The ability to measure a team's performance is very important. Coaches must be able to utilize statistics in a way that will allow them to both better understand their team’s performance, as well as to educate their players. We go back to the importance of having a great imagination to be an effective coach. We put that to use in coming up with stats of importance for both molding the execution of your offense, as well as the developing of importance to certain roles on your team.I heard Coach Meyer talk about how every team stands for something — good or bad. He said that when people hear the name of your team, a certain image is conjured up. The important thing for a coach to understand is that we have the ability to control the perception by how we run our program. I think he is talking about both the character of your team as well as your play. I also learned from Coach Meyer that it is not necessarily what you teach, but what you emphasize. I think that is a tremendously important statement and one that has grown in trust with each year I coach.
There is a wise old saying: “What gets measured gets done.” Another one is: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”
Our program takes great pride in taking care of the basketball. Of course we do all the fundamental things that most programs do in terms of drills to develop dribbling, passing and receiving, but remember — it’s not what you teach, it’s what you emphasize.
One way that we constantly stress valuing the basketball is through our TURNOVER CHART. This chart is one that we keep everyday in practice as well as in games. As you look at the chart, you see that we don’t just tally the number of turnovers. We put individual responsibility with each one, as well as pinpointing the type of turnover that was committed and in what phase of our offensive attack. By doing this, each player can see where she needs the most work and — more importantly — the staff can see where we need the most work. Over the years we have discovered that 75% of our turnovers come from bad passing. We will follow up the turnover chart by watching video clips of our practice or game and we always view the turnovers and talk about ways to improve them. All of this combined is a major reason we are nationally ranked each year in fewest turnovers committed per game.
Screening is important to our motion offense so we developed the SCREENING CHART. This is another chart that is kept everyday of practice, as well as games. This particular chart allows us to put some importance to a particular part of our motion offense that generally won’t be noticed by anyone else. For the most part our staff knows who our best screeners are because we utilize role development to dictate primary screeners. What this does is give a numerical reward to those who screen the most and the best, which in itself helps us with developing that role.
Our POST FEED CHART is another chart that is simple to use but one that goes back to the theory of helping us emphasize something that we believe is critical to our offensive success. When a player feeds the post, we mark it down by writing the number of the receiver in the category. If the receiver scores as a result of the post feed, then we circle it. This chart serves two purposes. We find out who is looking to feed the post as well as who is obviously working hard to get open. If you have an inside-oriented attack, you have to put a premium on a player with the ability to enter the ball into the post.
We are not at all saying that you need to keep these particular charts. But we believe that there are elements of your program that are very important and you could develop a chart to help your players focus on that area with a little more attention. It could also help you learn a little more about your team’s execution.
One way that we constantly stress valuing the basketball is through our TURNOVER CHART. This chart is one that we keep everyday in practice as well as in games. As you look at the chart, you see that we don’t just tally the number of turnovers. We put individual responsibility with each one, as well as pinpointing the type of turnover that was committed and in what phase of our offensive attack. By doing this, each player can see where she needs the most work and — more importantly — the staff can see where we need the most work. Over the years we have discovered that 75% of our turnovers come from bad passing. We will follow up the turnover chart by watching video clips of our practice or game and we always view the turnovers and talk about ways to improve them. All of this combined is a major reason we are nationally ranked each year in fewest turnovers committed per game.
Screening is important to our motion offense so we developed the SCREENING CHART. This is another chart that is kept everyday of practice, as well as games. This particular chart allows us to put some importance to a particular part of our motion offense that generally won’t be noticed by anyone else. For the most part our staff knows who our best screeners are because we utilize role development to dictate primary screeners. What this does is give a numerical reward to those who screen the most and the best, which in itself helps us with developing that role.
Our POST FEED CHART is another chart that is simple to use but one that goes back to the theory of helping us emphasize something that we believe is critical to our offensive success. When a player feeds the post, we mark it down by writing the number of the receiver in the category. If the receiver scores as a result of the post feed, then we circle it. This chart serves two purposes. We find out who is looking to feed the post as well as who is obviously working hard to get open. If you have an inside-oriented attack, you have to put a premium on a player with the ability to enter the ball into the post.
We are not at all saying that you need to keep these particular charts. But we believe that there are elements of your program that are very important and you could develop a chart to help your players focus on that area with a little more attention. It could also help you learn a little more about your team’s execution.
We also have a stat sheet for defense including deflections, rebounding, and an overall defensive chart. If you'd like a sample copy of these charts, please email me at rstarke@lsu.edu.
