In partnership with
Follow the Hoop Heads Podcast on:
Turning basketball analytics into fundraising impact. Every stat tells a story — and now, every story drives sponsorship, engagement, and team growth.
This Week’s Hoop Heads Podcast Episodes
MIKE WILLIAMS – GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH, D2 2025 & 2026 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS – EPISODE 1247
Mike Williams is the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Grand Valley State University where he just led the Lakers to back to back D2 National Championships in 2025 and 2026. In his 11 years at the helm of the Laker program, he has amassed a 314-50 (.863) overall record and a 188-28 (.870) record in the GLIAC. He has led the Lakers to six GLIAC regular season titles, four GLIAC Tournament titles, four Midwest Regional titles, and two National Championships.
CAVS, PISTONS, & SIXERS WIN GAME 7’S PLUS CONFERENCE SEMI PREVIEWS – EPISODE 1248
On this episode Mike and Jason discuss the Cavs winning Game 7 against Toronto behind a huge 3rd quarter from Jarrett Allen. They also break down the Pistons beating the cold shooting Magic to come back from 3-1 down and the Sixers winning Game 7 in Boston to do the same. Next they turn their attention to the 4 Conference Semi-finals and look ahead to the matchups before making predictions for each series.
SHERRY LEVIN – AUTHOR OF THE BOOK “PRE-GAME: A WINNING MINDSET” – EPISODE 1249
Sherry Levin is the author of the new book “Pre-Game: A Winning Mindset”. Sherry is a trailblazer in the world of sports and leadership. From being the all-time leading scorer at Holy Cross College to becoming an internationally recognized basketball coach, Sherry’s career reflects her passion for resilience, teamwork, and positivity. Sherry has been inducted into four Hall of Fames (Holy Cross, Newton North High School, New England Basketball, and Jewish Heritage Athletic). Her coaching record is 420-97. She has won 82% of her games and has earned multiple New England Championships.
The ops hire that onboards in 30 seconds.
Viktor is an AI coworker that lives in Slack, right where your team already works.
Message Viktor like a teammate: "pull last quarter's revenue by channel," or "build a dashboard for our board meeting."
Viktor connects to your tools, does the work, and delivers the actual report, spreadsheet, or dashboard. Not a summary. The real thing.
There’s no new software to adopt and no one to train.
Most teams start with one task. Within a week, Viktor is handling half of their ops.
This Week’s Coaching Articles
This article argues that great offense is built through “high-quality interactions,” where every action is designed to create, transfer, or multiply advantages against the defense rather than simply running through motions. It emphasizes the importance of game-like practice environments using small-sided games instead of drills against cones or air, helping players develop decision-making, spacing, closeout attacks, transition habits, and real-time reads. The author also stresses the importance of the “WIN” mindset (“What’s Important Now?”), encouraging players to stay present, recover quickly from mistakes, and focus on making the next positive play.
This article emphasizes the fact that drills should exist to solve specific performance problems, not simply to accumulate repetitions, and criticizes the “brute force development” approach common in private basketball training. The author explains that while representative, game-like practice is important, isolated drills still have value when they directly target an individual player’s weakness with purposeful feedback and correction, illustrated through examples of NBA trainers failing to correct obvious technical flaws during workouts. Meaningful skill development comes from identifying specific limitations, applying intentional coaching cues or constraints, and ensuring repetitions build productive habits rather than reinforcing mistakes.
This article explains that successful basketball programs are built by valuing every player on the roster, not just the stars, and emphasizes creating a culture where each player understands and embraces their role. It outlines strategies for coaching star players through accountability, leadership, and team-first thinking while also developing bench players through clear roles, meaningful practice reps, competitive environments, and honest communication about improvement and playing time. Strong team chemistry, player development, and championship culture come from consistent standards, intentional relationship-building, and making every player from the leading scorer to the 12th man feel valued and connected to the team’s success.
This Week’s NBA Articles
This article ranks the NBA teams most desperate for lottery luck in the loaded 2026 NBA Draft, arguing that several franchises view this draft as a franchise-altering opportunity before potential lottery reform changes the tanking landscape. Teams like the Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, and Golden State Warriors top the list because of aging cores, uncertain futures, lack of young talent, or pressure to keep superstar windows alive, while organizations like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Charlotte Hornets are viewed as relatively stable and less dependent on lottery fortune. The article mixes humor and analysis to highlight how injuries, failed roster construction, superstar drama, and years of losing have left certain franchises desperately needing a transformative young star to reset their direction and re-energize their fan bases.
This article highlights the defining plays, performances, milestones, and cultural moments that shaped the career of LeBron James from teenage phenom to global basketball icon. The piece revisits legendary moments such as “The Decision,” the 2016 championship comeback with “The Block” against the Golden State Warriors, becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, winning titles with three franchises, and playing alongside his son Bronny James. The article frames LeBron’s career as unprecedented not only because of his longevity, records, and championships, but because of his sustained dominance, cultural influence, and ability to remain central to the NBA conversation deep into his 23rd season.
This article criticizes James Harden for another poor postseason performance, highlighting his struggles in the Cavaliers’ Game 2 loss to the Pistons and arguing that his playoff inconsistencies continue to define his legacy. It points to alarming statistics, including four straight games with one or fewer made three-pointers, more turnovers than field goals in the series, and a second half in Game 2 where he scored only two points, as evidence that Harden has struggled to perform efficiently under playoff pressure. The article also notes that Harden tied Bob Cousy for the most playoff games in the shot-clock era shooting 25% or worse on at least 10 attempts, reinforcing the narrative that his postseason performances often fall short compared to his regular-season production.
This Week’s College Basketball Articles
This article argues that expanding March Madness from 68 to 76 teams is a money-driven mistake that weakens the tournament’s quality, complicates the bracket, and rewards mediocre power-conference teams at the expense of deserving mid-major and low-major programs. The author contends that additional play-in games will further marginalize Cinderella stories by forcing more small-conference automatic qualifiers into opening-round matchups, making historic upset runs even less likely. More broadly, the article criticizes modern college athletics for prioritizing revenue, television contracts, payroll growth, and commercialization over fans, tradition, and competitive integrity, portraying tournament expansion as another example of unchecked greed in college sports.
This article argues that roster retention still matters in college basketball, but not in the same way it once did, as talent acquisition through the transfer portal has become more important than simply “running it back.” Using recent data, the author shows that highly talented rosters can now succeed with much lower continuity highlighted by Michigan Wolverines men's basketball winning the 2026 national title with only 34% of minutes coming from returning players, but also notes that most championship contenders and No. 1 seeds still tend to have above-average retention compared to the rest of the sport. The modern formula for elite teams is not retaining everyone, but retaining the “right guys” while pairing continuity with high-end talent acquisition, with programs like the Florida Gators, Illinois Fighting Illini, Michigan State Spartans, and Virginia Cavaliers positioned as examples entering next season.
This article explains that the 2026 Players Era Tournament is expanding into a 24-team event featuring two separate brackets in Las Vegas, while continuing to reshape college basketball through massive NIL payouts and high-profile media exposure on ESPN. The field includes major programs like the Michigan Wolverines, Florida Gators, Kansas Jayhawks, Houston Cougars, and Gonzaga Bulldogs, with participating schools averaging more than $1 million in compensation and some programs receiving even larger payouts. Beyond the event itself, the piece highlights how the tournament’s financial power and conference partnerships, especially with the Big 12, are transforming nonconference scheduling and putting pressure on traditional early-season events like the Maui Invitational and Battle 4 Atlantis.
This Week’s YouTube Coaching Videos
This video breaks down the concept of dominoes. Basketball offense is not about running plays. It’s about converting advantages and using them to find great shots.
This video breaks down Unforgiving Hoops’ favorite sets from the First Round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs!
This video breaks down the Lakers’ aggressive game plan against SGA, trapping him in the post, in ball screens, even at half court, and how it completely changed the way he had to play. But more importantly… the video breaks down why it didn’t matter.
Forwarded this email? Sign up here
