Basketball Coaching Clinic Notes | Scouting Your Opponent

Written by Coach Peterman

I have coached at the NCAA Division 2 (Southwestern Oklahoma State University), NAIA (USAO), and JUCO Levels (Blinn College and Carl Albert State College) as well as high school. I just felt that fellow coaches especially young coaches need to constantly work on their “game”. Just like the basketball players that we coach. We as coaches need to improve ourselves. That is my story and why I do this blog.

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Basketball Coaching Clinic Notes

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September 5, 2013

Scouting Reports

I got this overview of what to look for when doing scouting reports from my old head coach, Rodney Perry. He got it from Weber State’s assistant, Phil Beckner. I love all aspects of coaching college basketball, which is why I made it my profession. My favorite part of coaching besides the player/coach relationship is scouting our upcoming opponents. This past summer, I was fortunate to work with Coach Jim Huber and MOKAN’s EYBL 17U team. One thing I learned from Coach Huber was how important it was to be prepared for every situation an opponent might bring to the table. Coach Huber and I would scout what certain teams ran against a full court press, half court man defense, zone defense, and etc. Coach Huber believed that if we knew what they would do in certain situations and we were able to counteract them, we would have the upper hand. MOKAN was able to do so by making it to the Peach Jam for the second year in a row. I used Coach Beckner’s scouting overview when making the scouting reports for MOKAN. This is a great tool because it acts like a check list. It really makes a coach think about all the situations they need to be prepared for during the course of the game. When I first got into coaching and doing scouting reports, I was more concerned about scouting player’s tendencies. It wasn’t until I got this sheet that I started to scout every aspect of an opponent. There are a few more aspects that I look for when making scouting reports. I make sure my team knows who the worst free-throw shooters are on the opposing team. I make sure our team knows what our opponents like to run after time outs. Finally, my scouting reports contain plays they run at the end of a close game. I think this scouting report overview is something all coaches can use at any level. As Coach Perry used to say, “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”

Adam Short begins his first year as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Cowley College.

Short grew up in Indiana and was a First-Team All-Conference selection as a senior at Lake Central High School. He went on to attend Joliet (Ill) Junior College and helped the team to a NJCAA Division III national runner-up finish, while being named First-Team All-Conference and a two-time Region 4 Player of the Week.

After Joliet, Short spent his final two years of college basketball playing at NAIA school Avila University in Kansas City, MO. At Avila, he scored more than 1,000 points in his career and earned all-conference honors each year at the school.

He graduated from Avila in 2011 with a Bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in writing. Short then served as a graduate assistant coach with the Avila men’s basketball team from 2011-2013, and earned a Masters degree in Organizational Development in 2013.

He also spent the past two years working with MoKan Nike Elite Youth Basketball League out of Kansas City, MO. His job duties consisted of coaching, scouting, and breaking down film.