When fans enter Stopher Gym or travel with the Colonel Basketball team on a road game, they only see the finished product on the court.What they do not see is the behind-the-scenes work that is vital to preparing for a basketball game: countless hours of film study by the coaching staff, scouting reports, game plans and pregame preparations leading up to tip off.

Film Study
When preparing for a game, the first thing the Colonel coaching staff undertakes is countless hours of film study. According to head basketball coach J.P. Piper, the coaching staff begins watching film for an upcoming game two or three days beforehand.

Piper said assistant coaches Todd Russ and Jeremy Coombs do the majority of the film study.

Before he even analyzes film, Coombs said he refers to the stats because he wants to know who’s scoring and what their tendencies are.

“I want to know who the guy is that’s scoring all the points,” Coombs said. “I want to know who the guy is that’s shooting all the threes, and I want to know who’s getting all the rebounds and getting all the blocks.”

When watching film, both Russ and Coombs focus on individual players and their tendencies.

They break down the opponent’s offensive and defensive sets, and they watch the out of bounds plays, obeying how opponents react to certain types of defense the Colonels might use to defend this play during a game.

After they have finished watching film, the scouting report is compiled and presented to Piper, according to Russ.

“We present the scouting report to coach Piper, (and) let him know what they like to do and who they want to get the ball to,” Russ said. “Then we talk about how we’re going to defend them, but we usually do that the day before the game.”

Junior guard Cyril Djoukeng, a transfer from Chesapeake Community College in Wye Mills, Md., said there is more detail involved in game planning at a Division 1 school than at a community college.

“We scout a lot more,” Djoukeng said. “(We) pay attention to detail as far as knowing exactly what type of sets they run, how they are going to react in different situations and knowing all their strengths and weaknesses.”

Practice
Using information from the scouting reports, Piper spends a part of each practice preparing for the opposition’s offense and defense.

A scout team composed of non-starters runs the opposing team’s offense while the first team guards it in a game-like atmosphere.

Then, the teams switch roles allowing everyone a chance to learn both the offense and defense, preparing all team members for any possible action in the game.

In his short time as a Colonel, freshman guard Adonis Gray said he has learned a great deal of information about offensive and defensive sets.

Game Day
On a game day, the Colonels participate in an hour-long shoot about five and a half hours before game time. During this shoot around, the players walk through how they will defend the opponent and what they plan to execute against the opponent.

“The scout team is out there and the first team stands with them, but they walk-nothing’s live,” Piper said. “We go through everything we expect the opponent to do. Then we go through all of our offense with no defense on us.”

If tip off is set for 7 p.m., Piper and his team meet in the squad room at 6:10 p.m. During this time, Piper talks to his players about a motivational piece of literature or story, and they go over the scouting report again and the opponent’s personnel. Finally, the team prays before taking the court for its warm-up 30 minutes before tip off.

Senior forward Dominique Geason said before a game, the team reflects on what they have to do to earn a victory.

“We sit there and think about our fundamentals that we really need to work on, like boxing out and playing defense and just having confidence in ourselves and going out there and trying to get a victory out there,” Geason said.

During halftime, Piper does more than just make adjustments.

“We remind them to not let their energy level drop, to continue to compete hard (and) to not let the adversity that they encounter during the game deter and defeat them,” Piper said.

Post Game
After a victory, Piper said the team members are proud of what they were able to achieve.

After a loss, he said he and his staff meet to discuss what went wrong in the game before meeting with the team.