Looking for a little help / clarification. Son is starting his first year of HS basketball. From what he tells me (granted I may not be getting the full story) they do very little, almost no, outside shooting. They didn't shoot in tryouts and haven't worked on it a lot in practice. The focus of there offense is lay ups. While I am all for lay ups , knowing this group of kids lay ups aren't all that high percentage of a shot. I personally believe you need the outside shot to keep the defense honest. So is this hype new era?

If it makes you feel better, the Iowa State coach several years back rarely practiced shooting. They constantly emphasized defense and rebounding. I think they made it to the final 4 that year.

So what his coaching is doing is not unheard of. And maybe he will work on shooting later in on the season and have a progressive teaching plan.

I can' speak for your sons coach. But some coaches feel that they huge amount of time required in practice to make difference in outside shooting is not worth it. So they spend their time on other things they feel they can control and will give them a better return on their time.

I'm not saying I agree with that philosophy... but I am saying that every coach has a different philosophy. And there are thousands of good varying philosophies that work extremely well when hard work, perseverance, and attention to detail is applied.

And the bottom line is this... you can't work on everything. So you have to choose what you feel will make a positive impact on your team and then you emphasize those things. It sounds like this coach is emphasizing lay ups. Not a bad thing.

I would be supportive of the coach.... whether you agree or not. That is important for your son and his team.

And if they aren't shooting, your son can practice shooting for 30 minutes every day on his own. And he doesn't have to worry about practicing lay ups when working out on his own (since that is taken care of in practice).

Hope this helps!

So the results are in after the first game. Not too good. Team shot about 30%. Only a handful of outside shots, the rest "layups." The attempt to get layups only lead to turnovers. Played a smaller team who wasn't afraid to shoot the ball (since we where sagging in the paint) and they embarrassed us. We had no response, other than a sub who got in late a put up a perfect spot up 3. Maybe use him earlier next game. Oh well. Long season ahead.

My kid will just keep working on his shooting when he can. Unfortunately, he can't do much at school because they shoo them off the court at the end of practice. Sooner or later I hope the coaches figure it out.

Season is mercifully over. Lots of big losses and a couple of wins. Just could never come back from a 5 point deficit because we had no aggressiveness on offense. We would get pounded into submission by outside shots. The other teams did it. We did not even try. Note to coaches -- a rebound off a missed shot is as good as a pass, especially when it is put back for two.

Layups are how I was taught 20 years ago. These days, it's a big time outside shot game.