Coaches get X’s, O’s, more at Lobos’ clinic
Stats, psychology and press covered
About 60 high school and youth-level coaches from around New Mexico took part Saturday in the Lobo basketball team’s first high school coaches clinic under head coach Paul Weir.
The coaches were presented a wide-range of topics that, Weir admitted, were things he thinks are important to building his program but that may not be those traditionally covered at high school coaching clinics.
“We thought it would be a great idea for local coaches to not only get exposed to us and our program,” Weir said, “but also some people from different backgrounds to get a diverse learning opportunity.”
Most of the coaches stayed after the three-hour clinic for the two-hour Lobos practice in Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit, afterward.
The clinic opened with a brief overview of analytics with former Nevada and New Mexico State analytics expert Jordan Sperber, who has recently launched a YouTube channel (Hoop Vision) and podcast (Solving Basketball) breaking down in-depth how college programs use advanced metrics and incorporate them into daily coaching.
While acknowledging most high school coaches aren’t privy to the same amount of data as college or NBA coaches, Sperber broke down the basics of the “four factors” — shooting, turnovers, rebounding, fouls — that are the basis of most analytical data used in the sport. Those also happen to be the four ways in which possessions in basketball end (not counting the clock running out at the end of quarters or halves).
Not all analytics, Sperber said, are about figuring out opponents, but can be used to reinforce the identity a coach might say he or she wants from his team.
“The idea is to know when a statistic is descriptive and when it is predictive,” Sperber said.
Teams, like UNM for instance, that play a denial-based defense in general might be really good in causing turnovers (the Lobos ranked 15th of 351 Division I teams in turnover percent last season), but awful in rebounding (the Lobos ranked 278th in opponent’s offensive rebounding percent) by the nature of where defenders generally are when shots are taken.
Keynote speaker Dick Hunsaker, the Clovis High graduate and former University of Utah, Utah Valley and Ball State head coach who has played or coached through the years with the likes of Don Haskins, Neil McCarthy and Rick Majerus, handled the traditional X’s and O’s part of the clinic. With an assist from several Lobo team managers on the court, Hunsaker meticulously broke down press offense and how to break an opposing team’s press.
Hunsaker has been observing Lobos practices all week and said of Weir, “I’ve never seen a better practice than Paul’s.” The clinic also featured:
Mental health coach Mark Walch of Performance Edge Coaching, who gave an overview of how to get through psychologically to young players;
New Mexico Highlands athletic director and men’s basketball coach Craig Snow, a former Lobo assistant, on the journey from being a high school coach (he coached at Bosque School before being hired at UNM) to joining a college staff;
UNM strength and performance coach Tyler Stuart, who easily fielded the most questions from attendees interested in such things as how much weight lifting kids should do in season as opposed to out of season, the best methods of warming up and his firm belief that high school athletes should “minor in all sports and major in none” because their bodies can actually become more prone to injury by specializing in one sport too early.
SPECIAL GUEST: Emmanuel Andrew, a 6-foot-6 wing from Kearns High School in Utah, is on an official recruiting visit to UNM this weekend (Friday through today).
He is in his senior year at Kearns and would be a part of the 2019 recruiting class.
SOUND SYSTEM: The latest new sound system in the Pit got a test run during Saturday’s coaches clinic and seemed to work quite well.
The sound system in the arena has been a source of frustration among fans who complained it was often either too loud, too quiet, or simply inaudible when the public address announcer would talk during games.
Guest speakers during the several-hour clinic spoke from center court with a microphone wired into the new system with no complaints. Weir also spoke over the sound system during his team’s practice while explaining different drills.
The sound system cost $405,000 for equipment and labor, according to a copy of the winning bid for the project by Professional Business Systems. Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez said the funding for the project was approved prior to his arrival a year ago. TALKIN’ ABOUT PRACTICE:
Keith McGee, the junior college transfer point guard who was held out of practices earlier in the week after he showed up late to a team function last weekend, was a full participant in Saturday’s practice in the Pit.