I love Xs and Os. I love actions, counters, and beautifully choreographed sets. And plays like this from Kansas look incredible. It is nasty. The timing, the spacing, the deception. As a coach, your brain immediately lights up watching it. But every time I see something like this, I also have two questions running in the back of my head: - How much practice time did this take - How many times are you actually going to run this in a game? Because here is the reality. Most of these super detailed, intricate actions end up producing the same thing a lot of simpler offense does: a contested shot or a difficult shot of sorts. And that does not mean the set is bad. It just means that complexity does not automatically equal efficiency. At the college level, especially at a place like Kansas, they have far more practice time, far more reps, and far more buy-in to install and maintain actions like this. That context matters a lot. So yes, marvel at it. Appreciate it. Learn concepts from it. But do not watch plays like this and immediately think, “Yeah, let me go run that with my team.” For youth and high school programs, practice time is precious. Your return on investment is almost always better spent on spacing, decision-making, advantages, and simple actions your players can execute under pressure. Cool sets look awesome on film. Winning basketball usually comes from keeping things simple on offense.

Let me know why in the comments here!

Most “bad decisions” on the court aren’t about skill — they’re about what players fail to see. In this video, I break down why perception is the foundation of every action in basketball, why most practices train execution but ignore IQ, and how coaches can design drills that actually make players smarter, faster, and more aware. You’ll learn: - The real sequence of the game: Perceive → Decide → Execute - Why traditional drills leave players confused in games - How to turn any drill into a thinking drill - Questions to ask that actually reveal what a player knows Stop blaming the player and start coaching the way the game is actually played.

You don’t do it with one big speech or one magic adjustment… you do it by majoring in the minor improvements with your best players. Sit down, take your top 8 guys, and actually write their names out. Next to each name, list two or three very specific things they need to do better for your team to take the next step: rebounding, sprinting back, talking on defense, finishing in traffic, setting better screens. Then have short, direct conversations with each player to reset the standard and make the expectation crystal clear. Now your job is to coach it, track it, and hold them accountable. Because if each of those players gives you just two to six more points of impact through effort, defense, and better decisions, that turns into ten to fifteen points as a team, and that’s the difference between close losses and winning games. It sounds simple, but this is what so many teams miss: stop trying to fix everything at once, and start winning the small battles with your best players.