Coach Joni Taylor enters her first year as the head coach of the Georgia Lady Bulldogs this year. After 13 years of being an assistant coach at the Division I level, and the last four as an assistant at UGA, Taylor takes over one of the premier programs nationally. Heading into the second weekend of December, the Lady Bulldogs are 9-1. Here is a peek into what Taylor is doing with the Lady Bulldog program this year.
By: @JLHemingwayPSB
Coach Taylor with her team at an October practice.
Myself and Keil Moore had a chance to sit in on a preseason practice in October. A few observations:
- The entire Lady Dawg staff was engaged in practice. Each assistant had a specific responsibility or segment on the practice plan.
- Taylor challenges and engages her players to perform at higher levels consistently.
- Taylor is not afraid to change to fit her personnel needs.
Keil had this to share about his experience at the Georgia practice, “It is exciting to see first year head coach Joni Taylor put her mark on one of women’s basketball most historic program.”
Here are couple things we took from the UGA practice to share:
Defensive Drills
Final 4 Banners in the UGA Practice Facility.
The Lady Bulldogs spent a large portion of practice working on defense and defensive technique. Many of the drills the worked on were breakdown drills, either without a ball or 2 on 2 situations. Take a look at the drills below:
SHOOTING DRILLS
Much like most coaches early in the season, Taylor made sure her players got up plenty of shots at game speeds. Here is a shooting drill that coach Taylor implemented with all of her players.
Offense
Coach Taylor expressed to us the need to change up their offense this year. We got a first hand look at their new philosophy this year, which fits their personnel very well.
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Taylor mentioned that took ideas from coach Beilein at Michigan, which puts the post player at the free throw line and opens up the lane. Take a look at a few of the options.
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Jonathan Hemingway is the Assistant Director of Scouting for the JumpOffPlus.com International Scouting Report, is on the Naismith Trophy Board of Selectors and owns CoachHemi.com, the go-to source for coaches for X’s and O’s. He is the floor director of #TeamEBA camps, a site director for #TeamPSB tournaments and can be reached at jonathanhemingway@peachstatebasketball.com.
