High School Basketball: The Most Important Week of the Season

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“Remember, tomorrow is promised to no one.”
Walter Payton

We apologize if this post might be a little corny, but we feel this week is the most important week of basketball season.

Today and this week are critical to success for players, coaches, and teams. Being able to focus on the current day and week will be very beneficial to long-term succes.

There is no time like the present: Today is the only day that we have influence over. It also is a day that directly impacts tomorrow, this week, this month, this year and ultimately this life. So we want to focus energy and effort on what can be done today. 

Playing in the present and focusing on the current practice or game is something that is very important. It is also a life skill that players and coaches can carry with them after the basketball days are over.

Each practice matters. Each day matters. At different points during the season there are different points of emphasis. Whether it is focusing on a zone offense, press break, defense, late game,execution, or fundamental skills. What is done today will directly impact the future days. On days without a practice or a game, players need to recharge, rest, and take care of other aspects of their life like school, family and friends.

Each game matters. Once the games begin, each game is very important. League games will always play a part in determining a league champion. Non-league games will often determine tournament seedings. And state tournament games will determine who is moving on.

A basketball season and a career go by very quickly. Players often do not understand the importance of taking advantage of the opportunities that each day provides. This is simply a reminder, that each day and each week are important to future success. We want to impress on players and coaches that it really does matter what you do this week.

Work hard have fun and create some great memories.

High School Basketball: One Week at a Time

High School Basketball: New Year’s Day Practice

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The Holiday Hangover

The Holiday Hangover, as many high schools coaches know, can be taken literally and figuratively. There are high school student athletes who drink and some drink heavily on New Year’s Eve and this can have a lingering effect into the following week and the return to school. For others, it is just a figurative hangover of having free time, being able to relax and watch TV, and perhaps squeeze in a few extra individual workouts. Whatever the case may be, there is a little bit of a letdown upon the return to school.

High School Basketball: January

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It is still important to focus on one week at a time. We will try to provide with some key points for each week of the season.

Week #6 January 1st to January 7th

  1. New Year’s Day Practice
  2. High School Basketball: Back to School Week

Week #7 January 8th to January 14th

High School Basketball: December

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It is still important to focus on one week at a time. We will try to provide with some key points for each week of the season.

November 25th – December 1st Week #15: Thanksgiving Week The Final Week of the off-season. It is a very short school week because it is the week of Thanksgiving. Do not each to much and be sure your are ready for High School Basketball: Week #1 Tryouts & Cuts

December 2nd – December 8th Week #1 High School Basketball: Tryout Week This is the week all players and coaches have been dreaming of since the last game of the season! Be ready. Be a good teammate and work your tail off.

1st Day of Tryouts

Basketball Cuts:

December 9th – December 15th Week #2 December 4th – December 10th High School Basketball: Preseason and Scrimmages

  1. High School Basketball: Preseason Scrimmages
  2. Let the Games Begin (1st Play date, but most teams start week #3)

December 16th – December 22nd Week #3 Let the Games Begin Last Week Before Christmas Break (Week #3)

  1. High School Basketball: FIVE First Game Facts

December 23rd – December 29th Week #4 High School Basketball: Christmas Vacation Week (Basketball Jokes for Christmas)

December 30th – January 5th Week #5 : High School Basketball: Christmas Vacation Week

High School Basketball: January

High School Basketball: FIVE First Game Facts

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As the high school basketball season gets underway, we would like to share a few of our thoughts on the 1st game of the season.

It is an Entirely New Season: Last year does not matter. If you were part of a league or state championship team, congratulations! It does not matter. You need to prove yourself this season. Teams and players that struggled last year, who cares. Now is your chance at redemption. It is the same for players. Last season is history. Now is the opportunity to MAKE HISTORY! 

Scouting Reports Stink: Basing a scouting report on last year’s game is extremely flawed. Using a player’s or team’s performance from over nine months ago is not good practice. It is safe to say there is a great deal of uncertainty in preparing for the 1st game of the season. 

There will be some adjustments throughout the game. Match-ups will probably change and unknown players will need to be identified as players who need to be stopped. Coaches will need to figure out what defenses are being used. Players who you don’t even know their names will be having an impact on the game.

Experience Helps: Having returning starters and players is very helpful. Opening night will not be a big deal. Some players will have 20 to 40 varsity games experience. These team are fortunate, but….

It is Just Basketball: If a player has skills, it does not matter what type of varsity experience he has. If he can shoot, he will make open shots. If he makes good decisions, he will handle pressure. If he is strong, he can be a factor on the glass.

50% of the Teams Will No Longer Be Undefeated: On any given night during the high school basketball season, 50% of the teams will win and 50% of the teams will lose. Every coach and player dreams of an undefeated season. Unfortunately, on opening night, alf of the teams will have a loss. But…. Half of the teams will still be undefeated.

Matt Hackenberg: Basketball Coach of the Week

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I’m Coach Matt Hackenberg from Canton, Ohio, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I’m passionate about the game of basketball. My love of the game started when I was 7 years old. My dad came home from work one day to find me playing in a mud puddle in our driveway, feeling pity that his dirty son had nothing better to do, he asked “do you want to go to a basketball camp?” I replied, “sure,” and quickly followed that up with, “what’s a basketball camp?” I attended the camp, and a love affair with the game blossomed.

Growing up I used basketball as an outlet, met most of my friends through the sport, and learned countless valuable lessons about life as I refined my playing skills. I ended my high school career as a 1st team all-state player in Ohio in 2004, and went on to play small college basketball at Kentucky Christian University, amassing over 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in my four year playing career.

After college I moved back to Canton and immediately began coaching at East Canton, a small rural high school. We had a great team returning, and had an exceptionally memorable 20-0 regular season. As a first year assistant coach, I thought, “this coaching thing is easy,” convinced I was much more than just a bystander for a group a talented kids that worked hard for their incredible achievement. When those players all graduated, I got a real baptism in coaching, staying at the same school as an assistant for the next two years and working with a limited roster that didn’t produce many wins. It was an eye-opening experience, fully comprehending that there are a lot of intelligent people in the coaching community, and that I didn’t know nearly as much as I thought.

In 2012, at 26 years old, I got my first head coaching job at St. Thomas Aquinas, a small private school in the area. Taking over a program that hadn’t achieved true success in quite some time but had a decent run of athletes coming through the pipeline, something magical happened. We went on an unprecedented four year run, winning our district (equivalent to the “Sweet Sixteen” of the NCAA Tournament) all four years, and making it to the state finals one season, losing to a very good team. My time at St. Thomas taught me a lot of things, most notably how important a strong support staff is and also how important character is with the players on a team.

Due to the success at St. Thomas, I was able to parlay that success into a coaching job at Canton GlenOak, a large public school in the area. GlenOak is most known for sending CJ McCollum and Kosta Koufos into the NBA. My time coaching at GlenOak didn’t overlap with the aforementioned, but they were great supporting the program.

I got into content creation a few years ago to share what I’ve learned coaching for 12 years. I’m a basketball junkie following my passion as a career. 

Follow me on X for more: https://twitter.com/CoachHackGO

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Is Your Transition Defense Holding Your Basketball Team Back?

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Guest Blog Author Matt Hackenberg @CoachHackGO

The first thing we have to nail down is WHY. And there is a couple reasons WHY your transition defense might be bad:

  • The emotional state of the players.
  • The technique being used.

The emotional state of the players breaks down a bit further: 

  • They are too frustrated to react properly.
  • They are not motivated to react properly.

Players being too frustrated or not motivated enough to get back on defense is an all too common occurrence. A player makes a turnover or misses layup, and they jog back on defense. They want to show everyone in the gym they are disappointed in themselves, making the mistake a “look at me” moment. 

To fix this issue, we need to start to drill down on and demand a proper mistake response from our players. It is the constant messaging to our players that no one cares that you just made a mistake, and we need to, as Coach K would say, get on to the “next play.” 

We emphasize quick transitions from making a mistake to moving on to the next thing. And in this case, the next thing is getting back to build a strong team defense.

This all comes down to building PRIDE to compete for something bigger than any individual player. If players don’t have pride to get a stop, they won’t have any urgency to join their teammates in trying to get a stop when the odds don’t look favorable to do so, which is a common occurrence after a turnover or a missed layup.

Your messaging should be consistent on having pride to get stops and moving on to the “next play.”

Then, you reinforce those habits. 

As the coach, you can reinforce those habits using a carrot or a stick. I always prefer to use the carrot first. 

The carrot is simply a reward for the proper behaviors.

You can reward your team to get back by setting a team goal of 10 or fewer transition points given up in game. If they reach the goal, they get a reward – maybe donuts the next morning at practice.

If the carrot doesn’t work to get them to do what you need them to do, then you use the stick.

The stick is simply negative consequences for improper behaviors.

The best stick you have as a coach is the bench. By stating, and following through on the messaging, that players that don’t run back on defense will be immediately pulled out of the game, you are deploying the stick method.

You now have methods to control the emotional state of your players in the moment of truth in converting from offense to defense. Now, let’s look at the techniques:

First, you need to break down on a granular level what you’re looking for in transition defense. This involves outlining the expectation to SPRINT back and get matched 5v5, and what kind of communication they should be having with their teammates

You can break down disadvantage situations, and how you want the protect the basket and play from the basket out.

Even though it seems basic, a lot of players don’t know until you show them and set the expectation for how they should react in transition defense.

Obviously, conversion defense is a part of every full court basketball game, so you have plenty of chances to work on it. If you’re looking for a drill, my favorite drill for training the transition phase of defense is called “Louisville.”

Using “Louisville,” you can isolate the transition phase of the game so that it does not get lost among all the other facets of the game of basketball. “Louisville” looks like this:

To see video of “Louisville” being used as a small sided game, ​CLICK HERE​.

So there you have it, addressing transition defense through the emotional and the technical side of things.

Best of luck coaches,

-Coach Hack

The diagrams for this email were pulled from my guide on the ​“Wolfpack Defense System.”​ It’s the defensive system I’ve used most of my coaching career. It is a heavy ball pressure and heavy help gap defensive system. It covers the defense in great detail, as well as connected elements to defense like rebounding and transition defense. If you’re interested in installing the defensive system, ​CLICK HERE​.

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High School Basketball: Preseason Scrimmages

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The process of becoming a team starts on day one of tryouts and continues until the final whistle blows. We are breaking down a high school basketball season week by week to help players, parents, and fans understand the intricacies of each week. 

The 1st week is an emotional rollercoaster for players, coaches, and parents. The transition into the season is a challenge. Hearts are broken with cuts and player placements. Conditioning is a huge part of the 1st week, so players will be hurting both physically and mentally. 

Scrimmages are a very important part of the high school basketball preseason. The first scrimmage usually happens towards the end of the first week of a basketball season. Some coaches prefer to have a scrimmage before making the final cut, so they can see players compete against a higher level of competition. In many cases, scrimmages happen after teams have been selected. The scrimmage is a chance for coaches to evaluate the skill level of the players individually. It also is the 1st chance to see the team compete as a unit to see how best to prepare the team for the 1st game and the season.

For players, it is important to remember that a scrimmage is not life or death. “It is just basketball.” If it is your first varsity scrimmage, don’t make a big deal about it. Just go out and play good fundamental basketball.

“They said you have to use your five best players but I found you win with the five who fit together the best.” Red Auerbach

Understand Your Role: There are several different roles on a high school basketball team. Each has value and players are needed to fill those rules. The best way for a player to earn a starting spot or get the most minutes is to know his skill set and focus on these skills. The MAJORITY of high school players have very limited skills. Self-aware players, can focus on what they do well and do this BETTER than any other player on the team. 

Some skills that most players do not focus on are defense, rebounding, setting screens, running the floor, and playing turnover-free basketball. Other skills that ALL players should be able to complete consistently but few do are: playing hard, talking on defense, having great body language, and having great shot selection. If a player chooses to REALLY focus on these aspects of basketball, they will increase the chance that they will be a contributing player on their team. 

Next Play Mentality (Do not worry about mistakes): Scrimmages are an ugly event. Players are coming off fall sports, playing together for the 1st time, and are very nervous. This is an awful combination for good fundamental basketball. There will be many mistakes during preseaon scrimmages. Even though players may have played together during a fall league high school basketball is a very different level. The officiating is tighter, the competition is better, the defense is intense, and the intensity is at a much higher level. 

Many fall athletes will be rusty. Do not get frustrated. Remember, it is the start of the season and the goal is to get better each day. When you do make a mistake, forget about it and focus on the next play. Sprint back on defense. Do not play in reverse. Do not let mistakes and turnovers impact how you play.

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill

Just Work: Work hard all the time. Players who make this a habit will have great long-term results. Play hard. Get on the floor. Take a charge. It is just work. If you work hard during preseason scrimmages and every day in practices, everything else will take car of itself.  

Line-ups & Depth Chart: A primary goal of preseason scrimmages for a coaching staff is to finalize the starting line-up and rotations. Coaches will try different lineups and different positions for players. The only concern a player should have is to try to do what the coach is asking to the best of his ability. Do not worry about whether you are playing with the 1st unit or the 3rd unit. Do not worry whether you are playing in the post or on the wing. Just play good fundamental basketball. Trust your teammates. And most importantly, work your tail off.   

Good luck and be ready for the next practice and the 1st game.

Basketball Coach of the Week

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Click on the links to read more:

North Carolina

  1. Brian Carter Guest Blog: NCBCA COACHES VS CANCER

Ohio

  1. Matt Hackenberg Guest Blog: Is Your Transition Defense Holding Your Basketball Team Back?

Brian Carver: Basketball Coach of the Week

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Guest Blog by Brian Carter: NCBCA COACHES VS CANCER

This is our 1st profile of out Basketball Coach of the Week.

A lifetime of excitement, thrills, memories and most importantly,
relationships. “Today, I consider myself to be the luckiest man in the world,” a
quote attributed to Yankee legend Lou Gehrig but I would certainly say applies
to me.

My name is Brian Carver, and I am the Head Basketball Coach and
Athletic Director at Enka High School in Asheville North Carolina. I am
currently in my 33rd season coaching high school basketball. As I look back at
the years spent on the sidelines, I also realize just how lucky I have been. I am
thankful for all the players and experiences that I have been fortunate to be
apart of.

Growing up in the Enka community as a high school player, fate intervened as
when I was in elementary school, someone new moved into our neighborhood.
The new Head Coach at Enka High School was now my neighbor. Over the
years, he watched me grow up in the driveway playing pick up. After an up and
down playing career of my own, he needed a coach to take the JV’s to team
camp the summer after I had graduated from high school. I was hooked! I have
been coaching ever since.

After spending seven years as an assistant at Enka, fate again intervened and I
landed at a local rival high school and had the chance to spend a few years as an
assistant for one of our state’s all time great high school coaches. Those
formative years under those two legends has meant more than any classroom
lesson I could have ever had.

Eventually, I ended up back at my high school as the Head Coach, a dream
come true for me. This is a place that I love dearly, and have devoted my life
too. Along the way, I have had some successes and had some tough defeats but
it’s the players and love of this school that keeps me energized and ready for
another season of Enka Basketball.

The game of basketball has given me so much in my life, I am honored to try
and give back to the game. Now in my 22nd year as the head coach, I have
become the schools all time leader in wins, led our teams to the first ever back
to back 20 win seasons, and made the deepest run into the state playoffs in
school history in 2022. I have been named conference coach of the year (23), 2x
district coach of the year, the North Carolina Coaches vs Cancer State Coach of
the Year (13). I have been selected as coach in the historical Blue/White All Star
game 3 times, selected as assistant coach of the North Carolina East/West All
Star game played in the Greensboro Coliseum. Most recently I have been
selected as the Head Coach of the North Carolina All Star team in the annual
North Carolina/South Carolina Carolinas Classic.

At the conclusion of last

season, I was blown away as I was named the NABC National High School
Champion Coach of the Year. Attending the Final Four in Houston and being
recognized while sitting with multiple Hall of Fame college coaches such as
Roy Williams, Jim Boeheim, and Tubby Smith among many others was
certainly a thrill of a lifetime and a memory that I will cherish for the rest of
my life.

I truly believe in servant leadership and one thing that my career has afforded
me is the opportunity to serve and give back! I am proud to serve as an
Executive Board Member of the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association
(NCBCA), Board Member of the North Carolina Coaches Association, and I am
on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina High School Athletic
Association. I am the founder of the NCBCA Coaches vs Cancer Shootout, an
event that has raised over $185,000 for fight against cancer. However, none of
these experiences can replace the relationships and connections that I have
over a 30 year coaching career, for that, I am truly thankful and blessed.