I agree with Jeff -

We took stats of every game but the thing my asst. and I did was to go out after the game and discuss it. We wrote down every problem we had whie it was fresh in our minds. The stats help a lot along with film of the game.



This ticks me off.... like you said, the game was out of hand and its time to play the other kids. They practice all the time too and they deserve a chance to play. IF anyone says something to you... you might just say something like... " I don't have a 20 point play - It;s time to play the other kids and get them some experience. "

YOU are the coach, you do what YOU think is right for YOUR team.

Jeff,,

http://basketball.itouchstats.com/

This is the program I TRY to use for stats. My stat keepers are 6th Grade Managers so they tend to miss quite a bit. However, I get a general idea that we are being out rebounded and we allow the opposing team to beat us on the fast break and second chance scoring because of those rebounds. Our offensive motions are great (we play against a 2-3 or 1-3-1 Zone every game. Ugh, Man-up...) and we can usually get the ball inside and then swing it it around the perimeter for a good shot. However, that only leave 1-2 guys underneath for rebounding. We have done drills with crashing the lane, following shots, and all kind of other stuff, but when your tallest player is a 6'3" 8th Grader versus their 6'6" Linebacker 7th Grader, it's hard to grab any rebound. That is, IF we beat a half court trap or half court press.

So our (very rough) game averages are

25 TRB (17 DRB, 8 ORB)
38 PPG
18/40 FG
3/15 3FG
10/14 FT
14 TO
5 STL
8 BLK


Oppenents: (Not much info)

35 TRB (15 DRB, 20 ORB)
62 PPG
8 TO

Its hard to get accurate stats unless you take them off of game films.....so good luck with that. Regardless of who you have taking stats they will miss some, just because the can get involved in the game.

I was helping a coaching friend of mine in Florida... he was running the Open Post offense I ran... and while I was telling his kids to fill the lanes on shots.... he put it this way to them.... and I think this is a great way to get it across.....

"ATTACK THE BLOCKS!" This should help your offensive rebounding along with some scoring opportunities. 6'3 8th grader..... I rarely had kids that big after my first 5 years as the head coach. 6'6? I could only wish.... sure, I had one of those on rare occasions... but mine wanted to be 3 point shooters. :-)

Thanks to John Jenkins.

I face squads that have a 6'3" PG and SG, 6'4/5" SF/PF and 6'6" C almost every game.

Some are shorter, but most are along that line. I am on average 3 inches shorter at each position.

Of course, I come from the heart of NC. Basketball Breeding grounds here...except my school! :)

Remember, I was a boys varsity coach... and we were always undersized... so, we an an Open Post offense and used thier size against them.... we made their bigs play D around half court... they hated that... we used our quickness to even things up... along with having some very good perimetr shooters.... we were very patient and go the shots we wanted.... back door - takes to the basket... and IF You got lazy, we woulld stick a 3 on you.

Along with that, we had a few quick hitters to keep them off balance... play D vs the Open Post and get lazy, maybe sag a bit..... run that a few times and then we would come down and use a quick hitter. Even things up a bit.

Good luck with your situation.

I run a Spread Offense. Four out, Post player follows the ball around the paint. Everyone we play uses a Zone to take away our outside game. This is the first year for my post player and he is a natural, but still his first year. He misses a lot of open lanes and that causes my Wings to swing the ball right past him. I may pull him out and sub in a smaller forward who can somewhat shoot and completely open up. No one inside? Haven't tried that one yet...

Coach Sar, is this yours?

http://www.coachesclipboard.net/OpenPostDoubleUp.html

This looks like it may work for the last two teams we are facing...

I'm picking up that presses could be part of the problem, am I correct? I know at my 8th grade level it's the first thing every team we play (including us) tries to do, right out of the gate. It's an easy way to get a lead if the other team can't break a press or handle pressure. I work on our press breaks and concepts every practice, even if it's only 10 min. The kids know where to go and where their teammate should be for a pass. We've covered what the common presses are trying to do, so they know what to expect. Not perfect by any means, but we've made a lot more teams stop pressing in the first few minutes this year compared to last year.

Have you tried a different offense against zones? Especially against a 2-3 zone? We run a 1-3-1 offense against a 2-3 zone that works well.

I have tried to use a Cutters offense, ball-reversal, Zone Buster, Overload, everything. Yes, the press does give us fits. That is how we get down so quickly, then they lay off the press and trap at half court and push it up more, then go into a lazy D and thats when we FINALLY start attacking and scoring and getting back into it. I've tried all I know to beat the presses. Screens, Misdirections, Run-N-Gun, everything. Even took the "Chunk-N-Dunk" from our girls team and that didn't work! This group I have here just does not seem to grasp what I am trying to do. I say screen, they watch, I pull them, they shut down...constant battle.

Honestly, this group has been very difficult because so many of them are just starting or only been playing for 1-2 years. They have surpassed all expectations and have grown as players, they are just too timid and its a glaring flaw in close 4th Quarter games that get blown open to 20+ points.

The problems I have identified are as following:

Press/Trap Breaker
Rebounding (stopping 2nd Chance points)
Finishing Games in 4th Q

Regarding the presses/traps, I tried several press breakers and finally settled on two, one for M2M and one for zones. We use them on dead ball situations, they are pretty simple, but they work. On a made basket, we get the ball in quickly not letting them set up their press. The key for us was practicing them over and over until the kids knew their options. Against 1/2 court presses or zone presses in general, we covered Coach Sar's saying of, "put it where they ain't" and showed the kids where to go in the gaps. Once my players started seeing the gaps (holes) in the zones, they knew where to go and how to beat the presses.

We run three offenses, 4 out one in motion, 5 out motion, and our 1-3-1 zone offense. You might want to check out the 1-3-1, it took some practice, but the concepts are real easy.

Sounds like you're playing some good teams and have players who are still developing.