1. sports
2. basketball

Priority Man to Man Defense- Kevin O’Neill
Defensive Objectives
1. Cover the ball with more than one person
2. Force contested shots
3. Not allow offensive rebounds for second shots
Players are in 1 of 3 positions on the floor
1. On the help line with your head turning and your rear end to the baseline
2. Covering the man with the ball
3. Denying one pass away to the 3 point line
Responsibilities
1. Cover the man with the ball, deny one pass away to the 15 foot area and help line
2. Do not deny non-penetrating passes
3. The 15 ft. area
• From the foul line down and 15 ft extended from the basket
• 75% of all action occurs within this area- turnovers, shots, passes, rebounds,
charges and dribbles
• If as a team we can control the 15 ft. area, we give ourselves a fighting chance
to win or at least being in the game to the end
• Try to keep the ball out of this area as much as possible by covering the ball
4. Cover the ball with more than one man- use all 5 men
5. After they cover the ball, they now have responsibility to the own man
6. If their man gets the ball they must cover (pressure) the ball and the other 4 men
will also aid in covering the ball
7. The man covering the ball must know that he has help. Do this by talking.
Stance
1. Keep the ball in front of you and do not let people go by you.
2. Closeout to an arms length from any live dribble
3. Toes squared up against your opponents toes
4. Shoulders square to his shoulders
5. Hips low
6. Do not worry about forcing the ball to the baseline or ball reversal
7. Keep the ball out of the 15 ft. area
8. Do not deny any non-penetrating passes
9. Closeout with high hands and then break down to a defensive stance
Transition Defense
1. The 2 guards always go back on defense
2. The 3 forwards always go for the offensive rebound
3. The 2 guards get in tandem and must talk
4. The top guard picks up the ball and tries to force the ball out of the lane line
extended
5. The back guard is responsible for basket protection
6. The 3 forwards sprint back down the floor in the lane line extended and then fan
out once the basket is protected. Their responsibility is to sprint back and give us
an advantage on defense.
7. You must be a good transition rebounding team.
Pick up point
1. Do not overextend and pick up too far away from the basket if your players
cannot do this.
2. Do not press unless your players have the defensive capability to do this.
Closeouts
1. You must know if you are closing out a good shooter or a bad shooter.
2. If he is a good shooter, close out hard to take away the shot and force him to
dribble. Fly bye if necessary. People will say you cannot go by your man
because you cannot box him out. If he makes the shot, what good is a box out?
3. If he is a poor shooter, recover low and short with high hands to take away the
inside pass. Your focus on your man is to be prepared for the dribble and let him
shoot.
4. If your man can do both, you will probably lose anyway.
5. If you fly by, get back into the play and pick up the open man.
Drills
1 on 1 Closeout
• 2 offensive and 2 defensive players
• The player on the wing with the ball drives baseline and the wing defender plays
soft defense
• The defender on the help line moves over to stop dribble penetration into the lane
and then must closeout to the opposite wing (top or corner) and play 1 on 1
3 on 3 closeouts
• The coach passes the ball out to one of the three offensive players from
underneath the basket
• The defenders cannot closeout to the man directly in front of them. They must
rotate and talk and pick up the man closest to them but not directly in front of
them.
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One of the defenders closeout on the ball and the other defenders get into early
help position
On the pass, the defender closes out and the other defenders get into early help
position
4 passes then play live
Stress
o You cannot play defense if you are facing the baseline
o Get your rear end to the baseline and use a constant head swivel
o Talking/ communicating
Variations
o 2 perimeter (same side) and a post
o 2 perimeter (opposite sides) and a post
o 2 posts (high and low) and a perimeter- guard the post how ever you
would like
 Double team with other forward
 Dig and dive with guard
 Do not allow return pass to the guard
Contesting Shots
1. Need to chart the number of contested shots vs. the number of uncontested shots
2. Get the shooter out of shot motion- this is not just raising your hand up at him.
The ball must be contested on the way up. Once the ball has reached top of head
height, any disruption of the shooting motion is useless.
3. Never give up on contesting the shot even if you cannot change his motion. Try
to get a hand up onto the ball to disrupt his release. Any type of pressure will
affect a not so great shooter.
Post Defense
1. Make post players like regular players.
2. Beat your offensive player down the floor to give help then hit your man with an
arm bar to push him further away from the basket making him a regular player.
3. Do not get body contact after he receives the ball.
4. Gap him and make him turn to face you. Keep both of your hands high.
5. Do you front or play behind? It depends on what your defender can do. He may
stay behind, 3/4 front top or bottom by going behind or ball side
6. If a post tries to back you down, release any body contact and front him.
7. Any time a guard posts up, front him.
8. Deny with an arm and a leg in the passing lane.
9. Teaching points
• Stay foot free
• Do not maintain full body contact. Use an arm bar to control him.
• Hand and foot in the passing lane
Screens on the ball
1. This is a hard thing to cover
2. If the screen is above the 3-point line- go behind all those screens to stop ball
penetration. The man guarding the screener gets off and big to prevent ball
penetration if the defender being screened gets hung up on the screen. Call out
the screen.
3. If the screen is below the 3-point line- call out the screen.
• If the ball handler is not a good shooter go behind.
• Call it, Touch it, Show it- The defender of the screener calls the screen,
touches the hip of the defender setting the screen and shows his numbers to
the ball to force the ball handler wide and allow the ball defender to come
over the top of the screener. The defender of the screener now gets near his
man and in front of the ball to protect any basket penetration. The weak side
defenders also help if the screener rolls to the basket.
• Half Double- Same as above but both defenders double the ball to force the
ball out higher and then the defender of the screener releases to his man.
• Full Double – Both defenders double the ball and do not leave him until he
passes the ball. The other defenders are now in a scramble situation.
4 and 5 Man Shell Drills
1. Do 4-man shell every day covering 3 things
• Dribble penetration
• Pass across and down screen
• Ball screens
2. Pick out what your opponents do well and practice defending it
3. Dribble Handoff screen on the ball
• 3 perimeters and 1 forward doing the screening
• Switch on all dribble handoffs
Play in scrambles- 70% of all games are played in a scramble situation
Drill 5 on 4 Scrambles
• Practice 5 on 4 with the 5th man at half court ready to go to the other end
• On dribble penetration, the guy closest to the ball picks up
• The man that was beat gets into the lane and helps
• Protect the 15 ft. area
• Do not allow splits to occur
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As soon as the first shot goes up, the player at half court takes off looking for a
lay-up
The 2 offensive guards must get back to prevent an uncontested lay-up
The defense must secure the rebound to play offense at the other end of the floor
If the offense scores or retains possession with a rebound, they keep playing
offense
Then switch the situation at the other end of the floor
Keep score on whatever you want
This drill can be run 5 on 3 with 2 players at half court
Drill- Switch and Change
• 5 on 5 drill
• Switch call means that offense switches to defense on the whistle and you cannot
guard the man that was guarding you
• Change call means that the offense changes ends and is now playing defense
• Keep score
Blocking out
Every player can do but we do not force them to do enough
The weak side block out is the hardest and the one you need to work on the most.
• Natural reaction of the defender is to turn and go after his man
• What is his man doing? He is going to the basket and will fly by his defender
because his momentum will carry him past the defender
• Technique- return to the lane line and wait for the offensive player and arm bar
him at a 90 degree angle then turn to get the rebound
• The point guard should be your second best rebounder and can get to the weak
side to help with this rebound and help on other rebounds
• The point guard should also double team any rebound by a post player
Five defensive tips
1. Diving out of bounds to save a ball may not be a good thing
2. If you are going to save the ball, save it to the corner
3. Dive on loose balls with your chin
4. Never dribble a loose ball and play with 2 hands
5. Always pursue the ball with numbers