Ryan Odom's Competitive Practice Drills

with Ryan Odom,
University of Virginia Head Coach;
VCU Head Coach from 2023 to 2025;
2025 Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champions;
2025 Atlantic 10 Tournament Champions;
Utah State Head Coach from 2021 to 2023;
UMBC Head Coach from 2016 to 2021;
2021 America East Coach of the Year;
made college basketball history when he coached UMBC to the first ever #16-seed win over a #1-seed in the NCAA Tournament (2018);
led UMBC to a 25-11 record, including the 2018 America East Conference Tournament Championship, in his second year (a school record for wins);
2018 Hugh Durham Award recipient (Given to the nation's top mid-major coach);
2017 Joe B. Hall Award recipient (Given to the top first-year coach in Division I)

Every scrappy, tenacious team is built behind the scenes when no one is watching. This video featuring Coach Ryan Odom gives you many of the drills that he used to construct his program from the ground up. You'll see a variety of competitive exercises that you can implement with your own team to prepare them to beat any opponent on a given night.

Drills

A great practice is built on learning game-like situations within the drill setting. Odom demonstrates a variety of exercises his program uses daily to build their players' ability to defend and score.

In 1v1 Closeouts and 1v1 Rebounding, athletes must pursue the ball to get a quick outlet while sprinting the floor and looking for an open 3-pointer or layup. V-Cut Passing helps ensure players communicate as they pass the ball up the floor, simulating a fast break. Your players will learn to catch with two hands and explode to the basket as they get closer to the rim.

Skill Development

Guard and post breakdown drills are a great way to build your athletes' ability to score. Coach Odom demonstrates a variety of motion action and finishing drills for both perimeter and post players. In Motion Action, he teaches half court rules and actions to prepare his players to read the defense and score. Post players work on cutting to the rim, especially in transition.

Half Court Offense

Coach Odom rounds out his team's practice by having players run 5v5. Athletes work on utilizing motion actions and post finishes in a 5v5 setting. In Heat Transition, players apply their attacking mentality and look to take advantage of a transition situation. Odom uses quick outlet passes and catching with two hands as fundamental principles that will carry over into any drill or game situation.

This video demonstrates how Coach Odom-coached teams have developed their reputation for being able to compete against any team on any given night: through sound, fundamental basketball and a tenacious fervor to compete how they practice. This 'inside look' at some of Coach Odom's competitive practice drills is undoubtedly a must-have video for any coach's collection!

112 minutes. 2019.