NCDS: Jonathan Holmes, Asst. Coach - William & Mary ("February Adjustments")

Now that the college basketball season is into the month of February, teams around the country are attempting to finish the regular season strongly with conference tournaments and postseason right around the corner.  This time of year is an extremely important stretch of the season for all teams.  Some are attempting to win a regular season conference championship, while others are looking to position themselves for a top seed in their conference tournament.  Still there are others who have had tough seasons and are looking to find a late season spark that will rejuvenate their season heading into tournament week.  

Regardless of your team’s situation, late February is a time of the year that is managed differently than probably any other stretch during the regular season.   The college basketball season can be demanding at times, filled with road trips, multiple games in a week, practice and class, all of which contribute to a player’s daily schedule of responsibilities.  Therefore it becomes increasingly important as the season winds down to implement ways to keep your players fresh heading into the last few weeks of the season while still getting the team prepared to play their best basketball of the year. 

One thing that changes with our team as the year progresses is the length of our practices.  Once we get into January and February we are playing at least two games a week, and on a few occasions each year we have three games in a week.   Therefore, we typically try to keep our practices to about an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes, with the day before a game being even shorter.  The ability to fight and overcome fatigue as the season goes on is very important to a team’s overall level of success.  Typically speaking, the younger players are the ones most affected by the length of the college basketball season.  The jump from high school to college can be a big one, and often times you will see young kids hit a proverbial wall sometime in mid-to-late January.  That is why finding ways to keep your guys fresh is so important while still working to improve everyday as a team. 

Even though our practices sessions are condensed, we still place a heavy emphasis on remaining focused and working hard for the time we are on the floor together.  Less time on the practice floor does not mean “vacation time.”  Along with practices being shorter in length late in the season, we also try to structure our practices differently to avoid monotony.  Obviously we have our core drills that we work on almost every practice, but it is important to shake things up on occasion.  Guys should want to come to practice and compete, so planning practice accordingly can certainly benefit your club.  For example, we might introduce a new drill, flip-flop our offensive and defensive segments, or even have a day where we scrimmage for the majority of the practice.  We might even surprise our players with an extra day off if we feel like they are banged up, or run down after a long road trip.  It never hurts to be a little unconventional with your approach during the course of a season.  Keeping things “fresh” will help prevent your team from becoming stale.

Lastly, I hope that everyone enjoys the remainder of the regular season before another exciting month of tournament basketball begins in March!

GO TRIBE!

Jonathan Holmes

W&M

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