(Rental)-Open Practice with T.J. Otzelberger Offense

Open Practice with T.J. Otzelberger: Offense

One of the hottest up-and-coming coaches in the world of college basketball is South Dakota State’s T.J. Otzelberger. In this video, you get an up close look at Coach Otzelberger’s transition game, half-court offense, and individual skill development. At SDSU, Otzelberger has taken the Jackrabbits to back-to-back NCAA tournaments and was named the Summit League Coach of the Year in 2018 after his team won the regular season title. Watch and see Coach Otzelberger’s philosophy of offense and how his players have learned to play at a fast tempo.

Transition

The core of Coach Otzelberger’s offense is the transition game. He likes his players to get the ball into the scoring area as fast as possible in an effort to put pressure on the defense. You will see how he teaches his players to push the ball down the floor and how to use the fast break to attack gaps in the defense. Using a variety of transition drills, Coach Otzelberger outlines how he creates a culture of up-tempo basketball.

Skill Development

Coach Otzelberger breaks up players into two different groups to show you how he develops individual skills Players in each group learn to create driving angles into a single gap or double gap setting. Posts learn to rotate as a guard drives toward the basket. Guards learn to recognize and attack gaps as the ball moves around the court. In a second drill, you will see how Coach Otzelberger creates pride in the Jackrabbits defense.

Half Court Play

When the transition game doesn’t produce a scoring opportunity, the offense must flow right into its half-court game. In this segment of the video, Coach Otzelberger reveals the various actions that he likes to open up the floor to create driving angles or create downhill action as quickly as possible. You will see the 6-Man Possession game where players race up and down the floor in transition utilizing dribble hand-offs, step up screens, and flip actions to generate scoring opportunities.

This open practice video is full of outstanding coaching points that can be put to use in your program. This open practice video goes inside Coach Otzelberger’s program for a detailed look at South Dakota State plays at such a high pace. Checking in at just over three hours (183 minutes), Coach Otzelberger does a great job of teaching up-tempo offense, half-court play, and how to schedule practices for success.