The Hours
The SAVI Coaching Podcast covers the latest insights and trends in the game. Join us as we delve deeper into the questions and topics raised by our SAVI members. Whether you're a coach at any level or simply a basketball enthusiast, you'll find valuable discussions and practical advice for your best season yet. Tune in to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving landscape of coaching.Join our free community: skool.com/savicoaching
You Might Not Realize That You Already Lost The Team
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Can you push your players to compete at the highest level while still maintaining psychological safety?
In Part 2 of this deep-dive debate, Coaches Tyler Coston and Mark Cascio break down the exact actionable frameworks you need to balance high-stakes internal competition with a cooperative team culture.
They face off on some of the most controversial topics in modern sports: Are leaderboards actually tox...
Conflict vs Cooperation: Which Actually Wins Championships? (Part 1)
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It's the age old debate: Does internal competition actually breed greatness inside a team, or does it lead to a toxic environment that youth players run from? Decorated coaches Tyler Coston and Mark Cascio debate each other to get to find the best way to lead your team through both competition and cooperation.
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How The Best Coaches Stay Organized
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Notebooks, spreadsheets, stacks of paper, red string on a wall... As coach, planning your practices (or worse, the full season) can feel daunting when you have information spread out between your brain and 16 other mediums. A couple decades into coaching it still felt like that for me, so Savi Coaching teamed up with dev...
Four Words That Changed How I Coach Forever
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The Connector is the coaching archetype that builds the most trust with players and helps them see their potential most clearly. Not a commander barking orders from the bench, someone that looks into the future and works to realize that vision both on the macro and the micro. But Connectors sometimes fall short, tha...
The Difference Between a Great Team and a Great Program
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Theres a massive difference between a great TEAM and a great PROGRAM. When you look at the continued success of certain coaches that go far beyond any particular roster, there's a set of traits that stand out and a way to replicate the formula. That's what we're breaking down in today's episode of The Hours as we dissect The CEO coaching archetype.
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The Thin Line Between Intensity And Toxicity
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Competitive coaching can be infective in two ways: your players can feed off the energy and want to run through a wall for you OR if you take it too far, they can shrink, transfer, or even quit. So how do you find the balance as a competitive coach? That's what we're discussing in this episode of The Hours PLUS how to tell when you're on the...
How the X’s and O’s can cost you games
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Many coaches think they're Guru's. They might not claim the title, but they're the type that's always trying to out-coach the other team. Gadget players, strategic play subs, you know the guy. This type of coach has some SERIOUS strengths, but the mindset can lead to some glaring weaknesses in their TEAM from game to game across an entire season. In this episode of The Hours, Mar...
Why Basketball is the most OVER-COACHED and UNDER-TAUGHT game
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They say the game of Basketball is the most over-coached and under-taught game there is. X's and O's, Drills, and other bandaid approaches get players caught in the minutia without learning real fundamentals or situational awareness. So how can YOU as a coach be better teacher? That's what we're breaking down in today's episode.
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The 5 Types of Coaches — Which One Are You? (Be Honest)
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We all know there are different types of coaches with different strengths and weaknesses, but how do we DEFINE these archetypes? That's what we're talking through today so that you can better know exactly who you are as a coach and lead with your strengths. 🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss an episode of The Hours.
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How The Best Teams Choose Their Shots
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Shot selection is THE MOST important aspect of your basketball team's offense, but it's a nebulous topic. How do you get the clarity you need to be able to teach and coach shot selection effectively to be able to score 10-20 more points per game? We've been teaching the Savi Shot Scale for a decade and have seen massive impact on the programs that have imp...
The Unseen Hours of Coaching
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Most people see the spotlight—the games, the wins, the headlines. But the truth? Great coaching is built in the hours nobody’s watching.
In this episode, we break down the unseen hours—the late nights, the hard conversations, the planning, the reflection, and the intentional work that actually drives results. If you’re a coach who wants to build a stronger program, lead with m...
What coaches can learn from Duke's Loss
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Duke's Mens Basketball team recently melted down after holding a commanding lead through most of the game that would punch their ticket to the Final Four, only to fall short. It's a hard lesson for Duke to learn, but it's one that other coaches can learn from as well: How To Win under pressure, and even better.... how not to lose.
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How the BEST Basketball Coaches use Analytics
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Basketball season has come to an end for most teams, and with that is a mountain of data that typically gets thrown to the wayside as the slate gets cleaned looking into next season. But that's actually a huge mistake. Savi coaches use that data to develop an offseason strategy around fixing problem areas on their tea...
Should You Run Up The Score in Youth Basketball?
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As a youth basketball coach, or a coach of any youth sport, should you run up the score against the other team? It's the age old question of developing a killer mentality in your players versus letting the other team develop a love for the game. This discussion came up between Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson recently and sparked a massive debate online, so we had...
3 Skills EVERY Basketball Player Needs To Succeed
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Like it or not, the game of basketball is moving to a more "positionless" format. You can't just be tall and stand under the rim to be successful in today's game. The good news is there are certain skills that every single player can and should develop in order to elevate themselves at any position. Size doesn't matter, speed doesn't matter... honing these 3 skills will set you up for...
How Good Coaching Unlocks Good Culture | Ft JP Nerbun
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Catch part 1 of this conversation on the Coaching Culture Podcast Ep. 445: https://youtu.be/ZcTzGfBvsXA
When things aren't going right, most coaches ask the wrong question. They jump straight to "is this a culture problem?" without asking whether they've actually taught their players well. In this episode, Tyler and Mark sit down with JP Nerbun (Coaching Culture Podcast) to tackle one of the mos...
How a SAVI Member Won a State Title
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Most offenses don't stall because of bad plays. They stall because players are taking the wrong shots at the wrong times, and nobody has given them a clear standard to fix it.
Jeremy Monroe just won the Idaho 6A Girls State Championship at Eagle High School. His team averaged 62.8 points per game, had three D1-level players on the floor, and finished the sea...
What The Best College Basketball Teams Are Doing
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We pulled up Iowa State vs. Houston on Synergy and broke it down live — no prep, no pre-watch, just two coaches watching film and calling what they see.
What came out of it goes deeper than any one game. We found a clear pattern that shows up at every level: teams spend most of their practice time running actions. But winning games requires somet...
How to Beat Switching Defenses
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Late in the season, most coaches try to fix too many things at once. In this episode, Mark and Tyler break down a simpler, higher-leverage approach: identify your best action, identify the coverage hurting you most, and decide — do you prevent it or punish it?
You'll also learn why coaches revert to the same tools under pressure, how to build offensive vocabulary that actually transfers to games, and how the Hedgehog vs. Fox framework can sharpen your late-season game planning.
Whether you're a...
How to Be A Head Coach
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Whoever has the highest standards in your program should be leading it. If that's not you, that's a problem—and your biggest opportunity for growth.
In this episode, Mark and Tyler break down why standards matter more than schemes at the end of the season, how to identify who's really holding the line on your team, and why you should focus on the middle 80% instead of the bottom 10%. Plus: the Water Test, a story that will change how you think about commitment.
Th...
How to Structure a Better Basketball Practice
Stop overcomplicating your practices. In this episode, we break down a "Four Quarter" basketball practice plan designed to eliminate distractions and build game-ready toughness, pressure defense, and high-volume shooting.
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Most coaches try to fix too many things at once and leave the gym wondering if they actually got better. We discuss how to use "the process of...
How to Teach Decision Making
Why do players struggle to execute in games what they can do in practice? The answer isn't more reps, it's understanding the difference between recognition, decision-making, and execution.
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Tyler sits down with Kyle Koszuta, a former Division I basketball player turned professional pickleball athlete, to break down what he's learned about skill development by going from never playing pickleball to pro in 15 months.
Kyle shares the three-step framework (recognize, decide, execute) that's transforming how he trains, and how it applies directly to bas...
A Simple Tool for a Better Practice
In this episode of The Hours, Tyler and Mark break down one of the most powerful yet underutilized coaching tools. The best coaches don't just demonstrate perfect execution—they show corrections in real-time, create contrast between wrong and right, and let their athletes see the learning process unfold. This builds buy-in, accelerates learning, and creates a culture where mistakes become opportunities.
Chapters
0:00 - Introduction & The Trap Young Coaches Fall Into
0:53 - Welcome to The Hours
2:14 - Show Improvement, Not Perfection
3:53 - Check for Understanding & Give Redos
4:54 - St...
The Best Way to Start Practice
Your filter into practice might be killing your gym before you even blow the whistle.
Most coaches walk in scanning for mistakes. That means your players feel like they're failing before they even start. In this episode, we break down the 6-to-1 encouragement ratio—why it matters, how to implement it, and what changes when you commit to looking for the good first.
This isn't about being soft. It's about being smart with how you coach.
Join the Art of Coaching Challenge (Free): https://www.skool.com/toccoach/aboutSAVI Basketball Newsletter: https://savi.beehiiv.co...How to Get Players to Learn Faster
Coaches talk too much. Players learn too little. This episode fixes that.
In this episode of The Hours, Mark Cassio and Tyler Coston break down one of the most powerful (and misunderstood) teaching tools in coaching: The Plus One Principle.
If you’ve ever:
Overloaded your players with feedbackWatched practice look good but games fall apartFelt like you’re “teaching” but players aren’t improvingThis conversation is for you.
The Plus One Principle is simple: 👉 Teach one thing 👉 Let players apply it 👉 Then — and only then — plus one
We unpack:
Why most...The 10 Levels of Coaching
Welcome to The Hours podcast by SAVI Basketball! In this episode, Tyler and Mark dive deep into the 10 Levels of Coaching, a framework designed to help you identify exactly where you are in your career and what you need to do to reach the next stage. Whether you are just starting out or leading a championship program, understanding these levels will help you decide where you can become the best coach possible.
If you’ve ever felt like you were just "reacting" to problems rather than building a program with intent, this episode is your roadmap to le...
Why We Stopped Running Plays and Started Developing Players
In this episode of The Hours, host Mark Cascio sits down with longtime friend and high school coach Travis Uzee (St. Amant High School, Louisiana) to discuss the evolution of his program. Coach Uzee shares his "coaching superpower"—accountability—and how it serves as the bridge to success on both ends of the floor.
The conversation dives deep into Uzee’s transition from traditional set plays to SAVI’s conceptual offense and the Lock Left defensive system. Discover how shifting focus from "developing plays" to "developing players" has dramatically increased his team’s skill level and shooting confidence...
Inside the SAVI Community: Mailbag Episode
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Welcome back to The Hours Podcast, presented by SAVI Basketball! In this special mailbag episode, Mark and Clare dive into the SAVI member community to answer burning questions about team transformations, defensive troubleshooting, and building program culture on the road.
Whether you're struggling to move from a 4-out to a 5-out offense, or you're wondering how to apply "Lock Left" principles to your existing defensive scheme, this episode is pac...
NBA Film Session: A SAVI Breakdown
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Welcome to an experimental episode of The Hours, where Mark and Tyler try out a "simulcast" live film session, breaking down a recent Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Golden State Warriors game. Join them as they watch the action, discussing high-level conceptual basketball offense, defense, and the nuances of decision-making on the court. Beyond the ball, the duo dives into tangential—and sometimes essential—topics like leadership, aliens, and crypto. Ge...
Start, Bench, Cut: The Practice Planning Gameplan for Immediate Results
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Mark and Tyler from SAVI Basketball dive into the coaching trenches to tackle a common challenge: designing a practice plan that drives immediate, noticeable improvement. Using the fun, high-stakes game of "Start, Bench, Cut," they go back and forth proposing three practice solutions for critical team objectives like improving toughness, creating better spacing, developing ball handling, and increasing finishing/rebounding efficiency. Get rapid-fire ideas, deep-dive strategy, and the simple...
The 7 Principles of a Master Coach: The Art of Coaching
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Join Mark and Tyler of SAVI Basketball as they review Tyler’s highly acclaimed 7-Principle guide for youth coaches, reframing it as The 7 Principles of a Master Coach applicable to coaches of all sports. Inspired by the development of their Art of Coaching course and their partnership with JP Nerbun and TOC Coach, this episode breaks down core philosophies designed to transform your coaching approach from dictated to developm...
Fixing Isolation Offense & Mastering Transition Defense
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Coaches, welcome to a special episode! Instead of our usual format, Mark Cascio and Tyler Coston invite you to sit in on a live consulting call with a few members of the SAVI Basketball community.
We dive into the real, in-the-moment problems coaches face, dissecting film and providing actionable solutions for a team struggling with isolation offense and needing a clear system for transition defense. This episode focuses on the key concepts of Spacing before Adv...
Mailbag Episode (Youth Spacing, Assistant Roles, and Disruptive Defense)
Join Mark and Tyler for a special Mailbag episode of The Hours podcast! Celebrating over 600 members in the Savvy Basketball community, they tackle listener-submitted "smart questions" that show effort and application. This episode dives deep into coaching philosophy, from youth development to high-level defensive strategy, emphasizing principles over prescribed plays and function over form.
Get ready for an in-depth discussion on how to teach modern basketball, why reacting to your opponent means you've already lost, and how to improve shooting effectively mid-season.
💡 Key Points & Timestamps
Youth Coaching: Spacing with Non-Shooters (4:12)Crucial Principle: Spa...The Problem with Coaching Clinics & How We're Solving It
Join Mark Cascio, Claire Murphy, and Tyler as they dissect what's wrong with most traditional coaching clinics and celebrate the success of their first-ever annual SAVI Coaching Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona! They share why their clinic was so impactful, from deep, intentional conversations to a focus on holistic, identity-based coaching over simple X's and O's.
Then, the "Dream Team" breaks down key takeaways from running a youth basketball practice together, offering immediate, high-value action items you can apply to make your practices more effective, engaging, and transformational. Learn how to be "messy" with high standards and why...
The Most Important Coaching Skill
Mark and Tyler from are back to finish the "Building the Best Coach" tournament bracket and decide which attribute is the undisputed champion of coaching excellence! In this jam-packed finale, the hosts complete the first round with debates that pit System Design against High Energy, and Recruiting against Player Roles.
The competition quickly whittles down to the "Core Four" of coaching excellence—a grouping that shifts the conversation from bracket fun to a serious discussion about the foundations of a powerful program culture. Get ready for a controversial upset where Relationships challenge High Standards, and an intense ch...
The Perfect Coach Bracket (Part 1): Practice, Communication, & High Standards
Welcome into The Hours! Mark and Tyler of SAVI Basketball are back with another bracket tournament, this time tackling the monumental task of building the "Perfect Coach." In Part 1 of this two-part special, the hosts kick off the 16-attribute bracket by seeding and debating the most crucial skills and qualities a successful basketball coach must possess, ranging from Practice Design to Communication and High Standards.
Tyler shares an incredible anecdote about their 7th/8th-grade girls' squad's 60-point swing in two months, highlighting the power of SAVI Basketball's process-driven approach over mere outcomes. The discussion emphasizes that skills...
What Coaches Get Wrong (and how to get it right)
Join Tyler in this episode of The Hours Podcast as he sits down with renowned basketball teacher Edward Leblanc! Edward is an innovative mind known for helping players and coaches achieve their full potential, and in this episode, he shares his revolutionary insights on player development, skill acquisition, and what really moves the needle for young athletes.
Edward Leblanc brings a game-changing perspective to the court, challenging the conventional wisdom of chasing constant AAU tournament participation. We dive into the most effective ways young players can spend their time for maximum personal growth. Leblanc argues that time...
Unlearning Defense: 5 Traditional Habits That Kill Conceptual Systems
Welcome back to The Hours Podcast, presented by SAVI Basketball! Hosts Mark and Tyler are fresh off program clinics and dive straight into the trenches of coaching philosophy and defensive installation.
In this must-listen episode, they break down the common barriers coaches face when transitioning to a conceptual system like the Lock Left Defense (which they successfully installed in just 90 minutes!). They tackle the critical challenge of unlearning deeply ingrained defensive habits—from the archaic "choppy feet close-out" to the ineffective "hands up" mantra.
Discover the difference between playing man-to-man and executing a system, why yo...
The Best Basketball Actions
Welcome back to The Hours Podcast, presented by SAVI Basketball! In this special episode, hosts Mark and Tyler ditch the lecture hall for the court as they go head-to-head in an exhilarating
16-Action Bracket challenge. Coming out of the development of their new
RDS Offensive Course (Race & Driving Space), the hosts aim to rank their favorite basketball actions in a single-elimination tournament to find the ultimate #1 action to build an offense around.
They break down the essential components of 16 top actions—from the versatility of
Fan and the direct attack of a...
The Art of a Player-Led Program
In this episode, Mark and Clare flip the script on traditional coaching. They reveal why the "fix-it" mentality is a trap and how the most transformative coaches empower their players to lead. Drawing on their experiences as teachers and coaches, they discuss how to build a program that is truly bigger than any one person. They cover practical strategies like asking better questions, creating a psychologically safe environment, and co-creating your team's culture. Tune in to learn how to move from being the "sage on the stage" to a "guide on the side" and unlock your team's full potential.<...
