Welcome to The Basketball Academy. 🏛️
Here’s what we’re serving up:
🏀 Arete in Basketball ⛰️
🏀 What wins games 🔑
🏀 Must Add Action 🎥
🚨 BONUS - DRILL OF THE WEEK
Listen to the pod 🎧
On this episode of The Basketball Academy, we sit down with University of Utah Women’s Basketball Head Coach Gavin Petersen to talk about his early big wins, the concept of a smart box score, how the game is evolving, and the creative ways they use air horns and cowbells in practice.
LET’S DIVE IN ⬇️
🏀 Arete ⛰️
ARETE IN BASKETBALL: EXCELLENCE IN EVERYTHING
Arete is a Greek word that means excellence in virtue, effort, and performance.
But in basketball, it’s not just about putting up numbers.
It’s how you carry yourself, how you compete, and how you elevate everyone around you.
Here’s what Arete looks like on a team:
🏀 1. Competing with Purpose
Arete isn’t chasing points—it’s chasing the right things: effort, precision, toughness, trust.
It’s diving for a loose ball in a blowout. It’s sprinting back on D when no one’s watching.
🧠 2. Mastery Over Ego
Arete means you play to grow, not just to prove.
You don’t need to be the guy—you need to be a great teammate.
You make the extra pass, take the tough matchup, and do the dirty work—because excellence demands it.
💬 3. Living the Standard Daily
Arete isn’t a sometimes thing—it’s every rep, every drill, every moment.
You show up early. You ask questions. You leave better than you arrived.
🧩 4. Elevating the Whole
True Arete lifts the team.
When every player holds themselves to a higher standard, the culture shifts.
The bench gets louder. The ball moves faster. The trust gets stronger.
ARETE ISN’T FLASHY. IT’S FORMIDABLE.
It’s the foundation of great teams and great players.
It shows up in how you practice, how you play, and how you respond when things get hard.
Not everyone has it.
But everyone can choose it.
🏀 Key Insights on FG% and Wins: 🔑
You can learn a lot about a team just by watching their shot selection. But taking good shots isn’t enough—you still have to make them.
At the end of the day, better shot selection usually leads to a higher field goal percentage. But that only happens if you consistently practice the exact shots you want to take in games. Quality reps turn good looks into made buckets.
Most games are won by the team with the higher FG%
In the NBA, the team with the higher FG% in a game wins approximately 79% of the time.
In NCAA men's basketball games found that teams winning the FG% battle secured victories approximately 81.5% of the time.
(STILL DOING RESEARCH FOR THE WNBA & NCAAW)
🏀 Must Add Action 🎥
Why the Thunder Defense is historic:
Peel Switch
Scrams
Sticking to the Scout
🚨 BONUS - DRILL OF THE WEEK
Half Court Shots
In every level of basketball except men’s college, games are played in four quarters. That means you have four chances each game to hit a half-court shot at the buzzer. That’s potentially 12 extra points—and yes, we’ve seen teams actually cash in on all four.
Make half-court shots a daily part of your practice. You’d be surprised how many your team will start to hit by season’s end.