January 30, 2018 • From the BenchpreparationWinning Hoops

Scouting the opposition

by Kevin Hoffman, Editorial Director

Tips for gathering and dissecting information that matters

Scouting is agonizing for some coaches and simple for others, but the process of identifying tendencies of upcoming opponents is a lot easier for everyone if they have a system.

Honey Brown, assistant basketball coach at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, talked about this once at the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s annual convention. The key elements of scouting often falls into the hands of assistant coaches. Making sure that everything is completed thoroughly and efficiently starts with having a plan.

Here are a few of the points Brown discussed.

1. Provide only what’s needed.

The head coach understandably has a lot to do. Don’t overwhelm them with information that’s not going to be useful in game planning. Brown said to give head coaches what they want and what they need.

Scouting reports should be simple, making it easy for the coach to learn about the opponent and develop counter strategies. Brown suggested that coaches play to their own strengths, being careful not to develop strategies that don’t align with the team’s core defensive and offensive philosophies.

2. Deliver the breakdown.

The relevant information is in hand, now you just have to develop a way to apply it.

Dissect the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent as a team and with the individual players. Begin to think about the matchups, and which players on your team are best suited to defend the opponent’s post players and guards. It’s also important to think about how you’re going to defend them, whether they’re a threat on the perimeter or someone inclined to drive the lane whenever they have the ball in their hands.

3. Offensive analysis.

Brown said it’s crucial to identify which offenses your opponent runs the most and which ones have the potential to give your team the most problems. Consider how you’re going to defend and determine appropriate counters to ball screens and coverages. When watching film, note how other teams defend, what worked and what didn’t. All of this is useful for your upcoming game.

Photo via Antonio Vernon, Wikimedia Commons

The coaching staff should discuss tendencies, lineups and how the opposition likes to adjust in certain situations. Be careful not to focus on details that won’t affect how you play.

4. Defensive study.

The film room is also where coaches want to get a feel for the opponent’s defense and how it likes to react when facing an offense similar to the one you run.

Brown recommends identifying the opposition’s three most common defenses, specifically noting which it likes to deploy most. Coaches should be on the lookout for how the defense plays individual personnel, how it handles transitions and whether team’s have trouble getting the ball into the post. Brown said to identify quick hitters that might be effective, and develop your plan of attack based on weaknesses and opportunities.

5. Apply the knowledge.

The new knowledge is what helps you develop a game plan, and that game plan is what drives your practices leading up to tipoff. Provide this information to players.

Ted Anderson, former coach at Valley Center High School in Kansas, said this presentation shouldn’t include the athletes at the high school level. Practice time is limited, so it should be up to the coaches to do the homework — the athletes have enough of that in the classroom.

“Our team has watched only about 20 total minutes of our opponent’s game tapes with our kids in the last three years,” Anderson said. “As a coaching staff, we need to watch the tapes and do the work. We do not want to have our players stick around at practice for an extra two and one half hours. We’ll do some walk through stuff on game day with the players.”

That’s different for coaches at the college level. Coaches often provide players with film so they can do their own study. The coaches might even edit it to create customized film cuts for guards and forwards.

Project confidence in the game plan, Brown said. Coaches need to sell their players on the strategy. They can only do that by having faith that it’s going to work. Describe the plan of attack, why it’s going to be effective and emphasize the keys to winning the game. That’s how you give your team the best chance to come out on top.