Bad Scheduling Leads to Bad Basketball at HS/AAU levels

Most states have different restrictions when it comes to practice starting, when games start, how many games you can play, etc. Every place is a little different and I want to look into how some states do it completely wrong. I say they do it wrong and they'll say everyone is in the same situation so there is no advantage. It's not advantageous for the coaches AND the kids.

In Minnesota, we have approximately two weeks (sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more) of practice before our first game. Puts coaches and players at a huge disadvantage if the coach was hired after July. Coaches only have access to coach in June and July for the offseason. They can have open gym throughout the offseason but can't specifically work the kids during those open gyms.

Minnesota is actually somewhat similar to the AAU season. Two weeks of limited practice and then play games. It rarely gives the coaches and the kids an opportunity to learn about each other and to install some sort of offense and defense in order for everyone to be on the same page.

The third week is generally the live period. So college coaches are seeing coaches and players still trying to figure each other out. It just doesn't make sense. Wouldn't it be great for the college coaches to see the the kids and their teams at their best or close to it? Wouldn't it be great if the live period for college coaches got moved to the end of April and the beginning of May? More times for teams to practice together and get on the same page. Those first couple of weekends of play are usually nothing but bad basketball. In bad basketball, how exactly do college coaches evaluate properly?

One top of bad basketball, kids generally don't get a break that their body needs. All basketball players should take a week off between their high school and AAU seasons. Their body AND mind need it.

So what do we need to do to fix these issues?

In high school, I think it's a simple solution. Give the teams more times to practice before playing their first game, which would mean taking away a few games. Imagine if all coaches had three to four weeks to practice before their first game. The games would be better and the kids would be more prepared. Two weeks isn't enough time to install man offense, zone offense, man defense, zone defense, press, how to handle different presses, and everything else. Another option is to give schools two different scrimmage dates where schools can scrimmage each other and go through a bunch of different situations that they'll see over the first couple of weeks of the season.

In AAU, give each player a complete week off after the high school season. All teams have to have at least 8-10 practices before playing in their first tournament. An idea that would be good for all is to have teams play single games against each other at a neutral site. It's basically essentially scrimmaging against each other but also forces teams to play against other teams as work on the same things HS teams have to work on. Wouldn't it be fun if the sneaker company teams would play each other as well as other teams?

All in all, two weeks isn't enough time for high school and AAU to have the kids be where they should be. It's a huge disservice to the kids and isn't all of this "all about the kids?"

Why we can't score????

There has been a ton of talk lately in regards to scoring or the lack thereof in college basketball. There are a ton of problems but there are very simple solutions to these problems. The solutions are simple but they aren't easy to implement because huge changes have to occur at all levels.

There is very little emphasis on shooting at the lower levels. With the limited practice times these travel teams and school ball teams have there coaches are most concerned about putting in sets and defense rather than fixing or refining shooting mechanics. Every player at the lower levels should should get at least 200 shots in a practice. It's such an important part of the game that many youth coaches neglect. What happens when someone is just as athletic as you and you can't get to the rim? Have to be able to make an open jump shot.

Offenses aren't creative enough. In some instances this is the case. As the US' scoring doctor Jay Bilas says that teams like Virginia are killing scoring. I think Virginia's offense is very creative and quite a few teams run similar stuff including Notre Dame and Ohio State. I wouldn't say that either of those teams are killing scoring. Virginia is probably a little more deliberate with the action they run. 

The biggest issue when it comes to scoring with different offenses is that teams tend to get directly into isolation plays for their best players. I really like isolation basketball, but not the way most people see it. I think isolation is the key to good basketball. You have to be able to find ways to put your best players into isolation positions to score. What I mean by this is, run action to get a player some type of isolation. Basically, what every set is meant to do. I just think players and coaches want to get to the isolation play right away and I don't think that's good basketball. You have to have moving parts that could potentially lead to scores with the idea that the final action is what you are looking for.

More players are taking harder shots and that's why field goal percentages are down and why scoring is down. Players are taking pull-up jump shots off of no passes, threes that aren't inside-out, and off balance shots when they aren't necessary. Basically, players are taking shots that can get anytime they want and forcing them early in the shot clock (if there is one) rather than waiting for a great shot. Why do players take these shots? They see the best players in the world take these shots in NBA games. The difference is, the NBA players that are taking these shots actually practice them while non-NBA players jokingly take them in their spare time.

I think that pull-up jumps shots can be a good shot. I just don't like them early in a possession. Usually by the end of a possession the defense has shifted enough to get an uncontested pull-up rather than a contest shot early in a possession. A lot of it depends on who is shooting as well. Some players you never want them to take a pull-up, others more because they've consistently knocked down the shot during practice.

Over the last several years we've looked at inside-out stats for the team I coach. We shoot a little over 60% from the floor when we get the ball in the paint at some point in the possession. We have shot under 30% each of the last years when we didn't. Simple solution would be to make sure more shots are inside-out, percentages would go up. On top of that, most teams practice shooting while passing from near the hoop. It's what you practice, and it would make more sense to shoot that way during games.

Defenses have adjusted to all the new dribble drive type offenses by going to the pack line defense in hopes of keeping players out of the paint. This might be where Virginia decreases scoring. What they do is, force the offense to really work and take early and easy shots away. Thus forcing more shots later in the shot clock. A simple fix to the pack line is skip passes. The skip passes forces the defense into having longer close-outs which makes it easier for the offense to get in the lane.

One of the last reasons why scoring is down is because of officiating. There are uniform rules in the US without uniform interpretation of those rules. Some games are wrestling matches while others every time down the floor there is a whistle. If you want scoring to go up, referees will have to make foul calls consistently. And by consistently, I don't mean just at the beginning of the year. Last season all referees called a hand check every time a defender put both of their hands on the dribbler. By the end of the year, it wasn't called anymore. If it was consistently called for a whole year, the players would have to adjust, thus making the game more free flowing, which usually leads to higher scoring games. Players will adjust as long as the referees are consistent EVERY time they go on the floor. Players and coaches don't know what a foul or what a travel truly are because those violations are interpreted differently every game and by every official.