Total Pageviews

Monday, October 20, 2025

Basketball - Make One Plus One Equal Three

Ken Burns says common stories are one plus one equals two; the good ones are one plus one equals three. Morgan Housel calls that leverage—two habits that compound into more than their parts.

Many of you have lived your own March Madness. I did fifty years ago. My twin daughters did twenty years ago. I hope you wrote great stories.

Think Hoosiers: the rim is ten feet, the lane the same width - same court as back home. The stage changes; the standards don’t.

The 2025–26 Premortem

A premortem examination allows you to anticipate and fix problems that haven't occurred. If someone told you today the season will fall short, why? Write the obituary now, then fix it.

Beyond your control

  • Injuries/illness

  • Transfers/eligibility quirks

  • Bad luck (whistles, bounces, brackets)

Acknowledge it—then build buffers: depth, simple packages for next-up guards/wings, minutes management.

Within your control

  • Motivation: Did daily work connect to a purpose and a role?

  • Teamwork: Did we share the ball and the credit—screen, space, extra pass?

  • Resilience: Did we have a reset to stop runs? Could we play "uphill," facing deficits. Did we have depth to control for injuries or other intangibles? If the point guard fouls out early in the fourth quarter, how do we run the offense and break the press? 

  • Decision-making: Did we follow our shot profile and ban "shot turnovers?"

  • Coaching: Did our schemes fit our personnel—and did we adjust fast?

Premortem → Plan

1) Standards that travel (Four Factors + 1). What do you expect? Fill in your blanks. 

  • eFG%: ≥ ___% (shots we want: rim, FT line, clean rhythm 3s)

  • TOV%: ≤ ___% (no live-ball gifts)

  • ORB%: ≥ ___% or DRB%: ≥ ___% (pick one as identity)

  • FT Rate: ≥ ___ (pressure the paint)

  • PACE with purpose: transition chances ≥ ___ per half

2) Roles and leverage

  • Each player names their keep-you-on-the-floor skill (on-ball defense, screening, corner 3, rim runs).

  • Each player names an “out pitch” (the difference-maker under pressure):

    • PG: paint touch → spray

    • Wing: corner 3 + 1-more pass

    • Big: early rim run + verticality

    • Sixth: two hustle plays/quarter (charge, deflection, O-board)

3) Pressure packages (win the last 4 minutes)

  • ATO offense (2 sets)

  • BLOB/SLOB (2 automatics)

Defense (what would you adjust now?)

  • ICE side PnR; when we switch defenses?

  • Switch 1–4 late clock; 

4) Film & feedback cadence

  • Weekly: 5 clips/player (3 keep, 2 fix).

  • Practice: one cue/day posted (e.g., “get 2 feet in the paint before pass”).

  • Game card: shot chart by zone + paint touches and pass-to-assist counts.

What Leverage Looks Like (1+1=3) 

  • Paint touch + one-more pass get corner 3s, higher eFG%

  • Wall up + gang rebound to kill second chances

  • Nail help + low-man early to take away driving lanes without giving up rhythm kickouts

  • Early drag screen + rim run create foul pressure + dump-offs

Cue Card (in team room)

  • Today’s one thing: __________

  • Metric & target: __________ (e.g. turnover reduction)

  • Cue word: __________ (e.g. red, fronting the post) 

  • My out pitch tonight: __________ 

Same court. Same standards. Better habits. Make two things add up to three.

Lagniappe. Wisdom from millenia ago 




Posted by at