A Pen And A Napkin

Basketball is a game dominated by mistakes; whether it's missed shots, a blown defensive assignment or a turnover, mistakes happen all the time. How do you get your players to move on from their mistakes? Tony and I discuss that this week, along with our trivia and our weekly TWIB segment. Enjoy!!

On this week's episode, we're excited to have Omaha Concordia Boys HC Ken Kulus. Coach has build a terrific program at Concordia, and he goes into detail about how he did this, both through successes and failures. Along with that, he talks about "The Chase" vs. being "The Pursued", offensive and defensive philosophy, building a great culture, scheduling and much. more. Enjoy our conversation!

One of the things that is more and more common with our high school programs is players missing practices and games for other activities, especially club sports. This week on the "The Coaching Staff", Tony and I discuss some of the best ways to handle these situations, how to communicate your philosophy and discuss the pros and cons of a written contract. Along with that, we have trivia and our TW...

As Don Meyer always said "No one will ever say that we were just too tough this season,", so how do you develop toughness, both mental and physical? Tony and I dive into this and many other things this week, including trivia, Angel Reese and the situation with LSU and much more!

Episode #200; hard to believe that we've gotten to this milestone number! In celebration of that, I was fortunate enough to connect with the Naismith Hall of Famer Bob Hurley Sr. and have a great discussion about the game. We chat about his career, the importance of clinics, coaching and mentoring his sons, the influence of Coach Wooden on his career, practice organization and shell drill, amongst...

We all want our teams to play as hard as they can at all times, but how do you get them to play at that intensity level? This week, Tony and I break down the areas that you can track when it comes to effort and how you can emphasize them to your program. Along with that, we talk about Caitlin Clark, the NBA and much more!

In a first for "A Pen And A Napkin", we sit down with a current high school player and her coach . . . who just happens to be her mother. Britt Prince has been a dominant player since day one of her high school career, and a rare 5 Star recruit by most services. Recruited by most of the Power 5 schools in the country, Britt recently committed to the University of Nebraska. Hear Britt's story of ho...

College basketball started off with a bang with two major upsets, one in each gender, with Michigan State dropping their home opener to James Madison and defending women's champion getting blown out by Colorado. Upsets are, for the most part, unavoidable, but what can you do to minimize upsets? Tony and I discuss this, along with trivia and TWIB, including Wemby and disappointing starts in the NBA...

This week we're really excited to have Craig Wortmann, GBB HC at Hartington Cedar Catholic (NE) to talk hoops. Coach Wortmann and I discuss being a former Division I walk-on who A) actually started multiple games and B) went through a coaching change in college and how both of those experiences have affected his philosophies. Along with that, we discuss playing a tough schedule, running a set base...

Your shell drill principles and practices are some of the most important things that you are going to do on a consistent basis for both your defensive AND offensive development. This week, Tony and I discuss various aspects of shell drill; when you should do it in practice, how long and perhaps different methods of executing this base drill. Along with that, we discuss the legacy of Coach Knight a...

This week, we have a great two part episode with two up and coming mid major coaches in Northern Illinois MBB HC Rashon Burno and Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Bart Lundy. Coach Burno discusses his background from the legendary St. Anthony's (NJ) program and his relationship with the Hurley family, along with Billy Donovan, rebuilding the Northern Illinois program and much more! Coach Lundy comes on in th...

The number one thing (in my opinion) that we can control as a coach is our practices; what we teach, how we teach, the habits we create and the culture we cultivate. This week, Tony and I break down how we develop our practices, what we do in practice and how we try to carry over those concepts day to day. Along with that, we preview the NBA Pacific Division and find a way to weave Tom Selleck's m...

As we close in on the start of most of the high school seasons, alot of times we get confused or distracted on what we should or should not be working on. Tony and I decided to take the week and write down what we worked on this week, and then share our lists with you; what we were working on and why! Of course, we have trivia and TWIB, including the WNBA Finals reaction and the NBA Northwest Divi...

Excited to have Oregon State MBB AC Marlon Stewart on the podcast this week! Coach Stewart comes from the Bennett/ Montana coaching tree, and he shares with us alot of his philosophy. We discuss half court defense, recruiting against the "Blue Bloods", being involved in your community, building a great culture and much more. Great stuff to mine from this podcast!

People have certain stereotypes when it comes to coaching; inspired by a tweet by Greg Berge, Tony and I break down six major coaching myths into either truths or myths and discuss why. We also have our TWIB segment, discussing the WNBA finals, Olympic basketball and more!

Jason Kern, boys basketball HC at West Branch (IA) comes on the podcast this week for a great conversation! Coach Kern and I discuss a variety of topics, including growing up in a basketball family, his basketball influences, helping your players with the recruiting process, BLOB'S, half court defense and building a playbook. Terrific conversation!

A bad case of the flu pushed back the podcast to today, but Tony and I are back, just a little delayed!!Our decisions are usually difficult enough during our seasons, especially when it comes to playing time, but most of us would love to have some sort of statistical baseline to help us make those decisions. However, we're often limited by time and manpower at the high school level, so what can we...

Penn Wood (PA) GBB HC and well traveled camp coach Mo Boykins jumps on the podcast this week to discuss a variety of different topics, including S.U.C.C.E.S.S., microbiology (???), team defense, being a strong female role model, working camps all over the country, and much more. You're going to love Coach Mo's energy and enthusiasm!!

One of the toughest jobs that we have as coaches is getting our individual players to play very well as individuals while also keeping the goals of the team at the forefront. it is a formula that is very difficult to crack, because you need both, but in many ways, these are two things that are going in opposite directions. In this pod, Tony and discuss how to find this balance, while also throwing...

Really excited to have Dave Schlabaugh, the head men's basketball coach at Cornell College (IA) on the podcast this week. Coach Schlabaugh has had a great career at both the high school and college levels, and we discuss his career, including his involvement in Snow Valley. We also discuss culture, offensive basketball and much more, so enjoy this podcast!

As we start our seasons here in a few weeks, it's very important that we make sure that our expectations for both players and parents are very clear in all areas. This week, Tony and I discuss what we have done to make sure that both the coaching staff and everyone else involved in the program are as connected as we can be. Tony has trivia, and we begin our NBA preview in our "TWIB" segment.

Casey and I are back for (unfortunately) the last ever review of "Winning Time". We break down the categories, per usual, but then discuss the show and what might have lead to its failure, both in ways that it could have controlled and the things that were out of it's control. It was a fun ride while it lasted, so enjoy Casey and I's last run with "Winning Time".

Treading off the beaten path a little bit this week with a pod with ESPN's Paul Biancardi, who has spent the better part of the last two decades examining recruiting at the grass roots level. We go through Paul's coaching career, including with Jim O'Brien, Tom Thibodeau and Rick Majerus. Along with that, we chat about modern recruiting, what can be changed to make things better and much more. Enj...

This week, Tony and I breakdown the second half of Coach Neighbors article on "What Makes Tough Coaches"? We chat about visibility, knowing their team, your coaching staff, principles and much more! Along with that we have trivia and then an extended discussion on what USA basketball should be looking to do in 2024. Great episode!!

Casey and I are back to review the latest episode of "Winning Time", where we cover the most ground in the shortest amount of time and hit some major events in the journey of the 1980's Lakers; being swept by. the 76ers in 1983, Norm Nixon getting traded, Kareem's house burning down and more. Casey and I go through the categories, and we also identify perhaps the origins of our least favorite char...