Useful terminology

Communication is always better when everyone is speaking the same language. Here are some terms I picked up here and there to help players and coaches understand exactly what is being discussed.

Rush state
Rick Pitino uses this to help his players know when to trap the ballhandler. A player who is slightly out of control can be trapped earlier.

Tell
Football coaches use the word "tell" to identify the cue that players have to look for in a given situation. A good basketball example is determining if the defense is man-to-to-man or zone. Good tells for the point guard are to know who is guarding both them and the wing on the right side. On an inbounds play the end line inbounder should know who is guarding them and the point guard. This should be enough information to deny the defense. An extra bit of information is available if the point guard sees if their check is following them as they set up for the inbounds page.

Cat and mouse
I'm not sure where I got this. The player being played man-to-man in a box and 1 is called the cat. There are two cats if the defense is a triangle and 2. The players guarding the cats are the mice. This makes it clear what we're talking about and there is a subtle message because we all know what cats do to mice. This is important because we don't want a junk defense to take away our best players. How to do this would be a good subject for my next post.