I was taught to use good fundamentals by Danny Adams at Magoffin County. He had the ability to take less talented teams, teach them fundamentals and defense, and win alot of ballgames. That is something that is lacking at most schools these days.

 

We learned alot of very fundamental things - moving your feet properly on defense, help defense, boxing out, taking away the baseline, taking charges, using the glass, etc. etc.

"Other times throughout spring and summer they are playing on different traveling teams. From what I've seen these games are playing soley on offensive ability and the ability to score one on one. "

 

This is so true, that is what is wrong with players now. Why can't a coach teach the player to fundmentally play team ball? It can be done, I have seen this happen. Coaches can give a player bench time if the player doesn't want to listen or play as a team, not one on one.

Which brings up another point of defenders getting the upper hand and pushing the dribbler where he wants him to go thus avoiding the pick.

 

To your point here, when I played refs did a good job of protecting the guy with the ball. I believe that's the way it should be. In today's time, from early AAU ball through high school, a defender can throw a saddle on the ball handler and ride him up the court without the whistle blowing. Not only do players watch too much ESPN and NBA, but so do refs. This contributes to the inability of a ball handler to set up a defender against a pick.

Coach Mike Code and Willie Schlarman were by far the best defensive coaches I had in high school, but I have to admit I played for Jeff Stowers in AAU basketball for 7 or 8 years and he trumped everyone. He didn't care if we scored a single point but they were not going to score at all. If someone drove baseline on us we would run for days the next practice we had. I love that man to this day for teaching us that and that's one of the reasons we were so good in high school.

I was just thinking. I have watched several teams & I have not seen a game all year with the give & go. Wonder why?

I think every high school coach teaches fundamentals but it makes a big difference what level the players are on mental and physically when he gets them. A coach who "inherits" a fundamentally sound group will have to spend less time on them; whereas a coach who "inherits" a group that is not fundamentally sound will have to spend more time and those kids my never master the fundamentals because you have to put in offenses, defenses, out of bounds plays, run shooting drills, etc. It's usually not the head coach's fault.

To the general state of the game and fundamentals, I would say that it's a lot more physical and the defense gets away with too much which makes it very difficult to run, say, a pick n roll. Most colleges use the pnr quite a bit (especially late in the shot clock) and every pro team uses it (some as their primary offense). So, I don't know if the fundamentals are necessarily lost--maybe the defenses today hide some of them.

To your point here, when I played refs did a good job of protecting the guy with the ball. I believe that's the way it should be. In today's time, from early AAU ball through high school, a defender can throw a saddle on the ball handler and ride him up the court without the whistle blowing. Not only do players watch too much ESPN and NBA, but so do refs. This contributes to the inability of a ball handler to set up a defender against a pick.

 

Exactly. It was the defenders job to get on his horse and get in front of the ball handler and turn him. Not push him where you want him to go.