November 28th, 2018 is one of the most important days in my young coaching career. It had been 1,012 days since my last day standing on the sideline coaching these same kids as freshman. Just 368 days prior I was listening to their first game of the season on the radio 278 miles during my lunch break at work. After months of summer games and fall open gyms, we were ready to open up the 2018-19 season. We welcomed in one of the favorites to win the 5A classification on our home floor. You never know what do expect during the first game. We’d had 10 practices and high expectations but putting it together on the court takes a lot more than that.
It Begins with Belief
During tryouts we asked each of the kids who had made the varsity basketball team in a one on one setting the same question. “Do you believe we can win the state championship?” The word believe was the key. As a staff, we knew we had the talent, but talent without belief and buy in from our 12-man roster wouldn’t get the job done in the second largest classification in the state, largest from a number of teams perspective. After an underwhelming year the prior season, expectations outside our gym were low. All we cared about was the expectations within our gym, within our circle of players and staff.
Playing to Your Individual and Team Strengths
Great coaches adjust to the strengths of their players, even if that means playing a different style than their first preference. Can you put your players in situations to succeed? Are you playing to your individual player strengths? How does your philosophy make the team better? We had a slower start to the season than anticipated. We had a tough schedule before Christmas, including an out of state road trip and games against two of the best 5A teams in the state. We finished 5-4 before the break and had been battle tested. We lost our last game heading into Christmas break, and knew we needed to hit the ground running coming into January. We had some tough conversations and practices during that time, and the team responded. We had two traditional bigs and decided to play them together more often after the break. We began seeing zone defense on a game to game basis, so we put in a high low motion zone offense to get our bigs active in the paint and create more movement on the perimeter. We had a dominant point guard who excelled in the pick and roll. We stretched the floor as much as possible with the shooters we had and ran cutters on the weak side to negate help. This helped us go on to win 10 of 11 games to end the season, finishing as the regular season district champions, amassing 15 wins. This was step one.
Execute the Game Plan
We sat for a while before our first district tournament game and played the one opponent who had upset us earlier in the season. We played at a neutral site and found ourselves down 7 at the half. We were fighting some sickness and visible rust. We had been prepping for the probability that whoever we played would try to slow the game down and limit possessions. This led us to putting in a half court 1-2-2 press. We had length and athleticism on the point and wings to track and deflect passes and bigs in the paint to protect the rim and rebound. We made halftime adjustments but fell behind by 13 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. I suggested it was time for our 1-2-2 half court press. It was do or die. We had to make something happen quick. We sped up the game and took the momentum with some timely three-point shots. We finished the game on a 33-9 run in the closing 13 minutes, winning by 11. We ran through the district championship game and punched out ticket to the state tournament. This was step two.
We opened up the state tournament against the number 1 team in the state, the only opponent to beat us twice during the regular season. We centered our defensive philosophy around their 4 best players, knowing depth was their weakness. We played a no-guard rover defense, baiting their 5th man on the floor to take the open shot. If he made a high volume, we would live with that. They struggled in transition and had big physical guards. We knew we needed some easy buckets in transition. We grinded out a 5 point victory with our leading scorer being held scoreless until hitting 5 free throws down the stretch to seal the game.
We went into our second game in as many days facing the leading scorer in the state of Idaho. Size wise, we knew we had the advantage to punish them. Again, we could go to a sag and help defense, with our post protecting the middle of the paint and drives from their star. If their scorer earned them, we were ok with that. He scored 25 points on 25 attempts, essentially eliminating any help from his teammates. We held a steady lead all game long and won by 11. We earned a spot in the state championship game.
We had a matchup with the three-time defending state champ and were being written off before the game had even started. We were confident and had a chip on our shoulder. We beat Preston two years prior in the district championship game, and they wanted every bit of revenge. Our game plan consisted of stopping transition offense and guarding the three. If the ball was going into their post, we were fine with that. This allowed our 6’10 post to play one on one defense and would also keep the ball off the three-point line. We went into halftime with a one-point lead in a back and forth game. The second half continued to remain close. We had a sideline out of bounds play with 8 seconds left. We drew a high pick and roll off a side out of bounds for a look at the hoop and chance to win in regulation. We had two attempts at the rim but came up short. The game went into overtime. Our first game back from Christmas break was an overtime victory on the road, so that was our message to the team. “We’ve been prepared for this opportunity; we know how to get this win.” A few seconds into the overtime, the heart and soul of our team fouled out. We gave up the first basket before outscoring our opponent 15-6. We captured the state championship and ended the 31-year title drought at Idaho Falls High School. State accolades and recognition poured in for our players and coaches. Two of our stars signed to play NAIA basketball. One at Rocky Mountain College and the other at the College of Idaho. Two others signed to played collegiate baseball. We welcome five returners to the 2019-2020 season. We’ll coach to lead, challenging our players to buy in. We’ll coach and play to their strengths, putting them in position to execute the game plan with confidence.
Coach to Lead
The best teams win multiple ways, and that was a strength of our team. We actually preferred to get in the open court and run first, but we could really execute the half-court game too. A lot of our district opponents slowed it down against us the second time we played them, so we learned to execute to precision. It also helped that we held opponents to shoot 30% from the field. We had to be dynamic in the ways we could play and win basketball games. It started day one. We told our team the first week of practice, after analyzing a few years of state champions across multiple classifications, that we needed to average 60–65ppg offensively, and hold opponents to 48–52ppg. After going 20–5 and winning the conference and state championship, we ended up scoring 59.2ppg and holding opponents to 49.3ppg. Even more important, I had a player tell me he now knew what the rewards of hard work were, and he wouldn’t change a thing about the season, including his personal sacrifices. That’s a life lesson that’ll help him succeed for years to come. That’s a leadership lesson he won’t forget. Those are the impacts that truly matter.