A couple of things I have found my players enjoy during practice the day before a game is our V-cut shooting drill when we base it against our next opponent. Check out my tip on scouting reports on upcoming opponents also. It is quite effective!
V-cut Shooting Drill
We start off shooting from the baseline and wing. The object of the shooting is to get to 60 pts. If we make a shot we get a point if we miss our opponent gets a point.
2 balls are used for the drill pass,V-cut, and get you’re own rebound. We emphasize the pass, the cut, hands, and feet.
After a score of 20 is reached, by either side, we begin shooting from both elbow areas.
After a score of 20 is reached we switch to the opposite baseline and wing spots for the final round.
What I’ve found is that my players level of concentration goes up due to the competition, and they’re definitely upset when they loose, especially if it’s against a rival, often wanting a rematch.
Opponent Scouting Reports
Instead of giving scouting reports on upcoming opponents I show a tape of the team for 15 mins. I have the players bring their own notebooks. They write down what offense, defense, sets and player characteristics they see in their notebook. We discuss what they wrote down in the next 10 min. We then hand out the official scout report and they compare their notes with the report.
It gets them involved at truly WATCHING the tape and gathering info. Gets them really involved and they get a better understanding of the upcoming opponent. They seem to take more ownership this way. Try it!
If you enjoyed this post, you’ll really like this basketball coaching article I just wrote.