"You can do anything, but not everything."
— David Allen
Friday, December 21, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Over-Coaching
"I think just about all teams are over-coached. They have a lot of defenses, but not one which they do particularly well. They have several offenses, but too often fail to take advantage of openings and mismatches. They have handfuls of out-of-bounds plays but seldom screen well or make sharp, well-timed cuts.
I don't think there's a grand formula for how many offenses, defenses and special plays any team should have. But I do know that most teams spend too much time going over movements and not enough time imporving their execution. I am often astonished watching TV and seeing big-name college teams look completely baffled trying to attack a common 2-3 zone."
- Dick Devenzio, Runnin' The Show
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Winning Statistics in Basketball: Stats That Matter
At the start of each media
timeout (at the first deadball after the 16, 12, 8 and 4 minute marks of each half), a Sports
Information worker hands me our stat sheet. It looks like this:
Technical fouls: -None. URI-None.
Points in the paint: -18, URI-60. Points off turnovers: -18, URI-28.
2nd chance points: -12, URI-7. Fast break points: -4, URI-20.
Bench Points: -31, URI-29.
What stats matter the most?
Dean Oliver, author of Basketball on Paper, has come up with four essential stats for winning basketball games:
Official Basketball Box
Score
Rhode Island College at. Rhode Island
12/16/2012 at 2:00 pm @ Kingston, RI
Rhode Island College at. Rhode Island
12/16/2012 at 2:00 pm @ Kingston, RI
VISITORS: Rhode Island
College (6-3)
TOT-FG
|
3-PT
|
REBOUNDS
|
||||||||||||||||||
#
|
Player Name
|
FG-FGA
|
FG-FGA
|
FT-FTA
|
OF
|
DE
|
TOT
|
PF
|
TP
|
A
|
TO
|
BLK
|
S
|
MIN
|
||||||
20
|
Vandell Andrade.....
|
f
|
1-5
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
3
|
3
|
6
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
16
|
|||||
31
|
Courtney Burns......
|
f
|
1-6
|
0-0
|
2-2
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
21
|
|||||
01
|
Danielle LeBlanc....
|
g
|
1-8
|
0-3
|
2-2
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
7
|
0
|
1
|
17
|
|||||
13
|
Cara Paladino.......
|
g
|
2-3
|
0-0
|
1-1
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
24
|
|||||
33
|
Ashley O'Dell.......
|
g
|
6-13
|
2-7
|
0-0
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
14
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
29
|
|||||
12
|
Megan Sewall........
|
3-8
|
1-2
|
3-4
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
10
|
4
|
6
|
0
|
2
|
22
|
||||||
14
|
Alexia Vega.........
|
1-1
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
21
|
||||||
21
|
Devin Hill..........
|
0-1
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
10
|
||||||
22
|
Melanie Cline.......
|
2-3
|
1-1
|
5-6
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
10
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
12
|
||||||
24
|
Michelle Lagrotteria
|
1-2
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
||||||
25
|
Stephanie Prusko....
|
3-6
|
1-3
|
0-0
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
7
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
25
|
||||||
TM
|
TEAM................
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
||||||||||||||
Totals..............
|
21-56
|
5-16
|
13-15
|
12
|
16
|
28
|
13
|
60
|
12
|
20
|
2
|
9
|
200
|
|||||||
TOTAL FG%
|
1st Half: 33.3%
|
2nd Half: 42.3%
|
Game: 37.5%
|
|||||||||||||||||
3-Pt. FG%
|
1st Half: 25.0%
|
2nd Half: 37.5%
|
Game: 31.2%
|
|||||||||||||||||
F Throw%
|
1st Half: 100.0%
|
2nd Half: 80.0%
|
Game: 86.7%
|
|||||||||||||||||
HOME TEAM: Rhode Island
(5-6)
TOT-FG
|
3-PT
|
REBOUNDS
|
||||||||||||||||||
#
|
Player Name
|
FG-FGA
|
FG-FGA
|
FT-FTA
|
OF
|
DE
|
TOT
|
PF
|
TP
|
A
|
TO
|
BLK
|
S
|
MIN
|
||||||
01
|
Tayra Melendez......
|
F
|
7-13
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
14
|
0
|
4
|
2
|
3
|
23
|
|||||
25
|
Lara Gaspar.........
|
F
|
8-10
|
0-0
|
0-1
|
3
|
3
|
6
|
2
|
16
|
7
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
24
|
|||||
34
|
Samantha Tabakman...
|
F
|
9-12
|
0-0
|
3-4
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
21
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
24
|
|||||
14
|
Teneka Whittaker....
|
G
|
1-2
|
0-0
|
0-1
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
4
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
18
|
|||||
23
|
Brianna Thomas......
|
G
|
3-8
|
0-3
|
1-1
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
0
|
7
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
25
|
|||||
03
|
Kerry Wallack.......
|
2-4
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
22
|
||||||
05
|
Ajanae Boone........
|
5-6
|
3-4
|
0-0
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
13
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
19
|
||||||
21
|
Symone Bullard......
|
2-2
|
0-0
|
0-2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
13
|
||||||
24
|
Megan Straumann.....
|
2-6
|
1-2
|
1-2
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
6
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
13
|
||||||
32
|
Sydney Lewis........
|
1-1
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
7
|
||||||
33
|
Tati Johnson........
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
12
|
||||||
TM
|
TEAM................
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
0
|
1
|
||||||||||||||
Totals..............
|
40-64
|
4-9
|
5-11
|
12
|
24
|
36
|
15
|
89
|
28
|
17
|
2
|
11
|
200
|
|||||||
TOTAL FG%
|
1st Half: 62.2%
|
2nd Half: 63.0%
|
Game: 62.5%
|
|||||||||||||||||
3-Pt. FG%
|
1st Half: 40.0%
|
2nd Half: 50.0%
|
Game: 44.4%
|
|||||||||||||||||
F Throw%
|
1st Half: 50.0%
|
2nd Half: 0.0%
|
Game: 45.5%
|
|||||||||||||||||
Score by Periods
|
1
|
2
|
Total
|
|
Rhode Island College
|
27
|
33
|
-
|
60
|
Rhode Island........
|
53
|
36
|
-
|
89
|
Officials: Michael DoCouto,
Fatou Cissolo-Stephens, Amy Todey
Attendance: 447
Attendance: 447
Technical fouls: -None. URI-None.
Points in the paint: -18, URI-60. Points off turnovers: -18, URI-28.
2nd chance points: -12, URI-7. Fast break points: -4, URI-20.
Bench Points: -31, URI-29.
There are close to 20 pieces of
information you can take from this stat sheet on your team alone- everything from individual player stats
(shots made/missed, rebounds, fouls, blocks, minutes played) to team stats
(shooting %, points in the paint, points off turnovers, scores per half). This
doesn’t include the stats that we take as coaches on the bench, which include:
opponent scoring runs, our team’s offensive droughts, charting offensive and
defensive efficiency, counting charges, paint touches, ball reversals, post
entries, etc.
In a 30, 60 or 90 second
timeout….which pieces of information do you look at? What do you choose to
ignore and what do you relay to the team?
What stats matter the most?
I love the quote “a jack of all
trades is a master of none”. Many coaches try to be good at too many things. My
perspective is that it’s better to be excellent at a few things than average at
many things.
Dean Oliver, author of Basketball on Paper, has come up with four essential stats for winning basketball games:
1.
Effective Field Goal Percentage (he weighs made 3pt
shots more than a 2pt field goal)
2.
Turnovers (need to have the ball to score!)
3.
Offensive Rebounding (dramatically increases your field
goal percentage)
4.
Getting to the free throw line (and, in essence,
drawing fouls from the other team)
You can see how Dean Oliver calculates the % here.
There is also a more complex formula called Player
Efficiency Rating (PER), created by ESPN columnist John Hollinger. Check out
his formula here. It's focused on individuals and can be used to objectively determine a player's impact on the game.
Maybe one of the most simple and effective statistical
formulas for measuring an individual’s efficiency on the basketball court is
Oregon Tech coach Danny Miles’s “Value Point System”.
Numerator =
Pts + Rebounds + (2 x Assists) + (2 x Recovery Stats)
Denominator =
(2 x FG Missed) + FT Missed + (2 x Fouls) + (2 x TO)
Recovery Stats =
Steals + Blocks + (Charges x 1.5)
Take Numerator and divide by Denominator
Scale: 1.75+ is Excellent, 1.5 – 1.74 is Very Good, 1.25 –
1.49 is Good, 1 – 1.24 is Fair, and anything .99 or below is Poor.
Jim Crowley, head coach at St. Bonaventure University, talks about the "Moneyball" concept and how he implemented this system with great success in this ESPN Article. Moneyball highlights another advantage of stats: focusing on several pieces of the game that you can track and measure that, if a certain standard is met, puts your team in a great position to win the game. Coach Crowley focused on turnovers and how much time his team had the ball in their hands. His philosophy was simple: if we have the ball, they can't score!
The beauty of stats is they are objective pieces of data.
There is no bias or emotional influence on the formula. They are easily
measured and can be a benchmark for success.
Quote of the Day:
"If
a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful
minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make
a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher (or coach!)."
Abdul Kalam
Abdul Kalam
Monday, December 17, 2012
Athletes and ACL's: Focus on Prevention
"Every year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn't assured".
ACL tears are all too common and injury to female athletes outweigh their male counterparts 3:1. Unfortunately, coaches in women's sports have come to accept torn ACL's as part of life. Can we be doing more to prevent tears? Research says YES!
A 2000 study performed by Dr. Bert Mandelbaum, team physician at Pepperdine, indicated that neuromuscular training can prevent roughly three-quarters of ACL injuries
Plyometric exercises and neuromuscular training:
-->
Complex jumping and agility
drills teaches athletes how to leap, plant, pivot and land properly. Legs
should be bent upon landing, toes shouldn’t be pointed out and cuts should made
with hips square, for instance.
A few years ago at the Final Four I ran into a company with a great selling point: why are we putting our female athletes in men's shoes? For our team, some of our ADIDAS shoes HAVE to be ordered in a men's shoe. Men and women's bodies are clearly different; the logic follows that shoe design should be unique to each sex.
The shoe company, Nfinity, talks about the "Q Angle" which is the "alignment between the hip and knee joints". I think they might be on to something... look at their shoe here.
Alan Stein, from strongerteam.com, has a preview on YouTube of one of his DVD's focusing on training to prevent ACL injuries:
Just as we train our athletes for sport specific skills like shooting or passing, coaches should spend some time focusing on developing the athlete's bodies by strengthening their balance, increasing agilities and training correct body movement. Who knows, 8 minutes a day could save one of your athlete's 8 months of rehab!
plyometric
exercises and neuromuscular training. This array of complex jumping and
agility drills teaches athletes how to leap, plant, pivot and land
properly. Legs should be bent upon landing, toes shouldn’t be pointed
out and cuts should made with hips square, for instance.
A 2000 study performed by Dr. Bert Mandelbaum, team physician at Pepperdine, indicated that neuromuscular training can prevent roughly three-quarters of ACL injuries. Mandelbaum put more than 1,000 female high school soccer players in California on neuromuscular training regimens while a control group practiced normally. Only 0.2 percent of those who engaged in neuromuscular training tore ACLs, while 1.7 percent of the control group suffered the injury, an 88 percent difference. A year later, the same study was performed, yielding a 74 percent injury gap between those with and without the training.
- See more at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.EgRD4Xvb.dpuf
A 2000 study performed by Dr. Bert Mandelbaum, team physician at Pepperdine, indicated that neuromuscular training can prevent roughly three-quarters of ACL injuries. Mandelbaum put more than 1,000 female high school soccer players in California on neuromuscular training regimens while a control group practiced normally. Only 0.2 percent of those who engaged in neuromuscular training tore ACLs, while 1.7 percent of the control group suffered the injury, an 88 percent difference. A year later, the same study was performed, yielding a 74 percent injury gap between those with and without the training.
- See more at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.EgRD4Xvb.dpuf
Every
year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports
will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo
reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their
final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most
trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See
more at:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf
Every
year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports
will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo
reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their
final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most
trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See
more at:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf
Every
year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports
will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo
reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their
final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most
trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See
more at:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf
Every
year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports
will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo
reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their
final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most
trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See
more at:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf
Every
year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports
will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo
reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their
final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most
trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See
more at:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf
Every
year, more than 2,000 NCAA student-athletes across 15 high-risk sports
will feel that bomb detonate inside their knee, hear the menacing echo
reverberate through their body, endure a few minutes of misery in their
final moments on the playing surface and eight or more of the most
trying months of their lives off it. Next season isn’t assured. - See
more at:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/Champion+Features/obstacle+course#sthash.uFdDcrBz.U3RigI0L.dpuf
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