Q&A Mailbag: Crazy College Success!

  Welcome to the mailbag! We’ve received some great questions and comments on our recent articles and content lately.  Before we get to the articles and questions, we wanted to feature some coaches…  Breakthrough College Coaches Keep On Winning!  This week we are looking at some of our college coaches. Just like our high school coaches, they continue to have tremendous success! Stay tuned, we will soon be profiling the accomplishments of some of our camp coaches.  1 - Tim Schuring (expert behind the [Complete Offensive System]( and [Becoming a 3-Dimensional Scorer]( took over the Mt. Mercy women’s team during the 20-21 season. A year after they finished 5-24. Coach Schuring has a track record of transforming high school and college programs into winners! And once again, he took this program to their first winning season (17-11) in 9 years.  2 - Tom Billeter (expert behind the [Rocket Ball Screen Offense]( finished 19-11 this season and has been a staple of consistency during his 21 years at Augustana. While they didn’t finish 26-4 with a conference championship like they did two years ago, winning 63% of your games in one season at the college level is no easy feat.  NEW Coaching Articles, Plays, Drills & Videos (ALL Age Levels):  [Best of March Madness - UConn Ball Screen To Stagger](  [Best of March Madness - Indiana Ghost Screen To Hi Lo](  [Best of March Madness - Marquette Need 3 BLOB](  [2v1 Fast Break Drill: Develops Better Ball Handling, Passing, Scoring, and Decision Making](   NEW YOUTH Coaching Articles, Drills, & Videos:  [Why Too Many 5v5 Games Can Slow Player Development](  [Should You Stop Using 1v1 Drills?](   NEW Training Articles, Drills, & Videos:  [5 Tips for Changing Your ShotÂ](  [Become a Dynamic Dribbler With This Simple "Random" Drill for Elite Handles](  [Transform Your Shooting Skills with a Quick 20-Minute Solo Workout](  [Youth Athletic Development Workout - Improve Jumping, Strength, Quickness, and Injury Prevention](   Today’s Mailbag  Taking Away What A Player Does Best  In the aftermath of the women’s national championship game, there was a lot of talk about Raven Johnson’s defensive effort on Caitlin Clark.   One interesting aspect of Johnson’s approach was that she forced Clark (who is right handed) to her right.  Why?  Because when Clark goes right she goes to the rim (where 6’7 Kamilla Cardoso was waiting). However, when she goes left, she looks to step back and shoot 3’s. South Carolina wanted to take those shots away.   While it’s unconventional to force a righty to her right, it worked. And it gets to the point of forcing players to play to their weaknesses.   That’s the whole goal of Rob Brost’s [Man Left Defense](.  And this leads to an interesting observation from Facebook…  Question: How do all players contribute to the man left defense?  Richard Raught made this observation about player X1 in the man left defense.  [diagram]   Jeff Huber’s Response:  I understand where Richard is coming from. X1 is not in position to help if 2 drives right. However, that doesn’t make X1 a spectator. X1 is filling a crucial role. They are shrinking the floor by denying 1. Remember, the goal is that once the ball gets to the left side, it stays there. The combination of X1’s denial and X2 forcing the ball to the left corner make that happen!  Questions and Comments: How Do You Mix Teaching Plays And Concepts?   In response to a [post]( about Indiana using a simple action to get the ball inside, Joe Haefner noted that too many coaches get caught up on complex actions when the goal is to score in the simplest possible way. (I just heard JJ Reddick mention this as one of the key differences between NBA and NCAA basketball - NBA coaches don’t worry so much about “fluff” and instead get right to creating the advantage.)  Reader @CoachCollinV asked:    “How do I teach concepts? I heard 3v3 small games are great for this. But for someone who grew up in a town playing ball with these complicated plays, I’m trying to teach the high school guys to understand it. How do I do that?”  Jeff Huber’s response:  Great question! You are recognizing the importance of the play after the play. Whether your sets are simple or complicated, it’s important that your players can flow into other actions and your base offense if the play doesn’t result in a shot.  When teaching your plays, use defenders so that your players can see where the defense will be. This allows you to teach them counters if the defense switches or traps.   Then reinforce the importance of flowing into conceptual offense once the play ends. Those concepts can absolutely be taught through 3v3, using various constraints.   For example, if you want to emphasize drive and kick, you could play 3v3 but only count baskets that come after a paint touch. If you want to emphasize making the extra pass, give double points to shots off a “1 more pass.”   If cutting is the concept you’re training, make baskets off cuts worth double. Whatever the concept, incentivize it in your games.  Over time, increase to 4v4 and then 5v5 to make the offense more game like.   If you do that, your players will have the best of both worlds. The ability to execute sets and the ability to seamlessly flow into offensive actions once the set ends!  Comment: Read and React Shooting Drill  On this instagram post about [Jim Huber’s contested “Shot Read” drill]( we received this comment from pnw3on3:  “Love IQ building drills!”  Totally agree! Knowing how to shoot is critical, but so is knowing when to shoot! This drill does a great job of helping players with the shot/drive decision!  Question: Beating Pressure With Your Teams  This question came in from reader David Gerard:  “My son plays on a 12U team, and while they do pass fakes and other misdirections, but they are not as effective as I think they should be. It occurs to me that while the defense is aggressive and most teams lean towards a “swarm and trap” approach, the kids in fact may not be playing at a level where they are watching the offense’s eyes, or making anticipatory moves, so that fakes and other ball and off-ball movements are not effective because the defense is really relying on the fact that the ball handler can’t handle the speed and pressure, rather than playing strategic defense. In this environment, are there any strategies that our team can employ to create good spacing and opportunities on the court?”  Jeff Huber’s Response:  This is a common problem with youth teams. Handling pressure and not getting out of sorts is an issue. Don Kelbick covers this with [4 drills to combat pressure defense]( Check this out - each one gives your team options while maintaining good spacing. Let us know if they help!  Continue The Discussion: The Value Of AAU v Skill Development  Joe Haefner’s [tweet on Steph Curry taking a summer off]( of AAU sparked a spirited discussion on the balance between playing and skill development. Let’s keep the conversation going!  Breakthrough Product Review  We continue to recently receive great reviews on many of our products, and I want to share a few with you today so you can see if they’re the right fit for you.  Here are a few recent reviews of [How To Run Championship Practices with Ryan Schultz](  Coach Schultz covers all bases. Very good structure and drills are competitive. -Maurice B.  I like the Philosophical thinking behind practices. Good video graphics. Good, short and effective video clips. -Cameron B.  And this one for [The Breakthrough Shooting & Scoring System with Jim Huber](  I like the clear instructions listed in each video by the coach and written with text too. Also like the explanation of each part of the shooting mechanics. -B. Ripar   Breakthrough Customer Service  We recently received this response from a reader after being able to solve their problem. We pride ourselves on elite service - happy to help!  “Oh bless you, thank you so much! That is so helpful, I appreciate it very much!  Let me just say that your folks’ customer service – like this – is why I keep coming back to Breakthrough Basketball. I have bought coaching videos from other sources before, but once I make the purchase I feel like I am out on an island J. Anytime I have had a question about a product you folks are so prompt in your replies and very helpful. I appreciate it very much and will be making more purchases in the near future (I have my eye on a couple of products J).  Thanks again very much and have a blessed day!"  Breakthrough Basketball Camps  A review from 2023 camper Kintrevian Smith:  “I loved the camp. I know my son left there with more confidence and that was my goal. My son didn’t even use his right hand before camp and now he does. I know my son was happy, he made new friends. He has big dreams for basketball so this was a great start for him. I look forward to signing him up for any other events coming up.”  Breakthrough Camps Starting Soon! [Stoughton, Wisconsin]( - April 19-21 - Grades 5 to 10 [Durango, Colorado]( - April 20-21 - Grades 5 to 10 [Marlboro, New Jersey]( - April 20-21 - Grades 5 to 10 [Draper, Utah]( - April 20-21 - Grades 5 to 10 [Peosta, Iowa]( - April 26-28 - Grades 5 to 10 [Spring Green, Wisconsin]( - April 26-28 - Grades 7 to 12 [St. Cloud, Minnesota]( - April 26-28 - Grades 5 to 10 [Waterloo, Iowa]( - April 26-28 - Grades 5 to 10 These are just some of the camps running over the next few weeks! Here is our [entire 2024 spring and summer camp schedule]( with over 400+ camps.   Closing Notes  Thanks so much for reading this edition of the Breakthrough Basketball Mailbag! Stay tuned for upcoming editions, featuring more of your questions and comments. We value your input and look forward to helping you on your journey to success.  If you have any thoughts on the type of content you’d like to see more of in upcoming mailings, please feel free to shoot us a reply and let us know!   All the best, Jeff Huber Breakthrough Basketball  This email was sent to {EMAIL} because you indicated that you'd like to receive emails and updates from Breakthrough Basketball on 2016-12-16 05:42:39. If you don't want to receive such emails in the future, please [Change Your Email Preferences]( or [Unsubscribe All]( Copyright © Breakthrough Basketball, LLC. All rights reserved. Breakthrough Basketball, LLC. | 5001 1st Ave. SE, Ste 105 #254 | Cedar Rapids | IA | 52402 [email.gif] . It’s our mission to build a strong community centered around basketball, personal development and most importantly - fun! We love to create extraordinary and useful products and share them with you! 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