with Geno Auriemma,
- 3x U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Head Coach (3x Gold Medal; '00, '12, '16)
- 1000+ career wins - Fastest coach to 800, 900 and 1,000 wins, any level, men's or women's
- 11x NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship Coach ('95, '00, '02 -'04, '09 - '10, '13 - '16)
- 9x AP Coach of the Year; 8x Naismith Coach of the Year; 7x WBCA National Coach of the Year; 6x USBWA Women's National Coach of the Year
- John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching award (2012)
- Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame ('06); Women's Basketball Hall of Fame ('06); National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame ('07)
- 19x Big East regular season and 22x Big East tournament titles
Offensive progress often comes at a slower pace than gains on the defensive side of the ball. Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma shows how you can build the foundation for offensive excellence in a short period of time.
This video is a condensed version of how Auriemma and his staff install and practice their up-tempo offensive attack. Coach Auriemma teaches the offense in the half-court and progresses to transition, teaching players the 'why' behind each offensive set and how to read the defense.
By using a variety of transition drills that flow seamlessly into offensive sets, this video will help you increase the pace of play your team is comfortable executing. Different transition and secondary break sets will help streamline your offense and keep players from struggling for good looks at the basket late in the shot clock.
Coach Auriemma discusses the following keys to making your offense the best that it can be:
- How to simplify and execute an unstoppable basic offense.
- When and why coaches need to make adjustments to their game plan.
- Why and how team success is related to shot selection.
- Drills you can use to improve your transition game.
Strong, Curl, Pinch
Auriemma and his staff run their players through several different actions and set plays including Strong, Curl, and Pinch. Each action is run 5-on-0 and many options are discussed and practiced. This is a perfect example of how to teach your players the reads within your offense and set plays.
Making Adjustments and Set Plays Philosophy
Learn how the most successful program in women's college basketball utilizes set plays to augment its offensive execution. Taking a "less is more" approach, Auriemma discusses when not to use set plays and how they can hamper your team's scoring.
If your team sometimes struggles to create open looks for shooters, you'll want to pay particular attention to Auriemma's breakdown on how to utilize a dribble drive attack to free up shooters and force difficult defensive rotations.
Team Practice Drills and Breakdown Drills
Auriemma runs the team through a number of drills - at championship-level practice speed - and with plenty of teaching and corrections, starting with the Kansas drill, a full court drill with four trips where players complete different shots and actions. The first trip finishes with a lay-up, the second a jumper, third a skip pass and a drive, and fourth a drag screen action.
Another full-court drill to teach an attacking mentality and full court offense is the 5-man weave to 3-on-2 drill. Players go down in a weave and then come back to 3-on-2 with the person who made the lay-up and the last person to pass the ball becoming the two defenders. Auriemma breaks down the drill and explains how to best defend a 3-on-2 situation.
Special Situations and Baseline Out of Bounds
Coach Auriemma shares his thoughts about practicing special situations and then you'll move back to the court and see how they practice their out-of-bounds play execution. Auriemma also shows the different options that will be available.
At every stage of this video, Auriemma's principles and actions are concise and thoroughly explained. By demonstrating the "why" behind the offensive sets and drills, coaches and players will gain insight into the key offensive principles behind the game planning.
This video is jam-packed with nuggets of wisdom from Coach Auriemma from beginning to end. It will help you develop an outstanding offense no matter what age or talent level you coach!
117 minutes. 2018.
BD-05321B:
with Geno Auriemma,
- 3x U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Head Coach (3x Gold Medal; '00, '12, '16)
- 1000+ career wins - Fastest coach to 800, 900 and 1,000 wins, any level, men's or women's
- 11x NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship Coach ('95, '00, '02 -'04, '09 - '10, '13 - '16)
- 9x AP Coach of the Year; 8x Naismith Coach of the Year; 7x WBCA National Coach of the Year; 6x USBWA Women's National Coach of the Year
- John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching award (2012)
- Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame ('06); Women's Basketball Hall of Fame ('06); National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame ('07)
- 19x Big East regular season and 22x Big East tournament titles
If you were given only six days to prepare your team to play aggressive, tenacious defense, how would you accomplish that feat? In this video, the coach of the most successful team in women's college basketball shows you how to do just that.
Discover the tenets of how to construct a tough and tenacious defensive team. Geno Auriemma presents a clear philosophy to operate from and how to effectively communicate the defensive principles needed to stop any team you face.
After outlining three basic goals for every game, Auriemma and his coaching staff show you how to plan your practice and break down defensive skills into a variety of intense stations that will challenge your players every minute of practice.
Defensive Philosophy
The defensive approach begins with ball pressure. Coach Auriemma likes to use ball pressure to take the opposing team's offense outside of their comfort zone. Doing this forces more mistakes by the offense and results in more turnovers and bad shots.
Second, Auriemma works on defending the areas of the court that are the most important. The use of a line running down the middle of the court is used to get help a defender get in position to defend what is most necessary to protect against.
Third, three objectives are laid out by Coach Auriemma: eliminating transition baskets, eliminating 3-point shots, and not fouling. When these objectives are accomplished during the course of a game, it is much more difficult for their opponents to score.
Individual Defense Drills
The first key to individual defense is to get into a good defensive stance. The Stance and Slides drill teaches how to get into a good stance and how to move correctly. This mass drill, one that involves the entire team, incorporates fundamental on-ball defense. It shows that even the best players in the country don't overlook learning the basics of stance.
Next is the Zig-Zag drill with a twist from a traditional version of this drill. Each on-ball defender will go through two rounds by guarding the ball to the half-court line. When the first dribbler reaches the half-court line, the defender starts the second round by executing a closeout to the baseline. Containment of the dribble and forcing changes in direction are critical elements that are taught.
Defensive Stations
To better teach individual defense, the team is broken into groups where the assistant coaches run five minute stations to work on various aspects of defensive play. In small groups, players have a chance to learn how to better defend in breakdowns of scenarios that might arise during a game. You'll be able to see the instruction and the repetitions of players as they rotate through the various stations.
The 1-on-1 defensive station is designed to teach how to guard the basketball properly. The on-ball defender is to position herself one arm's length away from the dribbler. To simulate this, the inside hand reaches out to mirror the basketball while the other hand helps deny passes and drives to the sideline or to the baseline. Auriemma uses a live-action drill to teach these concepts with a three-dribble limit starting from each wing.
To teach defensive rebounding, a drill is devised with an offensive and a defensive player going up after a missed shot. The defensive player throws the ball off of the backboard and tries to block out the would-be offensive rebounder. If the offensive rebounder gets the ball, they attempt to score. The defensive rebounder looks to make an outlet pass if they rebound the ball.
A wing denial station is utilized to encourage an aggressive mindset and to deny passes around the perimeter. The bottom foot of the defender denying the pass is to split the feet of the offensive player they are guarding. On back cuts, the defender has to be ready to snap the head and throw their hands to see and deflect passes.
Team Defense
The Shell is a basic drill that everyone who plays man defense will run. In this section, you'll see how Auriemma uses it to teach how he wants his squad to defend, help, and rotate. Working on basic "jumping to the ball," defenders are encouraged to move quickly and attempt to deflect perimeter passes. The Shell drill can escalate to incorporate dribble penetration to work on defensive rotations as well as help and recover.
To prevent easy baskets in transition, transition defense is a point of emphasis in teaching defense. Auriemma teaches his players to sprint back to areas deep in the lane to make sure they don't give up layups. From there, the defense looks to see where the ball is and how to best prepare to defend the other team's transition attack.
With a mix of individual and team techniques, this video from Coach Auriemma will give you drills and practice insights for virtually any defensive situation.
124 minutes. 2018.
BD-05321C:
with Geno Auriemma,
- 3x U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Head Coach (3x Gold Medal; '00, '12, '16)
- 1000+ career wins - Fastest coach to 800, 900 and 1,000 wins, any level, men's or women's
- 11x NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship Coach ('95, '00, '02 -'04, '09 - '10, '13 - '16)
- 9x AP Coach of the Year; 8x Naismith Coach of the Year; 7x WBCA National Coach of the Year; 6x USBWA Women's National Coach of the Year
- John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching award (2012)
- Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame ('06); Women's Basketball Hall of Fame ('06); National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame ('07)
- 19x Big East regular season and 22x Big East tournament titles
How can you make your team better in a limited amount of time? Geno Auriemma and his assistant coaches show you how to raise your team's proficiency in all phases of the game from the first day of practice.
With a virtual list of the who's who of women's basketball players having played for him, Auriemma takes you inside to show you the drills he uses to develop his players. The drills presented in this video are designed to improve fundamental skills and have made Coach Auriemma arguably one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time.
Auriemma details the breakdown between offensive and defensive focus and the amount of practice time spent on individual skill development. Particular attention is paid to designing a skill development program that incorporates the need to develop well-rounded players at every position for today's"positionless" game.
Guard Drills
Like many coaches, Coach Auriemma looks to utilize the pick & roll in a variety of ways. He utilizes unique drills designed to develop ball-handling, coming off ball screens, and making quality shots. These drills will improve the individual skill sets of players to execute offense to near perfection.
One of the guard drills utilized teaches dribble drag action. After executing a guard-to-guard dribble hand-off, the guard receiving the ball comes off of a pick & roll. The guard coming off the pick & roll executes a pull-up jump shot while the guard who made the initial hand-off touches the baseline and comes back to the wing to shoot a 3-point shot.
Another ball screen drill for the guards works on utilizing a trailer ball screen in transition. The guard executes a hesitation dribble to wait on a ball screen from the trailer. The guard then uses the ball screen to come off for a shot or a drive to the basket.
Post Skills
Coach Auriemma and his staff utilize much of their post player development within the confines of his team's offense. The breakdown drills not only develop the skills of post players, but also work on being able to execute the offense.
The first of these drills for the post players is used to work on drag ball screens. This drill is the breakdown for the post players of the earlier trailer ball screen drill the guards run. Post players work on rolling to the basket, getting set for a post feed, and pick-and-pop action.
Another breakdown is for the pinch post aspect of the offense. Parts of the pinch post that are worked on include the dribble hand-off, the look for the high-low duck-in, and penetration dribble for a pull-up jump shot.
The breakdown drill Big works on the dribble hand-off into a high-low look in the offense. A dribble hand-off begins the action before a post player flashes to the high post area to look for a pass. The player who made the dribble hand-off then rolls to the basket looking for the high-low feed.
Overall Individual Skill Development
A ball-handling drill for 12 players is introduced with the idea of attacking defenders and being able to dribble through traffic. With six players lined up along the baseline and at half court facing each other, the two groups dribble in opposite directions with five student managers attempting to make it difficult for dribblers to get through traffic. By working on dribbling the ball and executing a move to protect the ball, Auriemma's players improve their abilities to handle the ball effectively.
To execute an offense based on ball movement, passing drills become a heavy point of emphasis. One of these drills is Four Corners Passing, which utilizes short passes and longer ones. Unlike traditional versions of Four Corners Passing, the longer passes are completed over the top of heads and hands of managers in the passing lanes to work on executing good skip passes.
Three-Line Box incorporates passing, shooting, and rebounding all in the same drill. This drill features a half-court variation of three-man weave with the player receiving the last pass shooting a jump shot. The player making the pass leading to the jump shot then looks to block out the remaining player, grab the rebound, and execute an outlet pass to the shooter to complete the repetition.
Coaches and players will gain valuable insight by watching actual practice footage complete with insightful commentary by Coach Auriemma and his assistants as they demonstrate how to demand excellence from players on a daily basis.
Don't miss the opportunity to watch and learn from the most successful program in women's college basketball!
88 minutes. 2018.