Ron,
By all accounts you are a great man…an extremely smart man…an outstanding teacher of the game…a tremendous all around dude,…and you’ve been around some of the best coaches at the highest level of D1 basketball.
The season is not over but we’ve all seen this script before…so allow me to be the one to give you some advice: Don’t Pull a Healy
You were here but let me remind you: Coach Healy stubbornly held tight to his odd defensive scheme and his best friend as a Defensive Coordinator even though we had the worst Defense in football…what became 2 years running. His refusal to adapt cost him his job. His youth and inexperience may have contributed to that…but you don’t have that problem.
You have experience and you have a basketball mind…put that to use. Don’t stubbornly stick to what doesn’t work like Healy did. Get creative and exploit the talent you have and tailor a gameplan and a strategy that may differ based on who we are facing.
Shake things up…mix up some defensive looks. Full court or 3/4 court press…half court traps…a little zone or even some box in one. Double in the post…double to get the ball out of a playmakers hand…play denial on a playmaker to limit touches . Instead of just sticking with the packline…take away the opponent’s strengths whatever it may be…exploit their weaknesses. Find ways to exploit our mismatches against particular teams based on what type of roster and defense they run. Maybe certain lineups can allow us to crash the offensive boards on occassion…or push the tempo and try to get out on break or run a secondary break with some of our athletes. Mix up the tempo throughout a game based on matchups…get out and run some of the time and set up the half court offense when it’s more advantageous to do that.
You have a real chance to open some eyes and show your real coaching prowess…get creative and find a way to shake things up and go on a run and close out strong.
Just don’t stubbornly go down with the ship…don’t pull a Healy.
That doesn’t end well for anybody.
