BLOB Situations--Scouting and defending baseline situations man-to-man can be extremely difficult at times. More and more NCAA teams are utilizing a "diamond" or "1-3-1" alignment to defend BLOB situations. Syracuse and North Carolina both use this alignment when defending BLOB situations and teams usually just throw the ball all the way back into the back court to inbound the ball safely. See More
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This is the last drill we do as a team to work on our team slides and communication. Defense is obviously at a disadvantage so they must have tremendous bounce, effort, and communication. Drill is live and offense tries to score but penetration can only come from the 4 corners of the floor. Block players are stationary and the elbow offensive player goes elbow to elbow. This is a competitive drill and we keep score of both points and offensive rebounds. By putting the defense at a disadvantage by guarding 7 players, we feel guarding 5 will be much easier. See More
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If a shot comes from the corner we are vulnerable on the weak side boards, so we must run our keeper to the weak side boards to help the pusher. Statistically, 7/10 will bounce weak side so we must attack the weak side boards. The clogger must spin and get to the block and box out that area. If a shot is taken from the wing, we form a triangle with our X1 Warrior going to either pinch in the post or go to weak side. We try as much as possible to form a rebounding triangle. See More
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This drill is to simulate the warrior getting screened along the baseline which is a common attack we see vs. our 1-3-1. Coaches pass back and forth and the warrior must fight through continuous baseline screens. We teach fighting low through these screens forcing the offense away from scoring area and if we are late to the corner, it funnels the offense back into our umbrella trap. Drill continues for 20-25 seconds or when a certain number of deflections are met. Teaching point is that X1 should always be in line with the basketball. See More
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This is by far the most important drill in teaching our 1-3-1. This drill incorporates the pushers and keeper working together in a piston like fashion. They must communicate who is big on ball and who is wide off the ball. In this drill, a coach will start with a ball and a pusher is big on the ball. The keeper than can back off and play the passing lane back to the other coach. The weak side pusher splits the difference from the block player and other coach. See More
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The first set of drills we use to breakdown the defense are our "Anticipation Drills." These drills reinforce proper slides, coverages and playing with bounce and energy. Early in the season, we like to make every player go through each of these anticipation drills. See More
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Drill Set-up: Two offensive players 1 and 2 in the slot and wing position and two defenders X1 and X2. Players 4 and 5 can be players, coaches, or managers. On coaches whistle or command "exchange", the offensive players exchange spots and both X1 and X2 open up, jump to the ball and fight thru exchange 1 player removed.After players exchange, coach passes to player in the slot and both defenders assume guarding position. X1 closes out with high hands choppy feet yelling "ball" and X2 sprints to help or deny depending on your defensive philosophy. 1 passes back to player 4 and again exchanges with offensive player on the wing and both defensive players open up, jump to the ball and fight thru exchange 1 player removed. During any point in the drill when the coach has the ball on the wing he/she may pass to the corner and the corner player drives the ball hard to the basket. The low player in the help side "I" meets offensive player outside of the paint and the top side "I" defender helps the helper and takes the hoop. The offensive player or coach passes back out to either offensive player 1 or 2 and then the defense must closeout and play live. X1 an X2 must communicate and scramble accordingly. X2 takes 1st pass out and X1 sprints to help. See More
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Drill Set-up: Split your team into groups of two and line them up on the baseline. A coach will be at the top of the key on the other end of the floor. The drill starts with defensive player handing the offensive player the ball and assuming a legal guarding position. The offensive player establishes triple threat and looks to beat the defensive player 1 on 1 in the alley (lane to sideline). The goal of the defensive player is to get the offense to change directions twice before half court. Once the offensive player reaches half court, he or she will pass to the coach at the top of the key. The defensive must sprint to the level of the ball and communicate "help". The offensive player continues to the wing and uses a V-cut or L-cut to get open on the wing. The coach then will pass the ball to the player on the wing and defense closes out according to your defensive principles. On a catch, the offensive player only has three dribbles and must stay on one side of the floor. When guarding the offensive player and finishing the drill, coaches make sure each shot is challenged and followed by a box-out. You can make this drill competitive and have punitive consequences based upon what your team needs. For example, if you are having difficulty challenging shots than make every shot not contested have a consequence. Find what your team needs and make it a priority in the drill. See More
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Drill Setup: Three defenders X1, X2, and X3 form a line in the paint facing the four offensive players. A coach, player, or manager (5) has a ball along the baseline. The coach passes the ball to any offensive player on the perimeter and the three defensive players communicate and scramble accordingly. Offensive players may pass, cut, screen, and dribble penetrate and try to score. On any pass, the closest player takes the basketball and closes out hands up butt down with choppy steps. The other two players sprint and get to help. Here you see the players positioned correctly in frame 4. We use the following verbal commands to communicate our position. X3 says "ball", X2 says "help" and X1 says "I got 2" referring to guarding both player 1 and 2 on the weak side. On every pass, each player must jump to the ball and communicate accordingly. In frame 6 when the ball is in the slot area, X1 is still playing two and must be in position to take away 2 player cutting to basket and still possible take next pass to player 1. X3 jumps to the ball and is in help. On the slot pass, defender X1 closes out on the ball with high hands and choppy steps. X2 jumps to the ball and communicates help and X3 sprints to the middle of the paint and anticipates either skip to player 4 or pass to wing to player 2. In frame 8 when the ball is passed to the wing area, defender X3 closes out on the ball and X1 jumps to the ball and is in help position. Defender X2 drops to the middle of the paint and is now playing two on the weak side. On baseline penetration, the player farthest from the ball playing two must sprint and stop penetration before it gets to the painted area. The other help side defender X1 must sprint to the hoop and help the helper. On a pass back out defender X1 must sprint to cover the ball and defender X2 and X3 scramble accordingly. See More
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Drill Setup: four offensive players positioned at the point, wings, and low post. Objective is to get the ball inside to the post from either the wing or top of the key. The defensive is working on 3/4 post and communicate backside help. Drill begins with coach passing ball out to one of the three perimeter players and defenders position themselves according to your defensive principles (pack or deny). On a wing pass, defender X5 3/4 denies the post and X1 and X3 jump to the ball and the offense will screen away. X2 pressures the basketball to take away any clean vision into the post. As the top offensive player screens away at the elbow area, X1 jumps to the ball, opens up and yells "backside"to let X5 know he has help. X3 shoots gap ball side and his ready to help on any middle penetration. If the offense can't feed the ball into the post, it is quickly reversed to the other side of the floor and the drill continues. The post defender X5 wants to jam the flash and force post player above the block while X1 pressures the basketball and takes away vision of the passer. In frame 8 an interchange between offensive players 3 and 2 will force X2 and X3 to communicate their roles. As X3 drops she says "backside"which lets the post player know she has backside help. Defender X2 shoots the gap and gets into position to help on any middle drive. If ball is successfully passed into the post, X5 slides behind on the air-time of the pass and stays between the ball and basket. X2 and X3 are ready to dig in post puts ball on the floor. X1 chokes and denies immediate pass back out to player 1. In frame 11 we see baseline penetration from the wing area, X5 must get off and provide help before ball gets to the paint. X3 shoots game and takes away post pass and X2 sinks in the paint looks to take 1st pass back out. The drill can be controlled by the coach and made live at any time by the coach blowing the whistle. Early in the season you may want to see the ball reversed 2-3 times and make sure your players are communicating effectively before making it live. See More
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Play is initiated with a dummy ball screen by the 1 and 5. As the ball screen takes place the 2 player immediately down screens for the 4 player. 1 comes off the ball screen and pitches ahead to the 4. After setting the ball screen, 5 sprints to set a fake down screen for 3 and will receive a "rip" screen from the 2 for a lay-up. See More
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Here is a great baseline out of bounds to utilize against a switching man to man defense. Box Alignment with best shooter at the weak side elbow. 3 comes off staggered screen from 4 and 5 for a potential shot. 2 upscreens for 5 and 4 can slip the last screen if teams switch. See More
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Here is an excellent sideline out of bounds I've seen coach Sherri Coale run over the years. I've added a few of my own wrinkles to it but its a great play with multiple options. Initial set up is a your best shooter at the FT line and best finishing guard around the slot area. Both post players are positioned on the blocks. 3 player times cut and waits for 5 to flash for basketball similar to the blind pig action in the flex offense. The point guard passes to the post player flashing to the elbow and the post immediately looks to hit the 3 man on a backdoor (vs. aggressive defense). If the backdoor is not available, the point guard receives a dribble handoff (DHO) from the post player. After receiving the DHO, the point guard stretches the play out while the 4 man flashes to the block for a potential post pass. The 5 man will then receive a back screen from the shooter for a potential lob pass. 2 shapes up after backscreen and looks for a shot or immediately looks to dribble over and post the mismatch. If the guard cannot get the ball to the post player due to being fronted, then the weakside big flashes to catch and immediately throw a high-low pass into the post. See More
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The play is initiated with the point guard dribble to either wing and the ball side post looks to set a fake block to block screen and sprints to catch at the FT line. On the catch by the 4 man, the 2 takes two low steps and then comes high off of the flex screen. The 5 player looks to seal off the guard and receive pass from the 4 man. If the 5 man cannot seal off the guard then option 2 is for the 4 man to reverse the ball to the opposite wing and then set a pipe screen for the 5. The 2 man clears to the ball side corner to create space for the pipe screen. On the pipe screen, the guard looks for the 4 man sealing the guard on the switch or can pass to the post player at the top for a high low pass to the 4 player. See More
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Point guard dribbles towards right elbow and immediately changes direction and dribbles to left wing. 5 goes off of 4's screen at the FT line while 2 goes off of 3's baseline screen. The false motion of the 5 and 2 creates a "pipe" big/little screen in the middle of the floor. If teams switch the screen, the post reverse pivots and seals the guard and we look to immediately enter the ball into the post. Option 2 is to go hi-low with the 3 throwing the ball high low to the 4. See More
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