The Basketball Podcast: EP63 Matt Langel on Helping Players to Find Success

RELEASE DATE : 11/10/2019

In this week’s basketball coaching conversation, Matt Langel, coach of Colgate University’s men’s basketball team, joins The Basketball Podcast to discuss methods of helping players to find success. Decision-making, shot selection, player development, and teaching players how to play are all covered.

Matt Langel continues to establish a winning tradition for Colgate Basketball.

Since arriving in Hamilton in 2011, Langel has mentored two Patriot League Players of the Year, two Patriot League Defensive Players of the Year, two Patriot League Rookies of the Year, more than 20 All-Patriot League picks, six Patriot League All-Rookie selections, eight All-District honorees, and an AP All-American honorable mention.

Langel became the program’s all-time winningest coach in 2021-22. Entering his 12th season at the helm, his career record stands at 176-165, including a 108-76 mark in league play.

Three-time Patriot League Coach of the Year (2018, 2019, 2020)
Three NCAA tournament appearances (2018-19, 2020-21, 2021-22)
Highest seed ever in NCAA tournament (14) back-to-back years
ECAC Coach of the Year and NABC District 13 Coach of the Year (2019)
Five straight Patriot League championship appearances
Three Patriot League regular season championships (2018-19, 2019-20, 2021-22)
First NCAA Tournament appearance since 1995-96 in 2019
Colgate’s first three 20-win seasons (2018-19, 2019-20, 2021-22)
Three straight seasons of program-record win totals (19 in 2017-18, 24 in 2018-19, 25 in 2019-20)
Nearly 20 former Raiders playing professionally
Winningest coach in program history

Listen Here:

Matt Langel Quotes:

“The players have to make the plays in basketball . . As coaches we need to take those individuals . . and figure out how that group together is going to maximize who they’re going to be.”

“We don’t have a specific system . . we try to take the guys that we have and help them find success.”

“We don’t just recruit haphazardly, there are certain things we value . . over the years we’ve been a fairly efficient offensive group . . we tend to recruit guys who . . are good decision makers.”

“For us footwork is a big part of it, being able to play off both pivot feet, being on balance, not predetermining what you’re going to do.”

“If they’re going to ice or down a side pick and roll, I can’t tell our guy exactly what to do but we go over a variety of options in practice . . we build up to 3-on-3 what may be available.”

“It’s a decision making game . . You can’t run a play . . and guarantee success . . you have to be able to read the defense and make decisions.”

“Don’t turn the basketball over . . You’re going to have turnovers, especially if you play with freedom . . but it directly affects efficiency.”

“We talk about taking good shots . . I love to stop the film before the ball has gone in the basket and say, ‘What do you think? Is that a good shot? Meaning extra pass, feet set, on balance, good spacing . . it’s not a contested shot early in the shot clock . . ‘”

“The reason we’re running offense is to get shots that we believe are good shots . . there’s some variety within the team.”

“We want to shoot open shots . . if that presents itself early in the shot clock in transition . . that’s terrific but after that . . it’s hard to play defense for a full possession . . we know because we try to do it on defense . . let’s work to break the defense down.”

“We tell them to shoot all the time . . Let’s shoot open shots but I’ll also tell a guy, ‘Is that a shot you have been practicing?’ . . We want them to be invested in the concept of it’s the best shot for the team.”

“In order to best break down the defense, the ball has to change sides of the floor but . . I also believe in inside out basketball . .there are a lot of ways to get that done.”

“We need to try to teach guys how to play . . If that guy has a great advantage in the post and he’s an effective scorer down there we want to be able to get him the ball and give him space, so how are we going to occupy the defense while not cutting in his way?”

“I always try not to forget what it was like to be a player . . what I’ve learned as a head coach, especially early on, was that . . we were doing things so that I would feel comfortable . . in reality, sometimes less is more . . I always found, as a player, it was more enjoyable to learn by playing . . as opposed to learn by listening or learn by watching.”

“Decision making, to me, is the most valuable part of the game and you can’t do that [with] dummy offense, you have to learn by doing.”

“Basketball is a fun game to play . . Obviously, there are different roles within a team but when you talk about chemistry, camaraderie . . every guy has to feel like they’re a part of it and they’re invested and they’re improving and they’re contributing.”

“I think a huge part of our growth as a program . . has been the staff that I’ve been able to work with . . they’re deeply committed to the game and our program and, most importantly, to the individuals in our program.”

“Part of the reason why I was able to learn and grow as an assistant coach is that I was given a lot of freedom on both [the offensive and defensive] ends of the basketball.”

Matt Langel Selected Links from the Podcast:

Colgate University

Fran Dunphy

Allen Iverson

Larry Brown

University of Pennsylvania

Temple University

David Klatzky

Kyle Smith

Bill Carmody

Matt Langel Breakdown:

1:00 – Playing a Lot of Basketball as a Coaching Staff
3:00 – Player’s Game
5:00 – How Players Leverage Their Advantages
8:00 – No Predetermined Movement and Decision
10:00 – Basketball is a Decision Making Game
12:00 – Things that Lead to the Efficiency of Offense
13:00 – Is a Bad Shoot better than a No Shot?
14:30 – Best Thing to Educate Players
16:40 – Character of the Players
17:30 – Things that leads to High Efficiency Offense
19:00 – Statistics and Freedom and Creating Shots of Players
22:00 – Players Practicing Their Shots
24:00 – Importance of the Post
27:30 – Specific Teachings inside the Post
30:00 – Moves done in the Post
32:00 – Learn by Playing in the Game and in Practice
35:30 – Involving the Whole Team in the Practice
37:30 – Adjustments to Make
40:30 – Coach Matt’s Offensive Concepts
43:00 – Automatics
45:00 – Disrupt of Flow to His Offensive Concepts
48:00 – Conclusion

Matt Langel:

Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Langel

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matt_Langel

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