Slappin' Glass Newsletter: "Defense-A-Palooza"
Helping the Helper
Welcome to our “Sunday Mornin’ Newsletter”, where we consolidate many of the best ideas, strategies, and basketball content from around the world. It’s been a busy week, as we released an extra newsletter and podcast during our “Overstuffed Content” Thanksgiving Week. In today’s newsletter we’ll cover:
“Attacking the Tag” Newsletter and Video release
Insights from our “Defense-A-Palooza” podcast with Josh Schertz
Team USA Basketball’s Executive Chef, Shawn Loving podcast
NCAA is Back!
Best Sets of the Week
Food for Thought
Let’s dive in…
Attacking the Tag
A few weeks ago we started compiling much of the material that we had on how offenses effectively attacked the “Tag” or “help defender” in a PnR action with idea to curate it into one central piece of content.
We took a Thoreau-esque approach for a couple days and the result was this week’s release of a Special Newsletter AND a full length YouTube breakdown on “12 Modern Concepts and Actions to Attack the Tag”.
We recommend reading the newsletter along with the video, as they mirror each other.
You can get the full newsletter HERE. (Warning… it is lengthy and in-depth.)
Here is the breakdown…
For those interested in this “Deep-Dive” approach to specific concepts, here are a few of our “Most Read” Newsletters and the topics visited:
Defense-A-Palooza with Josh Schertz
Coach Josh Schertz is a 4-Time NCAA DII Coach of the Year and well known for his offensive prowess over the course of his career at Lincoln Memorial University. But, when we spoke a few weeks ago about topics for the podcast, we decided to go in a different direction and dive head first into a “Defense-A-Palooza” podcast covering many of the most pressing (no pun intended) defensive topics in today’s game.
Here are just a few of the topics we explored during the podcast:
Teaching team communication
Defensive Transition principles
Playing in gaps and being in “two places at once”
Guarding “Split Action”, “Spain Action”, and Middle PNR’s
The importance of not fouling
and we did talk offense during… “Overrated or Underrated?!”
It is evident in listening back to Coach Schertz’s podcast that he is one of the highest level teachers and communicators in the game.
If you are enjoying the podcast, we’d appreciate a Rating and Review on Apple to help it continue to grow. You can do that HERE. Thank you!
Team USA Basketball - Let’s Eat!
What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving here in the U.S. then to sit down with the Executive Chef for Team USA Basketball, Shawn Loving? In this “Special Episode” of the podcast, we peeled back the curtain and got a peek into how Chef Loving feeds some of the world’s best athletes and coaches with Team USA. We covered areas applicable to coaches including:
Best Post and Pre-Game meals and eating practices
Foods to help coaches sustain prolonged energy
And during “Overrated or Underrated?!” we explored:
Detroit Pizza
Chocolate Milk as a Recovery Drink
Salts
Sugars
Smoothies
Juices
This episode was a lot of fun and we learned a ton from a food/health perspective. Thank you to Coach Jeff Steines for this great review…
Best Sets of the Week
1) {Slovenia - Reverse Screen to Flare-Slip} A really nice action here out of the Slovenian Basketball League. We’ve always loved the “Flare Slip” movement.
2) { Igor Kokoskov - Post RIP Screen } Coach Kokoskov strikes again on our weekly list, this time with a sneaky “Post RIP” action.
3) { Jaume Ponsarnau - End of Qtr Quick Hitter } This action from Coach Ponsarnau and Valencia uses a great “Ghost Screen” followed by a “Shallow Cut” to get the defense in rotation.
{ Extra Credit - “How Do You Guard “Spain Action”? } As mentioned above in our podcast with Coach Josh Schertz, here’s a look at some of the ways teams choose to guard “Stack/Spain Action”.
NCAA Basketball is Back
College basketball tipped off this past week. The opening slot of games provided tons of great content and strategies to dive into, so be on the lookout for some breakdowns this week. We did see Jump Stops, Second Cuts, “45 Cuts”, “Bilbao Action”, and “Split Action” on full display.
Food For Thought
Here’s what we’ve enjoyed reading this week:
We’ve had a ton of great support from the coaching community and we know there are many great sharers of the game out there as well. Here are a few that we really enjoy following. (We know we missed a bunch and will do this again soon!)
What athletes can teach us about surviving during a pandemic.
The value of “Pursuing Curiosities with Unclear Goals or Utility”
If you enjoy this newsletter we’d appreciate a share with fellow coaches or basketball fans/junkies. You can do that here…
Thanks for reading and have a great week coaching,
Dan and Pat
For ideas or to talk hoops… slappinglass1024@gmail.com