A Pen And A Napkin

Building your team's defense step by step, brick by brick is integral to your team's success. This week, Tony and I discuss the basic things that you should be looking at to build your team's defensive system, from offensive board coverage to rebounding on your defensive end and everything in between. Closeouts, communication and defensive transition need to be at the core of everything that you d...

Samuel Schlautman is the head girls basketball coach at David City (NE) and has built the program into a place where they are ready to make a run at the state tournament here in Nebraska this season! Coach Schlautman comes on the podcast to talk about his influences, growing numbers in your program, trying to create more offense, the pressures of returning everyone from a good team, BLOB's, transi...

Much of our success as coaches is due to how we manage late game situations. In this pod, Tony and I break down late game situations that you should be prepared for as soon as possible, including late game shot selection, fouling up 3, fouling, delay game, pressbreaks, timeouts and "special teams". We also have our weekly trivia, a discussion on Danny Hurley and Maui, remembering Lou Carnesseca, t...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that everyone enjoys this "appetizer" of a podcast with Karen Self, the highly successful GBB HC at Seton Catholic Prep (AZ). Coach Self has spent all 33 years of her coaching career at Seton Catholic, winning 12 state championships and is closing in on the all time record for wins for any basketball coach in the state of Arizona at 832! In this pod, Coach Self...

There's a big difference between being the hunter and the hunted, and if you are fortunate enough to be the hunted, you are going to face the prospect of people aiming to come after you and upset you. This week, Tony and I break down the steps that you can take to prevent being upset, even though it is almost inevitable that you are going to be upset by someone in your season. We go through things...

Very excited to have Lincoln Christian (NE) GBB HC Scott Klein on the podcast this week! Coach Klein won a state championship last season with his squad, and he has everyone back from that team for this season except for one starter. Coach Klein discusses his basketball journey, their run to the state championship, taking over a program with high expectations, transition offense, pressure defense...

As you approach your early season individual and team development, there are numerous questions that you need to answer to put your team in the best situation possible. What are those questions you should be asking of your program and of yourself? Tony and I break that down throughout this episode, things that you need to try to answer to the best of your ability to help set your team up for as su...

Mark Potter is the former head men's basketball coach at Newman University (KS), and his story is both special and difficult to tell. Coach Potter is a major advocate for mental health, and he knows first hand the toll that anxiety and depression can take on anyone after he went through his own mental health crisis almost 15 years ago. Coach Potter goes into detail about his story, his struggles a...

Tony and I are back together this week (thanks Casey!!) and we're excited to talk about preseason player meetings and their importance! We discuss some things that you should be doing to help create a positive atmosphere while also being honest and transparent with important issues with your players. Along with that, we also break down some best practices, like taking notes during your meetings, a...

I cannot thank everyone enough for their support over the last 5+ years of APAAN, and we've hit another major benchmark with episode #250!!! I'm really pleased to have on Creighton University WBB HC and longtime friend Jim Flanery on the pod this week. Flan has one of the most experienced and cohesive rosters in the nation this year, and we discuss a variety of topics, including his development as...

Tony was really busy this week, so I called in Mr. Casey Hall to come in and pinch=hit this week! Coach Hall was the lead assistant for the Class A state champion Millard West Wildcats last season, and they have their three leading scorers back from last year's squad, so I thought it would be good to discuss 'staying hungry' and keeping that same motivation going after a degree of success. We go t...

Really excited to have on Ryan Coenen, the GBB HC at Woodbine (IA) for episode #249! Coach Coenen has "built" a dormant program at Woodbine into a consistent winner, including a 2023 state tournament run, the first for the town since 1974. In this pod, Coach Coenen discusses his "competitive cauldron", his RRP philosophy, developing high standards, zigging and zagging, his emphasis on defensive tr...

Ever wondered what your spouse was really thinking or what it was like to be in their shoes? Parents, have you ever really thought about the effect that you have on a coaches family? Coaches, do you know what your spouse needs from you? We try to answer these and more questions as we met up at Wine 121 with Scott Wragge, husband of Jennifer Wragge of Elkhorn (NE) GBB HC, Jodi Scheef, wife of Kevin...

Last week, Tony and I made a plethora of suggestions as to how you could/should start your practices, so this week it only makes sense to discuss what you could be doing to end your practices. We throw out a bunch of ideas, including shooting drills, scrimmage ideas, cultural exercises and much, much more! We also have trivia and an extended TWIB segment, where we discuss the shocking resignation...

Paul Dwyer has built a terrific small school girls basketball program at Elmwood-Murdoch (NE) high school, and he's our guest for episode #247! Coach Dwyer discusses his basketball journey, including building his program and garnering community support, unifying his program through slogans, cooperating and work with AAU programs, defensive philosophy and much more! Enjoy this week's pod!!

As we gear up for the season, one of the most important segments of practice is the start of practice; getting your practice started off strongly is vitally important to your team's consistent improvement and performance. This week Tony and I give out some of our favorite drills to start practice, as well as thoughts about what makes a strong start to practice. Along with that, we have trivia (whi...

Our middle child Carter Plum is BACK with his analysis of the WNBA Finals that tip off tonight! Carter and I break down the matchups, who has the momentum, advantages and disadvantages for both teams, and Carter gives his prediction as to whom he thinks is going to win the title!

It's that time of year once again . . . my childhood and lifelong friend Dick Jungers from Newell-Fonda (IA) comes back on the pod for the 6th time to discuss a whole bunch of coaching topics. We discuss raising kids that are involved in activities and athletics, Dick's national coach of the year nomination, the psychology of coaching, reloading, playing alot of kids, shooting, game prep and much,...

Failure is inevitable. That's just a fact of life. How we handle failure, however, is 100% in our control. This week, Tony and I discuss failure from a variety of different angles, from anticipating it to how to communicate it to how to actually use failure to our advantage. Along with that, we discuss the WNBA playoffs, the Knicks/Timberwolves trade and the passing of the legendary Dikembe Mutomb...

Tuesday, October 1st is a great day! We have the release of "Kings Of Their Court" happening today, and to give you a taste, here is a (very) amateur reading of parts of Chapter 1 of the book to help give you an idea of what the rest of the book is all about! Hope you enjoy it!

Wow, what a day!!! FIVE YEARS AGO this week I started this little venture and it has been an AMAZING experience! To celebrate, I've been fortunate to ask Stan Van Gundy, former NBA head coach and current announcer, onto the pod to celebrate. Coach Van Gundy and I discuss a variety of topics, including NBA questions, growing up in a basketball family, late game situations, organizing a bench, organ...

As coaches, we all know that everyone within our program has to have a well defined role. What we need to do as coaches is clearly communicate and define those roles, but we also need to take a look at the bigger picture as we construct our rosters. Tony and I bounce off a bunch of ideas to help you with your development of roles, along with having some fun rating the best role players in the NBA....

We had alot of fun recording this roundtable podcast before the first night of the MBCA Fall Clinics this past week! Jim Simons of Omaha Westside, Steve Klein of Bellevue West and Jake Nannen of Elkhorn South jump on the pod to discuss their build up towards the 2024-25 season, including their fall activities and how they plan to build up their play books on both sides of the ball. Along with that...

I got up this morning feeling like I hadn't talked sufficiently about the potentially great WNBA playoffs that are upon us, so I decided to invite on the most knowledgable WNBA fan I know . . . our son Carter!! Carter breaks down the four playoff series, who he doesn't want his beloved NY Liberty to play, and A'ja Wilson as a unanimous MVP. Enjoy a little bonus material!

We're all here to win, right? Most of us are not going to sell our souls for it, but we're competitive and we want to win. But how do you get yourself and your program in the right mental frame of mind to win, and what are some of the best practices that you can have to win? Tony and I break down numerous things you should be practicing and teaching your program in order to find that mental mindse...