Anoka-Ramsey Practice - Monday 10-14-19

Ventured up to Coon Rapids on this sunny but cool Monday afternoon to take in an early afternoon practice of Head Coach David DeWitt's team.  I arrived early and soon ran into DeWitt and got settled into the Anoka-Ramsey gymnasium for the 2:00 P.M. practice. 

After a short talk, the team splits into two groups.  One group works on inbounds plays that centers on setting proper screens and getting lay-ups off of those screens while DeWitt goes over some things with the other group.  A bit later, DeWitt has the team together working on plays off of inbounds passes on a 5-on-5 situation.  DeWitt often stops the action to point out errors or fine-tune what his team is doing. 

Next, after the team works on some individual shooting drills that focuses mainly on three-point shots with three players at each basket, DeWitt has the whole team together and has one group in a line where one player acts as a player driving to the basket and then kicks the ball out to a player from another line along the baseline for the three-point finish.  The three-point shooting line gradually works around the arc and it's obvious that this team has some very good three-point shooters. 

Next, the team does a three-person weave from the half-court line and then that morphs into a short-passing drill.  Then, DeWitt has the team do a 5-on-0 full-court "shell" drill to work on offensive movement in the half-court with the shot clock being utilized.  The goal here is to emphasize good ball movement and proper spacing with players moving where they're supposed to be moving and setting screens as well. 

Next is an interesting 3-on-2 full-court drill where the three players on offense work in a fast-break situation where the goal is to break down the two defenders in the half-court.  DeWitt then changes things up and has the team do a 5-on-5 half-court drill where the team works on some 2-3 zone defense.  As you can imagine, DeWitt often stops the action to point out some of the flaws his team is guilty of on the defensive end.  Then, it's time for some full-court 5-on-5 action in hopes of putting everything together - the way DeWitt wants to see it.  However, again the action is stopped on several occasions with DeWitt pointing out the various flaws and how to correct those flaws.  Sprints are in the offing afterward. 

Next is a half-court 5-on-5 drill but with different defenders on each end with two different players coming out at mid-court on defense.  It gives the team an opportunity to work with different groups of players and that'll be important once the actual season gets underway.  Then DeWitt has the team do another 5-on-0 "shell" drill to work on some more offensive sets in the half-court and DeWitt has the team split into two groups for this with Assistant Coach Jessica Pelzel handling the other group. 

Then DeWitt has the team do some more full-court 5-on-5 full-court work in hopes of putting some of the previous work into a game-like situation.  Nothing is ever perfect - especially this time of the year - and DeWitt has to stop the action from time to time to point out more flaws and errors. 

The last two items of this afternoon's practice focuses on some more shooting.  First, DeWitt has the team split up into two groups and the two groups compete against each other with three-point shots to see how many they can make within a five minute setting.  The result is very, very close between the two groups.  To finish things off, DeWitt has the team shoot free throws with sprints in the offing for missed free throws.


Outtakes:  The first two things that struck me when I got to see this team in action were that (1) DeWitt has some good numbers with 15 players on the floor on this day (17 players listed on the roster right now) and (2) unlike some of the previous seasons, DeWitt has a nice mixture of size and athleticism as well and it's easy to see that this group, if it can stay healthy, can do some big things this season and another trip to the National Tournament is certainly in reach for this program.  I was especially impressed with lanky sophomore Abby Howe (Blaine) and freshman Shawna Yackel (Champlin Park).........Typically, DeWitt's teams often start a bit slow coming out of the gate but by the first of the year, they've got his system down well and are able to execute it pretty well......DeWitt wasn't able to say who might challenge his squad in the 24-team MCAC but I would expect strong challenges from RCTC and possibly Western Technical College (La Crosse, WI) as well.