Hoops Companion Newsletter — August 2023 — The best of the month!

Happy August! Summer is coming to a close and a lot of you will be with your players again.

Here’s to another great school year, more wins, and better basketball in 2023–24 — cheers!

MOST POPULAR TWEETS FROM JULY

1. Flare Slip Action from Hood College
2. Illinois Wesleyan Iverson
3. Rub (one of my favorite ballscreen sets)

HOOPS COMPANION POSTS FROM JULY

• Film Analysis on Toledo — the most efficient offense in the country last season
• The Serenity Prayer for Coaches
• How to Create Instant Offense from Sideline Out of Bounds Plays

PLAYS OF THE MONTH

• Houston Summer League Elevator Set — one of my favorite plays I’ve seen in a while
• JMU Swing Stagger — simple stagger set
• Utah State Side Ball Screen — good set to get an empty side for pick and roll action
• A set against a zone — love this one because it’s film from a normal high school running it
• Simple SLOB that could have a lot of options for what you flow into after

Want More Plays?

• The Hoops Companion Master Playbook — 500+ pages of plays updated EVERY month and sent to your inbox!
• 2023 March Madness Playbook/Video Playbook — 3 diagrams and 3 videos from each of the 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament (that’s 204 plays!)

DRILLS OF THE MONTH

• Lakers Drill — good drill to start/finish practice on; if it’s not PERFECT, start it over!

COACHING LINKS/ARTICLES

• Kirby Smart on the cost of leadership
• The Scott Drew Coaching Tree (great read)
• A Twitter thread on coaching high school basketball
• Quick and easy fundraiser idea:

LEADERSHIP/GROWTH LINKS AND THOUGHTS

• Apply this tweet to your program:

• This is a quote that could be applied to all walks of life where you find yourself in any type of leadership role:

CULTURE THOUGHTS

• Great resource to share with your players — your results might surprise you:

HOOP THOUGHTS/CONCEPTS/IDEAS

Have a plan for what your team should do when the ball goes into the post

• Are we relocating? Running split action? Basket cutting? Interchanging? Pick something and have them do it. It’s too easy to guard and you’re giving up opportunities to score if your players just stand there.

NON-COACHING STUFF

• What happens for your family when you die? This might be the most important thing to read on the newsletter this month!

IF YOU’RE GOING THROUGH IT…

Keep going.

WHAT’S COMING IN AUGUST?

• A breakdown of Youngstown State
• Prepping for the Fall
• Books Your Team Can Read

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