What are the biggest challenges in coaching, the Labors of Hercules? If great players make great coaches, then I argue that succeeding with less talented players might make even greater coaches. We have to be both diagnosticians and effective clinicians.
We celebrate Brad Stevens for getting to the NCAA Finals in consecutive seasons without the top-to-bottom roster of a Kentucky or Duke. In the same vein, we recognize the achievements of Shaka Smart at VCU or Jim Larranaga at George Mason. That doesn't demean renowned coaches who assemble talented rosters that play together and succeed. But we can find many brands of success.
Day-to-day, we have the four challenges of getting teams to play smart, play hard, play together, and have fun. I believe that the game has to be enjoyable and that finding ways to make mastery fun and competitive is a worthy challenge.
What are the major controllable obstacles to mastery in your program?
1. We need everyone to be able to handle defensive pressure? Our guards did well but sometimes we struggled against height. We can continue to work on 5 versus 7 (with and without dribbling), 2 versus 8 (2 defenders in each quarter of the court (lengthwise), and experiment with 'inversion', moving the bigs to the backcourt and guards higher.
2. We need passing and cutting to be more automatic. We have to work the "Shivek Drill" and 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 in the half court without dribbling. If you don't pass and cut then you don't get the ball. When we pass, cut, and receive we can be pretty good.
3. We need far better defensive communication. I have to demand and reward consistent communication. "Silent teams lose."
4. The feedback to players must be more frequent and 'verified'. Emphasis doesn't equal understanding. "Trust but verify."
5. We have to shoot better. We're small, the smallest team I've coached. Our shot selection was 'okay' but it has to be excellent. To get better shots, we need better passing. I need to give the players a shooting program and they need commitment to follow and monitor it.