Exploring basketball's best ideas, strategies, and coaches around the world

Happy Sunday! Welcome to all the newest subscribers from around the world!

ICYMI: Last week, we broke down an effective counter to the top lock coverage and how to continue unlocking your shooter. Read the newsletter HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: Deep Corner Inbounds - Screens & Spacing​

🎧 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Dwaine Osborne {Youngstown}

📣 Hudl Instat & Dr. Dish

🥇 Best of the Week: Punishing Hedge & Princeton Point​

📚 Interesting Reads: Longevity Hacks

But first...

Got a coaching question? Ask us!

We’re excited to launch our new Monthly Mailbag on YouTube, created to bring the Slappin' Glass community directly into the conversation and dive into the real coaching questions you're wrestling with.

Each month, we’ll feature and answer selected questions in a dedicated YouTube video, covering anything from tactics and team concepts to podcast guests, leadership, or broader coaching topics. Submit your question below, and keep an eye out for our first episode dropping right after the holidays!

Deep Corner Inbounds

As coaches, we spend much of the offseason thinking about our big-picture defensive concepts or the motion principles that will define our half court identity. In the middle of that planning, though, certain special situations can easily slip through the cracks.

As Youngstown State associate head coach Dwaine Osborne noted on our recent podcast, it’s rarely wise to invest a large chunk of early-season practice time installing solutions for niche scenarios that may only occur a handful of times. But we do need to be ready for them because the alternative is burning a timeout and scrambling to draw something up on the clipboard.

That’s why this week we’re taking a moment to spotlight one of those tricky, often-overlooked situations you should have an answer for in your back pocket: the deep corner inbound.

These scenarios might not happen often, but they have a knack for showing up at the most inopportune times. You are unlikely to see the ball get tipped out of bounds in the deep corner during semi transition or at the very start of a possession. When it does happen, you are not only stuck inbounding from a spot with almost no angle to safely enter the ball, but you are often in a moment where you also need a quick scoring look.

With plenty of big picture priorities already on your plate, we took the time to gather some winning strategies for deep corner inbounds and offer a few ideas that might save a possession and maybe even a game.

Bilbao & Stagger Screens

Inbounding from the deep corner is fundamentally difficult because the baseline and sideline function as firm defenders that shrink the available space far more than a traditional sideline or baseline inbound. Yet the positioning of the deep corner inbounder is not all that different from a standard post catch that initiates action in the half court. This similarity opens the door for adapting empty side post actions you may already be using, and few concepts translate better to this unique situation than the Bilbao action.

Zooming In: In the simplest terms, the post entry passer cuts over the big at the strong side elbow to screen for a shooter at the opposite elbow. From there, the shooter can come off the stagger screens, tight curl to the rim, or use a twirl screen to free the initial post entry passer back to the ball. From this basic structure, the action can take on many iterations, and there may be no one better to study for this than Coach Sito Alonso {🎧}.

Another advantage of this action is how well it deals with the aggressive pressure applied by the inbound defender who is often intent on taking away the most likely pass to the three point line. This makes it crucial that the first part of the action sends pressure toward the rim. A legitimate threat at the rim, supported by a strong ball fake, forces the inbound defender to react and shift their positioning to protect against the direct pass into the paint. As this happens, the second screen of the Bilbao action takes place, and with the inbound defender now displaced, a clean window opens for the next pass.

RIP Screens

Another way to apply rim pressure is with an early RIP screen, which achieves the same objective as the Bilbao action but in a very different manner. In the Bilbao setup, there is built in deception because the initial shooter can either come off the stagger or curl to the rim, keeping the defense off balance. With a RIP screen initiating the action, the movement toward the rim becomes much more pronounced. That loud and obvious threat forces the exact defensive reaction we are aiming for, creating the space needed to flow into a secondary scoring action.

Zooming In: Notice the high quad spacing on the weak side, with everyone lifted above the free throw line. This alignment forces the question: who will help on the RIP screen? The big’s defender, who risks sinking too deep to support any secondary action? The furthest defender, who risks being late to chase out to the shooter? Or the inbound defender, which would open up easier passing outlets? Or switch everything...

Another advantage of keeping the weak side spaced high to free the rim is that it creates opportunities to punish switches. The deep corner is a difficult inbound spot, and many good defenses will use it to crank their intensity to the highest level, hoping to generate a steal or force a five second call. Because of this, it becomes an ideal situation to slip screens, seal mismatches, or attack aggressive overplays. It is often wise to anticipate switching in these moments, so ensuring that your screeners are provided ample space to be active scoring threats within the action can lead to easy baskets.

The deep corner inbound is a small detail, but small details swing big games. With a few adaptable actions and spacing tweaks in your back pocket, you can turn a difficult spot into a real advantage. To see all of these concepts and more, SG+ Members can view the full breakdown now on SGTV!

Together with Dr. Dish

Imagine having your team’s entire development, training, and analytics in one place. That’s the Dr. Dish Training Management System — T-M-S — the ultimate coaching platform that transforms your shooting machine into a complete player-development engine. Track every rep, drill, and player. Assign custom workouts. View heat maps, leaderboards, and progress across your entire roster — all in one dashboard. Build accountability. Unlock smarter reps. And take full control of your team’s growth. Feed Your Fire at drdishbasketball.com.​

🎧 Dwaine Osborne on Elite Shot Selection, ATO Construction, and Grading the "Tagging Up" System {Youngstown State}

In this episode, we sit down with Youngstown State Associate Head Coach Dwaine Osborne, one of the most consistently efficient offensive coaches in college basketball. Osborne — an eight-time Coach of the Year with a track record of leading the nation in effective field-goal percentage and offensive efficiency — opens the doors to his philosophy on building highly disciplined, analytically driven teams.

Across a wide-ranging conversation, Coach Osborne unpacks how he teaches elite shot selection, builds paint efficiency, and uses clarity-based concepts to help players make decisive first-touch decisions. He details why “life is math,” how he leverages PPP values to communicate shot quality, and why playing off two feet may be the most under-taught skill in modern offense.

The episode digs deeply into layup packages, "Villanova footwork", decision-making progressions, and the balance between analytics and empowering confident, aggressive scorers. Coach Osborne also breaks down how he thinks about ATOs, why fewer plays lead to better execution, and how his program blends tagging-up rules, offensive rebounding, and transition defense into one integrated system.

Throughout, he brings humility, candor, and clear teaching language — making this an episode loaded with transferable concepts for coaches at every level.

What You’ll Learn

• How to Teach and Enforce Shot Selection​
  Practical ways Osborne uses analytics (PPP numbers, film pauses, peer accountability) to build a team-wide understanding of shot value.
• Why Efficient Offense Starts With Player Strengths​
  How defining each player’s “best value actions” leads to higher-percentage possessions and clearer roles.
• Developing First-Touch Decisions (FTDs)​
  Methods to help players make decisive reads on the catch — not predetermined, but anticipated through clarity and structure.
• Building Paint Efficiency​
  Why all layups are not created equal, how Osborne categorizes finishing packages, and how playing off two feet mirrors traditional post play.
• ATO Construction and Why Less Is More​
  The philosophy behind keeping the ATO menu small, emphasizing execution, and choosing between attacking defensive tendencies or preventing them.
• The Tagging-Up System: Four Simple Rules​
  A clear explanation of the “touch, top, no reckless crash, no advance” framework — and how it improves both offensive rebounding and transition defense.
• How to Balance Analytics With Player Confidence​
  His approach to ensuring players feel empowered, not restricted, while still understanding efficiency and role clarity.
• Culture, Trust, and Prioritizing People​
  Why recruiting for character and building meaningful relationships is foundational to executing an analytical system.

This episode is a masterclass in clarity-driven coaching, teaching with precision, and building efficient offense without sacrificing player confidence or freedom.

Together with Hudl

Hudl Powers Every Possession

If you’re already using tools like FastDraw, FastScout, or FastRecruit—you know how essential they are to your workflows. And now that they’re fully part of the Hudl ecosystem, they’re more powerful than ever. From film and play diagrams to scouting reports and custom recruiting boards, everything flows together. One system. Built for high-performance programs.

​Learn more about Hudl and their variety of products or subscribers to Slappin' Glass can also directly email Winston Jones of Hudl at winston.jones@hudl.com.

Tactical

📺 Punishing the Hedge - Euro Flow • Loop Flash​

"A clever counter to the hedge coverage within the Euro Flow, flashing the looping 4-man up to the ball off the 2nd side handoff."

✚ Pair With: Punishing the hedge coverage with a deep rolling 5-Man off the Pistol PNR and the 4-Man isolated on the backside.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on a coordinated screening action designed to punish the hedge coverage, the Slip Out Hook Screen.

📺 Princeton Point - Low Block Pin Down​

"Out of the Princeton Point entry, the low splits work as the decoy, setting up the point guard to curl off a low block pin down screen."

✚ Pair With: Rejecting the high split screen to clear a side for the inverted PNR at the elbow for the 5-Man.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our "Film Room" breakdown with Coach John Alesi on the Princeton Point.

Interesting Reads

📚 Joy & Competitveness & Culture

2. Accept that a rational person could disagree with your highest cultural value.

A lot of people talk about shadow personality traits. My simple brain takes this to mean that your personality can manifest in good ways and bad ways. This will be true for cultures too. You want your culture to be defined by performance? Great. Some people will say you’re cold-hearted. That’s ok! If you want to take this a step further, ask yourself if you’d be fine if some potential team member didn’t join because they don’t like the shadow application of your culture.

​

📚 That Conflict in the Room? It Could be the Start of Deeper Connection.​

Engaging Zone: Experiencing high tension + both/and mindset. This is the sweet spot where innovation and resilience live. Leaders address polarities and generate creative, innovative solutions that leverage both. (Smith and Lewis, 2022)

​

​

📚 55 Longevity Hacks​

36. Be the fittest version of yourself. Your body is your only vessel for experiencing life—so treat it as such. Fitness isn’t working out a few times a week, it’s a lifestyle. The older you get, the more time you need to devote to your health.

37. Take the time to appreciate art and beauty in all its forms.

38. Think globally, but act locally. Too many people put their energy into far-away problems they don’t understand and can’t impact, while ignoring problems right under their nose. Want to change the world? Start at home.

Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan, Pat, and Eric

info@slappinglass.com

​