Hoops College Podcast

What is your definition of coach? Have you ever thought about where our current use of the word coach came from?

Recruiting Services Review Conclusion In our recruiting services review conclusion, it is important to understand that things are always changing. Technology especially has changed everything in recruiting. 15 years ago Facebook Instagram and Twitter weren't even a thing. In 15 more years who knows what things will be like. Right now people who think you need a recruiting service are people who grew up without a cell phone. They grew up without having instant access to information. You’re in a different generation. Everything you need is just a google search away. The truth is coaches can find out about just as easily as you can find out about them. So instead of worrying about wasting money on a recruiting service, take the time to make sure your “profile” doesn’t expose you. Make sure you’re in shape. Make sure you’re the best player you can be. Eat the right foods. Get the right amount of sleep. Make good grades. Seems simple doesn’t it?  Then do your research.  Find schools and programs that fit you.  Reach out to them and make them like you. Most of you won’t do it because you want someone else to do it for you. If you think a recruiting service or a trainer or anyone else is the answer, well you should probably unfollow us. We are here to help people who are serious about helping themselves because that's how you truly survive in life.

Recruiting Service Review Part 4 https://youtu.be/ZNQpbFe4dmI In Part 4 of the recruiting services review, we are going to talk about their lack of effort and expertise in evaluating talent. Recruiting services love sending emails that say that "this player can play for your program." First of all, I have never received a phone call from ANY recruiting service asking me what I'm looking for in a player.  So how can a recruiting service recommend a player to me if they don't know what I'm looking for? From what I can tell they are too busy selling their "services". Technology Can't Evaluate Some recruiting services boast about their use of technology to match players to programs.  Technology is good for a lot of things. However, this is not one of them. At least not yet. If technology could evaluate players and match them to a basketball program, there wouldn't be a need for highlight videos and evaluation events.  Coaches wouldn't need to spend thousands of dollars in travel and other expenses attending showcases to watch players compete. Even with scouting services, coaches still want to evaluate players themselves. Not to mention, scouting services usually only have detailed evaluations and rankings on the top 250 players.  What about everyone else? They Can't Evaluate After this podcast, I might get a phone call or two from recruiting services just to see what I'm looking for. Here's the next problem, can I really trust them to really evaluate talent? If they haven't coached at multiple college levels, how can they really know where a player fits? Not to mention, can they fit a specific player to a specific program. I'm trying to win championships.  I don't want players who can just "play for us". After getting emails day after day about players that are not good enough to really impact our program, the emails get ignored or deleted.  That's what you're paying for.  I hope you think it's worth it.  

Recruiting Services Review Part 3 https://youtu.be/MumoMU0gLQU In the Recruiting Services Review Part 3, we talk about part of the lack of education that these services provide. The first couple of episodes in this series talked about things you can do for yourself better than someone else can do them for you. However, any service, no matter how much it costs, needs to educate you about "The Clearinghouse" and "financial aid." When I talk to a parent or a player who has signed up with a recruiting service and they have never heard of "The Clearinghouse" or "financial aid", I really wonder what these recruiting services are doing. So let's just say you've got one of those cute profiles with your highlight video and you're "connecting" with coaches all over the country.  Maybe these schools are even interested in you. So many people think the being a baller is enough.  Well beside the fact that there are a lot of ballers out there, you have to do more than just be a good player. "The Clearinghouse" "The Clearinghouse" verifies your eligibility to compete. If you want to play at a NCAA school and you're not registered for the NCAA Clearinghouse, then what are you waiting for?  If you want to play at a NAIA school, then you need to register for the NAIA Clearinghouse.  It doesn't matter if you've taken the SAT or not.  It doesn't matter how old you are.  You should do that and you should do it today.  If the Clearinghouse doesn't clear you, you can't play. If you can't play, you probably can't get a scholarship. You don't want to wait until the last minute. If you are registered for the Clearinghouse, it makes things so much easier for coaches to recruit you. You don't want to make it hard for a coach to recruit you. Financial Aid This part doesn't apply to international athletes, but it is so important for American athletes.  If you aren't 100% locked into the financial aid process, then you're missing out. Again, it doesn't matter how old you are.  Understanding financial aid and how it works is critical to making college more affordable and in some cases putting money in your pocket. Every school and every level works differently, but if your recruiting service isn't educating you about the financial aid process then you could be missing out on THOUSANDS of dollars.  It doesn't matter if you're a top D1 athlete or not. The financial aid process is important for ANY American athlete who wants to play collegiate sports.  The better understanding you have of the process, the more educated you can be about your decisions.  

Recruiting Services Review Part 2 https://youtu.be/24nwwDBPKQM Our recruiting services review started with a couple reasons that they are not necessary. You already have a profile if you have a social media account and that's a very easy and effective way to connect with college coaches. We'll say for now that you think that profile is worth it and that you aren't comfortable talking to college coaches. In Recruiting Services Review Part 2, we will give you a couple reasons that can hurt your recruiting instead of helping. Reason 2A: Recruiting services contact schools that aren't interested in you. One of the most annoying things as a coach is not having athletic scholarship money, and getting emails about a player a rising freshman or sophomore saying they are interested in our program. Really? A rising freshman would commit to a program that doesn't have scholarship money?  First of all, if a player is good enough to play for us as a freshman, just think how good they will be as a senior. If a player isn't good enough to play for us, why would we offer them? Not only is there so much that can happen during that time, it would be a waste of time for a school without scholarships to offer a freshman. When I coached at D1 or D2 programs, I received emails from recruiting services all the time about potential players for our program. The majority of players want a full scholarships. It is easy to find players who want a full scholarship. I want to know players who are good enough and who fit what we're looking for. These are just players that we ended up inviting to camp to help supplement our pay. We had no intention of recruiting them. I have yet to receive an email or phone call from a recruiting service asking what we're looking for. They just overwhelmed me with emails that I ignored or deleted. Some even go straight to spam or junk folders. One time I had to tell them to stop sending me emails. It was just annoying. Reason 2B: Recruiting services contact schools that don't interest you. I receive emails daily from recruiting services about potential players for our program.  Many of them say they want to major in areas we don't have.  You might not think that's a big deal. Think about when that happens to multiple athletes, day after day and year after year. IGNORE!!! DELETE!!! SPAM!!! I'm not the only coach who is getting them or ignoring them or deleting them. You are paying a recruiting service to misrepresent you. I really don't think that's what you want.  Coaches don't want to hear from recruiting services.  They want to hear from you. So if your recruitment is important to you, take ownership of it.  Do your homework and do things in a way that represent you well.

Many athletes and their families think they need a recruiting service in order to get a scholarship. This couldn't be further from the truth.  Over the next 5 episodes, we will share with you why you don't need them and even more why they are a waste of money.

The Reality of a Redshirt Opportunity https://youtu.be/PdlUj9fNIGE In the recruiting process, you might be offered the opportunity to redshirt. Some coaches will be very honest and upfront about how this works. Others may not be as honest. At the end of the day, college basketball is a business. In many cases, colleges and universities use their athletic programs to fund many other programs. When coaches recruit you to be a redshirt, this could be just another number for admissions.  It could mean that you're going to get to play the next year, You have to remember that coaches will always try to recruit over you. This episode will discuss some of the realities of being a redshirt player. That might be a great option for you. Everyone understands that they don't get to play.  However in order to turn that redshirt year into something better the next year, you will need to do more than everyone else.  We want to help you be good enough to not even need to redshirt your first year. We want to keep you from wasting money with services that don't do you any good and help you ask the right questions in the recruiting process so that you understand exactly what you're getting into. Moreover, we want you to have multiple options so you can make an informed decision about what you want. Take ownership and control of your process today.  Ask us questions so we can help you.

Relentless Life, Loved Unconditionally Are you living a relentless life? Do you realize that you are loved unconditionally? I find a lot of people wandering through life. “What is My Purpose? Why am I here?  What am I doing?"  A lot of those people are "grown up already."  Sometimes I act like one of those people. I think at some point, we all have those thoughts. In these moments, I remind myself of my purpose.  It helps me and so I hope it can help you.   I believe it your purpose is to live. You have a life. So live it. Live it relentlessly.   I remember that it's not about me or one moment or one failure.  It is all about taking one more step forward and then taking another step forward. Whether the result of each step is failure or success doesn't matter.  It's just about taking one more step. Maybe even live it recklessly?  What if you weren't afraid to take chances? Do you see opportunities to fail as opportunities to learn and grow? What if you saw your  You were giving life to make your life better and to make the lives of others around you better. Stop wandering through life and really think about your purpose and how you can live it every day.

Positive Matters In the heat of competition, or just in every day life being positive matters. Coach Shawn Postiglione of Bridgewater University talks about how and why positivity is such an important part of his life and the culture of his program. Why is it important for you to be positive? How does your culture impact how you recruit? How do you remain positive with officials? What are some things that might be unique for you that you have to really focus on this journey? How do you remain handle those times when players are negative? How do you hold yourself accountable? Positivity is a choice. Positivity doesn't mean everything is going to go right.  It doesn't mean that you're always going to be happy. Positivity is all about perspective. What just happened? Even if it wasn't good, can you turn it into a positive and learn from it? A positive outlook helps turn bad situations into learning experiences instead of just bad situations. Do you surround yourself with people who will help you remain positive? It's hard keep this perspective on your own, so make sure you have people around you who can help you see the positive side of every situation no matter what happens. Losing is encouraged as long as we learn from it.  Failure is great as long as we see it as an opportunity to improve.  It doesn't mean we don't give our best effort.  In fact, it means we try our hardest no matter what the situation is.

Winning a National Championship Winning a national championship is the goal of every college basketball player. Coach Jennifer King led Johnson & Wales to its first national championship in any sport. She shares her perspectives on what it took to reach the pinnacle of success this season. Was winning a national championship something you talked about with the team? What was the best decision you made this season? What was the worst decision you made this season? What was the hardest part about the journey? What made this team different from other successful teams that you've been a part of? What were the biggest keys on the court to this season's success? What were the biggest keys off the court to this season's success? If you could share one piece of advice to other coaches out there, what would it be? What do look for when you're recruiting players? What are the biggest things that high school players are missing when they get to college?  

Conflict & Competition Conflict and competition can be either good or bad.  It’s about your perspective. You’ve probably heard, if you can’t take the heat then get out of the kitchen. Everyone loves being in the kitchen. It smells good.  The stuff that comes out of there tastes good but sometimes it gets hot.  Honestly, if you want good food, you’re probably going to have to have some heat.  How do you get two pieces of metal to bond together? Heat is the only thing that can really weld two pieces of metal together. You might try to use some glue or something but I don’t think that’s going to work very well.  But weld two pieces of metal together and then try to separate them.   Many of us avoid conflict. Many of us shy away from competition. How can we help our players learn how to be better people if we’re not willing to address conflict and encourage competition? Right now the biggest competition in many lives is how many followers or likes they can get on social media.  There’s a time and place for that too. But today, everyone gets a trophy.  More than that everyone gets to play. It used to be that you had to be good to play. Conflict or competition can be good and bad just like anything else.  However, conflict and competition are necessary to success in the kitchen, on the court, and in life.  They are part of the process. They’re a part of how we expose greatness in ourselves and others. If we don’t require conflict and competition, hold ourselves and others accountable for it, and then learn how to handle it, we will be mediocre at best.     

Junior College Perspective The junior college perspective can include the perspective of a four year coach who is recruiting players as well as that of a AAU or high school coach who is trying to get players exposure for other schools.  Junior colleges are a big part of the collegiate athletic business. There is a lot of scholarship money in junior college athletics and there are some very high level players and teams at this level as well. In many cases, junior colleges have a bad reputation. In some cases this is well-deserved, but not in every case. Coach Ryan Davis of Sheridan College in Wyoming is the head coach of the women's program at this D1 NJCAA program.  He has experience in men's and women's basketball at D1, D2, and the junior college levels.  He shares his thoughts on recruiting, both in bringing athletes into his program as well as helping his athletes move on to the next program.    

Faith & Fear Faith is in a constant battle with fear. In other words, both of them are monsters that we can choose to starve or feed. One is a good monster and one is an evil one. Neither of them will ever go away completely. In addition, they provide us with decisions that we have the opportunity to make every day. Inevitably, our choices will feed each one of those monsters every day.  The more we starve the evil monster, and the more feed the good one, the better we will be. We have to answer these questions every day.  What do we choose? Are we afraid we might get fired? Do we lead our teams fearlessly? Are we afraid of losing? Do we allow them to take chances?  Are we afraid of being rejected?  Do we take chances? Are we afraid of failure?  Are we afraid someone won’t like us?  There’s nothing wrong with being afraid. The mistake is when we let that fear darken our faith. Fear is that thing that keeps us from taking that step. Faith is the courage to take the step. Fear is the thing that keeps us from taking chances. Faith is the courage to take a chance with the understanding that even failure is an opportunity to learn. Fear is the thing that keeps us from working hard because we might fail. Faith says work hard even if you do fail because failure is great. Fear is the thing that makes us make poor decisions. Faith gives us the courage to make good decisions even if they aren't easy ones. We hope that today you operate from a perspective of faith. Furthermore, make more decisions out of faith than out of fear. Finally, share that message with your family, friends, players and strangers. If we help you be a little bit better, and you help someone else be a little bit better, eventually the whole world will be a lot better.  

Fundamental Skills and Athleticism WIthout any scientific research to really back this up, I would wager two different points regarding fundamental skills and athleticism. Most people refer to fundamental skills as passing, dribbling and shooting and maybe screening and defense Most people refer to athleticism how high you can jump, how fast you can run or change direction. What really makes a basketball player skilled? What really makes a basketball player athletic? The fundamental skills are rooted in the basics of athleticism, movement and competition. True athleticism is the ability explode and stop, jump and land, and control the body while performing skills in game situations. Hoops College wants to bridge the gap between skill and athleticism.  We want to help players be the great athletes with multidimensional skill sets regardless of their genetics or their backgrounds. We are a resource for coaches and players alike to help you make the most efficient use of your time. While you're working hard, we want to make sure you're working smart as well.  If you have ideas you would like to share, let us know.  

Making Adjustments Coaches are judged fairly or not by their ability to make adjustments during games. Sometimes we think we shouldn't adjust. Is it because our team can't make the adjustment?  Is it because the other team will take advantage of the adjustment?  Is it because player who would be would benefit most from the adjustment is injured or in foul trouble? Sometimes we might not be able to adjust. Maybe we haven't practiced the adjustment. Maybe we don't have the personnel to adjust the way we would prefer. Maybe we want to be able to talk about it first in a timeout but a using timeout isn't worth it at that moment in the game. Sometimes we make an adjustment and it works. Isn't it great when our team makes us look good? Sometimes we try to make a change and it doesn't work. How many times do you call a play and the other team changes defenses? Have you ever tried to adjust and your team just doesn't execute? When do you adjust? What adjustments can you make? What happens when playing hard isn't enough? Does your team believe in the adjustments that you make? Are your adjustments things you prepare for in practice? We want to help you figure out how you can make better adjustments.  

High School Perspective High school coaches are the most important coaches in the game. They have the opportunity to work with players on a regular basis at an age where players can be molded. This development is certainly physical, but it's also mental. High school coaches who can help players understand what it means to compete, be a good teammate, and excel on and off the court help prepare their athletes for success in the future whether that includes playing basketball or not. By the time players get to college, many of them have established habits and mindsets that can be tough to break. Sometimes, their high school coach has tried to help the player improve. Sometimes, youth coaches allow players to get away with things because they are afraid what might happen if they hold them accountable. Understanding the perspective of high school coaches can help coaches at all levels be better with their teams. Middle school and AAU coaches can learn what's important to high school coaches.  The more everyone is on the same page, the better things will be. In addition, college coaches can have a better understanding of what high school coaches have to deal with and how they can better relate to players once they step on campus. Marcus Dilligard shares his perspective on coaching his team. He talks about dealing with parents, playing defense, and how to make things better. Dealing with parent expectations Man or zone? How do you try to score against zone defense? What is missing in today's high school game? Coaches at every level have to interact with parents. This isn't always a bad thing. Parents are invested in their child's success. Even college coaches know that the parents can be just as critical to the recruiting process.  How do you interact with parents at your level? What's your perspective? How can you make them part of the process instead of excluding them and then trying to go back and build relationships when things are already going downhill.

Hoops College Mission Vision & Purpose Mission Using basketball, we educate to develop and expose greatness. Hoops College believes that there is greatness in everyone.  However, many people hold themselves back. In addition, there are tons of rumors and bad information that are almost accepted as truth because they have been going around for so long. In some cases, people just need a little help getting the exposure they need. We educate players and coaches so that they can understand what they need to do to accomplish their dreams. Vision Participants will discover who they are and learn strategies for growth. The first step in developing and exposing greatness is self-awareness. We ask questions that will force players and coaches to examine themselves to understand their strengths and weaknesses.  Then we provide strategies to help our clients grow. Purpose Provide holistic learning platform Challenge craft mastery from basic building blocks Build global community of networks Hoops College provides educational resources in all formats that are accessible by anyone, anytime, anywhere. We understand that everyone has gaps and we provide a platform for bridging those gaps. We believe that most gaps are a direct result of a lack of mastery of basic fundamentals. There's nothing wrong with trying to learn something new and complex.  However, we believe greatness is a result of being great in the most basic things.  Basketball is a global sport. As a result, we use technology make our resources and content available to the world in order to help everyone improve and learn from each other.  We bring the world closer together through this great game. We are going to make the game better, but we want others to join with us in our mission.  If you like what we're doing and would like to join with us, email us.  

Communicate With Your Team During Games Coaches often use timeouts as opportunities to communicate with their teams, but there are many other opportunities and ways to communicate without calling a timeout. There are at least 50 dead balls in every game. Are you taking full advantage of these dead ball opportunities to communicate with your team? What other opportunities or strategies can you use to help foster communication without calling timeout? Can you make a substitution instead of calling a timeout send a message to one player or the rest of the team? How do you implement your systems and philosophies in practice? How can you foster communication between the players on your team? Is it better for you to tell a player something or have another player give that player the message? Do you talk with your staff and the players who are not in the game? What are you trying to tell your team? Is it timely? Is it digestable in the time that they have? Communicating to the players without the ball or not guarding the ball can be just as effective.    

Why Should You Call A Timeout? Every timeout is precious.  We have a limited number of timeouts so we must choose to use them wisely. Every coach has their own philosophy about why you call a timeout, but we want to challenge you to think about why you call them. Do you call them for any reason or do you call them for only a couple of reasons?  Does your team understand why you call them? If you're on the same page with your team and your staff regarding why you use timeouts, they will be better prepared to make the most of them. Set our defense Set our offense Make a substitution Rest, because you don’t want to make a substitution Celebrate success Point out Slippage Change momentum Prevent a turnover Ice a FT shooter Talk to official Just remember that when you take a timeout, the opposing coach has the opportunity to do these other things as well. Maybe you don't care what the other coach has the opportunity to do, because you what you want to do is more important.  Are timeouts the only way to accomplish what you want to accomplish at that time? Timeouts are so valuable in every game. Is it possible to find other ways to communicate your message and save your timeouts for when you really need them? Those snap decisions to call a time out just because you're angry can come back to bite you when you wish you had one at another point in the game.  

Team Building We all want our teams to have good chemistry. Most coaches want them to become better people off the court as well as on the court.  Coach Garrity at Wofford University discusses a team building program that he uses with his team. Tell us about what you do in the off season to build team chemistry. Where did this come from?  How did it start? What’s the biggest key to implementing things? How much time does it take? How is your staff involved? Do you do anything specific during the season to reinforce what players learned in the off season?

Gaining Buy-In Coach Gayle Coats Fulks of Davidson College talks about gaining buy-in from her new team at a program that had not seen a lot of recent success. Is it important to you that your team “buys-in”? Is it important to your players that they “buy-in”? What does buy-in look like to you or to your players? Are there different levels of what it looks like? When did your team feel like they were bought in? When did you feel like your team bought in this season? Why did they choose to get on board? What were some strategies you used? Was there a time that you thought you might not get what you were looking for? Was there a time that you thought you might lose what you worked hard to achieve? It won't happen over night.  It's a process that takes time, effort, and consistency. Do you have a philosophy that you can buy into yourself?  Are you passionate about it? Are you so passionate about it that every one knows it's your philosophy without you even having to say it? Can you hold people accountable even when it seems like it's not working?

Changing My Team's Identity Every team will develop their own identity whether you want them to or not.  It is up to coaches to shape and focus those energies appropriately. Coach Mock arrived at UNC Asheville and the program had a culture that she wanted to change.  She discusses how her program evolved into a program that won back to back Big South tournaments and earned back to back NCAA tournament appearances. What was your team’s personality? Why was it that way? What did you want your identity to be? What strategies have you used to "get there"? If you’ve "arrived", when did that happen? How long did it take? What’s next? Maintain or evolve to something else? As she discusses, it's always a process. It always takes attention and effort to make sure your team is what you want them to be. It's impossible for players to flip a switch.  However, if we're always focused on what it takes to improve every day, our team will develop the identity that we want them to.

What Do My Players Think I Think Is Important? Do you know what is important for you and your team? Have you ever felt like you and your players weren’t on the same page? It seems like your team just doesn’t think what you say or do matters. You're probably right, but then you have to decide what to do. You could just kick everyone off and start over next year, but let's examine ourselves first to see what we can do better. The truth is that everything you say and do matters to them. The problem is if you're trying to say or do too much, they get confused.  Keep it simple and make it easier on yourself and everyone else. Decide on your priorities Pick something. It can’t be everything, otherwise it is nothing. It has to be something, otherwise it is everything. Less is more. Communicate your priorities Words What gets emphasized in practice How you spend your time in practice How you react to success or failure in game situations Who gets to play in games Ask them what they think you think is important. Ask them why they think you think it is important.  

Changing My Least Favorite Part of Practice Here are 8 reasons why you might dread a certain part of practice.  In this episode we discuss some strategies to help you address these situations. Your players probably enjoy your favorite part of practice. Your energy is definitely contagious to them. Maybe you have to fake your energy, or maybe there is a better way for you to execute those parts of practice that are traditionally not very fun for you. If you have a scenario that you'd like some feedback on, let us know. Players think it is pointless It’s at the end It’s at the beginning Intensity always seems to go down It’s too hard for players Players don’t understand it You’re not comfortable with it It's hard to keep everyone engaged

My Favorite Part of Practice Practice is our classroom. If we don't get excited when we get to teach this game, then we probably should find a new profession.  Of course, we can still get excited on game day, but we need to value the process. We need to enjoy our limited opportunities to help our players and teams improve every day. Coach Wierzba talks about his favorite part of practice. What is your favorite part of practice & why? Where does your passion come from? How do you make practice unique? If you could only use one word, what would you say is most important quality of a practice? What is one attribute that stands out that separates a good practice from one that is not?

Implementing the Read & React with Your Personnel How are we most likely to score? How do I get my shooters shots? What can I do to make my players most consistent game to game? How do I implement running sets and running the Read & React?

Which Read & React Layer Should I Teach First? Are any layers more important than the other? Does one layer require more emphasis? Is one layer more important to scoring? Does my alignment affect what I teach first?

Gaining a Defensive Advantage in BLOB Situations   We mentioned in the last episode teams have a defensive advantage when the ball is out of bounds on the baseline. The inbounder can't dribble or score. It is about being in good position, defending cuts and screens. The backboard defends part of the court, part of the court is difficult to pass to It is 4 on 5. You have an extra defender because you don't have to guard the ball. What are the different ways to take advantage of the extra defender? Ball Pressure.  Impact their vision. Make it hard for them to see open players. Inside the inbounder. Parallel to the side trying to force strong side pass & protect the basket. Outside the inbounder. Take away strong side pass and trust defense at the rim. Double Team the other team's best player. Make someone else beat you. Help & Tag. Stay or Switch. On ball in a zone. Off ball in a zone. Why do so many teams lose this advantage? Players don’t know how to defend when the ball is below them. Teams need to spend more time practicing these situations. Teams need competitive ways to practice them. Players don’t know what they are supposed to do.  They just know they aren't supposed to give up a layup.

Gaining an Offensive Advantage on BLOBs   In the first episode of the Hoops College Coach's Podcast, we discuss ways for you to get an offensive advantage on a baseline out of bounds play. Sometimes those one or two possessions in the middle of the game can make a big difference in the outcome. Maybe having a good offensive BLOB strategy can help you steal an easy bucket without having to call a timeout. Yes, some out of bounds plays might be better than others. However, sometimes it's not about the plays you run, but how you teach them or how you disguise them so that the other team can't predict what you're going to do. Making use of the time between when the referee blows his whistle and your player touches the ball How to get the call You say one thing but your assistant is calling the play through hand signals. Can your players call their own play in a huddle? If they call it, they might feel more ownership and actually run it better. Having more than one “play” in an alignment This could be about teaching your players to read the defense. It could just be simply about having multiple calls out of one alignment. One alignment with multiple looks is better than one look out of multiple alignments. How to control “getting set” Players should have a sense of urgency to get where they need to be. The inbound should step out of bounds when they want to, or they should make the referee tell them to. How to know when to go Since we have hustled to our spots, we will go when we want to. We don't need to smack the ball. If everyone is watching the inbound, we can go as soon as the in-bounder has the ball. Helping the players be most successful by keeping it simple Same plays vs. man and zone Any moment could be a scoring opportunity Sometimes you don't even have to run the play because someone is open already. Are you running the play or are you reading the play? Sometimes just getting it in is ok. Do you players know time and score? Do you have a better chance scoring out of your half court offense? Crossing the midline The ball might not be able to change sides of the court, but your players can.  Defending players with the ball out of bounds is not a natural thing.  When players cross the midline, defenders have more chances to make mistakes. We would love for you to share how you gain offensive advantages on BLOBs.