Improving execution down the stretch

After struggling to close out games this season, UMass coach Derek Kellogg, a former PG for the Minutemen in the early '90s under John Calipari, has implemented a number of drills to help his players "improve their execution down the stretch by simulating late-game scenarios."

"The game is different in the last four minutes; every possession, every block out, every rebound and every loose ball is of the utmost importance,” Kellogg said. "It starts in practice; we do a lot of different drills to emulate what can happen at the end of a game. Free throw shooting, loose ball drills and [other] late game situations.”

Trading glitz and glamour for productivity

A unique part of the Butler's basketball program are the early-morning workouts, which the players contend give them an edge:

"We do this all the time, every day," junior forward Willie Veasley said. "I think you get more focused when you wake up and everything is so fresh. It's gotten us to where we are now, and it's probably real different from what other programs do."

As this article points out, the No. 13 "Bulldogs have appeared in five NCAA tournaments since 2000 and reached the regional semifinals twice in the last six years. Over the past three seasons, they've won more games than any other Division I school in Indiana and have been ranked for 40 weeks since 2006."

This season, Butler's starting lineup features "three freshmen and a sophomore" and is led by "the nation's third-youngest coach, 32-year-old Brad Stevens."

And here they are, winners of 19 of their first 20 games.

According to this article:

Butler's old-school strategy favors teamwork over experience. Players share the basketball, take pride in defending opponents, prefer crediting teammates to gloating about their own accomplishments and they don't deviate from the system. Simply put, it's all about desire, determination and execution.

Part of Butler's recipe for success is that the team's "coaches look for distinctive traits in recruits — like maturity and teamwork — that other schools often overlook. At Butler, they're essential."

"We spend a lot of time talking to their high school coaches and the coaches around them. That gives you better insight into them," Coach Stevens said. "But I think if you watched how they interacted with their teammates on and off the court, you'd see we really didn't have to do a lot of research. It starts with the makeup of the kids on this team — their selflessness and their belief in being a great teammate."

The author contends that "when the freshmen arrive in Indy, they've already agreed to trade glitz and glamour, even dunks, for productivity. The Bulldogs also keep things in perspective. They focus on making the most of what they have, not complaining about what they don't have — bigger post players, highly ranked recruiting classes or sparkling new facilities."

"We're not aiming to be someone else," Coach Stevens said. "I think a lot of programs do things really well and when you watch them on tape, you may take something and try some things that might work for your program. But we are Butler, and we're just trying to be the best Butler team we can be."

The keys to shooting

ASU has won two big road games in the last five days, snapped UCLA's 10-game winning streak this past Saturday before downing in-state rival Arizona last night on the road.

In the win over UCLA, Herb Sendek's Sun Devils shot 52 percent from the field in the first half. Senior forward Jeff Pendergraph hit nine of his 10 shots in the game. Guard James Harden, who connected on 10 of 11 vs Oregon State and 14-25 against UTEP earlier in the season, went 8-15 from the field.

But in the win over UA last night, ASU shot just 28 percent from the field (16-56), including 5-28 from 3-point range.

According to Coach Sendek, having players who are effective shooters is only the start:

"The key to shooting, more than anything else, is to have good shooters. But then to execute your offense, so guys know where their shots are coming from, making passes on time, on target, taking shots in rhythm. If you have guys who have that ability and they do it, it's probably not any more complicated than that."

It's about the right spot and the right angles

New Sixers coach Tony DiLeo is working to get his guys to pay attention to something some players don't think much about: Angles and openings. As this article from today's Philly paper points out:

"Effective angles are to basketball what gas is to most automobiles: necessary for movement."

Says Coach DiLeo: "It's about the right spot, the right angles."

Assessing problems, considering solutions, and implementing them

To my surprise, there were "below-the-surface murmurings before the season about whether Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy still had his team's attention," according to this story.

I also didn't realize that Coach Dungy had "contemplated retiring a year ago."

But one thing wasn't surprising. After starting the season at 3-4, Coach Dungy turned things around. With Sunday's win over DET, IND has won seven straight.

As this article contends, after the slow start, there were "no fiery coaching clichés about backs against the wall, or us vs. them, or being disrespected, or finding out what this team is made of, men. Dungy assessed the problems. He mulled over solutions. He implemented them."

“At 3-4, we knew what the problems were,” Dungy said. “A lot of it was ourselves and our execution and that's what we focused on more so than pointing the finger at someone or figuring out who's to blame. I think a lot of that goes back to the players really listening to the coaches.”

The ability to stay the course, and get his players to buy in and listen is a credit to Coach Dungy, who is close to leading an NFL team to the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season, which would set a new NFL record.

A lot of coaching in the NBA is fixing holes

If something seems different in Denver this season -- where the Nuggets are 17-7 and winners of eight of their last 10 -- it's because DEN coach George Karl "has returned to a few principles he admits he let gather too much dust. Defense is at the top of that list."

"I enjoy who we are now. I enjoy that we have to be a team-oriented defensive team. I enjoy that our bigs are so talented we can be aggressive and allow roaming and double-teaming and more rotating than we have in the past. And then the big thing is I went back to coaching from the defensive end of the court. It sounds very minimal, but I had forgotten the security blanket that comes with defense."

According to this article, "the Nuggets, once known for a Mike D'Antoni/[Doug] Moe-inspired run-and-gun offense, now are identified with defense and execution on offense."

Coach Karl describes the recipe for a good team:

"To be a championship team, you have to have playmaking mentality in your offense. I think I talked about that in a lot of different ways — pass the ball, more assists, weakside basketball. A lot of coaching in the NBA is fixing holes. This team is not as much fixing holes as how do we make it better, because you know it can be better. The power of the NBA can scare you at times. Do you coach being fearful, or do you coach being optimistic? I think we're coaching being optimistic this year more than we were in the past."