Program Philosophy: The primary goal of the program is to inspire the student athletes to accomplish great things by providing

a caring, nurturing, and challenging atmosphere. We place strong emphasis on the development of mental toughness. The ability to control thoughts and actions and maintain a focus on what is truly important in calm and poised way while under pressure is essential to the success of the team. Unsportsmanlike conduct such as poor body language, moping, pouting, displays of disgust with officials or coaches, and other negative behaviors disrupts the cohesiveness of the team and will not be tolerated. Learning to perform with passion, confidence, intelligence, and unselfishness is the most beautiful part of basketball. These values, in addition to learning how maintain a high level of integrity in the face of victory and defeat; will become invaluable attributes on the court as well as in everyday life. Captains Expectations: Captains will be given many responsibilities throughout the year to help maintain a cohesive and focused team. Captains will meet with me once a week to assess the team atmosphere and player concerns, as well as receive an assessment of their own leadership skills. They will be e pected to lead by e ample and assume the responsibly of an assistant coach. Style of play: We will play at an up!tempo pace. We will get out and push the ball but at all times be under control. We will dictate the flow of the game to our advantage. "ur focus will be defense first. #laying good defense is a choice. $ouls and layups happen when a player is tired or sleeping on defense. %f a player is too tired to play defense then they certainly are too tired to shoot. & good coach reali'es what he wants to do, and what he can do may be two different things based on personnel. Defensive Philosophy (y philosophy defensively is to attack. % believe championships are won with physical, aggressive, in your face man defense. (any basketball games come down to a key stop in the final minutes of the second half. The team that is capable of coming up with those stops is the team that is going to win the ma)ority of its games. We will attack in the full court using multiple 'one presses and half court traps as well as some full court man pressure. When we do fall back into our half court defense we will

continue to pressure the ball and attack the passing lanes. We want to force teams into making mistakes or playing at a tempo that they are not accustomed to. We will have a half court 'one defense in our arsenal as well to allow us to protect key players in foul trouble, deal with bigger teams, or at the very least to help us prepare for opponents who 'one a lot. % truly believe that successful programs are built on great team defense. "ur opponents should dread facing our pressure and ever changing schemes. "ur defense should lead to easy offense and on a bad!shooting night it will allow us not only to stay competitive but also win games. $irst, as a player in our program, you must understand that stopping people in the half court is paramount to winning basketball games. &nd while there are many defenses that can be effective, the most devastating*when played with aggression and passion*is man to man. &nd to be a player in our program, you must commit yourself, completely, to becoming a great defensive player. +econd, our man defensive system is )ust that*a system. (uch like offense, our man defense relies on all five players playing together. ,veryone has a )ob to do regardless of where the ball is on the floor and if one guy does not e ecute his assignment, the whole team suffers. Third, our defensive philosophy is to attack*almost treat defense like offense. "ur mindset is not simply to stop the other team from scoring. "ur mindset is to suffocate the opponent-s offense and take the ball away from them. Therefore, pressure will be a key phrase as we cover our principles of championship defense. .efense is essentially made up of three distinctive parts/ 0. Transition defense: 1ow do we convert from offense to defense on made shots, missed shots and turnovers. 2. Defending our basket: 1ow will we smother the other team and take them out of what they want to do offensively. 3. Rebound: 1ow do we secure possession of the ball after a shot attempt4 I. TRANSITI N DE!ENSE

we must stop our opponent from scoring easy baskets. "ne of the ways is to take away their fast break opportunities by getting back on defense. There are three scenarios in which we must convert defensively on a live ball situation/ 5 We make our shot attempt

5 5

We miss our shot attempt We turn the ball over to our opponent.

We make our shot attempt %n most cases, we will be in some kind of full court press on a made shot. %t could be a 'one press or it could be full court man to man. %n any case, each player will have an assignment that he must sprint to immediately. %f we are not in a press, the man guarding the ball sprints back to half court and the other four players sprint to the paint. "nce identified, the other players get into the passing lanes while we pressure the ball up top. "ne thing we "#ST do effectively is convert from our press to our half court defense. We must recogni'e when the opponent has broken the pressure and must not allow them to score an easy basket. We miss our shot attempt %n most cases, it is the )ob of the 0!man to sprint all the way back since he is most likely to be on the perimeter when the shot goes up. 1owever, if the 0 !man penetrates, the 2! man or 3!man must recogni'e this and rotate back for defensive balance. .epending on our game plan, we may send four players to offensive glass, three players or only two players. %n any event, anyone who is not crashing the offensive boards must sprint full speed back to the paint and then i$entify and match to their man. +ometimes we must match up to different men in the fast break situation. That-s fine but we must communicate. We turn the ball over to our opponent This is the most difficult conversion but also the most simple. %f we commit a turnover, all $ive guys must sprint full speed back to the paint, then identify, and then match. II. DE!ENDIN% #R &AS'ET

When defending our basket in the half court, we have 6 principles that must be followed/ 5 5 5 5 #ressure the ball at all times 7o dribble penetration to the middle .eny if you are one pass away +print to mid!line if you are two passes away

5 5 5 5

7o shot goes unchallenged 7o second shots Communicate with your teammates #lay harder than your opponent

When defending our basket, there are only 8 things you can possibly be doing/ 0. 9uarding the ball 2. .enying your man, 0 pass away from the ball 3. .efending the help side, 2 passes away from the ball 8. :eeping the ball out of the low post %(ar$ing the )ail $irst, as soon as your man receives the ball, you must yell out *&A++* to let your teammates know you have the ball. 0. 9uarding the ball in the middle third of the floor/ We can never allow the dribbler to beat us in the middle third of the floor. Therefore, we must stay *&#S,* on the ball but give some space to prevent middle penetration. %deally, we want to force the ball to the sideline so we can create a help side and ball side. We like to )ab at the ball handler and be close enough to take it away if he makes a mistake*but do not get beat. 2. 9uarding the ball on the wing or sideline area/ "nce the ball is passed to a side, we want to do everything we can to keep the ball on that side. Therefore, we apply chest!to!chest pressure on the basketball*we get *&I%* on the ball. We play the ball with hands up, half a man to the middle of the floor with our feet parallel to the sideline. We are swarming him at this point. We do not allow middle drive, open three!point shot or pass to low post. %f our defender is beaten to the baseline, he must follow and trap with our post player. %f the offensive player picks up his dribble, we yell ;dead, dead, dead.; .enying your man, 0 pass away from the ball <ou must understand that it is e=ually as important to have a low, knees bent stance off the ball as it is on the ball. 0. .enying your man on the wing/ %f your man starts at the low block, you should start 0 step to the outside*daring him to back cut. &s he starts out to the wing area,

snug up to him and e plode out trying to beat him to his spot. "nce you have passed the screener, step toward the ball. &s you deny, you should be appro imately 1A of the way to the ball. +ee the ball and see your man*hand in the passing lane. >e ready to defend backdoor cut. 2. .enying your man on top/ &gain, once we have gotten the ball to the side, we want to keep it there. Therefore, we do not want to allow the offense to reverse the ball through the top. %f you man cuts to receive the reversal pass, you need to snug up to him, your chest facing his, and get your arm and head out in the passing lane*daring him to back cut. .o not allow reversal of the basketball. .efending the help side,, 2 passes away from the ball When in help side, you must get a foot on the mid!line, have vision of both your man and the ball, and stay in a low, knees bent defensive stance. <ou should be 0 step back from the line between your man and the ball. 0. .efending the help side post/ When the ball is on the opposite wing or baseline, you must be situated in a position that allows you to see your man and the ball. %f the offense drives the ball to the baseline, the ball side post will go out to trap and you must cover the ball side post player*going around low side. %f the ball is driven to the middle, you must be in a position to block a shot or take a charge. 2. .efending the help side wing/ This is a crucial position in our scheme!! particularly if we decide to trap the post. When the ball is on the opposite wing or baseline, you must be at the mid!line anticipating the pass to the post, ready to help on a middle drive, and ready to rotate and cover down on a baseline drive. %f the pass goes into the opposite post, the help side wing immediately traps. %f the ball is driven middle, you must help hard on the ball and recover for the kick out. %f the ball is driven opposite baseline, you must rotate down and anticipate a pass to the post or cover down on the block. :eeping the ball out of the low post &s a general rule, we will dead front the low post when the ball is on the side and % deny the post when the ball is on top. &t times, our scouting will tell us to play the post differently*possibly behind and trap or behind and play straight up. >ut most of the time, we like to completely take the low post away. ?emember, at the post defensively, you want to continue to break contact with the offensive player. Use your feet to get around the offensive player*don-t fight him. The offense has the advantage with post contact. &s the ball side post defender, you may be asked to come out from the post to trap the ball on the baseline if our wing gets beat. This is another reason we like to dead front. %t gives you the ability to get to the trap =uickly.

Special Sit(ations 0. .efending ball screens/ %f a ball screen is perimeter to perimeter or post to post, we will automatically switch. %f the ball screen is post to perimeter @which is normally the caseA we have some different techni=ues we use*based on scouting report. 5 +witch everything/ %f we or the opponent have a line!up that does not create mismatches, we will simply switch all ball screens. 5 >lit' and rotate/ We may decide to trap the ball screen. %f we do, the man guarding the screener must attack out where the offensive player is trying to go. The man being screened must fight over the top of the screen to trap with the post defender. The help side post must be in position to pick up the screener if he rolls to the basket. The trapping post must then run off to cover the help side*and pick up the man left by the help side post. 5 1edge and recover/ The techni=ue is the same as the blit' e cept the post simply )ams the ball handler for a =uick second and recovers to his man. We are likely to do this if the team runs screen and pop rather than screen and roll. 2. .efending the skip when in help/ >ecause we demand that you commit to our help concept, our defense is sometimes vulnerable to the skip across court. %f you are in help, and the ball is thrown over your head to your man, you must use the ;close! out; techni=ue to recover to your man. Close!outs consist of two parts*the sprint and breakdown. %f the ball is skipped over your head, sprint halfway to your man and then breakdown short with choppy steps. Close out on the high side so as not to allow middle dribble. 3. .efending the fle offense/ %f we see a team using the fle offense, we will simply switch all screens. The only e ception would be when a post player gets stuck up top. We would then fight through the ne t down screen to get a perimeter player up top. 8. .efending the baseline double screen/ We switch, perimeter to perimeter if possible. B. .efending perimeter cross screens/ We generally want to switch perimeter on perimeter cross screens to help us deny reversal and stay in help. C. .efending the back screen/ We switch all back screens. D. .efending post to post cross screens/ We will generally switch these but we have some special techni=ues depending on our opponent.

6. &dditional individual responsibilities/ <ell ;shot; when your man shoots. +ink to the level of the ball when it is driven baseline. >e difficult to screen*a moving target.

Player Expectations Player Attitude Toward Self ! Take pride in fundamentals! #ractice and prepare to win ! &lways carry self with class and sportsmanship! 7o smoking, alcohol or drug use ! +afety and in)ury prevention with proper stretching and rest Player Attitude Toward Team ! #lay Unselfishly ! 7o ha'ing ! >elieve team can compete with anyone! .edicated to the team ! "pen up your heart and understand personal situations from another point of view ! Check ego at the door Player Attitude Toward Community ! >ecome a responsible, dependable, respectable and contributing member of society ! ?espect for teammates, opponents, officials, coaches, school faculty and parents Player Attitude Toward Sc ool ! &ttend all classes ! +eek help when needed Player Attitude Toward Competition ! #lay with all their heart ! #lay with tremendous confidence ! #ositive leadership ! &nticipation! Total court awareness

! 1igh level of poise ! 7o fear of failure ! .o little things it takes to win ! Eisuali'e success ! #erseverance! #ositive attitude ! >e Coachable ! &ggressive without anger ! Continuous improvement mindset ! #hysically strong ! 1ustle to all loose balls ! ?ebound by bo ing out first Player attitude toward offense ! >elieve we can go on big run at any time, e plosive! >elieve everyone is a scoring threat ! #ass first, dribble second ! Take confident, open, high percentage shots ! "nly dribble to make a move to the basket, no wasted dribbles ! Utili'e fakes and change of pace ! .evelop a large arsenal of shots Player attitude toward defense ! Total effort on defense can be brought every night. ! Take pride in shutting the opposing playerFteam down. ! :nowing all defenses allows us to be prepared to face any defense. ! &lways know where the ball is and be ready to help.

(tstan$ing $efense .ins championships/

Commitment to the Team $amily and school are the most important things in a playerGs life and always have priority over basketball. %f a student needs to miss a team event because of a family issue, it will be allowed. %t still may affect playing time. %f a student needs to improve their standing in the classroom and cannot participate in a team event, the student will have that option although it may affect playing time. When a student accepts an offer to be a part of the basketball program, the player is agreeing to make their best effort to attend all practices and team functions and to have this be a priority above all other e tracurricular activities including a work schedule. %f the team is not the highest priority of the e tracurricular activities for the player, then the team will not make the players playing time a high priority during a game. .eveloping the #layer in >asketball #laying with passion, confidence, intelligence, unselfishness and fundamentals are the most beautiful part of basketball. %f players can truly internali'e these aspects of the game, then success will surely follow. To bring about these characteristics, we believe in a positive coaching style where we communicate constructive ways to improve, consistently acknowledge positive behavior, display lots of enthusiasm, and highly organi'ed, competitive practices. The playerGs passion will strengthen by developing a program of success where players feel a strong sense of pride toward their teammates and community. The playerGs confidence will strengthen as enthusiasm builds and fundamentals become mastered. The playerGs intelligence will increase with well organi'ed, well developed and intense practice methods. The players will become more unselfishness as they consistently complement each other and are consistently acknowledged in a positive manner by the coaching staff for unselfish behaviors. The complete and confident basketball player needs solid fundamentals, a high level of knowledge of offensive and defensive strategies, and to be well conditioned both mentally and physically. To begin, basic fundamentals are practiced with intensity and constant repetition.