First thing I noticed when watching the Connecticut attack on youtube, is how slow he teaches...lol. I timed it last year, after 6 seconds, yes, 6 seconds one of my players quit listening to me every time. I move them very quickly from drill to drill to keep their attention. Do you do that also?

I'm the same way. I had to learn to limit my talking. No drill that takes too long to explain, never more than 5 minutes on skill drills, never more than 10-15 on team drills. Snap from one drill to the next as quickly as possible. Water breaks are 3 minutes where they have to shoot 3 free throws and run the misses before they get their water.

For some of those pass and cut drills, I started with the coach as the defender because it's a log for young kids to figure out. Two lines... cutting line and passing line. Coach in the middle playing defense.

Now as 4th graders with experience running the drill, we are starting to run the drills the same as the CT Attack.

Well, the point of my suggesting the CT Attack videos was for you to see the drills, not critique the guy's coaching LOL. Of course, he's running a high level select program so he can get away with talking a little longer than you'd want to with the youngsters you're dealing with.

I try to limit my drills to 10-15 minutes depending on what we're doing. Sometimes with a new drill I'll give a quick description and they'll want to ask a bunch of questions. I've found it's better to just put them into the drill and let them ease their way into it and that usually answers all their questions.

Thanks for all the help everyone and I really like this site. After today's practice, I believe they are not ready for any type of offense. There are too many other issues. I feel bad like I let them down since they probably will not win a game looking at the remaining schedule. I am sure they learned something and had fun according to the parents. But, I am not sure I am cut out for this. I think basic drills and fun games are on the ticket for the rest of the season. So, maybe I will at least give them a nice time if anything...lol.

Just remember, unless you have good players, you will struggle to win games, no matter how good of a coach you are. That is why the elite coaches spend so much time on recruiting (which doesn't apply to us youth coaches) and player development.

If you have good players, spread them out on offense and let them play. You will do well. Sure, there are defensive tactics and offensive tactics that help. But that is a very small part and coaches try to act like it's their offense and strategy that is the reason they are winning. Well, they just have good players that can shoot, drive, pass, score, make decisions, defend, and rebound.

So I think you are totally on the right track in saying that "basic drills and fun games are on the ticket for the rest of the season".

I am glad you said that. I feel relieved honestly. I still am questioning my ability to make a difference. But, I am sure they are learning something.

I noticed one other thing. I never taught cuts only. I never taught passing to a cutter only. I never taught passing to a cutter from a 5 out spot only. I thought I could do them at the same time. I think that is where I made the mistake in my coaching philosophy. What seems like it should just roll along in my head is actually 3 or 4 things that they need drilled on individually. Then, if they are mastered, which I kinda doubt, they could be lumped together. But, like noted above, it has taken 2 years for 4th and 5th graders to just now start cutting on their own.

So, my problem I see with the league I am in is that we do not have enough practices and we actually play games. I was told to focus on the basics last year. We did some of that and I pushed some other concepts also. I saw some growth in certain areas with that. I am thinking next year to only do all basics only. The reason I say this is that if I can get them to understand a cut on their own, without trying to push 5 out at the same time, maybe they will cut on their own.

Also, the games are a mess. I honestly now believe playing organized games, especially with score, is damaging to their growth. Now, don't get me wrong, its fun. They love it. So, go ahead and let them do it because its fun. I get that and do agree with that. But, if we are talking about sticking to basics, an organized game looks like a bad idea to me. It puts the pressure of the defense on them when they are not ready to handle it. Now, some players might be able to handle it. I get that also. I just see many of the revert back to their own habits...some of which are good and some of which are bad. That also is ok too since growth occurs either way. It's just caotic, which is not enforcing / encouraging their fundamentals. When teaching drills, then those things can be corrected.

Lastly, if there was more practice time, I could slow down and not feel so rushed myself to focus on these problem areas.

Since this thread has went off topic a little, I will try to wrap it back around. To help with my offense, here is what I have learned:

1. I realized I cannot really teach any organized offense to players this young. I noticed other teams basically give the ball ( point guard ) to their best 2 or 3 dribblers, tell the rest of the team to set picks, move around and get out of the way, and then just let them figure it out. This was what I had a hard time letting go of. I wanted to see some consistency. There is none...lol. I accept that now.
2. The players have more fun when everything is a game. So, find the weak areas and make it into some type of fun drill / game in practice. Red light / green light, monkey in the middle, knockout, pass drills up to 25 wins, dribble and coach tries to steal it are some of their favorites.
3. Lay off during the actual games ( I already do this :-) )
4. Move them from drill to drill quickly during practice since no one wants to hear me go on and on...lol
5. The new one I am going to try for the rest of the season is to take parts of the 5 out and drill them individually, while still making it fun. Maybe have them race on their cuts to the hoop from each wing or baseline position. Then race throwing passes to the cutters. They love races...lol.

Anyways, thanks for all the help. I think I have killed this thread to death. But, hopefully it helps someone else as well.

Yep.

That's why we worked with my daughters team for two years (practicing twice a week during the season) before ever playing any 5on5. It was two years of skill development and 3on3 games (both half and full court). Then after making some progress with fundamentals and player development, we finally started playing 5on5 and have done quite well. No plays or anything like that. Just good defense, spread them out on offense, and keep them moving. They are skilled players and do well because of it.

That is why I kept them out of the normal leagues around here and didn't follow the norm. We created our own mini league, etc. I have also done the same thing with my son as a 2nd grader. The demand has been huge as parents see how silly it is to play 5on5 and hear about what we are doing.

Unfortunately it's hard to convince people of this until they go through it as we all have.
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/could-3-on-3-basketball-be-the-best-for-youth-players/

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience!