Lady Tigers stress defensive deflections and transition in 1st practice

COACH STARKEY: Well the first practice session of the season is in the books and the staff was pleased with the effort and ethusiasm.  We hit the practice floor at 7:30 PM tonight.  As you can tell, practice is starting earlier this year based on a new NCAA rule.  The new rule reads that we can count 40 days back from our first game and then utilize 30 of those days for practice.  It means we get a few extra practices in but it also means more days off for the players.  We can get the work we need in while the team gets some good rest.  It's a really good rule.  The one negative is that the very first day of practice, you are not allowed to start until after 5:00 PM (Please don't ask me why).  Because of some afternoon classes we decided on 7:30.

We started off with Pre-Practice which is a period where we break the players down into two groups and do a lot of fundamental teaching.  Normally I will have the post players and Coach Mays will take the perimeter players though sometimes we mix and match depending upon what we need to accomplish.  This year we've added Joni Crenshaw to our staff and she works both ends.  I've been so impressed with Joni's knowledge of the game and her ability to teach.  She is picking up our system quickly and making a difference at practice.

We worked on some old staples of our system tonight including our motion offense, our C Play (Coach Chancellor's WNBA ball screen action) and our man to man defense.  We also spend some time working heavily on our transition offense.  Coach Chancellor went over 6 points to our transition attack and then we drill in those areas.

Step #1: Defensive Rebounding

Step #2: Deep Outlet Passes

Step #3: Sprint the Lanes

Step #4: Shot Selection/Responsibility

Step #5: Penetration Play

Step #6: Secondary Action

Each day that we practice we have an Emphasis of the Day.  We pick an area of our game that we are going to really stress in drills and in scrimmage situations.  When the players come to practice they will see the Emphasis of the Day plastered in the locker room and on the court.  After pre-practice, Coach Chancellor huddles the team up and talks about the emphasis and why it is so important.  Tonight our emphasis was "Hand on the Ball" which our way of saying we want our defense to pressure the ball.  They way we can read if we our successful is by charting deflections.  Tonight we had 60 which is an excellent number for the first day of practice.

We have a total of 5 different scrimmage situations and that included conversions.  Some notables in the stat department tonight included double figure scorers in Jeanne Kenney (20 points), Nicci Kelly (14 points), Katherine Graham (13 points), Tia Eason (12 points) and Adrienne Webb (10 points).  Top rebounders included Swayze Black (10 boards) and Taylor Turnbow (10 boards).  Bianaca Lutley lead us in assists with 5 followed by Tia with 4. 

The night ended with a "sudden death" game that Coach Chancellor devised.  We divide the group into two teams and the first team to lead by two wins.  It puts an immediate emphasis in all phases of the game.  After a defensive stop, LaSondra Barrett hit a baseline jumper to give her team the victory.

It's a short turn around for the Lady Tigers with practice tomorrow at 1:30 PM but it is part of our plan to work on the toughness of our team.  We play in several tournaments this year with quick turnarounds so it will be perfect for getting us prepared for the season.

Posted by Bob Starkey