Coach ,

Starting tomorrow, 16 teams in D1 women’s basketball will begin competition toward the Final Four to be held in San Antonio with the National Championship to be held on April 4.  

Who is your pick to win it all?

There have been some fantastic games played during this tournament and some plays we plan to steal for our own playbooks. 

Check them out.  Special thanks to Fast Model Sports for their help on the play diagrams.

Coach Katrina Merriweather and her staff run some very creative actions.  Screening the zone is always effective and in this case, the interior of the zone is the focus.  From a box set, 2 pops to the corner as 4 and 5 dive into the lane and screen the middle and back of the zone.  3 pops out to the top to drag the top two zone defenders up to guard her.  This opens potential lobs passes to 4 and 5 inside, as well as a quick pass to 2 in the middle of the floor.

Rub actions, where a guard will screen for a post, are so effective, especially against teams that are switching.Here is a go to set for Coach Wes Miller.  In this play, 1 hits 4 at the elbow and begins to cut into the lane, then turns and sets the screen for 5.  5 cuts to the rim looking for the pass.  A secondary action that can be added to this set is that if 5 is not open, 1 will cut back toward 4 to either get the ball back in a DHO or stationary hand back.

The Paige Bueckers vs. Caitlin Clark matchup is the highlight for tomorrow's games, along with Coach Aueriemma’s return to the sideline.  This is a very effective BOB action used by Iowa, and allows for a quick slip to the rim if 5’s defender extends to help on the double screen. 

 Kentucky Zone Overload

Putting more offensive players in a zone defender's area can be frustrating for the defense and here is an effective method used by Kentucky.  From a 1-4 low stack, 2 pops to the opposite wing as 3 cuts to the middle.  3 will then come back to the ball-side corner as 5 flashes to the ball.  4 then looks for the gap between the top two guards to flash into as 1 slides to the opposite wing.

If you want more plays from the women’s tournament, make sure you check out this playbook from Coach Aaron Schuck here

Ball screens and ball screen sets will be featured in each of the 16 teams playing this weekend.  Here is a clip from Michigan assistant coach Wesley Brooks teaching reads from the Triple alignment in his course Pre-Screen Reads for the Ball Screen

Click Here to Watch

Here are some additional resources from coaches playing this weekend

Gary Blair: Are You Worth 6 Points A Game?

Kim Mulkey: Quick Hitters and Inbounds Plays

Jeff Walz: Quick Hitters vs. Zone and Man

Mickie DeMoss: Building A Program

Down The Hallway with Dawn Staley

Bob Starkey: Things I've Learned Along The Journey

Enjoy the games!

Growing the Game Together!!

-Lason, Leigh, Marc and the Coaches Clinic Community of Coaches Helping Coaches

PS.  Have you signed up for the Rising Coaches Clinic?  Check out the list of speakers and topics at risingcoaches.coachesclinic.com