How Missouri Built One of the Nation's Most Efficient Offenses with Matt Cline

This is the Transforming Basketball Podcast. This is the podcast helping coaches and practitioners change the way we think about basketball performance. Our goal is to provide the ultimate resource for making sense of applying contemporary skill acquisition ideas within basketball. Within this podcast, we unpack how an ecological dynamics framework impacts our perspective of the game.

If you're ready to join us in our quest to transform the basketball world, This is the podcast for you.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Transforming Basketball Podcast. On today's episode, we have Matt Cline. Matt is an assistant coach at Missouri where he helps lead one of the nation's top offenses. Their offense has finished top 10 in the nation 2 of the last 3 years while earning 2 NCAA tournament appearances.

Matt's got experience with multiple college teams. Matt, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me, George. Excited to be on.

How did you get involved with the CLA and applying it? Obviously, I know at Missouri you help with the offense, you're in charge of the offense. So how did you get involved with the CLA and then start applying some of its principles?

Yeah, that's a good question. I think it goes back to my time at Eastern Michigan when I was an assistant coach, probably in about 2017. I first befriended Chris Oliver, who was at Windsor University, just across the border. And Eastern Michigan's in Ypsilanti.

And we became friends and I was interested in everything he had to do with basketball immersion. He actually, one day he told me he wanted to, he had a guest in town that wanted to come visit practice and it ended up being Alex.

And so Alex came over and watched practice and we befriended each other. And from there, just kind of Yeah. Went. And so I, I remember one summer, probably in summer of 2018, I became frustrated with what we were doing in practice and what I was teaching in practice and our guard breakdown.

I was in charge of the guards. I want to see carryover and the transfer. And so I remember that summer I said, you know what? I'm not going to use one cone or one pad this entire summer and see what happens. We're going to use all live bodies.

I'm going to do, you know, advantage basketball. That's where I started with it. And I said, there's going to be no predetermined outcomes. I'm going to see how it goes. I'm going to try to guide the players instead of telling them what to do.

And that's where it started for me. And then over time, you know, I went to Cleveland State after Eastern Michigan and learning more about the constraints-led approach that skills and performance ultimately emerged through the interaction of environmental tasks and individual constraints and just fascinated with it because I saw the transfer and the carryover.

And I really believe in it. And I think, you know, it's been a large part of our success here at Missouri.

How frustrating was it for you to see the players struggle so much early on?

I think the struggle's there, but I also see, you know, the joy they have on their faces because they, they're not robotic movements anymore and they, they enjoy, you know, it's more game-like and it's more transferable to practice. And even though it may be frustrating at first for them and for me, ultimately when we ended up getting to live play and And everything, you know, they could see the carryover.

Okay. So pivoting now a little bit, let's talk about obviously your experience the last few years at Missouri. And specifically, let's start with Coach Gates. How has his leadership style stood out compared to the others you've worked with?

Yeah, I've been fortunate to work for a lot of great head coaches, but Coach Gates is definitely somebody who's one of the elite basketball coaches in the country. I firmly believe that. I met Coach Gaetz in 2011. I was a graduate assistant at Florida State when he was an assistant coach.

And I think the 3 things that stand out to me about Coach Gaetz, number one, he takes his time to build intentional relationships with each one of his players, meets them off the court, you know, at their turf, doing their hobbies and really spending time with not only the players, but the parents as well.

And he does that with the staff. So just cultivating and nurturing relationships all year long with everybody associated with the program. I think he's the ultimate CEO, probably something that I know he's learned from Coach Hamilton at Florida State, who he worked for for over a decade.

And so what I mean by that is he does it. He hires a great staff and allows them to do their job. He doesn't micromanage, right? And he trusts us. He always says he wants to— we're not here to be status quo. We're not afraid to push the envelope.

You know, if everybody's going one way, we'll go the other way. No problem. As long as there's evidence-based research to go along with it, right? He's not one to just have, you know, opinions thrown out in staff meetings. He wants data and substance behind our suggestions, which I can appreciate and I really enjoy.

You know, so we're, we're definitely innovative in that regard. And I think that's why the CLA has been good for us as a program. And then last one, I think probably most important is his emotional intelligence. And so with the players, he understands that we have to paint each player with a different brush.

We're big on physical touch in our program as far as daps and high fives and hugs and You know, when the guys come into practice every day, we're, we're making sure they feel us with a dap or a hug or a, you know, arm around their shoulder.

And based on how they brace us back, if they're smiling, if they're like, we could tell they're moody, if they're really engaged, then we're going to coach them a certain way that day. And that's something that I feel is unique about a head coach especially, and something that I've really learned a lot from over the 5 years I've been with him.

Yeah.

It's like such a pleasure and a joy to go into work feeling good and people are smiling and laughing. That's how it should be, right? Because, you know, at the end of the day, it's basketball. So you want to have fun while you're doing it.

And I actually, so I found that research paper. It's called Tactical Communication, Cooperation, and Performance: An Ethological Study of the NBA. And that was the research study that we talked about previously about how daps and touches and hugs are correlated To end-of-season success.

I thought it was fascinating because I always mention it, but I never like, oh, I'd never see the research paper live. So I found the research paper there as well. But just talk about a little bit how important that is. Obviously, this is something you guys have prioritized the last, you know, since you've been at Missouri, I imagine, and even before that with Coach Gates.

Yeah.

I mean, one of the things Coach Gates always says, we want to outculture cultures. I mean, we're on our 3rd week of summer here. Our first week, we don't touch a basketball. We get to know our guys on a person-to-person level as opposed to player-to-coach, coach-player, coach-to-coach, whatever it may be level.

I mean, especially nowadays in the transfer portal, we're fortunate to have retained the second most production in the SEC. However, we still have almost half our guys are new. So they're all coming from different backgrounds and different walks of life. And so we want to really humanize everybody and get to know their stories.

And it's a great 48 to 72 hours that we do those activities with one another. You know, a lot of vulnerability is involved in the first week that our guys are on campus. And, but it really expedites the process. And then when we end up do getting on the floor, you know, you could see just the fire amongst one another and they're going a little extra harder for their brother, you know, on the court.

So, you know, that's something that we really pay attention to.

Yeah. That help rotation is there on time.

Everybody's moving a little quicker.

Yeah. So last time we spoke, it was obviously you guys were in the process of where you're not touching a basketball. You're now on the court. How's that going for you? How are the players, you know, how's incorporating your principles of play going?

How's everything right now looking for you?

Yeah, everything's been great. Um, my focus on staff is the offensive side of the ball. We started primarily with defense. However, we do try to combine defense and offense in all our drills. We want to transition. If we're doing a defensive drill, we want to end with an offensive push, for example.

Or if we're doing an offensive drill, we want to end with a defensive transition and stuff like that. So things are going good. Guys are getting accustomed to it. We do a good job of supplementing our on-court with film and individual film throughout the week and group film.

We also have like a— I've put together a booklet of our principles of play. So they have like diagrams and vocabulary and terminology. So. You know, the scaffolding of doing things on the court and extra workouts with our GAs and then being able to see it visually on film and in a booklet.

So sometimes it could be a lot of information, but we try to help them along as easy as possible.

Sounds like midseason, to be fair, like the way you're going about it now.

Yeah. Yeah. No, we try to stay on top of it and we're excited for this week and we got, we're going to continue to progress.

Nice. You've had some great offensive seasons. And really fun offensive team to watch as well. I was watching some highlights just before we got on and like, talk about some of the things that you've done. I know last time you mentioned some of it about removing the rim runner based on the personnel you had.

So can you talk about some of your, how you're playing with more pace and space basically, and how you're having success with your high-flying offense?

So we definitely have an emphasis. So we are 4 pillars of our offense. We say we're analytically driven with pace and space. Structured freedom. And this year we're adding possessions on top of that. So analytically driven, obviously we want to hunt layups and 3s and focus on shooting high-quality shots in that regard.

We have a system for that. And then the next is pace and space. So we take great pride in teaching our guys how to play instead of what plays to run. We don't call a set play unless it's a dead ball where we try to manipulate a particular matchup.

So, you know, we want them never really looking at the sidelines unless it's a dead ball. So the way we do that is We teach structured freedom. So we'll teach them arrival spacing. We're unique, you know, after a made basket, the closest person takes the ball out.

The closest person receives the inbound pass. We work a lot in the full court. We try to steal reps. If we're doing one-on-one play, then it doesn't end when the ball goes through the net. It ends when, if the defensive player gets scored on, that guy's taking the ball at the net and he's outletting it to a teammate and we're ending it.

On the other side of half court, right? So like, we don't want that. They score on us, no problem. We're about to score right back at them, like in the first 6 seconds. So I think when we first came into the league, this, we're going into year 4, it was definitely a totally different style.

I think Alabama kind of plays a little bit similarly to us. So it's a fun style play. The guys love it. We've been top 5 in the country in transition points 2 out of 3 years. We've been top 10 in offense. 2 out of the last 3 years overall efficiency.

So it's been fun and looking forward to continuing it.

So before I get into like what you do at practice to actually, you know, work on that and build those habits, how have you balanced in game? And you obviously yourself, Coach Gates, the rest of the coaching staff, how have you all balanced between if you're having a bad offensive game, right?

So I hate to bring this up, but like last year or this year even versus Drake, offense wasn't going so smooth. So how do you like maybe find balance to slow it down, call a set, or just trust what you've been working on conceptually?

How do you kind of like, you know, find balance with all that?

Yeah, it's a great question. And it's a delicate balance because you want to be yourself, right? And you want to try to impose your will and what you've been doing since June, you know, all the way up until March. But at the same time, recognize the other team's strengths and seeing how they've won the games they did and have gotten to the tournament.

So. We do a great job. It starts with the staff and understanding that it's okay. Like, I'm fortunate to work with great fellow assistant coaches and Coach Gates, where in our huddles during the game, at halftime of games, we collaborate. And it's not just one— just because my job may be offensive coordinator doesn't mean I'm not going to take suggestions because everybody else has great experience too.

And we have a bunch of former head coaches on staff. So I think number one, it's important to not have an ego. And maybe, you know, you're not always the smartest guy in the room. And we have tons of bright coaches and even the players, we listen to the players all the time.

Like, coach is not afraid to give the clipboard to the players during games, ask them what they think before we even have a chance. When we go in the halftime locker room, we want to hear from them first and foremost. We are all about player-led and letting them tell us what they think because they're the ones that have to go out and execute.

So, hey fellas, you tell us what you think is the best way to win this game.

I love it. Player empowerment, so important. And if we go back a little bit to now you're at practice and you guys obviously high tempo, top 10 in transition, top 5 in transition scores, the 2 of the last 3 years. How are you working on that at practice to make sure that you're getting not only shots, but good shots, high quality shots in transition?

We try to, like I said, we try to steal reps. So if we're playing anything, 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3. Again, if we're playing 2-on-2 and offense scores, it doesn't stop there. The defense is working their tails off to get that ball out the net before it hits the ground.

We are clearing the sideline and we are outletting it to our teammate and pushing across half court. You know, we want to get the ball past half court in a matter of seconds. We're big on that. We talk about it all the time.

We chart it with a stopwatch. So similar to what you see with the Pacers, like it's becoming a more analytic stat with the time past half court, getting that ball across. We're big on that. And furthermore, like, you know, we've talked about it.

One of our favorite drills, we're going to do it tomorrow, is 5-on-5, call it 5-on-5 dominoes, but essentially it's 5-on-5 shooter touch the baseline. We do it for 2 minutes. So 2-minute constraint. The constraint is if the ball goes in, you got to get it past half court within 4 seconds.

Not when it goes through the net or not when it hits the ground. It's when the ball goes through the net, the stopwatch starts. If it's a defensive rebound or steal, it's 3-second constraint. And if they don't do it, it's a turnover. And when we start it tomorrow, they're going to be really mad because it's very hard to do.

And so, you know, we're only in that drill, we'll say you can only shoot a layup or a 3, and it's going to be very messy. And we work on our transition principles, and that would take another 5 minutes to talk about all that.

But at the end of the day, it's going to be really messy tomorrow. And that's part of like constraints-led approach is being okay with messy and ugly and understanding that growth occurs when we're uncomfortable and when it is messy. So, but tomorrow when it's going on, we'll look at the guys from the sideline and we'll kind of smirk and we'll say, you know, to us as coaches, like, it's okay.

We're okay with the ball going to the 6th row tomorrow, but because they're going to learn. And those are opportunities when the ball does go out of bounds for the players to do what? Now we want to see if they're going to connect on their huddles, if they're going to go over and dap each other up, or is their body language going to sink?

Are they going to be frustrated and not be able to move on to the next play? And all things we talk about in week 1. So week 1, we cover all those things. And so we better see carryover with it, but understand it's not going to be perfect, and there are teaching opportunities afterwards.

It's a great way for you guys to hold them accountable. If their body language drops, there's no daps, they're going through these hardships, and they're having maybe poor reactions, or it could be better. So it's a great way as well for you to hold them accountable based on the week that you spend without a basketball in week 1.

Yeah. Like, I mean, like we could go in there tomorrow, we could do a 3-on-0, you know, transition push break and it could look really nice and clean and they're making every layup and converting every pass and we're feeling good. And, you know, we could sit on the sidelines and clap and walk away and say, man, we had a great practice today, but did we really?

We made every shot and we like, is that transferable to game? And that's what it's all about. Like, is what we're doing in practice going to transfer to the And we're okay with it being a little chaotic.

Yeah, absolutely. And in terms of encouraging your players to explore and problem solve, obviously you talked about empowering them and we spoke about holding them accountable, but how do you bring their attention back to the intention of the game? You said it's 5-on-5 dominoes, right?

The game. So the intention I would imagine is you want to play with dominoes after every shot, every shot, defensive rebound, we want to play with dominoes. And let's say they're constantly losing dominoes or not getting the ball over half court. How do you stop it and bring their attention to the intention of the game?

Well, one of the things we're fortunate to have this year is, again, we have over half our team are returning players, so they understand the standard with it. So what we do a lot of is, well, they're short bursts, so it'll be like a 2-minute game.

So after that 2-minute game, we'll say, you know, and it was really ugly, and we'll do this tomorrow. We'll say, all right, 30 seconds on the clock. White team huddle, black team huddle, connect, make sure they're all touching and our huddles are nice and tight and clean.

And we say, you guys talk about what you can do better this next round because we're going to play again. So you guys talk about it. And it's amazing what they can come up with. And, you know, you could walk around in 30 seconds, kind of listen to see what they're talking about.

And if you hear something that maybe triggers you to maybe give them a little piece of advice, great. But overall, we kind of let them be. And then after that next round, say, okay, tell us what you guys talked about in your huddle that made it such a better outcome.

Right. So we're constantly asking them and guiding them instead of telling them what to do. Right. So I think that's the biggest part, you know, giving autonomy and player empowerment.

Absolutely. It's, you know, the difference it makes. I don't like, obviously the start of the season is one thing, but then at the end of the season, when the players are going through that really tough game, it's the NCAA tournament. And, you know, missing shots, you've called your 2 timeouts, 3 timeouts, you don't want to burn another one.

How can they figure it out now? Right. And that, and I think that's the key and that's what the great teams do.

Another thing we do is like we'll have halftime with practices. We came up with that a couple of years ago. And so like we'll design practice. We don't do it all the time, but we'll design practice where there's a 5 or 10 minute break in between.

We, coach will literally send them to the locker room and then like we'll have a strength coach in there or something or a manager or whatever, but we don't go in there. And we say, go, it's halftime, y'all go talk, you know, y'all figure it out, see how we can make this practice better, even if it's a good practice, bad practice, because that's what they're going to see in the game.

And if you don't simulate what game day looks like, then you're not covering every stone. So I think that's a cool little thing that we do too.

No, absolutely. And so pivoting now again to the role of constraints, I know, so you talked about if they don't get the ball over half court in 3 seconds, if it's a miss, 4 seconds if it's a make. It's a turnover, automatic turnover.

So that's a great use of a constraint there to really guide the intention of the game. We want to play fast. We want to create dominoes with our speed. What else do you do with constraints to guide the behavior of the players?

Yeah. So in that game, for example, scoring is a big constraint for us, especially to start the year. Obviously, we're an analytically driven program. About over 80% of our shots In all 3 years here, each game, about 80% of our shots come from layup or 3.

And the way we manipulate that through constraints is, okay, fellas, we're going to go 3 points for a layup, 3 points for a 3, and 1 point for a non-rim 2. And we could be, we could alter that to be more drastic. It'd be 5-5-1, whatever it may be, or we're not scoring non-rim 2s today.

So manipulating their shots. Profile through constraints is really important. Offensive rebounding is another one that we've taken a progression with the program. Again, just double points for an offensive rebound. So really training them to go to the glass. Space. And a lot of like our player development, you know, manipulating space is a simple one.

Time, space, you know, those are the task constraints. But then like individual constraints, like different guys can do different things. Our 7'5 freshman can do different things than our 5'11 point guard. You know, so just being aware of that.

And we used to play this game whenever we were getting ready for a team that had a really dominant player, and it was like the golden scorer. So this player's scores or assists would be worth double. And obviously we would add, you know, top locks and, you know, denying him when he was off the ball, more aggressive on his coverages.

But you would like all the 5 guys would focus on him so much more. And it was just such a cool way to, without me having to say anything, They were just so focused on stopping that player and then transfers to the straight, you know, fast forward to the game.

It's the same intention that the players have. So that, you know, is awesome to see.

Yeah. I mean, I think we talk a lot about coverage solutions and we want to build that toolbox in the summer and the fall so that when it comes to the game, they already know all the possible solutions to defensive coverages. And so we're just pulling from that toolbox.

And so constraints, you know, whether it be, again, manipulating the defense, switching, not switching, You mentioned top block, like how they're guarding off-ball, you know, ball screen coverages. Okay. They could do, we're playing 3-on-3. You could only, you're either playing drop or aggressive coverage.

And based on how they're playing, they don't know what they're going to show. And that's what the purpose is. Like, we don't want any predetermined outcomes, but these are the possible outcomes. These are the possible coverages and the solutions. They know the solution.

So let's see how they respond. And if they struggle again, The big thing is you just guide them to the answer. You don't tell them the answer and you let them come up with it and give that player empowerment.

Yeah. I mean, I'm all for player empowerment. It's obviously transformational in its own right. And I think to your point and to what you said about Coach Gates and how he does a great job empowering, you know, players and staff members, I think it's, you want to make these players great basketball players, but great people.

And I, you know, I say this on the podcast all the time, like a broken record, but it's true. You want to make these great people in life, not just basketball players.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. We, we talk about that all the time.

Yeah. And I want to ask you personally, so over the last 3 years, you guys have obviously, you started out extremely hot, you know, had some ups, some downs, had more ups. How have you grown as a coach over that? What have you learned?

What are some things that you maybe in year 1 with Missouri you wouldn't do now and vice versa?

Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, we had a really successful first year here, then we had a very difficult second year and obviously bounced back last year here. So, you know, I think number one, it's being as a staff, like we had the highest of highs and we had the lowest of lows.

And I think the best compliment we had as a staff is like from our student managers when we had a tough year, like after the season, I remember a couple of our managers coming up and saying like, Coach, I don't know how you guys kept it together throughout this year.

Like, you guys were able to, like, you interacted with us in the office like we were having a great year every day. Like, you weren't neglecting us or telling it, like, you were still smiling, still happy, still upbeat, and still treating us with respect and gratitude every single day, even during the toughest of times during the season.

And so that was like the ultimate compliment. And I think like, it's just a reflection of our staff and how well we get along with one another. And so seeing that was really cool. Other ways I think that I've grown, I think watching Coach Gates on a daily basis, you know, I learned from him every day.

I learned the importance of the fun stuff is what we're talking about. Like the tactical and technical things are tons of fun, the practice planning, the game planning, but the nuts and bolts of how to be a successful program are through the intentional relationships, are through the emotional intelligence and how to manage people.

You know, how to manage. There's a lot of distractions nowadays, especially at our level. You know, like a lot of our players have tons of outside influences. So if you're not a great manager of people, then like your coaching ultimately is going to struggle.

So again, I go back to, I think what makes Coach Gates great is just like emotional intelligence with our guys, meeting them at their level every day, seeing how they feel every day, you know, managing and just intentional relationships. I've learned that a bunch over the last few years.

And you spoke about like the personal You know, you keep learning from Coach Gates. How else are you kind of staying, watching basketball? Are you, what are you reading? What are you listening to? Like, you know, how are you learning?

So my like typical routine on a daily basis, I try to work out in the morning with my wife. We'll try to get in 4 to 5 workouts a week in the morning. I like waking up early, go to bed early, try to win the day by winning the morning.

So I'll work out. I like to meditate in the morning. I like to kind of self-reflect. I do enjoy journaling, like getting things off my mind, getting them on paper allows me to kind of get centered. Started that during COVID and it's a habit I've kept up.

So I've really enjoyed that. And then like, you know, anytime I'm not a big music person, like I couldn't tell you the most recent musical artist. I am so off.

But in a way, in a way, like I feel like that would help connect with the players as well, right?

It would. And that's an area I struggle with. Our strength coach is phenomenal with that. He knows all the You know, the artists these days, I don't know one. And they, you know, but it also connects me because they make fun of me.

I, you know, we joke about it and it's fine. So, you know, in the car I'm listening to any podcast, you know, I have a chance to, and then reading. So I'd say like, just, I'm a big believer in if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of others.

And so that's the working out part. That's the making sure your mind is fresh through whatever it may be, meditation or journaling. And I think, you know, making sure you're getting enough sleep is crucial and reading and podcasts is the way I like to do it.

Love it. I love it. Thanks for sharing that. So last question, transformative tip. Matt, if you could leave coaches and all the listeners with one piece of advice that they can start applying instantly to their practice environments, what would that be?

Great question. And I'm going to give a very practical and simple answer. Because we started the podcast talking about this and it worked for me. I think just look at your practice plan, look at the drills. I don't really call them drills because I like, I like the word activities better because drills seems just like we're forming robots or military.

So look at your activities on your practice plan and see if there's a predetermined outcome. If there is, make it so there's not. And oftentimes that's by adding a defender, but challenge yourself to say, okay, This shooting drill, how can we make it so they have to be stimulated and make a decision beforehand?

That would be my number one. Look at your activity, say, is there a predetermined outcome? If there is, how can we tweak it to where there's not? Because the game is full of decisions. Oftentimes the decision is more important than the skill. And so have your training be a reflection of what the game looks like and tons and tons of not predetermined outcomes.

And so from there, I would build on constraints. And the simple constraints of time and space and scoring are simple ways to start. That would be my suggestion.

And the simple constraints are typically some of the best constraints as well, right?

Yeah.

Matt, thank you so much for that. Thanks for your time, for sharing, and just for being vulnerable here on the podcast today. I really appreciate it.

No, thanks for having me, George. Appreciate all you do.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Transforming Basketball Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about the work that we do, head to transformingbball.com to access our free resources and spread these ideas throughout the basketball world. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.

You can also connect with us on Instagram. X, or YouTube with any questions that you have from the episode. See you next time on the Transforming Basketball Podcast.