Whoever coined the phrase "off-season" apparently never coached high school basketball - at least not in the last decade! Once Spring hits and the sting of your final game from the previous season has faded, all focus turns towards preparation for NEXT season, still 8 months away. Typically, while everyone else is re-charging their batteries in early March, the head coach is already figuring out how to maximize what he has left and turn it into a successful run at a championship. The myriad of other responsibilities - from post-season evaluations, to banquet pep, to workout schedules and more - is mind-numbing but necessary if one expects to get the most out of the remaining time left before that first tip-off happens to kick off the new season.
Last season, I was fortunate enough to have Luke Cable as my "off-season" captain and he did a fantastic job. All it took was one phone call or text to Luke and whatever news I needed to get out to the masses was instantly delivered. Luke was also a "first in, last out" kind of player, so his work ethic was a perfect example to hold up to the rest of the players. Finding my next "Luke Cable" however, is a tall task, but I believe this year's co-captains for the off-season, Roque Lopez and Kevin Rice, will do well in their roles.
Roque (pronounced Row-kay), a senior, came to us last year from William Penn and his work ethic instantly won me over. Although still a bit raw when it comes to on-court decision-making, and he throws too many 1 handed passes for my liking, Roque has the potential to be a special player for us in the 2012-13 campaign.  Roque will play point and 2 guard for us and his quickness and excellent on-ball defense will compliment a jump shot that is beginning to shape into a legitimate weapon if his improvement continues as it has been. Roque is what we look for in a Bulldog: good grades, extremely coachable, great work ethic, and a hard-nosed competitor. Roque is also a workout fiend - he is typically in the gym at least twice a week by 6a, along with spending nearly everyday in the weightroom and gym after school. He reminds me a lot of another former point guard: Mark Gerhart. Although he is nowhere near Mark's level yet, his effort and passion for improving makes me believe that he could approach it before all is said and done...
The other co-captain is junior Kevin Rice. As far as toughness is concerned, no one can question this kid's stones. He broke his nose his freshman year diving for a loose ball in a "toughness" drill (and he finished his turn, by the way, blood and all...); he nearly broke his wrist taking a charge in a game versus YS in early January (he was back within 1 week); and then he essentially lost his front 4 teeth at YS 1 month later during the District playoffs after slamming head-first into the wall while trying to stop a driving player from scoring. The term "reckless abandon" fits this kid to a T. He also happens to be perhaps our most dangerous and skilled offensive player. Kevin (KC) will play mostly 2 guard, but his versatility allows us to move him to either the 3 or even point depending on our roster needs at any one moment in a game. He has also developed a knack for getting his hands on a lot of basketballs defensively, and as you know, deflections have always been a major part of our defensive strategy. Together, KC and Roque form a dangerous pair in our backcourt; off the court I am hoping they lead their teammates the way past Bulldogs have led.
Our off-season calendar is packed: a typical week in April and May looks like this for our players:
strength training 3x per week
individual skill training on Mon and Tues after school
team workout (Read and React offensive work) on Wednesday morning from 6a-7a
shooting workouts Tues and Thurs mornings from 6a-7a
Open gym on thursday from 6p-8p
As you can see, there is little room for those not willing to do the work necessary to improve.

For over a decade, our program, from top to bottom, has run two basic offensive systems: the flex offense ("Gator") and the Wheel offense, a hybrid of the Shuffle offensive system. The two systems worked well for our teams over the years, despite the fact that "everyone knew it was coming". But for the past 2-3 years, I have gotten antsy with our offense; the exact things that used to make those systems so attractive to me (sharing the wealth, interchangeable parts), were beginning to expose themselves as detriments. I found myself tinkering, re-working, shifting, and essentially trying to "re-invent" the Wheel to not only fit our personnel,but the results I wanted from them. Then late last season, I had a conversation that would prove to be influential.
I have always been a big fan of Rick Torbett and his Better Basketball series. The guy knows his stuff and yet doesn't come across as too rigid in his teaching of fundamentals and his attention to detail is impressive. Then someone told me about his "Read and React" offensive system. At first glance, it seemed like a hybrid of the Dribble Drive offense made popular by Memphis University, but upon further research, I found it was really unlike anything I had come across before - and in basketball, that is not just rare, it is unheard of!
But change an entire offensive system to something completely new? Yikes. I have to admit, it took me at least a month to finally take the plunge, Even then, after we had purchased the DVDs that teach the initial system, it took me another few weeks of indecision before I finally decided to jump in feet-first - and let me tell you, I am glad I did.
At first glance, the system seemed overwhelming - heck, it has over 20 layers! But after immersing myself into the system, it began to dawn on me - this is EXACTLY what I had been searching for. The "system" is really just a series of "reactions" that must be learned in order for the offense to run. It is shocking just how flexible the system is and how much creativity in not just allows, but encourages from our players. The real difficulty is just getting the players to "un-learn" some common, age-old offensive basketball habits (ie. elements of Motion)  and instead, begin to "Read and React".
I started introducing the system to our varsity guys this spring and for the most part, we were able to run the system in our summer league at about 60% efficiency, without even really touching upon the last 10 layers of the offense. Now, as our Fall preseason begins, we have begun incorporating elements of the offense into our open gym workouts through a series of breakdown warm-ups that touch upon nuances of the system. Although some of the players' heads are spinning right now, I really think it won't take too long before the light bulb goes on and they start to truly "get it"...  until formal practices begin in November and we are really able to "coach them up", though, we won't be able to see their learning curve. Until then, we will simply continue to spoon feed them some elements of the our new system and hope for the best!