WHO WE ARE & HOW WE WIN

The Clinton Lady Maroons basketball program is built on heart, desire, and passion. We believe the game should be played fast. We pressure opponents with our offense by pushing the ball up the court after all made baskets, missed baskets, and turnovers. Our transition game is fun to play and to watch. We are one of the top offensive programs in the area scoring 55.4 points per game in 2012-13. Defensively, we suffocate opponents with our man to man defense, presses, and half court traps. Our defense allowed a mere 39 points per game during the 2012-13 regular season. Since 2010, our style of play has produced four #1 seeds, three all-state selections, seven all-conference selections, and the 2013 class 2A Regional Championship. Click on the video below to preview our half court defense. We are "Winning Championships, Developing Champions." 

UNLEASH THE POWER 

EXPERIENCE THE TRADITION 

2012-2013 Season Highlight Videos

If you were unable to attend the basketball banquet; please click on the appropriate highlight video below. You can catch up with the Lady Maroons historic 2012-2013 basketball season. Enjoy some of our favorite moments from this banner year.  

2012-2013 highlight video for laptops and desktops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye2SeuAXwOo

2012-2013 highlight video for mobile devices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TckdoUnB5Es

Those Who Stay Will Be Champions

During the 2012-2013 basketball season the Clinton Lady Maroons reached an all time low in terms of the number of participants. Despite the amount of recent success the numbers have shown a steady decline. What began with numbers in the 20's has decreased to only 14 active players this past season. On senior night, we celebrated the four year career of ONE player. Some people in the community have said that I'm driving the program into the ground. Some people don't want me around any longer. I used to lose sleep at night trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, and what I could do to reverse this trend. What I've discovered is that a culture of winning in the game of basketball can't sustain numbers for the sake of numbers. The saying, "only the strong survive," seems appropriate for our situation.

Those who graduate as a Lady Maroon Basketball player are the ones who show two characteristics. These kids are the ones who demonstrate selflessness and toughness. If you are selfless you want what's best for your teammates; not what's best for you. You ask yourself on a daily basis, what can I donate to my teammates today? How much more of myself can I give away? We truly believe the more we give the more we receive. I try to show my selflessness by showing up to as many of my players activities as possible. Whether it's basketball, volleyball, softball, etc...I want to show them I care about them and everything they do. The basketball season in our day and age is an ongoing endeavor. It's a long, grueling, and taxing season. It's one that begins in the fall with open gyms, continues into the spring with more open gyms, and carries on through June with up to 25 contact days. The coaches critique and hold players accountable for every action, every repetition, on and off the court. Our motto could be described as "with order comes efficiency, and with efficiency comes success." 

Jay Bilas recently released a book entitled "Toughness" that has been on the best seller list. I mentioned toughness earlier in the article as being one of the characteristics needed to continue as a Lady Maroon basketball player. Some people see toughness as being intimidating. We disagree with those people. Our version of toughness requires a disciplined athlete, with great character, and a positive attitude on a daily basis. Here is a list of basketball specific "toughness" requirements for our program as described by Jay Bilas.    

"The tougher our standards, the deeper our commitment."

 1. Set great screens. (Selfless players get teammates open.)

 2. Cut hard. (Lazy cuts won't get you or teammates open. Lazy cuts won't make it.) 

 3. Talk your job. (Be alert w/ active voice, we communicate, we embrace one another.)

 4. Jump to the ball. (We stay disciplined on defense. It's what we do.)

 5. Don't get screened. (If you're getting screened you're not playing hard enough.)

 6. Two hands up. (Perfect close outs. No exceptions.)

 7. Get on the floor. (We sacrifice our body for Clinton on every loose ball.)

 8. Don't get split. (Defense is not negotiable. You get in your gap for your teammate.)

 9. Run the floor (Everyone sprints. Tough players get easy baskets.)

10. Play so hard you have to come out. (Tough players don't pace themselves.)

11. Take responsibility for your teammates. (Put them first. Don't let them fail.)

12. Get to your teammate first. (Tough players help teammates up off the floor.)

13. Take a charge. (You are required to put your body on the line for Clinton.) 

14. Finish plays. (Block out and fetch; everyone rebounds to exit the defensive possession.)

15. Throw yourself into defense. (Value yourself by your defense; not your points.) 

16. Take coaching the right way. (Tough players never make excuses or need to be right.)

17. Show strength in your body language. (Chin up, head up, we're winners not whiners.)

18. Catch and face. (Get to boss on every catch. Be disciplined and tough.) 

19. Concentrate. (Every possession is important. Do your job on every play.)

20. It's not your shot; it's our shot. (Get the best shot for Clinton on every possession.)

21. Next play. (The only play you can control is the present. Move forward.)

22. Make every game important. (Tough players treat each game as a championship.)

23. Get better every day. (Tough players try to be better than they were yesterday.)

If you think you exhibit selflessness and toughness, and you are considering becoming a Lady Maroon basketball player, please view the promotional video below. We are "Winning Championships, Developing Champions."

2013-14 LADY MAROONS PROMO VIDEO

UNLEASH THE POWER. EXPERIENCE THE TRADITION.

Improving Zone Offense

I often hear coaches complain about the thought of having to play against a zone defense. When we don't have shooters a zone defense can become a daunting task to successfully attack. This article is going to discuss things we can use to help us against these difficult defenses. Zone offense is one of those topics that most coaches seem to put on the back burner. This is probably why many of our teams struggle to score against zones. When I ask zone defensive coaches why they play zone; their response is they have yet to see a zone offense as good as the team's man offense. My intention is to change this philosophy. We need to start working and devote more practice time to our zone actions. If you don't play a zone defense; I suggest you put one in so your team can practice against it. Over the past two years we've developed a zone attack that our players and coaches have found a great deal of confidence in.

8 RULES FOR ATTACKING ZONES:

RULE #1: GAP THE ZONE.
The old adage in basketball is even front zone = odd guard front and an odd front zone = an even guard front. This might be an old principle, but it does place your players in the gaps of the zone and automatically begins to distort it. This forces the zone defenders to communicate. Now they must decide who is taking the next pass. This can create confusion and leave two defenders on the ball. Recently, we've found ourselves becoming less concerned with even and odd fronts, but we normally begin in these classic alignments. So many teams play with match-up principles that our focus has shifted to creating player movement.

RULE #2: PUSH THE TEMPO.
Another great way to attack a zone is to challenge your opponent to get back defensively. Look for quick strikes against the zone where you have an offensive advantage before the defense gets set. This also leads to great offensive rebounding opportunities while the defense is scattered. During the 2011-12 season, we found this to be such an important concept that we put in a zone early offense. We've always ran various man to man secondary breaks, but we had never explored the concept against zones. We're glad that we did and it has become a staple of our zone attack ever since.

RULE #3: TURN THE BASKETBALL.
When we play against zones we want to get the ball moving to make the zone chase us. A quick turn of the basketball (or reversal) creates gaps in the zone that your cutters can find, or your drivers can drive. Sometimes we don't even worry about running offense until the ball has been turned or skipped once. This is also a great time for weak side duck-in action if we need a paint touch from a post. Ball movement is a critical component to running effective zone offense. We want the ball to slow down on the wings and speed up on the top. We never want the ball to stick on the top of the key.

RULE #4: FAKE A PASS TO MAKE A PASS.
Sometimes against a zone all you need is one defensive player to be spaced. We tell our kids to "fake a pass to make a pass." The zone is taught to move on the flight of the ball. Any type of pass fake will begin to move some, if not all, of the zone defenders. This creates gaps for passing angles or drives into the lane.

RULE #5: GET PAINT TOUCHES.
The most important aspect to any good zone offense is the ability to get paint touches. When our guards become three point happy we play what we call "red light-green light." This is where we won't allow a perimeter shot until we've got a paint touch. This can be off a post feed or a perimeter drive into the paint. The most common ways we get paint touches are off a short corner catch with a dive from the high post, or a high post catch with movement behind the zone from the short corner. We also get low post duck-ins on ball reversal, and perimeter paint touches when we punch the gaps with the dribble. Even if our guards can't get to the paint, we force two defenders to guard one. The extra pass may allow a teammate an open gap to drive or an open look.

RULE #6: SCREEN THE ZONE.
Screening the zone is another great way to distort the zone and get players out of position. You can screen exterior defenders for three-point shots, or interior defenders for post touches. The things you must consider when screening are who will cover the ball, and who is responsible for covering the specific area you wish to attack. Also, ball screens are effective because there is no hedge. This automatically puts the offense into a 5 on 4 advantage. This has become a favorite action of ours over the past two years.

RULE #7: DRAG AND FILL.
Drag and fill is a concept that we are using with greater regularity because of the ball and player movement that it provides. It has quickly become my favorite way to distort a zone defense. The idea involves having an offensive player use two dribbles to "drag" the zone defender out of her area, and then fill the open area with a shooter. A quick return pass leads to an open look, or it forces the zone to lift a bottom defender, thus allowing a short corner catch in her area. This concept becomes very effective when you drag and fill in the corner or on the wings.

RULE #8: FOUR TO THE GLASS.
The final phase of a great zone offense is to attack the glass. Zone defenses don't have clear block out assignments, which makes it easier to offensive rebound. We send four players to the offensive boards with one getting back for transition defense. Tell your kids every shot is like a pass to you, so go get it. Make sure they do not run into backs. We tell our kids to get low and get even. We like to get two offensive players on the weak side, as only 28% of missed shots are rebounded on the strong side.

If you would like to see our zone offense in action you can click on the link below. The clips were taken from the 2012-2013 championship season. 

CLINTON ZONE OFFENSE CLIPS

UNLEASH THE POWER. EXPERIENCE THE TRADITION.