by Alan Stein 5. January 2011 02:35
This is Part I of a two part series on WHAT WE DO.
I am thankful to be a part of one of the most storied high school basketball programs of all-time. If you aren’t familiar with DeMatha Basketball’s history – please Google it.
We ended 2010 on a high note and won the prestigious Nike Les Schwab Invitational in Portland, OR. We won four games in four days including wins over two nationally ranked teams (Jesuit from Portland and Bishop Gorman from Las Vegas). We accomplished our two primary goals – our kids played well and our kids had fun. Winning seems to take care of itself when you do those two things consistently. We are now 11-0 (3-0 in the WCAC) and face a daunting January schedule highlighted by a game against CoachBob Hurley’s St. Anthony’s Friars at the HoopHall Classic in Springfield, MA on ESPN (Saturday, January 15th…set your DVRs).
I am flattered to receive hundreds of emails, Tweets, and Facebook messages from players and coaches around the world asking questions about our program. While I am committed to personally responding to each inquiry, I felt this blog was the perfect forum to share WHAT WE DO.
While we certainly have talented players, it takes more than talent to win consistently. It takes leadership (from the players and coaches), teamwork (from everyone in the program), and a commitment toexcellence (both on and off the court). We pride ourselves in those 3 areas.
Our coaching staff is unique in that I am the only member of the varsity staff that did not play and graduate from DeMatha! Head Coach Mike Jones and our 5 assistant coaches all played for the legendary Morgan Wootten (most all-time wins in high school basketball history and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame). So our staff understands what it means to play at DeMatha and does a tremendous job of instilling that tradition in our players.
Coach Jones is a brilliant coach and really connects with our players. He has clearly defined every player’s role on the team and has gotten everyone to buy in. He believes firmly in the concept of ‘next play’ (a Coach K-ism) and says that repeatedly during practices and games. If a player makes a bonehead play – he quickly gets them to move on to the next play. If the ref makes a horrendous call – he doesn’t dwell on it and moves on to the next play. This concept keeps our players in the moment instead of worrying about the past. This also helps prevent an emotional roller coaster. When you look at Coach Jones’ face, or the faces of our players, it’s hard to tell whether we are up 10 or down 10. Staying in the moment has been critical to our success.
Along those lines, Coach Jones prevents information overload and keeps things simple, especially with scouting reports. He usually mentions our opponent’s primary strengths (‘they like to run and are great on the offensive boards’) and weaknesses (‘their point guard doesn’t like to be pressured’) and maybe one of their offensive sets or out of bounds plays. That’s it. He prefers to keep our focus on WHAT WE DO. Coach Jones understands how important the mental side of basketball is… he has said numerous times that “you can’t just play the game – you have to think the game.” High school players get stifled if you give them too much to think about.
When we play on a non school day (like in tournaments); we have a morning shoot around. They are very structured, yet very basic. We start with a great warm-up, then go to full court fast break drills (to get a sweat), a myriad of shooting drills (game shots from game spots at game speed), and run through our offensive sets and out of bounds plays (against defense). We spend the last couple of minutes discussing our opponent. We pack a punch during that hour.
Our assistant coaches do a phenomenal job. They don’t try to over-coach or out-coach each other; they simply do whatever they have to do to help our program. While our assistants would make outstanding head coaches, no one on our staff approaches their job as a stepping stone to something else – no hidden agendas. Our assistants are 100% committed to the DeMatha Basketball program.
Even though we have a young team (only 3 seniors), our players exude exceptional leadership (although it is not as vocal as we would like). The older players show the younger guys the ropes and are an extension of the coaching staff in carrying the DeMatha legacy. Coach Jones also reinforces team leadership by letting the players make several decisions such as what to wear to games, what to eat for pre-game, etc. It is then their job to communicate with each other and make sure everyone is on time and dressed appropriately.
Even though I posted these videos over a month ago, they give you a visual of WHAT WE DO to prepare for practice and games:
http://TinyUrl.com/DeMathaPreGameWarmUp
http://TinyUrl.com/PrePracticeWarmUp
http://TinyUrl.com/PostPracticeStretch
Part II of this series will focus on the 5 characteristics that have lead to our success.
Please let me know if I can ever be of service to you or your program. Email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.comand I will respond as quickly as possible.
Train hard. Train smart.
Alan Stein