A Coach's Diary

In season, we work on guarding the ball 1 on 1 everyday.  We do it from different spots, angles and positions.  We switch up between guarding the ball in full court, half-court and in the post.   We mix up between starting from a closeout position, from a girls coming downhill at us, and from a check-ball situation. Over time, our athletes get better both offensively and defensively in 1 on 1 situations this way.  Basketball is a team game with full of individual battles.  Players have to be able to win their 1 on 1 battles for the team to have success. The video above is how we teach 1 on 1.  Active hands and active feet, stay square to your defender to prevent blow-bus,  contest the shoot and rebound. UConn Defensive Keys - Arms length away to provide pressure and to keep the 5 second count going - Low stance and square to his body - force baseline, but don't open up and give free driving lanes to the baske...

This is a good change up to the traditional 3 on 2/2 on 1 transition drill by the Cleveland Cavaliers in their training camp from 2016.

The drill in the video above is a part of our closeout series that we do.  We usually do this leading up tot shell defense.  Our philosophy is to give up no open shots.  To make sure that we can do this, we have to work on flying to our man, closing out with a high inside hand, and chopping our feet as we approach the ball-handler so that she can't blow by us. Here the Cleveland Cavaliers show a couple of parts of their closeout progression in their training camp from 2016.

Everybody loves to sprint on offense, but you have to teach how to sprint back in transition defense and get matched up. 1 - Load to the ball 2 - Inside the line of the ball 3 - Talk and match-up Puts 6 seconds on the clock to get a clean shot and end with a block out.

A great drill to work on legal traps and anticipating the pass as an interceptor, and it works on being strong with the ball and being sure and tough offensively against traps.  It also teaches your players to be more comfortable in a trap, to not panic, and to have a plan for getting out of the trap. Defensively, it teaches those on the ball how to play strong with their hands up so they don't foul in the trap without fouling, how to get deflections, and how to anticipate the next pass as an interceptor. I like how he shows to use the drill in different parts of the court depending on where you are anticipating you want to trap and where you anticipate your opponents will try to trap you.

The video below shows how NBA teams in the playoffs play off of non-shooters to help on the other teams' better players. Trapping Screens :47 - It first shows how players aggressively help on cutters when their man sets a screen.  They often double team off of ball-screens, down screens and any situation where their man is involved in the screen.  Their defender also plays off and helps bump cutters, allowing the other defenders to help, hedge, and trap ball-handlers using screens. Put Your Big On Non-Shooting Wings NBA Teams also switch up their match-ups by putting a rim protecting or great help-side big on a non-shooting perimeter player.  This allows other players to pressure the ball and help with pressure, i.e. traps and hard hedges, while knowing that they have support at the basket.  This can also create mismatches on the other end, as the other team might have trouble finding their man in transition, ending up in cross match-ups. How To Counter One...

Brad Stevens is a rising star in the NBA.  His ability to draw up plays, especially in special situations late in game, are well talked about in coaching circles.  Here is a good video showing the Celtics running a nice 2-3 defense in late game SLOB situations. One way I see to beat this is to flood the backside.  Send a player to the backside block, one to the backside wing, one to the top of the key, and one to the high post.  The middle and backside forward would have to make a decision on who to leave open, and I would think they would leave the back side wing open, giving you a long close out to attack. Thanks to Half Court Hoops for the video breakdown and pdf breakdown:   https://www.dropbox.com/s/jf5n0ospn80...

The following post comes from Bob Starkey at hoopthoughts.blogspot.com .   He is an assistant coach at Texas A&M University. Aggie Defense Part 1 Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at some the thoughts, principles, and guidelines for our defense.  We'll start with some basic concepts (our why ) that guide what and how we do what we do: WE WANT TO TAKE AWAY THE PAINT AT ALL TIMES When the ball gets to the paint it creates easy shot opportunities in the paint When the ball gets to the paint it creates easy perimeter shots When the ball gets to the paint it creates help and recover situations When the ball gets to the paint it creates closeout situations When the ball gets to the paint it creates fouling situations ...taking away the paint starts with transition defense ... stance, head, eyes and footwork are critically important … team defense — having the ability to help early — is a necessity WE WANT A HAND ON THE BALL...