Getting ready for the first game

As the season draws near my mind floats to seasons in the past when my team wasn't ready and we paid for it. There were of course lots of times we were ready but the consequences of not being ready seem closer to the surface. With that in mind, here are the things I think of as necessary for the first game.

Press break
It's a long game if you can't get the ball up the floor. It's a lot easier to make a press work early in the season and it can easily turn a close game into a laugher. Ask me how I found that out. What I do now is put my press in very early in a basic form. We then work on attacking it with two important benefits; 1) It's harder to press us 2) Our press gets better because we're working against a press break.

Entries into the offense
Lots of teams work hard to deny the ball. This can be really effective if you aren't ready for it. I think the players need several ways to get into the offense because the defense work harder on denial if they get early success.

Transition defense
It's hard to stay in the game early in the year if you give up easy baskets. It's never good to let them run but the team probably has less resilience early in the year.

Time-outs
Calling timeouts during scrimmages will help your team get ready for games. I like the players on the floor to sit in order, 1-5, so I can see who is playing each position. The others are behind the bench. I expect everyone to look at me or the board while I'm talking. A small thing someone told me once is to hold the boards sideways. I draw the diagrams on the side of the board corresponding to the offense and defense. Anything to avoid confusion.

Substitutions
With young teams it's important to practice substitutions before the first game. I like the player going on the floor to hand a towel to the player they are replacing after they find out who they are guarding and the position they are playing. It's also good to train the players to look over to the scorer's table after each whistle to see if the other team has some subs.

Warm-up
I've gotten caught several times without having a pre-defined warm-up routine. I don't think warm-up is that crucial but I want the players to think we're ready for everything. Whether we are or not isn't as important as having the players think we are.

Zone offense
I don't spend a lot of time on zone offense but we have to be ready. As for the press break, we put in the zone defense without teaching it and concentrate on learning how to attack it. Lots of teams throw up a zone defense at the end of the year so I like to play some zone, starting with the first game.