with Geno Auriemma,
- 3x U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Head Coach (3x Gold Medal; '00, '12, '16)
- 1000+ career wins - Fastest coach to 800, 900 and 1,000 wins, any level, men's or women's
- 11x NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship Coach ('95, '00, '02 -'04, '09 - '10, '13 - '16)
- 9x AP Coach of the Year; 8x Naismith Coach of the Year; 7x WBCA National Coach of the Year; 6x USBWA Women's National Coach of the Year
- John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching award (2012)
- Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame ('06); Women's Basketball Hall of Fame ('06); National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame ('07)
- 19x Big East regular season and 22x Big East tournament titles
How can you make your team better in a limited amount of time? Geno Auriemma and his assistant coaches show you how to raise your team's proficiency in all phases of the game from the first day of practice.
With a virtual list of the who's who of women's basketball players having played for him, Auriemma takes you inside to show you the drills he uses to develop his players. The drills presented in this video are designed to improve fundamental skills and have made Coach Auriemma arguably one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time.
Auriemma details the breakdown between offensive and defensive focus and the amount of practice time spent on individual skill development. Particular attention is paid to designing a skill development program that incorporates the need to develop well-rounded players at every position for today's"positionless" game.
Guard Drills
Like many coaches, Coach Auriemma looks to utilize the pick & roll in a variety of ways. He utilizes unique drills designed to develop ball-handling, coming off ball screens, and making quality shots. These drills will improve the individual skill sets of players to execute offense to near perfection.
One of the guard drills utilized teaches dribble drag action. After executing a guard-to-guard dribble hand-off, the guard receiving the ball comes off of a pick & roll. The guard coming off the pick & roll executes a pull-up jump shot while the guard who made the initial hand-off touches the baseline and comes back to the wing to shoot a 3-point shot.
Another ball screen drill for the guards works on utilizing a trailer ball screen in transition. The guard executes a hesitation dribble to wait on a ball screen from the trailer. The guard then uses the ball screen to come off for a shot or a drive to the basket.
Post Skills
Coach Auriemma and his staff utilize much of their post player development within the confines of his team's offense. The breakdown drills not only develop the skills of post players, but also work on being able to execute the offense.
The first of these drills for the post players is used to work on drag ball screens. This drill is the breakdown for the post players of the earlier trailer ball screen drill the guards run. Post players work on rolling to the basket, getting set for a post feed, and pick-and-pop action.
Another breakdown is for the pinch post aspect of the offense. Parts of the pinch post that are worked on include the dribble hand-off, the look for the high-low duck-in, and penetration dribble for a pull-up jump shot.
The breakdown drill Big works on the dribble hand-off into a high-low look in the offense. A dribble hand-off begins the action before a post player flashes to the high post area to look for a pass. The player who made the dribble hand-off then rolls to the basket looking for the high-low feed.
Overall Individual Skill Development
A ball-handling drill for 12 players is introduced with the idea of attacking defenders and being able to dribble through traffic. With six players lined up along the baseline and at half court facing each other, the two groups dribble in opposite directions with five student managers attempting to make it difficult for dribblers to get through traffic. By working on dribbling the ball and executing a move to protect the ball, Auriemma's players improve their abilities to handle the ball effectively.
To execute an offense based on ball movement, passing drills become a heavy point of emphasis. One of these drills is Four Corners Passing, which utilizes short passes and longer ones. Unlike traditional versions of Four Corners Passing, the longer passes are completed over the top of heads and hands of managers in the passing lanes to work on executing good skip passes.
Three-Line Box incorporates passing, shooting, and rebounding all in the same drill. This drill features a half-court variation of three-man weave with the player receiving the last pass shooting a jump shot. The player making the pass leading to the jump shot then looks to block out the remaining player, grab the rebound, and execute an outlet pass to the shooter to complete the repetition.
Coaches and players will gain valuable insight by watching actual practice footage complete with insightful commentary by Coach Auriemma and his assistants as they demonstrate how to demand excellence from players on a daily basis.
Don't miss the opportunity to watch and learn from the most successful program in women's college basketball!
88 minutes. 2018.