us a little while. Even preseason, we wasn’t there. First couple of games, we were still trying to figure it out. Now, you see it. We’re finding our rhythm. Guys understand where to be, how to move the ball, everything.”

Dwane Casey (The Woj Pod)

-If players understand that you have the knowledge, you’re prepared, that you work at your craft, they will respect you. But if they feel like you’re blowing smoke or not giving them the right information and they don’t see the results, then you’re toast. I pride myself with that. I saw it in

Seattle with being prepared. He knew everything about the team, he knew what he wanted to do, he knew what would work in the NBA. You have to be prepared to put yourself in the best position to win.

Fran Fraschilla

-Down 4 with 5-10 seconds. After made FT (to put you down 4), send one person long and throw it up to him. Defense will be scared to foul, you’ll get a quick 2

Tom Crean

-Do you come to play or did you come to fight?

-A lot of times my best halftimes were when the team thought I was going to blow up, but I didn’t.

To say that the coach makes the adjustment isn’t fair to the players. They’re smart too. They can figure it out if they didn’t bring it mentally or physically. If you can get a couple of guys to figure it out, they can turn it around.

APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

Jerry Meyer, 247 Sports

-A player's value is equal to his impact on winning.

Boston Celtics

-On weight room wall: “KAIZEN” (Japense concept of continuous improvement)

These Raptors might be real, and only getting better (ESPN.com)

-DeRozan, a proud native of Compton, California, grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant. The Lakers had retired Bryant's two jersey numbers the night before. DeRozan had surely watched. Ujiri told

DeRozan he could be Toronto's Kobe -- a lifetime player who defines a franchise and, maybe, brings it championship glory. But to get there -- to push this live-wire Toronto team to its full potential -- DeRozan had to start shooting more 3-pointers.

-Everyone in the room knew how much work DeRozan had put in to be ready for this moment. He was officially dabbling with the 3-pointer, about 2.5 attempts per game, but he had tried zero or one in six of 10 games. They needed more. Just taking them, coaches said, would draw attention and give everyone else more space. It would spare DeRozan contact. Possessions would flow more naturally. They empowered DeRozan because they knew he was prepared. "When everyone has that kind of confidence in you -- that you can carry a franchise -- it gives you that extra confidence,"

DeRozan says. "For them to say I could be in [Kobe's] position -- it was an honor accepting that fully."

-"I wanted to jump out of my seat watching," says Chris Farr, DeRozan's longtime trainer, who has watched DeRozan launch thousands of 3-pointers in summer workouts. "He has worked so hard. I always say, he's not Beyonce. He didn't wake up looking like this."

-Change was the goal when the Raptors hired , an offensive guru from the (then) D-

League, in the summer of 2013. Nurse came in for an interview, and on an office whiteboard drew the offense he envisioned: different starting points, reads, passes, options. "The framework of what we are doing now," Nurse says, "was up on that board." Dwane Casey, the team's , liked Nurse's ideas. For various reasons, they never made it onto the court for long. Perhaps no APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

one felt enough urgency until swept them and Ujiri spoke out. "We were working so hard," says Jakob Poeltl, Toronto's precocious backup center, "for not very good shots."

-Toronto has assisted on 58 percent of its baskets, up from a league-low 47 percent last season, per NBA.com. They are throwing almost 30 more passes per game without any uptick in turnovers.

-DeRozan was diligent, but it wasn't easy at first. Lowry verbalized his frustration early in the season. "They were a little resistant at times, to be honest," Nurse says. "Even still, Kyle has these moments when he's kicking out passes, and guys are missing, and he's getting pissed." But they saw it working, and surrendered some control. DeRozan got better at the random, improvisational bobs and weaves the offense requires. The results are inarguable: Toronto ranks third in points per possession, jacking almost nine more 3s per game than last season. They're only a so-so shooting team -- it is their most worrisome weakness -- but trading 2s for 3s increases their margin for error.

-If players slip into old habits, the coaches have a remedy: Starting this season, they mostly replaced individual player development with group work. Instead of shooting alone, three or four guys rehearse sequences they execute in games. It's working. The team is discovering new wrinkles every week.

Penn coach Steve Donahue emphasizes family culture

-Quakers coach Steve Donahue discovered the word reading the book Legacy by James Kerr, an account of the Maori All-Blacks rugby team from New Zealand. Whanau, which Donahue said is pronounced "fah-now," means "extended family," including friends who are not related to other members.

-Donahue, now in his second season as Penn's head coach, has made whanau front and center as he attempts to build a team culture patterned after one of the world's most successful rugby squads. "I gave the guys the book to read when I got here," he said. "We all got together.

Afterwards, I took that word to be more than just family. It's going to help us develop the culture that I want for Penn . It kind of means setting high standards and having peer-to-peer enforcement.

APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

How the Raptors got sick of playoff letdowns and broke all their bad habits (The Athletic)

-Corner 3-pointers -- where the distance shortens and the shot becomes ultra-efficient -- counted for four points. Other 3s were treated normally, as were layups. Anything outside of the paint and inside the 3-point line was either worth zero or minus-one. This new "shot spectrum," as they call it, was designed to change their habits.

-Starting in summer league, they put a new emphasis on shot selection, ball movement and player movement. Nick Nurse, the Raptors' top assistant coach and "," told CBS

Sports that the young guys set the tone by picking up the new offense quickly.

-"It's tough at first when you're trying to change something that drastically," second-year guard Fred VanVleet said. "You've gotta over-exaggerate it at first just to implement a new culture, a new way to do things. They were harping on things pretty hard."

-Looking back at those scrimmages with the four-point shots in the corner, forward C.J. Miles said he has seen his teammates reprogram themselves.

"It teaches guys to look for extra passes," Miles said. "Or look for a skip pass or see the rotations earlier, to see the guy who's open in the corner on the weak side instead of getting to a point where you take a half-contested shot in the mid-range area."

-"The production in the playoffs was quite different than it was in the regular season," Nurse said.

"So, to combat that, we're trying to raise our number of assisted baskets in the playoffs and we're trying to be much more unpredictable. Instead of a dozen or so set plays that, when you get to playoff times, teams can sit on, we're trying to have a bunch of actions -- maybe multiple actions in one series or reactions to how things get guarded and being able to counter those things."

-"When you have a system that allows everybody to feel involved and make plays -- and it might not even be just shooting; just touching it and being able to make the right play, make the next play, the next pass, the or whatever it is -- it brings a camaraderie and a rhythm to the offense," Miles said. Nurse thinks that when you involve your role players, they become better players. Over the past few postseasons, some Raptors have struggled even when they had clean APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

looks. Come April and May, the stars will be asked to continue to find their teammates. The coaching staff does not want them to hesitate.

-As they rely on these young players more and more, Nurse said it is important that their development program is directly linked to their offensive system. "I think we made a big shift there," he said, noting that their staff has spent countless hours teaching and drilling shooting. All the players on the roster practice 3s, and while they are not all expected to be above-average shooters this season, they are supposed to take open shots with confidence.

-"My experience is, in this system, the ball naturally gravitates to your best scorers anyway," Nurse said. "It does. It just finds them. And that's just kind of what happens. I don't really have any great scientific explanation for that."

Troy Daniels believes putting in the work isn't optional (Arizona Central)

-“I think it’s part of being a professional,” Daniels said. “I think it’s something these young guys will learn. To survive in this league, even if you’re a lottery pick, you always have to be working on your game, tuning it up.” Adhering to that regimen isn’t easy. The playoffs – and any hope of a respectable season – vanished long ago for the Suns. It’s a slog now, one city to the next, one loss to the next. Inspiration can be hard to find.

-“I’m not going to lie,” Daniels said. “It’s hard to stay motivated for games sometimes going through a season like this. But like I said, as a professional and as a man you have a certain standard for yourself. So you try to keep that standard and even elevate it.”

-There are also practical reasons for Daniels to be shooting 100, 200, sometimes 300 jumpers during an optional shootaround. He sees every day of his career as a potential job interview.

Maybe feeling comfortable with his mechanics will lead to a big game and a coach or general manager watching might want to sign Daniels down the line. Or perhaps one of the Suns coaches will wind up elsewhere, recall the work Daniels put in and want him.

Daniels also believes that as one of the Suns’ few veterans, he has a responsibility to lead by his example. “You don’t want guys to say, ‘Well, he’s not here, he’s been in the league for a while, so I APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

don’t have to be here,’” Daniels said. “You feel obligated to be here so you can show these young guys what it takes to survive in this league.”

-“They put in the work every single day,” Daniels said. “I was really impressed by Vince because he’s been in the league so long (20 seasons). He’s always working. He actually lifts after games. It’s really impressive. It kind of motivated me because I want to play that long.” In the end, though, it’s not Carter’s work ethic or any message for teammates that has Daniels catching his breath after an optional shootaround. It’s more simple than that. “This is our job,” he said. “You have to be on top of your job every day. You’re not going to be perfect but if you put your work in you give yourself the best chance.”

Jose Calderon Is a Pro's Pro (Vice Sports)

-After a recent practice at Toronto's BioSteel Centre, DeRozan was asked who would be at the top - of his personal list of best teammates, and immediately named Calderon.

-"He was the most positive individual that I came across and it gave me the utmost confidence to be the scorer I am today in this league," DeRozan said. "He was always positive. I remember I had a lot of rough times, rough days, games, questioning, 'Can I shoot, can I do this, can I do that?' but

Jose always gave me that confidence to understand you've got to keep going, keep shooting, keep playing. To see the professional approach he took every day was something I was always envious about and wanted to take from him because no matter how bad those first seasons [were], he was always a positive individual."

-"Jose is one of the most competent and well-rounded human beings there is," Casey said. "Take away the basketball part, you want a guy like that on your team, in your business, in your company, in your family, whatever it is. You just can't say enough good things about Jose Calderon. He's a solid man, an excellent basketball player. He's one of those guys that could be having the worst day of all but he's going to make you feel like he's ready to contribute and do what it takes. You can't give him enough compliments as far as him as a person and him as a player."

-"Jose is as selfless as it gets," Wade said. "There are not many players who can really say that one hundred percent, if I don't play I'm going to smile the same way, my food is going to taste the APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

same way. There's not many guys to do it if you're not playing, or if you're having a bad game.

Even if you're about the team, you're still frustrated. It's hard. That's why he's special."

-"It's absolutely amazing," Frye said. "You talk about pros in this league and Jose is that example.

Every day he's in there working, always ready to go, always being a pro, always ready to come in and contribute. Always doing the extra. I'm glad I got a chance to play with him."

-"He's just a professional in every way," Korver said. "But I think the thing, why everyone likes him so much, he just has this, like, joyful spirit about him. He's one of the people you just want to be around. You want to talk to him. He has a passion for the game, how to get better. He's just someone you want to be around."

-"He always made it about everybody else," DeRozan, a four-time All-Star, said. "Being a good individual to your teammates, to everyone in your work environment, your colleagues, that's definitely something I took from Jose. To have a point guard like that, who gave off that energy, that vibe and professionalism, to this day, I carry a lot of things I took from Jose with me leadership wise. And I saw calm he was and how much of a leader he was, whether the game was going bad or we were having a bad practice. It never got to him. There were moments, but he always stayed with that even keel, and as a player that helps you out. I think it's a different age of coaching. It's not the yelling and screaming age anymore. I think back to the old days, where you're just kind of berating a player to get them to perform. And now you build relationships with the player and teach them. When you have a respect level for one another, they'll run through a wall for you. They'll play hard for you as you build relationships for them.''

-On how he’s most similar to his father: "I think the teaching aspect of it, the planning of practice, the watching of the video of practice and games. It's such a valuable tool, the teaching.

We watch practice from the day before every day before we go out to the next practice.

(There's) so many learning opportunities and holding guys accountable in that sense. You can't do everything you want in one day. So you just chip away and eventually build the structure, the final piece that you want.''

-"And it started with culture. Culture will eventually outlast talent. You could have all the talent in the world. If you don't have a structure, culture behind it...culture is just doing the right thing APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

because it's the right thing to do, whether it's on the court or off the court. Practice starts at eight, you understand you've got to be here a little bit early to be ready, get your mind right. Be early to class. Prepare yourself by going to class and then going to lunch before your next class.

That's the culture of doing the little things that eventually translate onto the court and the bigger things.''

-"I can't wait to watch the film. It really bothers me to watch the film. But after I watch the film I feel so much better because there's so many teaching moments in it, and it's never as bad as you think. After the game your immediate reaction as a coach (is) 'We're not a good team right now.' And it's never as bad as you think it is in your mind. And you're never as good as you think you are, either. So it goes both ways. But you learn so much more from losses. I hate losses more than I like winning. You don't enjoy the wins as much as probably you should because you expect to win on that highest level. And when you lose you're disappointed in the sense that maybe you didn't do something as a coach.''

How Luke Yaklich and Zavier Simpson launched Michigan’s defensive renaissance (NBC

Sports)

-“As a high school coach, I focused entirely on defense,” Yaklich said. At the high school level, coaching offense is more about skill development, about making your players better shooters, better ball-handlers, better scorers. Figure out a handful of things that you can have success with and trust your players to make plays. “My high school coaches instilled that in me. When I went to

Illinois State, I naturally grew into that role. We didn’t have a defensive coordinator, but my voice, that’s what I took pride in.”

-“The smartest thing is I stopped coaching it so much,” Beilein said of his team’s defensive improvement. “I let other people become the voice of it. I wanted one guy, that’s all he thinks about all day long.”

-Yaklich is that guy. During games, he sits right next to Beilein on the bench so that the head coach can hear everything — all the calls, all the adjustments, all the players that miss an assignment — while focusing his energy on the other end of the floor. “He wants to make sure that he knows APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

what’s hurting us,” Yaklich said. “He’s thinking about the next play on offense and what we went to run offensively.”

-Just five years removed from teaching social studies in Joliet, Ill., Yaklich was sitting in his new office in a new building at a new job when Beilein, who may one day wind up in the Hall of Fame, strolled in, sat down down and posed the question that may end up defining Yaklich’s time in Ann

Arbor. “What do you think we need to do better?” Beilein asked. “I need to learn how to teach defense.” Yaklich had done his homework. He had answers. The Wolverines had to get better defending ball-screens. “Basketball and the way it’s played right now, if you’re not a good ball- screen defensive team you’ve got no chance,” he said. Then, Michigan needed to get their bigs to be “active and committed” rebounders. And finally, the Wolverines had to find a way to convince their perimeter players to be better applying ball pressure.

-That set the tone for the entire program, and it had as much to do with Simpson’s refusal to give anyone a pass for anything less than a stop defensively, and not just in games. Simpson — who is noted for his ability as a trash-talker — holds his teammates accountable when they don’t do their job. Don’t get beat off the dribble. Don’t miss an assignment or a rotation. And whatever you do, don’t let him see someone on the scout team score on you in practice.

-It works because Simpson’s teammates have seen him put in the work every game, every practice, all the way back to Yaklich’s first day on the court way back in August. They’ve seen him do it despite the fact that he lost the starting point guard job for a stretch in the middle of the season.

Simpson was, technically-speaking, recruited over this offseason. The point guard role is so incredibly important to what Beilein wants to do offensively, and after Simpson’s freshman season didn’t quite go as well as planned, the Michigan staff brought in Jaaron Simmons, a grad transfer from Ohio, in an effort to shore up their point guard play. Simpson went on to win — and then lose

— the starting point guard role because, as Beilein put it, “he wasn’t making the extra pass. He wasn’t seeing the open man. He was fouling every time he got in there.” Through it all, Simpson never stopped jabbering. He never stopped working. He never stopped defending. He never stopped doing what the coaching staff wanted him to do. APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

-“It’s grown into something where the entire team and our entire staff has taken ownership of being a good defensive team,” Yaklich said. “Zavier simply has a will that will not allow him to get outcompeted every day, out-toughed. He just keeps hammering away every single day. He earned the right to be the starting point guard.”

-“This guy hangs his hat on defense,” Beilein said. “He’s stubborn. He wants to play every minute.

He doesn’t want to rest. He’s just wore me out so much with how hard he plays.”

-“Everybody looks at him playing hard out in front of them, guarding every point guard, going through dozens of ball screens every game, and he’s still talking and wants more,” Yaklich added.

“That spreads like wildfire in our group.”

NCAA Tournament Nike warmup shirt slogans

Alabama Buckle Up

Arkansas Fastest 40

Butler Gritty Not Pretty

Clemson Clemson Grit

Florida One Team

Florida State 18 Strong

Houston For The City

Kansas State EMAW (Every Man A Wildcat)

Loyola Created By Culture

Michigan Do More, Say Less

Missouri Show Me

Montana Compete With Desperation

Murray State Tradition

Nevada The Hunt

North Carolina Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together

Oklahoma Commit

Penn Whanau APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

Providence Us-We, Together-Family, Friars

Purdue Play Hard

Radford C.H.E.E.S.E.

TCU Love The Difference

Tennessee Feed The Floor

Texas Relationships. Growth. Victory.

UNC Greensboro One At A Time

Wichita State Clock In

Wright State B3LI3VE

Xavier All For One

The philosophy of coaching, according to UNCG's Wes Miller (Greensboro

News & Record)

-“You need kids to dig in, work at it year to year, understand the values in your program and then instill those values in the locker room on the guys who come behind them,” Miller says. “ … The young guys have guys to look to and say, ‘That’s how we’re supposed to do it.’ That’s a really hard thing to achieve in 2017-18 in college athletics: four-year guys who dig in, especially when things aren’t going well.”

-"He came closer to reaching his potential as a player than anybody I've ever coached.

-“The first thing we’re looking for is basketball guys,” Miller says. “… We value academics tremendously. But you’ve got to know coming in that I live, eat, sleep, breathe basketball. And I do better coaching guys with the same mentality. So if you’re not a gym rat, who really wants to work,

I’m probably not the right fit as a coach.”

-“The second thing we look for is kids we think can defend the way we’re trying to defend,” Miller says, “and that’s changed a lot in the last two or three years. Because we’ve changed the way we guard. We need kids who can fit into our pressing schemes and our man-to-man schemes and are versatile defenders. APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

-“The last thing we’re trying to find, and it’s the most important if we can check those first two boxes, is we want tough, competitive dudes,” Miller says. “You have to have a DNA of winning when I watch you play. And if I don’t see that, we go in another direction. Sometimes we miss because of that. Sometimes a kid doesn’t show me he cares about winning the next possession and we misevaluate. Maybe he does have those characteristics, and he goes on to be a great player for someone else.”

Despite the losing, UNC-G stuck by their young coach. How Wes Miller led Spartans to

NCAAs (Charlotte Observer)

“We’re only focused on the process,” said senior forward Jordy Kuiper, who Miller traveled to

Spain to recruit five years ago. “Thinking big, but working small. And that was something new to me as a player, and something I really cherish.”

Let the haters hate — Virginia is for (basketball) lovers (The Athletic)

-“It can be really intimidating in preparation, and it can be really frustrating within the game,” says

Lehigh coach Brett Reed, whose team scored 54 points in a 21-point loss to Virginia in December.

“But when you really start to evaluate what Coach [Tony] Bennett and his staff have been able to do there, it's extremely impressive. It's almost inspiring to some degree as a coach to know that, you know what, you can get kids to buy in and believe in something as basic and fundamental as defense. And they can be energized and defend and even build more unity and more teamwork as they execute it well. That's kind of a coach's dream.”

-“In , everybody is trying to find the best way they can play with the group they have,” says VCU coach , whose team owns the distinction of scoring the most points against the Cavs, in a 76-67 loss back on Nov. 17. “UVA is the best version of This is how we play, no matter what, and we're going to get really good at it. It's unbelievable.”

Andrew Hagemaster, Center for Personal Development (CPD)

-Suicide is 3rd leading cause of death for NCAA athletes (behind accidents and cardiac arrest) APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

-People are often uncomfortable asking someone about their mental health. It is important for you to get over it. Exercise: Ask the person next to you, “are you thinking of killing yourself?”

Jim Harbaugh, Michigan Football

-Loves asking recruits, “What was your first job?”

Tom Crean, Georgia

-Best question he’s ever heard from an NBA scout, “If I told you in 5 years that Victor Oladipo was on the 10-day contract circuit and fighting to hang in the NBA, what do you think happened?”

• What is a guy’s limiting factor?

• What could hold him back?

• What are his flaws?

o In his character

o In his game

Dave Klatsky, Colgate

-Graded all shots on an “Expected Value” scale. Used player’s past numbers to generate a % for every shot.

Bill Parcells

-Evaluate the prospect from the feet up.

Teams to watch

-3 teams that drive & kick well:

• UMBC

• Loyola Chicago

• Cornell

APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

Ray Dalio

-“Stress-Test” as a verb. You should always be looking to stress-test your ideas. Will this work if this happens? What about this?

Thoughts

-DNA – Do Not Alter – What’s your program’s DNA?

-Pragmatic skill development. No bells/whistles. What does a player need to do to be successful in our offense?

-You can do things fearlessly when you live without fear.

-“B-level work is bad for your soul.” –Ed Catamull

-“Teams change one person at a time.” –George Raveling

-Post Play: Half-Turn / “Pre-Drop” (as in “pre drop step” – drop step before you catch)

-The value of size on defense is hidden in events that don't happen.

-Nudge: a simple intervention that leads to smarter behavior (Richard Thaler)

-Every Division I team (all 351) should have the NBA 3-point line down on their practice court.

Nevada Transition Offense

-Only player that outlets the ball is #21 Stephens. Everyone else pushes it themselves – accelerates their break so much.

-Transition 3’s

-Players filling behind

-Diagonal cut from weakside to rim (optional) by #24 Caroline/#33 Hall (their version of 4/5). This player is the only guy inside 3-point line.

APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

How Nevada basketball went from one of nation's worst shooting teams to one of its best

(Reno Gazette Journal)

-During Johnny Jones' first day on the job as Nevada’s associate head coach, wanted to get into the Wolf Pack’s locker room at Lawlor Events Center but he didn’t have his key.

“No problem,” Musselman told Jones.

Yes, it was almost 9 o’clock at night in the middle of the summer, but he knew at least one of his players would be in Lawlor getting up some practice shots.

“I guarantee somebody’s in the gym,” Musselman said.

“Are you sure?” Jones fired back.

As the two walked into the gym, they saw a pair of Wolf Pack players shooting who let them in the locker room. Musselman told that story recently when asked how his program has turned around its long-range shooting from meager to exceptional.

-Had Musselman been building this team early in his career, finding shooters wouldn’t have been a high priority. But, as basketball has evolved over the years, so too has Musselman’s evaluation of players. “As I’ve gotten older, shooting has gotten more important in my overall philosophical viewpoint on a basketball team,” said Musselman, who first built a team in 1988 as a general manager of a CBA team. “It used to be athletes and toughness and guys who could react. When I built my minor-league teams, it was always toughness, reacting to loose balls and I’ve changed and you need a complement of all of those pieces.” Musselman built his Wolf Pack roster by finding

“positionless” players but also ones who can shoot.

-Nevada doesn’t employ a shooting coach guru. In fact, it doesn’t have a shooting coach at all.

Instead, Musselman attributes his team's successful long-range shooting to extra practice hours.

“We’ve talked over and over that if you want to be a good shooter you have to come early to practice,” he said. “Practice is over and everybody is still out here shooting. There are other programs when practice ends, everybody goes to the locker room. That’s just not the culture that we have here.”

-“I just think it’s a big part of our philosophy trying to attack the rim and ‘not settle’ is a phrase we use all the time,” Musselman said. “We want to always be in attack mode whether it’s transition or a APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

halfcourt set. Anytime you put opponents in isolation situations with matchups you feel are in your favor, we don’t want to run isolations for jump shots, we want to run isolations to get to the cup and draw fouls.”

How Nevada's Unconventional Roster-Building Strategy Engineered Its Miraculous

Sweet 16 Run (SI.com)

-The victory was stunning on its own terms, but zoom out, and it also amounted to a triumph of roster-building resourcefulness. Of the six players who logged at least one minute during

Nevada’s recent wins over Texas and Cincinnati, only one (sophomore ) signed with the Wolf Pack out of high school.

-“All of (our transfers) have sat out a year,” Musselman said. “So, we’ve had a year to try to get them involved with our terminology and get them involved in our culture. To me, it’s easier than a freshman because a freshman comes in, and he’s in uniform right away.”

-Anyone questioning whether the Wolf Pack have enough fuel to sustain a deep run need look no further than their first two games in the NCAA tournament, when they outlasted a pair of high-major opponents with multiple projected first-round NBA draft picks between them by making double-digit comebacks in the second half. “I think the most overrated thing in college basketball is depth,” Musselman said.

The Art of Shot-Blocking: How WVU’s became a master of rejection (SI.com)

-Konate’s development is rooted in the same place that many other Mountaineer sleeper success stories are—the weight room. In less than two years, he’s re-shaped his physique and packed on almost 20 pounds. He’s now 258 pounds.

-"I remember giving him 30-pound dumbbells and I thought he was gonna drop 'em on his face,” says Andy Kettler, WVU’s strength coach. "The idea was simple. Teach accountability.

Teach him to work hard. Just keep it simple. Take a handful of simple things and build on it.” APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

-He has a pride in blocking shots. If you dunk on me, great. It’s very similar to what we remember about (Dikembe) Mutombo and (Patrick) Ewing. It’s not something to show somebody up. It’s more this is my thing. Every great shot blocker has to have pride in blocking shots. It becomes part of their identity. ‘You may score on me but I’m waiting for you to come at me again.’”

-Fraschilla’s 4 elements of shot-blocking

• Pride

• Body positioning

• Timing

• Instinct

Duke solved its defensive problems by taking a page from Syracuse's playbook (ESPN.com)

-"We never declared it," Allen said of the philosophical shift. "It started to work for us. We had a stretch where three or four times teams couldn't score 60 points. I felt like it was our best defense, a really good adjustment for us."

-"We don't talk as well as a team in man," Krzyzewski admitted. "You know, communicate. I think we think too much of our individual assignment. Whereas in zone, we really talk well or we talk better. Overall, our communication is just really at a much different level, and, you know, if you're communicating, you have a better chance to be one. And so that's how we got here, and we're a good defensive team."

Michael MacKay

-Transition offence and defence must happen in the mind first and then the body. If you do not make “mind” transition a habit in the majority of your drills you will struggle with body transition in the games. I like to always play inbound to outlet.

APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

How three games made rethink his defensive philosophy (Yahoo Sports)

-The win was so emphatic, and ultimately transformative, Miami coach Jim Larranaga still recalled the final score off the top of his head recently. “We beat them 90-74 at their place by putting everyone in ball screens,” he said. The conversation came after Miami’s loss to UNC in the ACC tournament when Larranaga was asked about Duke’s elite talent level this season. The Blue Devils have by far the best talent in college basketball, and Larranaga pointed back to that 2015 season as a guide of how Krzyzewski has learned to maximize it. Following that home blowout to Miami,

Krzyzewski switched to exclusively zone in an upset win at Louisville the next game. Duke mixed in zone the rest of the way and went on to win the national title, mixing in zone against Wisconsin in the title game.

How Duke Transformed its Defense from a Susceptible Shortcoming to a Special,

Stifling Zone (SI.com)

-“It just gradually happened,” said assistant coach Jon Scheyer, who played for Krzyzewski from 2006-10 and has been on his staff since 2013. “It wasn’t a thing where we just talked about it and”—here Scheyer snapped his fingers. “To commit totally to it, it’s a little surprising,” he added. “But it’s been smart and it’s been good for us.”

-“The main difference between this one and other ones I played in,” said Trent, “is my teammates are longer, taller, faster, stronger—one through five. It’s crazy.”

-“Most zone offenses have a component in there where you get it to the corner, the short corner, those are beneficial areas,” Moore said. “With them it’s almost like a Catch-22. You try to get it in there and you feel like it’s a success... They alter or stuff that goes into those areas. So you’re left with three gaps up top and there’s 6’5” and 6’3” with long arms up top, and 6’6” too. Just not a lot of areas to attack it.”

APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

Villanova Sweet 16/Elite 8 locker room (via Twitter)

In one season, Yaklich has changed Michigan's defensive fortunes (The Blade)

-“Luke’s been very impactful,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “Luke’s got a great strong voice.

He sends me an email every day, a whole page of defensive things he wants us to think about. He’s done a really great job of keeping me focused on talking about defense and implementing things in practice.”

Late nights, back tats and chasing titles with (ESPN.com)

-To prepare for the NCAA tournament, most coaching staffs will split up on Selection Sunday right after the field is announced. Some of the coaches will take their first-round opponent, while others will begin to scout both potential second-round opponents. But Beard wanted to try something different. "I just always had a vision like, we're going to get to this point one day and we're going to put everything we can into that first round," he said. "So that first night at Little Rock, when we got back to the office: 'Hey guys, here's what we're going to do. Everybody in our program is going to work on Purdue.' We basically said, let's see if we can shock the world and win one game." APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

-"I said, 'All right, guys, here's the deal. No motivation tonight. We win the game, right after the game, you have my word -- we will get on the bus, we will go to the tattoo parlor, and me and

Adams will get inked up,'" Beard said. Little Rock went out and beat DePaul by 22 -- but the tattoo parlor was closed. "When I give you my word, I'm gonna keep my word," Beard said. "To me, it was important. So we finish that year at Little Rock, I always knew that I was going to do it. So I went and got '4 to 1' tattooed on my back. And I sent it to all the Little Rock players: 'Word kept. Promise kept.'" The "4 to 1" tattoo is a reference to an old saying: In basketball, the mental is to the physical as four is to one. In other words, mental toughness outweighs physical toughness.

-There are certain things Texas Tech players do on a daily basis. They weigh in three times per day

(when they wake up, before practice, after practice). They eat six times a day, with most monitored by team dietitian John Boesch. Strength and conditioning coach John Reilly tracks water intake during practices. They also lift weights three or four times per week, even during the season, with a few exceptions.

-There's also something called the "300-shot club," where the players get in the gym and make

300 shots before practice -- and there's a peer pressure component to getting it done.

-The idea of finding gaps and then finding ways to bridge those gaps is another common refrain within the program.

-In Beard's mind, it's not overly complicated. They're going to play man-to-man defense; they're going to run the motion offense; and they're going to prepare for each game the same way. "At the core of it, there's just a simplicity," Beard said. "Here's what we do, here's who we are. Beat us if you can."

From dirty socks to whiskey shots, Texas Tech is the loosest team in the NCAAs (Yahoo)

-There’s a rebounding chain, the Red Raider version of Miami’s turnover chain, for the game’s top rebounder. And there’s a Deflection Belt, a WWE-style accessory given to the player with the most deflections. They are awarded during dramatic film sessions, with the highlights played to the whole team. APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

-There’s also “The Road Game Board,” a wooden plank that’s an idea Beard swiped from Nick

Saban. “If you put a board over two buildings, it’s the same board,” Beard said, comparing it to walking on the ground. “It’s about cutting out distractions, environment and atmosphere.”

-That’s why the final moment in the locker room before the Florida game in the Round of 32, Tech played a video that interspersed video of Forrest Gump running and special assistant Sean Sutton sprinting for the team bus. Their similar gate, cut up side by side, cracked up the team in the moments before they ran out to the locker room. “We got live after that,” Smith said.

Keenan Evans perseveres through toe injury as Texas Tech looks to get through East Region

(NBC Sports)

-Almost immediately after setting foot in Lubbock, the new Tech staff got to work trying to develop relationships with his new players and their families. Beard had a one-on-one meeting with every single member of the Texas Tech roster, which is not uncommon. He then took a flight to meet with the family of every member of his team. To sit down in front of them, look them in the eye and get to know them personally, as more than just the people that his players hear from when they go over their data plan or when those on-campus parking tickets start to add up.

-“What I’m most appreciative of Keenan is he basically trusted me before he had to. He basically took me at my word,” Beard said. “He trusted me from day one, and I asked him to do a lot of things that he had never done before in his career.”

-“The Keenan Evans story is not me or Tubby,” Beard said. “It is Keenan Evans. This guy self-made himself into one of the best players in college basketball, and I can tell you how he’s done it. He’s done it with a lot of work. He’s in the gym every day. He’s in the film room a lot. He’s a guy that’s changed his body in the weight room.”

APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

The Redemption of Josh McDaniels: Failure Taught Pats OC How to Pick His Spots (Bleacher

Report)

-"You need to write down everything you would do differently if you ever get a chance to be a head coach again," Thom told him. "Do it while everything is fresh in your mind. Over time, add to it." (Right after his son told him he had been fired).

-In the silence, McDaniels found himself. And he began to imagine a new coach. "I was by myself— just me and my thoughts," McDaniels says. "I had very little interaction with other people. I had time to go back over everything we did in Denver, the decisions we made, step by step. I could slow it down." There were many lessons to be considered, about big things and small: the length of meetings, player discipline, to call plays or not call plays, developing assistant coaches, time management, how to build the roster, handling the media, scheduling, how hard to work players...on and on.

-He had some long talks with Tony Dungy, his one-time rival with the Colts. Dungy told him he needed to self-reflect every year, whether he was fired or won the . They talked about the importance of being yourself and trusting instincts. Having fun is not a bad thing. Dungy stressed that a head coach's consistency with a team really mattered. They talked about the formula that makes a good coaching staff. Dungy gave him some ideas about keeping his faith at the center of his life as his coaching world turned.

-Lesson Learned: Take time to digest information and make good, PATIENT decisions. Never rush into anything—all things are important. Impulsive—is a bad word—listen to everyone and make the

RIGHT decision. Nothing gets fixed quickly.

-"I don't know that I was as patient as I needed to be in most situations, whether it was game- planning, on the sidelines, preparation for the draft, personnel moves, whatever," he says. "There is an element of this game that tests your ability to slow down and make a good decision. I was allowing the way I felt at the moment to make the decision."

-McDaniels still wants to be passionate, but he wants to channel his emotion in a productive way.

He is, for instance, trying to clean up his language. "I don't think swearing sends a good message," he says. "When I do it, I feel bad about it. Before, I don't know that I ever even thought about it. My APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

frustration would be apparent. Now my response to a bad practice is to try to find the positives and show them how to learn from mistakes."

-Lesson Learned: LISTEN better. To anyone who tells me something. There are so many people who can help us win & have wisdom I don't have. I will do my part in teaching but can never stop learning myself. Best results come from a group effort!

-Lesson Learned: Be considerate of assistant coaches' time, their emotions & make sure they always know how much I care. Push them, hold them accountable and love each one of them personally. We win as a team, we lose as a team and I always take responsibility for the losses. They get the credit when we win—they deserve it.

-"I was tough on assistants," McDaniels says. "I didn't do a good enough job of making them feel good, in terms of what they were doing for us. I have learned how important that is to make sure they understand how much you appreciate them. They need to be able to enjoy working with you.

There is no doubt I appreciated them. I just don't know that I demonstrated that."

-Lesson Learned: I wanted to practice until I felt we totally had it. Wrong Choice. I need to lighten the load and REALIZE the value in allowing the players to feel good about that. Players who feel you are taking care of them will give you all they have during the week and on Sunday.

-Punter Mitch Berger said McDaniels wouldn't talk to him or look at him if he performed below his standards. "I never played for a guy in my life who guys wanted to play for less," he said. "He was just a guy you didn't care about." Having a feel-good relationship with players, McDaniels thought at the time, wasn't important. Scoring touchdowns, sacking the , having more takeaways than the opponent—that's what he thought was important. He thinks differently now. At one point, it dawned on him: His father always seemed to strike the right balance between being demanding and compassionate with this players, and he was beloved for it. Without mutual respect, he realized, it's almost impossible to achieve mutual goals.

-Lesson Learned: Stay fresh & healthy—don't overdo it—it will eventually burn me out! Never let that happen!!!" APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

-Lesson Learned: Lean on my faith and be myself—I love this game and enjoy working hard at it to compete with the very best. Trust our process and enjoy each day—it's a blessing to work in this game—let people see how much I treasure this privilege.

How’s this for culture change? Gase says Dolphins’ ‘alpha dogs’ won’t accept nonsense

(Miami Herald)

-Locker room culture, and how to improve it, is a hard thing to quantify. But Adam Gase gave it his best shot at the NFL annual meeting here Tuesday morning during an hourlong breakfast with reporters. “I am not hoping [the culture will improve],” Gase insisted. “I know it’s going to be different. You have some alpha dogs who are not going to accept a lot of the [expletive] that has gone on.”

Danny Hurley, UConn

-When assembling a staff, don’t buy into any of the typecast roles like “an older guy” or this or that.

Go get guys that know the game, will work their asses off recruiting and will be loyal. That’s the only thing you need to think about it.

Jimmy Langhurst, Le Moyne

-Wrap switch: guard fights over the top of the ball screen and then wraps around to the screener’s body.

-1-Gap, 2-Gap, 3-Gap concept. 3-Gap is a guy who can really shoot that we’re turning away from our gap to deny. 2-Gap is a good shooter who we’ll stunt at the ball on and get back to. A 1-gap is a non-shooter who we’ll hold the gap on.

Matt Henry, St. Peter’s

-One of the great things about Princeton is that the spacing is built into the offense. We never once spoke about spacing. APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

-Watch Canisius’ ball screen offense. They ran ball screen motion and didn’t even think about attacking on the first ball screen of the possession, they just moved it ahead. Would seldom attack on the second one even.

Alabama and Georgia Explain How 2017's Best Teams Define Discipline

-The word (discipline) carries a variety of meanings, but in short, you can either view discipline as a consequence of bad behavior or a driver of good behavior.

-ZB note: as coaches we overuse the word discipline as a verb (“we must discipline our players”) and we underuse it as a noun (“we teach discipline”).

-A coach who recently took over a struggling program thought his players’ definition from the previous regime would be “the stuff that the coaches make us do if we get caught doing something wrong.” Saban has his own definition, and members of the Alabama and Georgia programs have internalized it and integrated it within their routines.

-“The ongoing definition around here is to do what you’re supposed to do, when you’re supposed to do it, the way it’s supposed to be done—all of the time,” says Alabama’s head strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran, who has been with Saban for all six of his national titles, including his first while at LSU. “That is Coach Saban’s definition, and it is ingrained into my head.”

-“Discipline is accountability,” says Alabama defensive coordinator , Saban’s ace recruiter since 2015 who was promoted when Tennessee hired away this winter. “You have to consistently operate to our standard on a daily basis, and that’s where players and coaches hold each other accountable and continue to prepare in the game manner, no matter who we’re playing.”

-“During the recruiting process we are very up-front with them, and those guys are smart enough to know what they are getting themselves into,” Burns said. “In my position specifically [Burns has since moved to an off-field role after 11 years as running backs coach], they know that we’re going to play a lot of guys, so I want them to understand that, and to come to work every day and not let that affect them. We have been really fortunate APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

to have the right personalities to do that. We’ve always had one guy that sets the tempo in terms of what it takes to be a running back at the University of Alabama and not to be selfish. Play your role. Take it very seriously. Be ready for the moment. When I first got there, it was Glen Coffee, and he took care of Mark Ingram, and then Mark took care of Trent

Richardson, and then Trent took care of Eddie, and Eddie Lacy took care of T.J. [Yeldon].”

- seemed to have a grasp of the big picture at Alabama before he ever enrolled, which helped the standout become a team leader almost upon arrival. For a player with uncanny focus and attention to detail, the culture in place in

Tuscaloosa played a big role in sealing his college decision. Growing up, Fitzpatrick recalls his parents imparting to him that discipline was “doing what you’re supposed to do when you think something else might be easier or it might take you there quicker.”

-“Early on, he identified what it took to be No. 1 in the world,” Moawad says. “We talk about the illusion of choice. You don’t really have a wide set of choices if you want to make it to the top. Michael Johnson used to always say distractions are the enemy of an elite athlete, and most of them come in forms you don’t recognize. A lot of people aren’t aware they’re being distracted. When we look at great athletes and people who are successful, we think about what those people do, but I don’t think we pay enough attention to what they’re willing not to do. Success leaves clues. Discipline is the willingness not to do certain things.

If I have a bag of Doritos in my left hand and an apple in my right hand, you probably wouldn’t need a nutritionist to tell you which was better for you. So why would you choose the apple? Most of sports comes down to simple choices like that. I think we want to make it seem complicated, but the reality is it’s doing the simple things savagely well.” Johnson told

Moawad he focused on four things during a race: Keep my head down. Pump my arms. Explode. See myself as a bullet. He believed writing those reminders down made him more efficient in the same way that writing out a grocery list made him shop more efficiently.

-“Sports psychology has gotten so complicated with mindfulness and imagery and all these different things,” Moawad says. “It’s not that complicated. Do the simple things well. APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

-Negativity is most powerful when you say negative things. So what if you don’t say ’em? The

real power is saying them, not thinking them. Once you say it, it has 10 times the power as

thinking it. If I form a habit, that habit forms me, good or bad, and that’s discipline to say, I

don’t know really why I am going to do this, but I am.”

-“No detail is left un-talked-about,” Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney says. “We dot

every I and cross every T. It sometimes might be a little uncomfortable to talk about, but it’s

gonna be talked about. Kirby is diligent as heck about all that.”

-“It’s had every day,” Georgia coach James Coley says. “I always felt like when

you walked in staff meetings, you were there to get your players better. Everybody’s trying

to get better, but now you’re saying to yourself, ‘How can I get better in this staff meeting?’

Because you really get better as a coach. Coach Smart has done a great job helping us all

get better as coaches.

John Leonzo

-Slot drive with corner filled: ball-handler making a read (think Walberg’s “Drop Zone”) on whether

they can get downhill. If they can, they’re attacking and corner player is holding corner. If they can’t

get downhill, they’re turning their drive into a DHO. Player in corner is watching ball-handler’s

chest – if their chest opens to them, that’s the ball talking and your cue to come over for a DHO. If

ball-handler reads it incorrectly or his drive it stymied, he lands on 2 (pivot game), Barkleys or

retreat bounce-out.

Chris Oliver, Basketball Immersion

-2-on-1 teaching

• Avoid “3-in-a-row” (O-D-O on same plane)

• As O enters attack area (inside 3-point line), it’s 1-on-1. Ball isn’t thinking pass, he’s thinking score.

• Other player trails to avoid 3-in-a-row (pass behind easier)

APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

Dad jokes and a Ms. Pac-Man hiatus: How kept Boston afloat (ESPN.com)

For as serious as Stevens is about bringing out the best in his players and progressing as a team, he does appear to be embracing the lighter moments during a long season. "I think Brad understands that he's a basketball coach and that he's not doing brain surgery tomorrow," Ainge said. "He does get that."

-"You know what, as coaches you always look for the challenge, right?" Stevens said. "But I think you obviously want to be full-go because it gives you more options, it gives you more flexibility.

Now, that being said, I think one of the things it does is it stretches you to think about lineups you haven't played together. Going big when others go small, all those types of things. That's probably helpful to have to think about that."

-"Soar with your strengths. You dream of coaching teams where people aren't worried about how much they're going to play or what their role is," Stevens said. "These guys just all do whatever they need to do to help the team win, and that's where we are right now.

It's Nova's Nation (The Athletic)

-On road game days, Donte DiVincenzo would hop in a car with and assistant coach

Kyle Neptune. While their teammates rested, the two would go head-to-head under the watchful eye of Neptune. The workouts were fierce, Neptune pushing the two through all sorts of game situations, drilling down on defense and pitting the two against one another. “I was a freshman, frail, and he’s so strong,’’ DiVincenzo says. “It was really tough.’’ When the workouts ended,

DiVincenzo would shower, put on a suit, knot his tie and take a seat on the bench to watch his teammates warm up.

-A highly coveted McDonald’s All-American, he was promised virtually nothing at Villanova. Wright already had his backcourt set, or so he thought, with Dylan Ennis and . Rick

Brunson heard that and promptly told his son that Nova was the perfect place for him.

-When Wright and his staff talk with high school and summer-league coaches, they ask as much about personality as they do skill level, trying to discern whether a recruit is the right fit. “We want APRIL 2018 COACHING NOTEBOOK – PICKANDPOP.NET

guys who want to be pushed, to be challenged and want to be part of a team, not just guys who are going college to be showcased,’’ says assistant coach Ashley Howard.

-On the bus ride back to the hotel, Wright wrestled with his thoughts. He’s typically not one to break down a game immediately after it ends. “But this was really weighing on me,’’ he recalls, so he decided to take advantage of a captive audience. For months he’d been telling his players they were playing with fool’s gold, their reliance on winning games with offense not tenable for the long haul. Wright long ago brokered a deal with all of his players — they have the green light, to abide by his shoot ’em up and sleep in the streets slogan so long as they sell their souls on defense. This team had been reneging on its deal, blinded like everyone else by its uncanny shooting.

-After he finished, the players met for a frank discussion, the captains essentially throwing down a challenge to their teammates. “Are we going to keep falling down or are we going to find a way to pick this up?” Brunson says. “Are we going to worry about being good individually, or as a team?

What do we want? What do we want to accomplish?” Convinced they had the right answers, the captains met later that night with Wright to explain the team’s new commitment. “It was always in us,’’ Bridges says.

To watch:

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-Utah Jazz

-FGCU women