All Access Basketball Practice with Andy Toole

with Andy Toole, Robert Morris University Head Coach;
2014 NEC Coach of the Year;
Back-to-Back NEC Regular Season Champs (2013-14), 2013 NIT, 80+ Career wins at Robert Morris University

Head Coach Andy Toole welcomes you to three days of intense, hardworking, no non-sense practices. Coach Toole gives you the inside look at how he develops his team on the offensive and defensive end.

With each practice Toole poses a new challenge to his players and he pushes them to meet that challenge and give a little more each day. Coach Toole demonstrates his use of statistical analysis and competitive spirit with each drill they incorporate in practice. You will love his intense nature and practice build-up that includes game-like intensity and structure.

Practice 1:

• Learn how to screen and re-screen to keep the defense from cheating on plays
• See defensive breakdown drills to develop technique for multiple positions
• Establish a culture of closing out using different breakdown drills
• See the "Daily Dozen," a lay up drill that works on footwork and finishing around the basketball

Coach Toole opens up his first practice by demonstrating how they build up their defensive philosophy. He provides you with various drills that challenges his defense to make offensive players uncomfortable. Coach breaks out into split squads and takes full advantage of his practice time to incorporate as many reps possible in each drill.

On the offensive end, he uses station drills and his daily dozen drills to help improve dribble penetration moves within their offensive system. With each drive, Coach Toole teaches his players how to execute each cut and where the open man will be for a kick out. On both ends of the floor, he instills a good, quick decision making process and emphasizes that you must be able to think quickly to be successful at the collegiate level.

Practice 2:

• Utilize disadvantage elements in your shell drills from different angles
• Learn transition drills to target specific actions in fast break basketball
• Use stations to teach defensive concepts such as handling UCLA cuts, back screens, and cross screens
• Learn set plays from RMU's "Line" series

This practice is packed with drills that combine working on fundamental skills, improving conditioning, and automating several options of the 2-man-game. Coach Toole spends most of the time teaching offensive movement, sets, and actions in order for his players to be game ready. He incorporates more 5-on-0 and 5-on-5 competitive drills.

During practice, each drill has a certain point value and he charts which team wins every day in order to make his players practice with a competitive edge just as they would in a game situation. You will get a chance to see how they teach new set plays and how they flow into their main re-screen offensive motion.

Coach will demonstrate their line series in a 5-on-0 setting, then have his players turn right around and get three possessions running each set. He wants them to understand how to beat a pressure defense by moving the basketball, cutting hard through the middle of the lane, and getting the ball into the post off of their re-screen action. You will see a great progressive build up on the offensive end during their second day of practice.

Practice 3:

• Defensive stations working on different aspects of how to play different offensive situations
• See how to use a controlled 5-on-5 scrimmage to work on offense
• Teach post players to carve out space on perimeter drives and always ask for the ball 'showing their numbers'

Coach Toole puts his players through an intense workout to see who will step up to meet their challenges and expectations. Practice 3 is again packed with great drills for both offense and defense. Everything Coach Toole does is aimed at challenging his players to work at the highest level, as well as to automate offensive options and defensive rotations.

Almost every defensive drill of the 2-hour practice incorporates the element of disadvantage. On every rebound, closeout, box out, or defensive transition, the defense is under pressure to react quickly and correctly. On offense, the prevailing theme is "penetrate and kick-out". Every possession coach wants his players to attack the defense, find open teammates, and make strong passes.

Today's stations focus on the defensive end, as the players work on the details of guarding hand-offs, weak side back screens, and stagger screens. Coach Toole revisits 4-on-4 shell drill, reaction shell drill, re-screening offense, and also teaches two more options of his 1-4 "Line" set.

Coach Toole does an excellent job teaching his players how to create a mentality of attacking their opponents on the offensive and defensive end. He works hard to get his players to play with great energy and always compete in practice so that they compete at a high level during their games.

407 minutes. (3 DVDs). 2013.

All Access videos are designed to allow viewers from all over the world to see how successful coaches run their practices in a "live" practice setting. All Access videos allow viewers to see the practices un-edited and in real-time. You will see how top coaches run their drills, interact with their team and staff, how they motivate their team, the cue words they use, the atmosphere of the practice and how practices are structured from day to day. Many coaches visit successful colleges and high schools to watch practice. But if you live out of state or out of the country, visiting another coach's gym can be costly. That's why we created the All Access Practice Series of videos -- to bring the practices to you!