The Basketball Podcast: EP435 with Wes Brooks with Lessons from Rebuilding Utah State

Wes Brooks Quotes:

“One of the projects we took on this summer was how can we simplify? How can we teach the game better? . .  So, in reverse engineering our offense, what we’re trying to do is . . play off triggers, play off spacing. And so with that, we’ve really put an emphasis on spacing.”

“We’re always trying to play fist or flash game. Fist meaning ball screen, flash meaning somebody flashes to one of those interior triggers, and we’re going to play off of it.”

“We want to be really good at the play after the play because most of the time we know you can run plays, but it’s probably the play after the play where your team is going to score. And in transition.”

“Our offensive philosophy is we want to have great shot selection. We teach them that layups and free throws are the best shots, and then inside-out paint touch. And  then we take a mastery shot. What’s the shot that you feel comfortable that you can make? If it’s a 2, 60% of the time. If it’s a 3, 40% of the time. And so, we’d say that’s what great shot selection is.”

“I’ve always tried to look at different offenses . . and I just want to make sure as a coach we have enough solutions. Do we have answers for everything? And so, even with our ball screen stuff, we say, ‘Let’s just teach solutions.’”

“The thing you can’t do is stop. Because defensively, we want to attack people. We pressure, we press, and we go no middle. And offensively, we want to attack. So, the energy and effort, we always want to be attacking. If you stop, that’s the worst thing you can do. Just fill out and space . . There are no wrong answers. If you space, everything will get figured out.”

“As a young coach, you want perfect practices, you want things to be perfect, but there’s beauty in the mess. And this is something that I’ve had to learn to accept. There’s beauty in the mess and . . can get better when there’s beauty in the mess . . I’m going to show our team some film and it’s tell them these are the things we’re doing really well, but these are areas of improvement that we need to make.”

“We want our kids reading the defense. And the more they can read, the less you have to call plays because they’re figuring it out. We’re trying to teach our kids how to read defense every day.”

“We try and get them to watch film on their own. I had a kid last week that was watching the WNBA games and recorded the film with her phone and sent it to me . . and so there is a connection, and that’s what we like. We want them to be students of the game, and then be able to bring us stuff that they see and come back and do it.”

“You only can control what you can control. I can control preparing my team to the best of my ability. I can control that we are doing our due diligence in recruiting. I can control that we show up and work every day . . And so, we focus on preparation. We talk about championship habits, and I try and emphasize this with my kids every day.”

“We say you’ve got to believe, you’ve got to have relentless effort, you’ve got to be consistent, you’ve got to be disciplined, you’ve got to stick together. If you do those things, we believe competitive greatness can happen. And competitive greatness is being at your best when your best is required.”

“The other thing I’ve done is I brought in a mental performance coach . . the 3 things to elite-level athlete are mind, body, and craft. And the one thing that always gets neglected, even at our level, it’s the mind.”

“We’re doing this mental conditioning to prevent going into a slump, maybe even avoiding depression . . We define mental toughness as choosing your response, choosing what you focus on, and competing. That’s mental toughness.”

“If you can pre-plan your decisions and pre-plan your mental approach as well as your physical game approach, then you’re going to be much better off than it happening in the heat of the moment.”

“Winning is a holistic approach. Winning is an investment in everything that you need. And to be an elite athlete, the mind, the body, and the craft all have to be right to be elite. To have a championship program, all those things have to be in place.”

“As an assistant coach, I only focus on the players and myself. As a head coach, I’m coaching 2 teams. I’m coaching my staff, that’s team number one, and I’m coaching my players, that’s team number two. And team number one, the staff, they impact my players. So, I must develop my staff just like I’m developing my team.”

Wes Brooks Breakdown:

Wes Brooks Selected Links from the Podcast: