[quote author=00hmh link=topic=37042.msg43585#msg43585 date=1347399088]
Coach,

What's going on with the Program in these early weeks. Are the kids getting settled into school, showing good work ethic in practice?

As you see the kids work with coaches and the other players how is the chemistry and the how are they handling the learning curve.

How do you work with the newcomers on the difference between straight man defense and the ball oriented defense we might expect to see? Can you do much to get them ready for that or do you need to wait for full scale practice?

Are any strengths and weaknesses going to be a theme we watch during the year other than the talent (I hope a strength) and the experience (looks like a challenge)?
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These first few weeks of practice we have been in our 4 man groups working on individual skills and screening and cutting. This group reminds me a bit of some of my JUCO teams, meaning that we have a lot of freshmen/new comers that have to get adjusted to the college life. I think some of the realized real quick that this was not going to be an easy transition and freaked out a bit. Some of these guys have no clue what hard work is, but they are beginning to figure it out.

We haven't done much as far as teaching our team defense has go e. it is hard to do that playing 2 on 2. We will get into that this week when we get to our team workouts. We have emphasized our on ball defense the past few weeks.

Chemistry is hard to figure out until you get more than 4 guys on a court together. Having 8 new guys, it will take time to get every one on the same page. They are working hard together in strength and conditioning, so that is a good sign. The learning curve is wide and sweeping. It will take this team time before we see anything close to a finished product.

I love our versatility. We will be able to play different looking lineups that should be hard to guard and be able to switch everything on defense.