Hardwood Hustle

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This week TJ and Sam hit on an important topic for coaches which is how you confront your players and be honest with where they’re at while also creating a team culture that genuinely cares about each other. Send us a Message.

Coach Micah Mills is back on the show to discuss troubleshooting your offense and player development in order to find solutions to your offensive frustrations midseason. Send us a Message.

This week TJ and Sam discuss managing your roster in terms of number of players along with playing time decisions in order to limit the headaches and maximize the potential of your team. Send us a Message.

Joined by special guest, Jason Peery, this week we dive into how he built a successful high school program as he shares his best practices when it comes to creating drills, teaching the game, and developing players. Show Notes: More about Jason Peery: Riding the Triangle to the PinnacleSend us a Message.

This week TJ and Sam discuss how to start the season off right by knowing what you need out of your first practices, how to evaluate your first games, and setting up your team for success not just at the start, but throughout the season. Show Notes: • General Thoughts on how to prepare your team for the first game of the season • First week of practice • Identifying the goal • How can you stack things • Balance Offense and Defense • Creating standards of practice • Attitude and effort • Capturing the vision of who you want to be as a team • Cover your butt coaching • Player Development • Handling adversity • Leadership • Holes in the ceiling • Working in 3s • Getting the foundation right • Learning and improving season to season Send us a Message.

This week we discuss the offensive and defensive implications of the 3pt line, how it affects your players and it's changed all levels of the game. Show Notes: Send us a Message.

This week Graham Maxwell joins the show to discuss how coaches can win in their relationships with opponents, players, and staff and why it can be the difference maker for you this season. Show Notes: • Opponent relationships • Healthy competition • Finding middle ground • Setting the example • Tony Bennett example • Staff relationships • Who over What • Coaching hard • Jockeying for positions • Being a generous listener • Acknowledging and celebrating • Catch them doing something good • What hurts relationships with players • Playing time • Sharing the burden Send us a Message.

In light of Coach Tony Bennett’s recent retirement announcement, we thought we’d honor his legacy and what he’s given to the game by reposting his 2021 interview with us where he laid out his foundation as a coach and how his team bounced back to win a National Championship. Show Notes: • 5 Pillars / Core Values • Getting player buy-in • How you face adversity • Knowing your Why • Vulnerability & Leading by example • Developing leaders • Style of play & paying the price • Becoming a great teacher • What truly matters Send us a Message.

In the world of coaching and leadership we often hear phrases and mantras that serve our coaching in a positive way. And there's also statements and quotes that initial appeal to us and may even carry some truth, but if we put too much stock in them, they could also steer us in the wrong direction. Before we know it, we may end up be off course. This week TJ and Sam discuss different 'coachisms' in the form of 3 truths and 3 lies and debate what's reasonable, what's practical, and what ultimately makes sense to apply to your coaching and share with your team. Show Notes: • Intro to Topic • Relationships are paramount to coaching and leadership • Competing is the ultimate equalizer • How you do what you do is the separator • Winning cures everything • Leaders are born, not made • Talent trumps team Send us a Message.

This week TJ and Sam discuss the importance of practice design and share common mistakes you’ll want to avoid in your practice planning this season. Show Notes: • 1. Lack of preparation • Communication and delegation + more tips • Picking the right things to practice • Enrolling your players • Knowing your strengths and practices • What to pay attention to • 2. Distributing roles in practice • "If you try and watch everything, you'll see nothing." • 3. Identifying influential practice factors • Doing your best stuff most of the time • 4. Designing more than the 'What' • Flow of practice • 5. Marrying the practice plan Send us a Message.

This week we’re joined by Micah Mills, head coach at Wilmington College and PGC Coaching mentor to discuss managing the energy, emotions, and egos of your players as well as yourself. Show Notes: • Bringing energy & being your authentic self as a coach • Teach players how to bring their own energy • Individual hype numbers • Engaging with individual players • Managing your own energy • Changes with time • Consistency with the option to change it up • "Don't let your circumstances dictate your behavior." • Regulating emotions • Individual differences • Helping your players - Walking a fine line • Ensuring your team has an edge • Buying into a team mentality • Having the right conversations • The role of social media today • Speaking the truth to players • Controlling the narrative • Getting it right before its too late Send us a Message.

A good passing team is a well coached team. This week we discuss all things related to helping your players be better passers this season. Show Notes: • Why you should consider being a pressing team. • Thinking ahead in your season • Developing better passers and emphasis in practice • "Passing is like leadership" • Executing your sets • "Make the simple play" • Inability to pass is limiting - Minimize risky decisions • Defining good passing • Coaching pet peeves • Coaching different types of passes • What will you do the most in your offense • Jump Passes • Taking care of your possessions • Team confidence • Better Passing = More Fun Send us a Message.

Building a successful program is all about how you cultivate the identity of the team. This week, TJ and Sam discuss 4 principles to help shape your team culture and strengthen your team identity in something bigger than any individual. Show Notes: • Topic Intro • Shared Ownership - Getting players to lead - Working through conflict • Shared suffering - giving players ownership • Individual Responsibility - Having it come to life in practice • Collective pride - Why its important - The challenges coaches face Send us a Message.

This week the team discusses “Less & More” - where as coaches we should be looking to add more to our programs both on and off the court and where can we make additions by subtraction. Show Notes: What should players do less and more of? What should parents do less and more of? What should coaches do less and more of? Send us a Message.

TJ and Sam discuss the Xs and Os decisions all coaches have to make going into their preseason and the implications for your team. Show Notes: • Topic Intro OFFENSE • Why + Who = What + How • Does it matter if it's a fun offensive system to play in? • Balancing freedom & structure • Testing your team's IQ • Does your team know: - What they're hunting - How to hunt it - How to improve • Does talent need structure? • Getting player buy-in • Ability to spread the floor • Making up for deficits • Questions to ask • How many things can you be great at? DEFENSE • To pressure or not • Matching your offense and defense REBOUNDING • Both sides of the ball • Tagging • Creating roles SPECIAL TEAMS • How committed do you want to be? • Defense • Low Clock / Late Game Send us a Message.

This week we’re joined by Head Coach Missy Traversi from Army women’s basketball. With over 16 years of coaching experience at all levels, Missy shares how she’s developed as a leader, been able to adjust her team’s style of play and how the culture at West Point has shaped her coaching. Show Notes: • Leadership • Sprinting toward failure • Changing style of play • Understanding the analytics • Generating the right shots • Finding what will help your team win • What others are doing well • Controlling the pace of the game • Next Right Thing • West Point Culture • Being the model for your athletes More about Coach Missy Traversi: Coach Traversi is going into her 4th season as the Head Coach for Army Women's Basketball. Previously, Missy spent 5 seasons as the head coach at Adelphi University. At Adelphi, she coached the Panthers to an 83-37 (.692) overall record, two NE10 Southwest Division regular-season championships, an NE10 Tournament Championship in 2017, and two NCAA Division II Tournament berths. In 2019-20, Traversi guided Adelphi to a historic season that consisted of a 27-3 overall record on her way to capturing All-Met Division II Coach of the Year honors. Winners of the NE10 Southwest Division regular-season championship, the Panthers were selected as the East Region's top seed in the 2020 NCAA Division II Tournament before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the tournament before it began. Adelphi finished the season ranked No. 8 in the WBCA Division II Top 25 Poll. She has 13 years of coaching experience ranging across the Division I, Division II, Division III and high school ranks. The Attleboro, Mass. native was a standout Division I player at the University of Maine from 2001-05 and played professionally overseas before beginning her coaching career. Send us a Message.

How does your team react when they face a high pressure defense? This week the discussion is around the habits, mindset, and principles you’ll want to instill next season in your players in order to be great at breaking and handling pressure. Show Notes: • Intro to Topic • Teaching necessary skills and habits • Flipping the mindset - Pressure is a facade • Being the aggressor • Making it part of your style • Who passes the ball in • Availability of the first pass • Squirrel analogy • 3 available receivers • Attack out of first or second reversal • Alignment and stretching the defense • Why you should be a pressing team • Role identification Send us a Message.

This week TJ and Sam discuss fundamentals, but maybe not in the same way you’re used to. They’re talking about how to develop and communicate core principles that set the foundation for your team’s success. Send us a Message.

If you want to better teacher of the game it’s important to understand how your coaching is received. This week the discussion is about putting yourself in the shoes of the learner so you can maximize your coaching. Show Notes: Send us a Message.