Fair warning - this is a lengthy post.
I've decided that this season, I am going to try and do as much film breakdown as time permits. I enjoy looking at games from a strategic/execution standpoint, and that just can't be done to any level of detail in real-time. So, I am planning to re-watch games and break them down, with clips and notes, as often as possible. This is a very time-consuming exercise, so we will see how it goes, but I figured I would share my thoughts/findings on the message board.
The intent behind doing this is to learn more about players skillsets, IQ, and continue to develop my knowledge of the intricacies of UNC's system. But also, this is the best way to see the minor steps a team takes throughout the season - to see where they are improving both individually and collectively, how Roy is adjusting personnel, and how the strategy changes to fit skill sets.
Obviously, these things can be ascertained at a high-level by watching the team throughout the season, but I like to get to the nitty gritty whenever possible.
Now - what makes me qualified to analyze film? Nothing more than many of you, most likely. But, I do have a background in basketball, so I'm not completely over my head. I spent 3 years in college as the head manager for the basketball team, learning under a coach that was a very successful assistant at power conference schools, and was the lead assistant on a final four team. At that point, I was planning a career in coaching, and this was my way in. I spent countless hours documenting plays, watching game film with the team, and was fortunate enough to be in the locker room and coaches meetings before, during, and after the games (as well as nearly every practice). I learned a ton, but also realized how much I still had to learn. After deciding the career path wasn't right for me, I spent 3 years coaching high school basketball before moving out of state for work. Now, all I do is coach my 8 year old son's team, which is basically fundamental skill development, so I don't get my strategic fix
This is all to say, I'm not a newbie, but I also won't pretend to be a highly knowledgeable basketball guy. So, the clips and notes are just my interpretation of what I am seeing. I could very well be wrong, or not seeing something correctly. So, if you see something differently, let me know! I would love for this to become an open discussion and share thoughts/ideas.
Methodology
To do my analysis, I watch the recorded game and track plays of interest. I'm not just looking at the result of a play, more of what occurred that led to the result. So, this isn't intended to be a highlight reel of great plays. When a play catches my eye, or I am trying to identify what led to a certain result, I often watch the play 3-5 times to ascertain what happened. If its worth noting, I take a clip of the game for further review.
Once done capturing clips, I often find that certain themes occur, and I focus in on those. As an example, with the Elon game, they were obviously getting a lot of open 3 point looks early on, so that was a focal point in determining what was leading to the open looks.
I review the associated clips several more times to be confident in my initial understanding, and look for any smaller details that could have been a contributing factor. I group these clips together and make notes on each one, which I will be posting here.
Its worth noting, I tend to look at things through a critical lense. Its how I was taught to review film, and I am a firm believer in constantly looking for areas to improve. So, you will notice more of a focus on areas where UNC can improve, but I do try to also include positive plays, in some cases simply to show a comparison - and what my idea of "good" looks like.
There are a lot of clips, so the plan will be to break down each topic in separate posts within the game thread, in order to maintain some level of organization.
Elon - Focus Areas
In regards to the Elon game, there were several areas I focused on, in no particular order.
I will create the posts over the next day or so. First up will be Defense.
Sorry for the lengthy post! Hope at least a few people are interested and will enjoy the breakdown as much as I enjoyed doing it.
I've decided that this season, I am going to try and do as much film breakdown as time permits. I enjoy looking at games from a strategic/execution standpoint, and that just can't be done to any level of detail in real-time. So, I am planning to re-watch games and break them down, with clips and notes, as often as possible. This is a very time-consuming exercise, so we will see how it goes, but I figured I would share my thoughts/findings on the message board.
The intent behind doing this is to learn more about players skillsets, IQ, and continue to develop my knowledge of the intricacies of UNC's system. But also, this is the best way to see the minor steps a team takes throughout the season - to see where they are improving both individually and collectively, how Roy is adjusting personnel, and how the strategy changes to fit skill sets.
Obviously, these things can be ascertained at a high-level by watching the team throughout the season, but I like to get to the nitty gritty whenever possible.
Now - what makes me qualified to analyze film? Nothing more than many of you, most likely. But, I do have a background in basketball, so I'm not completely over my head. I spent 3 years in college as the head manager for the basketball team, learning under a coach that was a very successful assistant at power conference schools, and was the lead assistant on a final four team. At that point, I was planning a career in coaching, and this was my way in. I spent countless hours documenting plays, watching game film with the team, and was fortunate enough to be in the locker room and coaches meetings before, during, and after the games (as well as nearly every practice). I learned a ton, but also realized how much I still had to learn. After deciding the career path wasn't right for me, I spent 3 years coaching high school basketball before moving out of state for work. Now, all I do is coach my 8 year old son's team, which is basically fundamental skill development, so I don't get my strategic fix
This is all to say, I'm not a newbie, but I also won't pretend to be a highly knowledgeable basketball guy. So, the clips and notes are just my interpretation of what I am seeing. I could very well be wrong, or not seeing something correctly. So, if you see something differently, let me know! I would love for this to become an open discussion and share thoughts/ideas.
Methodology
To do my analysis, I watch the recorded game and track plays of interest. I'm not just looking at the result of a play, more of what occurred that led to the result. So, this isn't intended to be a highlight reel of great plays. When a play catches my eye, or I am trying to identify what led to a certain result, I often watch the play 3-5 times to ascertain what happened. If its worth noting, I take a clip of the game for further review.
Once done capturing clips, I often find that certain themes occur, and I focus in on those. As an example, with the Elon game, they were obviously getting a lot of open 3 point looks early on, so that was a focal point in determining what was leading to the open looks.
I review the associated clips several more times to be confident in my initial understanding, and look for any smaller details that could have been a contributing factor. I group these clips together and make notes on each one, which I will be posting here.
Its worth noting, I tend to look at things through a critical lense. Its how I was taught to review film, and I am a firm believer in constantly looking for areas to improve. So, you will notice more of a focus on areas where UNC can improve, but I do try to also include positive plays, in some cases simply to show a comparison - and what my idea of "good" looks like.
There are a lot of clips, so the plan will be to break down each topic in separate posts within the game thread, in order to maintain some level of organization.
Elon - Focus Areas
In regards to the Elon game, there were several areas I focused on, in no particular order.
- Offense - Given the perceived struggles here, I focused on all areas of offense that were relevant in this game. Each will be its own post.
- Transition
- Secondary Break/Motion
- Zone
- Defense - Primarily ball screen defense, as that was the primary component of Elon's offense, and was the culprit to the early defensive issues.
- Individual Players - to varying degrees of depth
- Bacot
- Cole
- Leaky
- Pierce
- Keeling
- Platek
I will create the posts over the next day or so. First up will be Defense.
Sorry for the lengthy post! Hope at least a few people are interested and will enjoy the breakdown as much as I enjoyed doing it.
