A Pen And A Napkin

Capturing the heart of New York City over 40 years ago, Lou Carnesecca had his best team during the 194-85 season! Led by Chris Mullin, Walter Berry and Bill Wennington, the Redmen were the number one team in the country during the season and had epic battles against multiple great Big East teams, including their chief rival Georgetown. Nate Wall, Jacob Brindle and I break down this team, its strengths and weaknesses and how they rank amongst the best of all time!

Frank Ostanik, the head men's basketball coach at the University of Alaska (at Fairbanks) comes on the podcast this week! The head coach at the northern most university in the United States, Coach Ostanik is a life-long Alaskan who is primed to lead the Nanooks back to DII prominence. In this pod, we discuss his basketball journey, pleasures and challenges of coaching in Alaska, the Alaska Basketball Academy, building a culture, skill development and a lot more! A lot of fun talking basketball with a legend in the 49th state! Get your copy of Hoops 365: A One Year Guide to Becoming a Basketball CEO here! Hoops 365Get your copy of The Last of the Cowboys: The Story of Snow Valley Basketball School here! The Last of the CowboysGet your copy of King Of Their Court: Three Teams, One City and the Greatest Season in Nebraska High School Basketball History here! Kings Of Their CourtWant to get more from A Pen And A Napkin? Go to apenandanapkin.com for videos, handouts, links and more!Want to learn more about coaching basketball and becoming a complete basketball coach? Subscribe to The Opening Tip newsletter on Substack! https://apenandanapkin.substack.com/?utm_source=global-search

Dirk Chatelain, the multi-time award winning writer for the Omaha World-Herald and the Flatwater Press, sits down with me to preview his upcoming book "Sweet Dreams: The Agonizing Struggle and Euphoric Awakening of Nebraska Basketball", due out in early December. We discuss his passion for Husker hoops, the modern history of the program, the importance of the Hoiberg hire, early struggles, the important turning points that led to the 2025-26 season, all things Oklahoma City and a quick preview of the upcoming season. Dirk's book promises to be a treat for any Husker basketball fan, so pre-order the book via the link below:https://huskerbasketball.netlify.app/

100 podcasts in 100 days!!!! We have wrapped the "Win The Season" podcast series with this really important pod; if you really take in the lessons of any of these podcasts, this one might be the most important one. Today we discuss the importance of authenticity and being yourself, and we end the podcast with five major points that you need to remember as you navigate the journey of the upcoming season. We also have a discussion on the great Dawn Staley!

Any advantage that you can get, especially on the margins, is integral to helping you "Win The Season", and keeping stats in practice is something that you, with the right training and help, can accomplish. Today's pod discusses eight major statistics that you can track in practice or within your program, as well as how it also benefits your players through the concept of "Pearson's Law". We finish today's pod discussing one of the best coaches of the last forty years, the great John Beilein!

Episode #350! Can't believe we're here, but we'll take it! Really excited to talk practice with two great coaches, Karen Self and Marc Kruger. We discuss planning practice, how to start practice, favorite drills, implementing scouting report, and how to end practice on a high note. This was alot of fun with two of my favorite people in coaching!Get your copy of Hoops 365: A One Year Guide to Becoming a Basketball CEO here! Hoops 365Get your copy of The Last of the Cowboys: The Story of Snow Valley Basketball School here! The Last of the CowboysGet your copy of King Of Their Court: Three Teams, One City and the Greatest Season in Nebraska High School Basketball History here! Kings Of Their CourtWant to get more from A Pen And A Napkin? Go to apenandanapkin.com for videos, handouts, links and more!Want to learn more about coaching basketball and becoming a complete basketball coach? Subscribe to The Opening Tip newsletter on Substack! https://apenandanapkin.substack.com/?utm_source=global-search

Getting your players to understand their individual roles is a critical first step in developing your team this season, but if you want to go to the next level, having them understand everyone's role on the team will take you places you didn't think you could go. In today's podcast, we look at "Role Call" (stolen directly from Doc Rivers), how to execute the concept, and how many times you should do it throughout the season. In addition, we have a great quote about truth telling from the Greek philosopher Plato, and we study one of the best at establishing roles, Eric Spoelstra!

We're all given the same amount of time on this earth; 60 seconds a minute, 60 minutes an hour, 24 hours a day, so you have to prioritize your time and how you are going to spend it, especially on yourself. Today's podcast is all about protecting your time, how to make sure that you stay fresh as the season goes on and behaviors to avoid. We also have a great quote from the great writer Joan Didion, and we discuss and learn about the great Bob Huggins!

It's the scenario that no coaching staff wants to deal with, but it's an inevitability at some point; you're going to have a player that is going to make a poor decision and there needs to be some sort of repercussion. In today's podcast, we discuss the areas that you need to be concerned about with your players, what you should have prepared and the important conversations that you should have. In addition, we've got two really good sayings that you can use with your players to help them discipline themselves, and if you liked the ":07 or less" Phoenix Suns, you'll love our coach today, Ben Jobe!

1/3 of the "Holy Trinity" of parent complaints (along with roles and playing time), team placement and dividing of teams is part of your early season process that needs to be throughly thought about and planned by your coaching staff, not only for this season, but next season and beyond. In today's pod, we discuss seven major things to consider as you divide your teams up; some you'll agree with, while others you may not. In addition, we've got a great quote from Scottie Pippen, and we discuss the great career and important lessons to learn from the great Mark Few!