Teaching from March Madness

Raffaele Imbrogno has been coaching since 1980. He is an Instructor for the Italian Basketball Federation's National Coaches Committee and has been Director of the Federation's Study Center. Im-brogno is also the author of several technical basketball publications.

In the United Sates, the college Basketball Final Four ended recently with the men's and women's NCAA Final Four played in Indianapolis and San Antonio, respectfully. Eight teams fought valiantly for the two titles up for grabs.

For the women's NCAA final game, it was UConn, coached by Geno Auriemma, against Stanford, coached by Tara VanDerveer. In the end, UConn won 53 to 47, earning its 78th consecutive victory. This is an impressive record that shows both the value of the players, and that of their coach.

In the men's competition, Duke University returned to the final after nine years, reaching the fourth title game in the history of the team, all of them won under the guidance of Coach K, Mike Krzyze-wski. In the final, the Blue Devils beat the Butler Bulldogs, well trained by an emerging young coach: Brad Stevens, the second youngest coach in the National NCAA Finals.

It was not an easy road to the finals. In the semifinal game, Duke knocked out West Virginia, coached by Bob Huggins, and Butler defeated Michigan State, coached by Tom Izzo. Both were tough, hard fought and riveting games. The long embrace of Bob Huggins to his player Da'Sean Buche, who was injured during the semifinal, was one of the most touching moments of the entire tournament. Great teams, great coaches.

The good news is that these coaches all have DVDs from Championship Productions that emphasize various aspects of their defensive and offensive strategies. Let's start with the two winning coaches. Here are the principal offerings from Geno Auriemma:

• "All Access Practice with Geno Auriemma" (released in 2010).

• "Geno Auriemma: Dynamic Offensive Practice Drills" (released in 2010).

• "Geno Auriemma: 14 Drills for Building Offense" (released in 2008).

• "Geno Auriemma: The Simplified Zone Offense" (released in 2005).

• "Geno Auriemma: The 70-Minute Player Development Workout" (released in 2005).

I have talked a lot of Mike Krzyzewski DVDs over the years, and I last reminded you of his "All Access Duke Basketball Practice with Mike Krzyzewski" and his books "The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team" (2009) and "Beyond Basketball: "Coach K's Keywords for Success" (2007).

You can purchase them at: www.bn.com and www.amazon.com. Let's now look at the DVDs of the "defeated" coaches, starting with Ms. VanDerveer:

• "Tara VanDerveer: Disguising Your Quick Hitters for Man and Zone" (released in 2010).

• "Tara VanDerveer: Stanford's Triangle Offense" (released in 2006).

• "Tara VanDerveer: 25 Offensive Practice Drills for Success" (released in 2005).

Additionally, Coach VanDerveer has an excellent book: "Shooting from the Outside: How a Coach and Her Olympic Team Transformed Women's Basketball".

From the coach of West Virginia's Mountaineers, we have the following DVDs:

• "Bob Huggins: Aggressive Trapping Defensive Systems" (released in 2009).

• "Bob Huggins: Intense Practice Drills" (released in 2006).

• "Bob Huggins: Smothering Pressure Defense - Dominating the Box" (released in 2006).

• "Bob Huggins: Open Post Motion Offense" (released in 2004).

From the Italian American coach of the Michigan State Spartans, there are the following DVDs:

• "Tom Izzo: Multi-Threat Scoring Offense" (released in 2009).

• "Tom Izzo's 'Basketball Smorgasbord' of Drills and Basketball Wisdom" (released in 2007).

• "Tom Izzo: The 1-3-1 Zone Offense" (released in 2006).

•"Tom Izzo: Rebounding Drills and Defending the Pick-and-Roll" (released in 2006).

Last but not least, we end up with the youngest coach of the group, Brad Stevens (33 years old):"Brad Stevens: Winning with Undersized Teams" (released in 2009).

Enjoy these books and the DVDs. There is a great possibility that you will learn something from these great teachers.