Official Practice Begins (HV Weekly 10/16/20)
Oklahoma State live stream, David Johnson breakdown, and a look ahead to next week.
Welcome back to the Hoop Vision Weekly!
Official practice got underway across the country this week. In this increasingly virtual basketball world, we received a couple cool peeks behind the curtain from day one.
Oklahoma State live streamed their first practice of the season on YouTube, giving a surprising amount of access to viewers in the process.
For the most part, it felt like a typical practice for the Cowboys that just happened to be recorded. Mike Boynton was mic’d up, drawing up plays in the huddle, teaching and correcting players, and even installing new sets and terminology in the offense.
On top of all the fun coaching elements of watching a live practice, it’s also an opportunity to get a first glimpse at the potential number one freshman in the country Cade Cunningham.
Later on in the day, BYU also live streamed their practice. The BYU version was much more produced than Oklahoma State — with two broadcasters and even guest appearances from Rick Pitino and Danny Ainge — but a fun watch nonetheless.
By the way, I didn’t see any signs of the Spread Offense at Oklahoma State’s practice. Both Brad Underwood and Mike Boynton — formerly an Underwood assistant — appear to still be headed in newer schematic directions.
An Obvious Breakout Candidate
Continuing with our Hoop Vision PLUS preseason previews, this week we took a deep dive on Louisville’s David Johnson.
After missing the beginning of the season with a shoulder injury, David Johnson’s best freshman moments came in Louisville’s biggest games. Because of that and his high usage and assist rates, he’s a pretty obvious breakout candidate in his sophomore season.
Our Louisville preview includes a full scouting report of Johnson’s game:
Tendencies when driving to the basket
Passing/vision
How defenses started gameplanning against him later in the season
The concepts in Louisville’s offense that can help him adjust to those opponent gameplans
What needs to improve in 2021 (see the graph below on free throw rate)
Click/tap here for the full Louisville HV+ preview.
Next week at HV+
Previously at Hoop Vision PLUS: Villanova, Illinois, and Louisville
Next week we are going outside of the top six conferences for our fourth HV+ preview: The Richmond Spiders.
Expectations are high for Richmond this season. They return all five starters from a team that finished 46th in kenpom. Jeff Goodman even has them ranked 14th in his preseason top 25.
Stylistically, Richmond is especially unique on the offensive end — where head coach Chris Mooney is well known for the Princeton offense.
Because of all the player movement and backdoor cutting, offenses incorporating the Princeton can be especially hard to scout and prep for from defensive perspective. The Princeton can even have a tendency to force defenses to resort to zone. In our newsletter from September 8, 2019 on who gets zoned the most, Air Force — another Princeton-style offense — was at the top of the list.
In Monday’s preview, we’ll be focusing on how to guard the Princeton offense. It will be a combination of a Richmond preview and a more general analysis of defending the Princeton.
Subscribe to HV+ for full access to our coverage of the 2020-21 college basketball season.
Podcast Appearance
I was a guest on the Xavier Basketball Newsletter podcast this week with Trey Scotti and Sam Frayer. We discussed my background, experiences working in college basketball, and some of the best teams to study from a coaching angle.
Trey and Sam have already had a bunch of great guests on the podcast in the past — Tim Miles, Ken Pomeroy, Sam Vecenie, etc. — so I’d recommend checking out some episodes even if you don’t want to hear me ramble for an hour.