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Welcome back to The Hours Podcast, presented by SAVI Basketball! In this special mailbag episode, Mark and Clare dive into the SAVI member community to answer burning questions about team transformations, defensive troubleshooting, and building program culture on the road.

Whether you're struggling to move from a 4-out to a 5-out offense, or you're wondering how to apply "Lock Left" principles to your existing defensive scheme, this episode is packed with "information plus transformation." Mark also shares personal insights from his current season, including how he defines victory beyond the scoreboard and how he manages travel standards for his team.

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Welcome to an experimental episode of The Hours, where Mark and Tyler try out a "simulcast" live film session, breaking down a recent Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Golden State Warriors game. Join them as they watch the action, discussing high-level conceptual basketball offense, defense, and the nuances of decision-making on the court. Beyond the ball, the duo dives into tangential—and sometimes essential—topics like leadership, aliens, and crypto. Get ready for in-depth analysis of sets like "Horns," "Split Action," and "Blast Series," all while keeping track of a spontaneous $10 prop bet!

This episode is highly recommended for YouTube viewers to follow along with the visual breakdowns.

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Mark and Tyler from SAVI Basketball dive into the coaching trenches to tackle a common challenge: designing a practice plan that drives immediate, noticeable improvement. Using the fun, high-stakes game of "Start, Bench, Cut," they go back and forth proposing three practice solutions for critical team objectives like improving toughness, creating better spacing, developing ball handling, and increasing finishing/rebounding efficiency. Get rapid-fire ideas, deep-dive strategy, and the simple truth behind what will actually move the needle for your team this week.

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Join Mark and Tyler of SAVI Basketball as they review Tyler’s highly acclaimed 7-Principle guide for youth coaches, reframing it as The 7 Principles of a Master Coach applicable to coaches of all sports. Inspired by the development of their Art of Coaching course and their partnership with JP Nerbun and TOC Coach, this episode breaks down core philosophies designed to transform your coaching approach from dictated to developmental. Learn how to foster an anti-fragile environment, maximize player reps, and prioritize long-term growth over short-term wins. Use these principles to self-rate your coaching mastery!

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Coaches, welcome to a special episode! Instead of our usual format, Mark Cascio and Tyler Coston invite you to sit in on a live consulting call with a few members of the SAVI Basketball community.

We dive into the real, in-the-moment problems coaches face, dissecting film and providing actionable solutions for a team struggling with isolation offense and needing a clear system for transition defense. This episode focuses on the key concepts of Spacing before Advantage, Advantage before Shot and using "training wheels" to build a conceptual, free-flowing offense. If you're heading into the season and want to transform your offense from random hero-ball to a stacked-action system, this is a must-listen.

Join Mark and Tyler for a special Mailbag episode of The Hours podcast! Celebrating over 600 members in the Savvy Basketball community, they tackle listener-submitted "smart questions" that show effort and application. This episode dives deep into coaching philosophy, from youth development to high-level defensive strategy, emphasizing principles over prescribed plays and function over form.

Get ready for an in-depth discussion on how to teach modern basketball, why reacting to your opponent means you've already lost, and how to improve shooting effectively mid-season.

💡 Key Points & Timestamps

• Youth Coaching: Spacing with Non-Shooters (4:12)
  • Crucial Principle: Spacing is for passing, not for shooting at that level.
  • Third graders can shoot from distance, but they need to be taught a system that generates power and functionality over traditional form shooting.
• Head Coach Problem: Utilizing Capable Assistants (14:38)
  • Recommendation: Ask the assistants to write their own job descriptions and identify their "areas of genius".
  • Example roles: Scouts, running practice sections, shooting coordinator, game subs, driving competitiveness, extra work/gym-opening.
• Disruptive Defense: Guarding Stagger Screens in Lock Left (19:03)
  • A coach asks how to guard stagger screens in the "Lock Left" defense.
  • The Goal: Disrupt timing by making the ball "go to jail" (forcing the ball handler to the left side/sideline).
  • The 5-Step Savvy Coach Checklist:
    1. Why do you care? Focus on what you can do, not what they do.
    2. Check the math. Is this action truly hurting you, or did one play just feel bad? (Look at percentage of possessions and points per possession) .
    3. Rewind the tape. What happened before the stagger screen that allowed them to run it? (The on-ball defender didn't make the ball go) .
    4. Create your problems (e.g., getting better on the wall, rebounding) rather than fixing theirs (stagger screens).
• Shooting: Function Over Form (44:20)
  • Observation/Fix: Players often have feet that are too narrow and a ball load position (Position 1) that is too high (chin-level), limiting their ability to transfer force from the ground.

🎯 Action Items for Coaches

1. Redefine Winning: If you coach youth, evaluate your practice plans. Are you coaching for long-term development or short-term wins? Use the Big/Small/Big perspective.
2. Assign Autonomy to Assistants: Ask your assistant coaches to write their own job descriptions detailing their roles and areas of expertise to give them ownership.
3. Stop Reacting to Opponents: Apply the 5-step checklist. Before defending an opponent's specific action (like staggers), check the math to see if it's a real threat and rewind the tape to see what your team did (or failed to do) to allow the action to happen.
4. Teach Functional Shooting: Do not start with form shooting close to the rim. Adjust foot width and ball position to generate maximum power first. Do not move in if a player can't reach—force the functional adjustment by shooting from the desired range (or even further back).

Join Mark Cascio, Claire Murphy, and Tyler as they dissect what's wrong with most traditional coaching clinics and celebrate the success of their first-ever annual SAVI Coaching Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona! They share why their clinic was so impactful, from deep, intentional conversations to a focus on holistic, identity-based coaching over simple X's and O's.

Then, the "Dream Team" breaks down key takeaways from running a youth basketball practice together, offering immediate, high-value action items you can apply to make your practices more effective, engaging, and transformational. Learn how to be "messy" with high standards and why the preparation and debrief are the most important parts of your coaching week. #SAVIcoach

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🛠️ Action Items for Coaches

Evaluate Your Clinics: Next time you attend a clinic, evaluate if it offers extended mentorship/follow-up, allows for interactive engagement, and has a connected, focused curriculum.

Hold High Standards for Response: Implement a clear, predetermined consequence (like a technical foul) for poor mistake responses (frustration, eye-rolling) to enforce the "next play" standard in your gym.

Apply the Plus-One Debrief: During practice, observe many mistakes but only coach one or two things in the post-activity debrief. Resist the urge to give concurrent feedback or address everything at once.

Prioritize Prep and Debrief: Cut practice short by 15 minutes if needed to establish a process where you spend time preparing objectives and debriefing with your staff after every session.

Identify 3 Objectives: For your next practice, identify 3 clear, measurable objectives (e.g., "get open in space," "rebounding," "hunting nines") based on your game data, and let your staff (or use the Savvy community) suggest drills to achieve them (631, 636).

Simplify and Clarify: Check if your players can articulate your offensive objective in a clear, concise phrase. Also, ensure your players can trigger an action/play with speed and on their own; otherwise, it's a useless play.

Mark and Tyler from are back to finish the "Building the Best Coach" tournament bracket and decide which attribute is the undisputed champion of coaching excellence! In this jam-packed finale, the hosts complete the first round with debates that pit System Design against High Energy, and Recruiting against Player Roles.

The competition quickly whittles down to the "Core Four" of coaching excellence—a grouping that shifts the conversation from bracket fun to a serious discussion about the foundations of a powerful program culture. Get ready for a controversial upset where Relationships challenge High Standards, and an intense championship debate that separates the short game from the long game. Don't miss the final, hard-fought pick for the single most valuable skill a coach can possess!

📝 Action Items for Coaches

Identify Your Weakness: Use the "Core Four" (Relationships, High Energy, Communication, High Standards) to identify your most prominent area of weakness and commit to intentional development in that area.

Implement the Rule of 3, 10, 30: Challenge yourself to give players no more than 3 instructions in any setup, keep the explanation under 10 minutes, and get them moving in 30 seconds or less.

Choose Your Champion: Listen to the final verdict, then head to the comments to tell Mark and Tyler who you would pick as the ultimate winner!

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