As you approach your early season individual and team development, there are numerous questions that you need to answer to put your team in the best situation possible. What are those questions you should be asking of your program and of yourself? Tony and I break that down throughout this episode, things that you need to try to answer to the best of your ability to help set your team up for as successful of season as possible!

Along with that, we have trivia, we have our TWIB segment where we discuss South Carolina WBB and their dominance, NBA injuries, Wemby busting out, LeBron's defiance of Father Time, and our early scout on Cooper Flagg, plus Who's Up? and Who's Down?

Enjoy!

Mark Potter is the former head men's basketball coach at Newman University (KS), and his story is both special and difficult to tell. Coach Potter is a major advocate for mental health, and he knows first hand the toll that anxiety and depression can take on anyone after he went through his own mental health crisis almost 15 years ago. Coach Potter goes into detail about his story, his struggles and his new mission in life to hep others know that it's okay not to be okay . . . it's a great story to hear right before the start of the season, knowing that you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of your team.

Along with his mental health story, Coach talks about revitalizing the program at Newman, along with making the transition from NAIA to NCAA DII, passing, fundamentals and a whole bunch of other topics. Enjoy this really important podcast!

https://www.d2up.org/

Tony was really busy this week, so I called in Mr. Casey Hall to come in and pinch=hit this week! Coach Hall was the lead assistant for the Class A state champion Millard West Wildcats last season, and they have their three leading scorers back from last year's squad, so I thought it would be good to discuss 'staying hungry' and keeping that same motivation going after a degree of success. We go through a bunch of different things, and we also have our usual segments on trivia, multiple Arby's winners and a great chat on the direction of the WNBA. Enjoy the pod!

Tony and I are back together this week (thanks Casey!!) and we're excited to talk about preseason player meetings and their importance! We discuss some things that you should be doing to help create a positive atmosphere while also being honest and transparent with important issues with your players. Along with that, we also break down some best practices, like taking notes during your meetings, amongst other things. We also have trivia, give out some Arby's and we discuss some of the big headlines of the beginnings of the professional and college basketball season. Enjoy!

I cannot thank everyone enough for their support over the last 5+ years of APAAN, and we've hit another major benchmark with episode #250!!! I'm really pleased to have on Creighton University WBB HC and longtime friend Jim Flanery on the pod this week. Flan has one of the most experienced and cohesive rosters in the nation this year, and we discuss a variety of topics, including his development as a coach, the evolution of the program, how he develops his motion offense, scheduling a tough slate every year and much more! We had a great time chatting, and I hope you've enjoyed all the pods, but this one was pretty special; enjoy!!!

Last week, Tony and I made a plethora of suggestions as to how you could/should start your practices, so this week it only makes sense to discuss what you could be doing to end your practices. We throw out a bunch of ideas, including shooting drills, scrimmage ideas, cultural exercises and much, much more! We also have trivia and an extended TWIB segment, where we discuss the shocking resignation of Tony Bennett, along with the WNBA finals, college basketball preseason rankings and much more! Enjoy!

Ever wondered what your spouse was really thinking or what it was like to be in their shoes? Parents, have you ever really thought about the effect that you have on a coaches family? Coaches, do you know what your spouse needs from you? We try to answer these and more questions as we met up at Wine 121 with Scott Wragge, husband of Jennifer Wragge of Elkhorn (NE) GBB HC, Jodi Scheef, wife of Kevin Scheef of Wahoo (NE) BBB HC and my wife, Carla Plum, as we go through a bunch of different topics related to coaches and their families. I hope you enjoy this unique look into the lifestyle of being involved in coaching!

Really excited to have on Ryan Coenen, the GBB HC at Woodbine (IA) for episode #249! Coach Coenen has "built" a dormant program at Woodbine into a consistent winner, including a 2023 state tournament run, the first for the town since 1974. In this pod, Coach Coenen discusses his "competitive cauldron", his RRP philosophy, developing high standards, zigging and zagging, his emphasis on defensive transition, building a great practice and much more! Really enjoyable podcast with Coach!