1. Must develop an attitude that the "paint" belongs to you. Be stronger and more determined than your opponent. 

2. Be able to score with either hand (off the glass) going to the middle or to the baseline. When posting up show your jersey number to the passer. Develop a variety of moves: up n under, hook, power, and reverse. Be able to score facing the basket from the elbow or short corner, while feeling comfortable shooting the 3pt shot. 
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3. Be able to find the open player when you are double-teamed, and then deliver the pass to the open player. ​

10. Be able to call upon all your senses: head (smarts), touch (be physical), hearing (pick-up verbal keys from opponents), and speaking (communicate with your teammates). ​

Goals: Be able to make 51% from floor, 75% from line, grab 8 per game (3 offensively). Be able to hold opponent post to 10 pts and 4 rebounds or less 

The building blocks of Wooden’s Pyramid of Success

Industriousness
There is no substitute for work. Worthwhile results come from hard work and careful planning.

Loyalty
To yourself and to all those depending upon you. Keep your self-respect.

Alertness
Be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. Be eager to learn and improve.

Initiative
Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone. Do not be afraid of failure, but learn from it.

Enthusiasm
Brushes off upon those with whom you come in contact. You must truly enjoy what you are doing.

Self-Control
Practice self-discipline and keep emotions under control. Good judgment and common sense are essential.

Friendship
Comes from mutual esteem, respect and devotion. Like marriage, it must not be taken for granted but requires joint effort.

Cooperation
With all levels of your co-workers. Listen if you want to be heard. Be interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way.

Intentness
Set a realistic goal. Concentrate on its achievement by resisting all temptations and being determined and persistent.

Confidence
Respect without fear. May come from being prepared and keeping all things in proper perspective.

Skill
A knowledge of and the ability to properly and quickly execute the fundamentals. Be prepared and cover every little detail.

Team-Spirit
A genuine consideration for others. An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests of glory for the welfare of all.

Poise
Just being yourself. Being at ease in any situation. Never fighting yourself.

Condition
Mental-Moral-Physical. Rest, exercise and diet must be considered. Moderation must be practiced. Dissipation must be eliminated.

Competitive Greatness
Be at your best when your best is needed. Enjoyment of a difficult challenge.

The accomplishments of your players on the basketball floor only represent half the battle. Part of a coach’s job is to help players develop character and prepare them for adult life. Here is a list of 10 expectations that you can give each of your players that will hopefully help them prepare for everyday life on and off the court. 

1. Take an active role in your classes. Sit up front in the classroom and participate in your education. Your academic priorities should be paramount for you, your parents, and all your coaches. We build our basketball program around individuals that want to be successful in the classroom. 

2. Develop people skills. Communicate, communicate, and communicate! Always be positive and encourage others. Our team has one of the most vocal and supportive benches of anyone we play—and it makes a difference. If you have a problem or a conflict, please talk to someone about it. Players that are able to communicate with coaches and teammates play an important role on this team. 

3. Team chemistry, unity are vital to success. If you are part of our team, you will have a role. Our team shares the ball on offense and we are equally unselfish on defense. Check your ego at the door. 
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4. Set goals and work to achieve them. Goal setting is a life-long necessity. Individual and team goals are a major part of our basketball program. Focus on being the best. ​

​5. Success is not a part-time job! Continuously work at your game and physically conditioning. Never take your position for granted. Improve your skills to help the team improve. Be dedicated and loyal—to yourself, your coaches and your teammates. 

6. Strive to learn. Never pass up an opportunity to learn. When you quit learning, you’ve quit! Pick the brain of your teammates. Ask questions. Watch basketball games on TV, watch your teammates play, watch game tape and learn from all of these experiences. 

7. Keep the competitive fires burning. Never back down from a challenge! Compete in the classroom, with your opponents and with—not against—your teammates. Even more importantly, compete with yourself. You may not win every time, but you can be successful if you compete and aggressively go after each challenge. 

8. Absolutely no trash talking! Let the final score do your talking. Also, understand that player’s play and officials officiate. Make sure your team is looked upon as a first-class team. 

9. Develop friendships. Whether you play basketball 1 year or 4 years, you’ll make lifetime friends. If you want to have more friends, be better friends to more people. 

10. Develop balance in your life. Basketball will only be a small segment of your total development as an individual. Get involved in other activities such as student government, campus ministry, clubs or many other opportunities in school and in the community. 
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For questions or comments, contact Coach Mike Durbin at [email protected].

4.COMMUNICATION
It is essential that all five players communicate with each other. Calling “ball”, yelling “help”, "shot", “skip” or “double” helps ensure that all five defenders will be in good position and know what is happening on the court. 
Three talking rules: Early, Loud and Often. 

5.NO DIRECT PASSES OR DRIVES 
Make the offense throw passes below or above, not through. ​Therefore, the only acceptable pass to give up is a lob pass.  Force the offense to their weak hand to take away the straight line drive. ​

10.BLOCKOUT AND OUTLET
Defensive effort is completed when we have POSSESSION OF THE BALL (ICE) - Identify, Contact, Explode. 
When the ball is shot ALL FIVE PLAYERS have rebound responsibility - covering the paint in a triangle shape with guards blocking out then moving to the elbow areas. Play the odds when rebounding a jump shot and flood the weak side with a guard to give additional rebounding strength. ​

A coach can only do his best, nothing more, but he does owe that, not only to himself, but to the people who employ him and to the youngsters under his supervision. If you truly do your best, and only you will really know, then you are successful and the actual score is immaterial whether it was favorable or unfavorable. However, when you fail to do your best, you have failed, even though the score might have been to our liking.

This does not mean that you should not coach to win. You must teach our players to win and do everything in your power that is ethical and honest to win. I do not want players who do not have a keen desire to win and do not play hard and aggressively to accomplish that objective. However, I want to be able to feel and want my players sincerely to feel that doing the best that are capable of doing is victory in itself and less than that is defeat.

It is altogether possible that whatever success I have had or may have could be in direct proportion to my ability not only to instill that idea in my players but also live up to it myself.

Therefore, I continually stress to my players that all I expect from them at practice and in the games is their best effort. They must be eager to become the very best that they are capable of becoming. I tell them that, although I want them to be pleased over victory and personal accomplishment, I want them to get the most satisfaction from knowing that both they and the team did their best. I hope that their actions or conduct following a game will not indicate victory or defeat. Head should always be high when you have done your best regardless of the scores and there is no reason for being overly jubilant at victory or unduly depressed by defeat.

Furthermore, I am rather thoroughly convinced that those who have the self-satisfaction of knowing they have done their best will also be on the most desirable end of the score as much, and perhaps more, than their natural ability might indicate.


John Wooden, from: Practical Modern Basketball