Product Description
The Phoenix Suns' Steve Nash shines in running the break, but how do his teammates know where to go to get open to receive his passes? Orlando's Dwight Howard is a tremendous talent in the post, but how has he improved and added new dimensions to his game? And how is it that Utah's Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer run the screen-and-roll as smoothly as Jazz legends John Stockton and Karl Malone did years before?

Coaching. Yes, even in a league loaded with superior athletic talent, the teaching, tactical maneuvers, and strategies provided by NBA coaches are second to none. And as younger, sometimes less mature and less experienced players from all over the world have entered the league, those coaching skills are more diverse and better honed than ever before.

Now NBA Coaches Playbook takes you into the practice sessions and sideline huddles with detailed Xs and Os and more from the game's best at maximizing performance on the court. Let the likes of Phil Jackson, Mike D'Antoni, Avery Johnson, Stan Van Gundy, George Karl, Eddie Jordan, Mike Dunleavy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and many other head and assistant coaches provide you with new insights to benefit your own team and individual players. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Needs more visuals.
I like this book a lot. The only problem is that I bought it as a person who never played basketball growing up. If you're unfamiliar with the game as I was you may find yourself wishing this book had more visuals to accompany the text.

Excellent Buy!
This book is fantastic according to my 18 year old son who is atrue basketball fanatic.

There's a reason these guys coach in the NBA
This book has some of everything in it: game strategy, program organization, teaching ideas, coaching philosophy, defense, offense, you name it.

Better yet, it is readable! It comes with diagrams that are understandable and not so complicated that nobody can understand what is being shown. Some coaching books I have read have outstanding information, but the manner in which it is described is so complicated that it becomes an exercise in translation to understand the information. Coaching is about making the complicated simple.This book does that.

Beginning coaches can get stuff from this book and so can veterans.It is a valuable resource for any coach.

Kevin Sivils - author of Game Strategy and Tactics for Basketball
Game Strategies and Tactics for Basketball: Bench Coaching for Success ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Inspiring
I originally bought this for my mom who loves women's basketball, but I am so glad that I read it first. This was a truly inspiring read. I don't play basketball and never really have (..except one unfortunate time..). The book spoke to me in a surprising way as a mother of a young daughter and a woman. What I found so compelling was story after story about individuals who feel passionately about something, in this case basketball, and pursue their dreams with persistence.From young kids to professional basketball players and those in between (including the author), I found myself relating to the characters on so many levels.The author has a gift for writing and story-telling that made it difficult to put down, and when I was done, I missed it.I highly recommend it.

Hear me somebody
This is a fine examination of the reason girls and women like to participate in sports. More people--parents, teaches, especially coaches--need to listen to the reasons. Girls can play, too, and they have their own reasons. If you coach or have a daughter who plays, you need to read this book.

Read Why She Plays
Why She Plays is an essential read for basketball players, fans, coaches, and anyone else who enjoys a well-written and captivating book. The author passionately recalls her own successful basketball career, and also details the experiences of famous and well-known people who have made an impact on the sport. Why She Plays is honest, facinating, intriguing, and there is no doubt that the author is a true lover of basketball and if you are too, it would be a shame to miss out on the opportunity to read this book.

WHY SHE PLAYS
Whether you are an athlete or not - WHY SHE PLAYS by Christine Baker is an inspiration to all. From a young tender age Ms. Baker fell in love with Basketball. In her book she shares her thoughts and feelings about the game as well as her dream to become a professional player.WHY SHE PLAYS is mixed with interviews from well known basketball figures including WNBA players Becky Hammon and Diana Taurasi; and sports commentators and former players Doris Burke and Nancy Lieberman.Ms Baker's voice touches everyones hearts and desires to compete and strive to be the best you can be. Read the book and find out WHY SHE PLAYS? You'll be glad you did.

Why She Plays
I have been looking forward to reading, "Why She Plays" for months and this book did not disappoint! It is a revealing account of a woman's relationship with the game of basketball. The author writes about the influence basketball has had on her own journey and that of others. She writes of where the women's game was, is, and where it is going. There were certain parts that brought tears to my eyes because I could feel this author's passion, and her absolute need to write this book. Readers will find it to be inspiring! Highly recommended! ... Read more

Product Description
This subset introduces young readers to the exciting world of athletics by focusing on the often-colorful terminology specific to popular individual and team sports. As children explore the words they would hear at a game, meet, or match, they learn the basic rules and objects of each sport, the essentials of gear and equipment, and what happens in the most thrilling moments of competition. ... Read more

Product Description

From one of the most highly respected college coaches in the nation, the only book to show how to teach winning basketball plays to kids age 14 and under

Like no other, The Baffled Parent's Guide to Great Basketball Plays gives you a total playbook for coaching middle and junior-high schoolers through the ins and outs of on-the-court tactics. NCAA coach Fran Dunphy provides 75 winning plays complete with easy-to-follow instructions on how to execute each move for maximum scoring.

Customer Reviews (1)

Dunphy does it again
This book is perfect for students of the game of basketball. It's text and diagrams are perfect for both aspiring coaches and players.

It does not speak much to skills, but, in my opinion covers both offensive and defensive sets & plays very well. I recommend it to any player or student of the game. ... Read more

Product Description
A private war is being waged on city playgrounds and in high school gyms in the never-ending search for the next big player, and the potential millions in sales that player could bring to the major athletic shoe companies by endorsing their products. For every legitimate spokesman like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant (the respective endorsers for Nike and Adidas) there are dozens of teenage kids all over North America who are lavished with brand new sneakers, expensive clothes, new athletic gear, or free trips in an attempt to gain their athletic shoe brand loyalty. And that's just where this sordid story begins. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

thats excellent 2
this product was sent in very good condition and was also sent in a timely manner but amazon makes it so inconvenient to leave reviews when you MUST elaborate on your review it almost makes you not want to give a seller credit in a review at all.

Do your Homework
Very interesting read. I would recommend this if you want a fun read, but it's inaccuracy loses its' legitimacy as a fundamental book on the recruiting season. I'm involved in the AAU season, therefore I have enough experience to acknowledge such.

A bit long-winded, but insightful and informative
One thing is for certain about 'Sole Influence': this is one well-researched book. Wetzel and Yaeger certainly did their homework over the approximate 5-year period comprehensively detailed in the book. Almost no roundball was left unturned.

Worth nothing, however, is that nearly all of the information gathered is of the second hand variety - especially when it comes to AAU coaches, Nike, prep academy representative, and/or players who benefited from the system Wetzel and Yaeger denounce. Thus, while Wetzel and Yaeger valiantly attempt to provide a semblance of objectivity, the 'other side' appears via second hand quotes weaved in to fit story lines.

To elaborate, the authors' disdain for Nike becomes incredulous at times, especially in contrast to their free passes for both Adidas and Reebok. It appears those willing to continuously go on the record (Sonny Vaccarro, for instance) - and arguably fairly enough - were given love taps.

Also, the attempts at objective balance go out the door once Wetzel and Yaeger find their respective soapboxes. This book feels stretched for 50+ pages, solely (pun intended, I suppose) to feature diatribes against the corruption of the basketball recruitment process as a whole.

For example, Michael Jordan's career evolution is cited as a litmus test for how players should act and be recruited. Still, Jordan's early days in NC lacked the broadcasting revenue, Internet engine and global market that is today's reality. Not to mention the financials of publicly traded companies (eg Nike) almost solely based on athlete endorsements to launch new product lines.

Flaws aside, 'Sole Influence' remains a goldmine in its detailed explanation of the inner workings of hoops development. I wouldn't call it a must-read, per se, rather a nice historical snapshot (1995-2000) of the underbelly of basketball breeding.

i dont like what they say about my friend myron piggie
Hi my name is quin and I live in Missouri. I dont like what they say about myron piggie.he is a good man.otherwise the book was pretty good. i recommend it for college basketball fans.

Interesting delve into amateur athletics ...
However not always balanced, SOLE is a page turner for sports fans that enjoy the stories off the playing arena.

Wetzel and Yaeger provide interesting cases and a great work of journalism, however the line between reporting and storytelling is often blurred.

The best way to enjoy this book is to come away entertained, informed, but not disillusioned. ... Read more

Product Description

Pick up the pace with Coach Bobby Cremins' secrets for playing up-tempo ball

When Bobby Cremins became head coach of Appalachian State University, he was one of the youngest professionals to ever lead an NCAA Division I basketball team. Going to Georgia Tech at 33, he was among the youngest ever in the history of the ACC.Two decades later as Georgia Tech's all-time winningest coach, Cremins had compiled fourteen victorious seasons, six All-Americans, and two National Coach of the Year awards. How did he do it? The answers are here as Coach Cremins reveals the secrets of his powerful, high-pressure playbook for the first time ever.

In this action-packed guide for coaches and players, Cremins shares more than 150 super-charged plays and strategies guaranteed to make you rethink your offensive system, along with how he recruited many of the top point guards who played for him, and what he learned from each. You'll learn how to:

• Implement a fast break that's right for you and your personnel, from missed shots to made baskets.
• Attack full- and half-court pressure and get high percentage shots.
• Go to your bread and butter plays for your half-court attack.
• Develop an aggressive zone offense.
• Beat the clock with great last-second shots and all kinds of special situations, including three-point shots, out-of-bounds plays, and much more.

Customer Reviews (2)

I love this book.
I'm so happy I purchased this book. It really is the kind of book you could live by for running an offense for the entire year. I'd recommend this for high school or above. If you had a junior high or AAU team that practiced everyday you could certainly implement the knowledge from this book to your practices and game plans.

Great read
Really good read. This is a great book for coaches of all levels. It is one of the more practical offensive books I've encountered.

It doesn't focus on any one offence in particular, it simply offers a number of different offences that you can run depending on the personnel you have in your team. ... Read more

Product Description
Big slam dunks are just one part of basketball. Pro players practice hard to learn skills that help their teams on the court, such as shooting three-pointers, stealing the ball, and making rebounds. Practice the tips inside to play basketball like a pro! ... Read more

Product Description
If you are one of the millions of high school basketball players who gear up to take the court each season, you know that proper preparation and training are everything. From the forward who needs to crash the boards to the point guard who runs the floor, high school basketball requires a specialized fitness regimen. Now, veteran coach Joe Kolb has the solution to help you play at the top of your game and prevent injury in his new book, Get Fit Now for High School Basketball: The Complete Guide for Ultimate Performance.

Shot on location at one of the nation's top high school basketball programs, Get Fit Now for High School Basketballuses real high school basketball players to demonstrate the exercise program that not only got them on the team but also made them champions. This book helps players of all levels—from novices to varsity stars—get in their best shape both mentally and physically with its unique mixture of aerobic conditioning regimens, speed and agility training, special vision exercises, and practical game day routines.

Designed specifically for boys and girls aged 12 to 18, Get Fit Now for High School Basketball also uses performance evaluations and tips for improving the mental game to ensure that you step onto the court with the confidence to win. It also includes guidelines for safe and effective weight training and nutrition tips to keep you in your best shape, on and off the court.

In a time when more and more high school players are going straight to the NBA, high school basketball is becoming more competitive by the year. Whether you are trying to make the team or help lead it to an undefeated season, Get Fit Now for High School Basketball will help you to achieve the highest possible level of mental and physical readiness. Drawing upon his years of experience, Joe Kolb gives you the training information you need to stay in shape during the off-season, and to be ready for action once play begins.

The second book in the popular Get Fit Now for High School Sports series, this book will score with young athletes everywhere. 200 b/w photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Get fit now for High School Basketball: Strength and conditioning for Ultimate Performance on the Court
I saw this book at my local library and decided it was a must have for my High School daughter.It's a great addition to any athelete's library. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

One of the best books on our shelf!
My nephew forces me to read this book ten times a day.And I love it!When the team scores, my nephew and I cheer.And I'm not faking it!The illustrations are so captivating that I feel like I'm watching a real game.(more like watching replays, since I've read it so many times)

Great book
I gave this book to a basketball-obsessed little guy for his 2-year birthday.He absolutely loved it!It is simple, sturdy, and has big, bright illustrations.

perfect for a little ball lover
The book was great!My son is 2 and he LOVES the book. He repeats the word for each page but we can talk about the picture as well.Great book.I wish I would have found this when he was 6 months old!

basketball book for toddler
Hard pages turn easily for chubby little hands.Bright colors and great illustrations.Helps little ones memorize simple one, two words per page.Great for tiny sports guys. ... Read more

Product Description
Designed for both male and female players, this book helps athletes develop the strength to set screens and convert three-point plays, the speed to run the court and get into position, the balance to change direction on a drive, the quickness to get loose balls and blow by a defender for easy baskets, and the explosive jumping power to block shots and grab rebounds. All of the 192 drills and exercises presented in 52-Week Basketball Training will help players

· develop fitness in the off-season,
· improve speed and power in the preseason,
· maintain a high level of conditioning during the regular season, and
· perform at peak abilities during postseason competition.

The ready-to-use daily and seasonal programs provide all the conditioning support needed to develop a more dominant game. For coaches and players who want to train effectively and maximize their abilities, 52-Week Basketball Training is the ticket to the championship game. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

bad deal all around
A friend of mine ordered this book as he is a basketball coach here in the mountains of Mexico.....nonetheless....we were not given any shipping option.....so the book went by a packaging service and was sent to the state capital where it sat for weeks............then finally returned to the seller.....we were charged $50 us dollars for the "postage"............even though the actualy small cost of the book was returned....thankfully.

I don't know why you don't offer shipping options like you once did....this makes it really chancy on getting things.........and really bugged me to say the least....

Basketball training
I received this book in a timely manner. It was in the condition it was advertised in. I am happy with it. ... Read more

Product Description
Great news for the millions of young hoopsters dreaming of someday running with the pros: two-time Olympian and professional star Teresa Weatherspoon is sharing all of her basketball secrets! In this fun and informative book, not only will you get the inside scoop on passing, dribbling, defending, shooting, and all the rules of the game, you'll also learn why Spoon believes that unselfishness, hard work, and a positive attitude are as valuable as technical skill.

With tons of instructional photos and heaping "Spoon"-fuls of inspiration, personal history, and inside tips, Teresa Weatherspoon's Basketball for Girls delivers all the goods. In no time, you'll be tearing up the courts, burning up the nets, and showing how it's really done! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Informative and Inspirational!
Based on all the great buzz about Teresa Weatherspoon's Basketball for Girls, I purchased it for a grade-school basketball team player. Not only did she love it, she shared it with family and friends. As she was reading the book, she reported lots of interesting facts and observations that stimulated her imagination. So, not only did she learn from the book, it gave her further interest in reading more about the subject, and reading in general.

For someone learning about this sport, I highly recommend Teresa Weatherspoon's Basketball for Girls!

For Novices Only
If you are an experienced coach or player, pass on this one. It will give you close to nothing. If you are a beginner, there is some value but still there are better options out there. Can't recommend.

Fascinating woman, good BBall
Weatherspoon is one of the most admirable players to come down the pike since the days of Bill Bradley. The book -- with lots of illustrative pictures -- is aimed at teaching younger players, but has good fundamental advice for players of any age (or gender, for that matter). What makes it fascinating are the set-off pieces byWeatherspoon that give an insight into her character. If you like her now, you'll come away liking her even more.

Teresa Weatherspoon's Book
Teresa's Book is good for giving instructions for those who dont know that much about basketball and she gives you stories to relate to.

Great instructional book.Best yet.
Teresa Weatherspoon's Basketball for Girls is not only the best instructional book for basketball that I have read, but it also gives girls an inside look at one of today's positive role models, which has been sorely needed. ... Read more

Product Description
Can things get any worse? Tuck's parents are divorced. He misses his dad. He's in a new house, new town, new school. And to top it off, he can't get court time to practice for the basketball team tryouts. Life feels like one big air ball. Then Coach Walton shows up, and shows Tuck not just how to play but how to handle all the pressures that kids face, both in the game and in life. With coaching guides, skill exercises, and self-quizzes, this interactive book helps kids learn to coach themselves to handle stress and to be their most calm and confident selves, no matter what court they're playing on. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A self-help guide to dealing with stress and anxiety written especially for young people ages eight to twelve.
Written by psychologist Jane Weierbach and professor of psychology and school counselor Elizabeth Phillips-Hershey, Mind Over Basketball is a self-help guide to dealing with stress and anxiety written especially for young people ages eight to twelve. Filled with coaching guides, skill exercises, self-quizzes and more, Mind Over Basketball teaches the reader how to coach himself or herself to handle stress and stay confident. Mind Over Basketball uses basketball as an example of an activity where one needs to control one's stress, but its advice is applicable to everything life can throw at a person, from tests at school to all types of team activities. Vignette stories help explain the points behind such positive behaviors as learning to keep one's cool, tune one's mind like a radio, talk positively to oneself, and more. Highly recommended as a gift book for young people and for children's library collections, "Mind Over Basketball" is also available in a hardcover edition.
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (7)

Fun, but very low-level math.
I was a little bit disappointed in the level of mathematical sophistication in this book. Maybe I was expecting too much, but the math was really low level. I guess this is a plus for many readers, since basically anyone with a high school education and an understanding of Excel would be able to understand most of the book.

An example of the low level of math is that often times after the author introduces a mathematical model for a sport, instead of computing probabilities using a formula he resorts to Monte-Carlo simulation. I guess this makes it easier for non-mathematicians to follow, but as a probabilist it's a bit frustrating for me.

He does have some cool examples, but some of the chapters get a bit repetitive. At least half of the chapters seem to consist of
1) Gather data
2) Do a regression using Excel
This gets a bit repetitive. I think the beginning of the book is the strongest. This is the section on baseball. He does a nice job here at building up the techniques from simple analysis to more and more complicated analysis of individual players. I'm not an expert, but it seems to follow what likely was the historical development of sabermetrics.

Overall, if you like math and sports it's a fun read, just don't expect too much serious math.

Impressive!
I had no idea as to the quality and depth of thought that has gone into this field. Winston does an excellent job, making the material reasonably understandable, interesting, and detailed - beginning at first page. Even non-mathematical issues are addressed, such as why the regular baseball season is a relatively poor predictor of playoffs - because a team's regular season depends on the performance of five starting pitchers, vs. only 3-4 during the playoffs. Bill James' thinking on baseball is there as well, and how it has been modified to handle football and basketball. Evaluating pitchers, fielders, parks, individual players in major sports, comparing players from different eras - wow!

Mathletics
This is a great book! If you like math and sports this is the book for you.

Many topics, very shallow treatment. Disappointing.
The book talks about various aspects of using statistics and probability theory in professional sports. It is divided to four parts: baseball (MLB), American football (NFL) and basketball (NBA), and the fourth section talks about some sport gambling and general comments that are not a good fit to any of the other sections. The author of the book is a professor for operations and decision technologies and was also a statistics consultant for several professional teams such as the NBA's Dallas Mavericks (season 2006-2007).

Generally, the topics discussed in the book are interesting (to me both as a sports fan and with an interest and background in Math') and include topics like how to evaluate players, is there a correlation between teams wealth and the probability to win and how to compare players from different years.

However, the book itself is not an interesting read mainly because each topic is discussed in a very shallow level. The basic flow of each topic is to introduce the motivation of what statistical insights we are now checking, give the required math formula (usually without enough explanations or examples to understand it thoroughly), and than a single conclusion of the analysis is presented before continuing to the next topic. This results in the reader being left without any interesting findings or insights to learn about the topic in question with respect to different years, teams or players. For each given topic I could easily come up with several other questions that every die-hard NBA fan would like to see treated.

Basically, the book looks like a cooking book, that present an idea, gives you the formula (often discusses Excel implementation) andleaves all the hard work to the reader. Now, as the author consulted the Dallas Mavericks, most of these conclusions (in the NBA section) refer to that team in that relevant year (2006-2007). I would expect to see additional interesting results on each topic and without that I think the book will disappoint most readers.

Let me exemplify what I mean: a topic named "Are college basketball games fixed?" sounds like a very deep topic which should have profound consequences. However. this topic is exactly two pages long (57 lines to be exact), that obviously results in a very shallow treatment without any important conclusion. Another example, "Analyzing Team and Individual Matchups" topic (again, in the NBA section) is two and a half page long of text (and another 2 pages table) which only deals with the Spurs-Mavericks 2006 western conference semifinal. I guess most readers would want deeper analysis of more interesting encounters and see some data manipulation on other series.

As I wanted to get more information about these topics a quick look on various Internet website (which the book does give as good references points) I could find various articles that were more interesting than the book itself.

Overall, the book gave me a feeling that it is mostly a quick and naive compilation of a series of articles that were already posted somewhere else. Each topic (or an article in a blog\newspaper in a previous life) is treated without any deep thought or any desire to show deeper observations. If you are just looking for formulas, the internet is full of resources. This book presents very little interesting finding to sports fan.

The Mathematics and Statistics Behind Sports
Should a basketball team down by two with seconds to go try to tie the game with a two-pointer or attempt to win it with a three?Are football teams too conservative when deciding whether to go for it on fourth down?How efficacious are sacrifice bunts in baseball when there is a man on first and no one out?

In "Mathletics", Wayne Winston uses mathematics to examine these and many, many more situations in baseball, football, and basketball.The author comes to many conclusions that are against current sports conventional wisdom.Some of the other more interesting questions Winston addresses are whether Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak is the all-time greatest sports record, whether college basketball games are fixed, whether the NFL or NBA has greater parity, which sports collapses are the greatest, and whether another system to determine a college football champion would be better than the current BCS.

Some of the math in the book is too advanced even for someone who took college algebra, but someone who did well in college algebra and is familiar with some concepts in statistics such as standard deviation will be able to understand much of the math the author uses to reach his conclusions.Any serious sports fan, however, would enjoy reading the book just to see the conclusions the author arrives at concerning three of America's most popular sports. ... Read more

Product Description
The author who has successfully coached both men's and women's teams spent three years writing this practical action book so that anyone can coach.

Part I discusses and graphically defines the fundamentals.

Part II explains how to plan the key to coaching and teach at practice.

Part III, the largest part, systematically presents over 200 lessons in 19 sections.

Twenty-three pages of Appendices supply other useful coaching information such as: strategies; a practice warm down; game statistics and more. Amazon.com Review
The Basketball Coach's Bible claims to be essentialreading for basketball coaches, whether they're coaching yourdaughter's fourth-grade team or a Division I collegeteam. Endorsements are included from both youth coaches and well-knownprofessional and college coaches such as Phil Jackson and JimCalhoun. Can any book really cover a topic that broadly and do a goodjob? The resounding answer in this case is yes. Mr. Goldstein startsfrom the premise that if you learn the fundamentals well, the rest ofthe game comes along naturally. The first seven short chapters of thebook lay out his philosophy of the game and coaching, providing ablueprint to follow.

The remainder of the book has two parts,multipart lessons that focus on individual skills such as dribblingand passing, and another series of lessons on team offense anddefense. Each lesson begins with a simple concept and then adds morecomplex features as your players' skills progress. Charts accompanyeach lesson and detail the prerequisite skills, time needed, andeffort that is required.

This book is one of those rare breedsthat live up to its hype. One drawback is that younger players may nothave enough practice time to complete all of the drills you wouldlike, but those you do choose will be winners. --Rob Frankland ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

The best basketball book sold
I have read many 'how to' basketball books, all disappointing.I finally found this one and find it 100% effective.I wish my high school coaches had read this book and taught the techniques when I played.Today I play Senior Basketball and find I still have much to learn.This book covers it all.I read a little at a time and try to make its principles habit.This book is for players and coaches of all ages.Study it well.

Good enough for beginners...
It describes the basics of basketball but with few exercises for each subject...

It's a good book for beginner coaches; want to have a very good knowledge of basketball fundamentals. But this is not a book of basketball drills.

The Basketball Coaches Bible
A gift for my son who is a high school basketball coach. He has found the book very helpful.Good choice.

Good Stuff!
The book has a tremendous amount of positive basketball knowledge. Many coaches get away from fundamentals and this book goes into detail on the benefits of breaking everything down to the bear essentials.A great compliment to this book is the video "48 Championship Basketball Drills" which has some outstanding creative shooting drills.Sid Goldstein should be hailed as "El Sid" on a good effort and worthy teaching tool.

One of the best of its' kind
As a coach of a 5th and 6th grade boys basketball team I found this book a tremendous teaching tool this season. Most of the children I coach have had little or no formal teaching in basketball previous to me. This books true value comes from being geared towards all skill levels. A coach at my level, straight through coaches of High school varsity teams, can find drills to introduce to their players.

Every year I've bought a new book on drills because I've never been completly happy with the previous years' purchase. I'm happy to say that next year, and for many more to come, I won't have to buy another. ... Read more

Product Description
Take your game to a higher level! In Complete Conditioning for Basketball, the New York Knicks’ strength and conditioning coach, Greg Brittenham, shares the program he’s taught to NBA All-Star pros like Patrick Ewing. He includes

• 50 illustrated court conditioning drills;

• easy-to-use charts for planning a personalized strength training program;

• 15 flexibility exercises;

• 9 drills to improve agility and footwork;

• 9 abdominal and lower back exercises to improve your "center of power";

• 11 fitness tests to determine your training needs; and

• 12 sample workouts for year-round conditioning.

So whether you’re a player who wants to get in great shape or a coach who wants better conditioning activities for practice, Complete Conditioning for Basketball is the training guide you need for high level performance all season long. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent manual on conditioning for basketball coaches!
As a high school basketball coach I know basketball - I am not a strength and conditioning coach!Unlike my fellow coaches at the major college level and the pro ranks, I do not have access to specialists in conditioning who are experts at conditioning basketball players.As a head high school coach, I have to deal with so many things other than conditioning, that even if I really wanted to become an expert, the expertise would have to be developed at the expense of other important areas due simply to a lack of time and energy on my part.

Greg Brittenham has changed this for basketball coaches, at least high school or middle school coaches, like me.This one book contains information on what physical attributes basketball players must have, how to test these attributes, and how to develop these physical, athletic attributes.

The author also has provided 50 on the court conditioning drills that detail how to condition basketball players in a sport specific manner.

This book will save a busy coach untold hours of research, and allow the coach to produce well conditioned basketball players in an organized, systematic manner!

Kevin Sivils - Author of Game Strategy and Tactics for Basketball
Game Strategies and Tactics for Basketball: Bench Coaching for Success

very good , very good.
well im a professional basketball player im my country , and i just boughtseveral books to improve my strength , well this book just gave me a totalnew perspective of how i should do it. sometimes we do our weight work withother body builders and our head stay so confused for what you ear , wellthis book will help you understand what you really need to be in shape.

The best basketball training book available!!!
As a high school basketball coach, developing a comprehensive strength and conditioning program can be a difficult process. I searched high and low for materials that I could reference, this book offers 'far and away' the most comprhensive and practical methodology. It is very easy to understand and implement with your players. I use this for the development of pre, post and in season conditioning regimes. The court conditioning drills were used throughout our practices. I recommend this book to any coach or parent who is serious about the benefits of a practical basketball conditioning program. Great book!! ... Read more

Product Description
Investing in College Basketball provides a comprehensive set of tools and techniques for successfully wagering on college basketball.It shows how the returns – winnings -- from investing in college basketball can be far greater than investing in stocks and bonds. These returns can be achieved by anyone with an interest in basketball, basic mathematical skills, and a computer with spreadsheet programs and Internet access.The power of the methodology is demonstrated by actual investing results for the 2003-2004 season of the Atlantic 10 Conference.The book includes an analysis of investment outcomes for the A-10 Conference, the working papers for assessing each team, and the analysis of each game for which an investment was made.There are extensive examples of how theory is applied in analyzing actual games and showing how good analysis consistently pays off. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Don't invest in this book; play your hunches.
I bought this book along with author Seidel's companion book, Wagering To Win, during a dry spell in my basketball betting.These books continued the drought.

The only pearl of wisdom from this title was concentrating on a local conference, finding "live" teams or dullard squads that the bookie may have under-priced or over-priced as the circumstances dictate.

Hey guys, don't you already do that in your gambling routines?Seidel then tries to masquerade this thin exercise with a return-on-equity discourse, in an apparent attempt to convince you that you are really investing rather than betting.

The problem is:those propositions are past history.The new season brings new challenges. You cannot rely on the past to give you insights into the upcoming season.


I'll save you some bucks with this advice:bet on a roadie at your own risk.If there was ever a live proposition in gambling it has to be the homey, especially a home team dog.Home teams cover at a near-60% clip.

One of the best sources for up-to-the-minute basketball information are individual webpages from informed locals.Your problem is to find these pages, knowing that they are typically set up by fans at various campuses.None last beyond five years in duration, but I've found valuable gems of data from them.I've learned who was flunking out, rumors of team dissension, who was contemplating leaving campus for the NBA draft, what players were in the doghouse, etc.The UseNet newsgroups are the best place to start.

Sports betting is hard work.Research is vital.You won't find much of it in Seidel's book.

Take the points and skip the books on dinosaur history.

Note added August 2009:UseNet newsgroups have been obsoleted by Twitter.If NCAA football is any indication of a trend, then it appears the BB crowd has congregated at Twitter.Log in and study the tweets in college athletics; be prepared to work at winnowing the wheat from the chaff.There is solid information out fhere for those willing to work.

Well written and informative book except for the money management part
Wagering on CBB for the past 5 seasons, I decided to pick up this book to see if it had anything new to offer that I had never thought of.

Turns out, almost everything I did to handicap games was in this book. So if you are just beginning to handicap CBB, this book would probably help a lot more than it did me. Either way, it was nice to see that Larry handicapped games similarly to me. Even the opinion that I have that NCAA tournament time is NOT the time to bet is held by Larry.

Something though that did open my eyes a little bit was the conference specialization. Picking a conference and only betting those games has it's advantages and disadvantages. If you don't have a lot of time though, I think it may be better to specialize in a conference than to just know some stuff about a lot of teams.

I enacted this strategy for the last month of the season last year with rather strong results to show for it.

As I mentioned, the money management section to me is poorly written. I may think this because I don't believe in what he said to do. The mantra I follow is "don't bet it unless you think you see value and thus an easy cover".

He says you should bet more on some games that show more value. Well experience shows you that some games you think have more value turn into non covers and vice versa. Betting this way is an easy way to cause a huge variance in the bottom line. I used to do that and it caused a variance of profit of over 300%.

Easy example: Over a 50 game stretch you bet between 10 and 60 dollars and finish down 100 with a .500 record. Average bet was 30 per wager. You could have bet 175 per wager and would have only been down 100 dollars as well. If you had bet the same 30 every time, you would have only been down 26 and change.

Wagering the same amount on each game keeps this variance from happening and you can worry more about hitting above 55% and not from that hole you just dug because you upped the amount on a certain game because of "perceived value".

All in all, a good book except for the money management section.

Brilliant NCAA Basketball ideas
This is the single best book I have read on handicapping NCAA basketball. His methodologies for analyzing teams, and setting spreads and totals are both fascinating and deadly. This treatise has a lot of solid theoretical content which I observed in the 2004 season, and it worked in application.

This is not a gambling treatise - while his analysis of basketball is superb, his ideas on money management and risk analysis are borderline catastrophic. However, if you are already an intermediate to advanced gambler, and you ignore all the material on bet sizing, the handicapping material is first rate (and would warrant a 5-star rating).

Use with caution
This book is pretty interesting.On the one hand it does a good job outlining the hard work necessary to win betting on college hoops, and even outlines somenice methods. But all that is almost entirely nullified by the horrendous "money management"advice Seidel gives.He sounds like a tout when he says things such as "if you can't win 60% you should be doing something else".He goes on to talk about how a 75% winning percentage seems to be attainable and gives advice for using bet sizes of over 10% of your bankroll.I can not begin to tell you how bad this advice is.It basically brings into question the rest of the book and how long Seidel has actually been involved in sports betting. His money management advice reaks of someone who had a very nice season betting basketball and doesn't have an appreciation for the swings that are inherent in betting sports.Because even the most successful sports bettor in the world would eventually go broke putting that much of his bankroll at risk.For better money management advice look into classic books such as "Insights into Sports Betting" and Beating the Professional Football Point Spread".I could only recommend this book to people who are seasoned sports bettors with their own set money management ideas and REALISTIC expectations, but are interested in reading about some good approaches to college hoops. Because there is some good advice in the book, just some very bad advice as well.

Invest, don't gamble!
This book is great.I love college basketball and this book describes exactly how to win by spending more time on your passion.

I love the concepts.Imagine a stock market where you know more about the stocks than anyone else.Where most of the other investors are amatuers, not professionals.Where there are few frauds like Enron, Marsh, WorldCom or HealthSouth to tank your portfolio.Where investment gains come immediately, not after years. Where there are dozens of brokers keeping commissions low.

Well, this book describes college basketball betting as just such a market.College basketball "investing" offers all of these, plus none of the disadvantages of large and public betting markets such as stock market, or even the NFL or NBA.The book is a how-to-guide for those who want to gain an advantage and have the discipline to invest the time and effort.

The book is heavy on concrete descriptions on how to gather and use information.It describes strategies for each part of the season, the advantages of specializing in a conference and how to choose one, and the key factors in game analysis.The methods seem to require a lot of work and very disciplined selections, but remember, we're talking about college basketball here.This is fun analysis.

This book is completely unlike "The Odds," which came out about three years ago.The characters in that story were gambling, something this author would probably never do.He has written a book that teaches, rather than just entertains.
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A Must For The True KY Basketball Fan
This thing is loaded with great pictures, stories, handwritten letters and unique pullouts that any follower of the greatest basketball program of all time. You can actually remove them and look at them as they appeared back in the day. I was amazed at the detail....it is one of the best pieces of memories you can own. It is worth getting and passing down through you family. You cannot go wrong here. I'll this item cherish for the rest of my days. Take my word on it. ... Read more

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The Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball
My husband is a rabid Duke Basketball fan and was simply thrilled to receive this book for Christmas.I notice that it has not left the side of his lounge chair since he received it!

Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball
The ultimate reference book of Duke Basketball. The covers the entire subject, from the beginning. A must for any fan of the team! (Duke haters - stay away)

Spectacular collection of facts and lore.A must-have for Duke fans.
This is the greatest collection of Duke basketball facts and lore of all time.An unbeatable resource -- a must have for Duke fans. ... Read more