One area in [tag]coaching basketball[/tag] that is often neglected is assessing the progress of a game and how to correct it if you find your team on the losing side. Read below for a great suggestion on this topic:
From Jeff…
During 30 years of coaching [tag]basketball[/tag] I found a rule of thumb I made up for my game evaluation while the game is in progress, being very useful.
This rule never seemed to fail and was applicable to 99% of the games I coached and watched. Most of the time I can predict the outcome of a game at half time unless the game strategy is changed the moment my rule of thumb applies.
Just watch the scoreboard and see how much playing time remains in the game. Suppose there are 10 minutes left and you are less than 10 points behind. Then you are on course and can proceed with your set game plan.
However if you are more than 10 points behind, you have passed what I call the ‘critical point’, and you’ll have to change your offensive strategy. Obviously you have to close the gap and I want my players from that point on to get a higher shooting percentage than our opponents.
How to do that? By only finishing our attack with Layups and nothing else. So no more shooting from the perimeter, nor inside jumpshots. Just Layups, since these are high percentage shots. I call this [tag]basketball offense[/tag] system San Francisco (=Semy Freeze). Any player who shoots other than a Layup can go to the bench, even if he, or she, made the shot.
You will see that gradually your team will catch up and get out of the critical situation, i.e. unless your opposing [tag]basketball coach[/tag] also knows about this rule of thumb as well.