All Access Basketball Practice with Larry Krystkowiak

with Larry Krystkowiak,University of Utah Head Coach from 2011 to 2021;
2018 Pac-12 AP Coach of the Year;
2015 Sweet Sixteen;
University of Montana Head Coach from 2004 to 2006;
2x Big Sky Tournament Champions;
nine year NBA veteran (drafted at #28 in 1886);
3x Big Sky Player of the Year;
3x 1st Team All-Big Sky;
Jersey number retired by Montana Grizzlies;
2018 National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame inductee;
with Milwaukee Bucks (NBA) as an assistant and as a head coach from 2006 through 2008

While preparing for his team's tour of Europe, Larry Krystkowiak opens up his team practices for you to observe and learn! His NBA pedigree is on display as he covers the main themes of half court offense, ball screen defense, and skill development in this all access video.

Krystkowiak runs an effective and efficient practice. The transition between drills is smooth and the pace of the practice is fast. The coaches don't waste time, yet they spare no detail as they constantly coach up their players.

Disc 1:

Coach Krystkowiak uses his first practice to cover aspects of his team's defense. He and his staff put players through a practice focused on transition and pick & roll defense, as well as not turning the ball over, closeouts, and rebounding. He also works to prepare his team to defend against European opponents. Learn several great defensive drills that can be incorporated into your practice that are guaranteed to increase intensity, competitiveness and toughness within your players.

Along with defense, the Utes run through much of their 46, 49, and Elbow offense in both a skeleton format and against defense. Watch how Krystkowiak breaks down his offense using the whole-part-whole method, and isolates certain actions within the offense for his team to work on. He also teaches his players how to counter the defense taking those first options away. This allows him to work on the details of the skills associated with those actions. There's a good balance of full court drills where players are up and down frequently, but also some 5-on-0 work mixed in for players to recover and work on offense.

Coach Krystkowiak carves out practice time to get important skill work in that serves a purpose for their offensive and defensive schemes. The Michigan State Passing Drill near the end of practice is a great way to compete against the clock and end a practice session.

Coach Krystkowiak finishes with a Q&A section that answers questions on offensive philosophy and development of an offensive system, skill development, and drilling toughness into players.

Disc 2:

Coach Krystkowiak's practice places an emphasis on skill development, and defending the basketball. He covers both guard and post development, transition, and offensive sets. He shows drills that build his offense and work on moving without the basketball.

In too many practices, skill development is standing still and shooting jump shots from set positions. Coach Krystkowiak changes that by incorporating dribble penetration and moving off the help defense to an open space for a shot. Coaches can build off that by adding attacking the basket off the dribble.

Several drills with bigs and guards divided are shown.

• Guard Development - Includes attacking the basket to the middle of the key as well as picking up the basketball and using a pivot to find an open player on the wing for a jump shot. This drill builds out of the Horns set. The drill can progress by adding the catch and attacking the basket to finish at the rim or for a mid-range jump shot.
• Post Development - Post players develop in the high post, low post, and on the wings setting screens. These drills are done with a purpose since they are based out of the action seen in Krystkowiak's offense. Your post players will learn to set screens and be on the move before catching in the post for a finish. Players work on catching as a dump-off option and posting up to attack baseline or middle.

There's a tremendous amount of detail in all these drills and Krystkowiak and his assistants make sure that players are precise in their fundamentals. This is a great primer for any coach who is looking to help develop players in the key areas of shooting, passing and defensive closeouts.

The rest of practice is spent with competitive defensive and offensive drills that accumulate in a scrimmage to end practice.

If your team turns the ball over too much, there are some great passing drills and advantage/disadvantage situations that will lower their turnover rate and increase their ability to score in transition. Each drill is competitive to build a tough-minded and competitive team. These are great drills to use throughout the season when the usual drills start to get repetitive.

Coach Krystkowiak ends the practice with an informative Q&A session about some of today's most important topics. He discusses keeping and using stats, defending and setting ball screens, and transition defense and rebounding.

This video models how to effectively incorporate skill work into practice. The drills and set up that Coach Krystkowiak uses, if applied to your own situation, offers an opportunity for more efficient practices and for improvement in your team throughout the season.

278 minutes (2 videos). 2017.

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