Pressure/switching man to man defense.

Coming the 1989-90 season after two 20-0 seasons, which we believe we could have accomplished with any kind of defense, we felt unprepared.

First, became we were getting off to a very late start because of our football playoffs, mad, second, because we had lost some of our size.

We did not do well in our scrimmages with other teams. They were finding it easy to screen us and get a lot of open shots.

In the first two periods of our final scrimmage, we found the offense still exploiting us and I called a time-out. I told the players that although we had never worked on it, I wanted them to begin switching on every screen.

We held our own for the rest of the scrimmage and went home to analyze what had happened.

I decided that switching on everything would ha our mantra that season. We put together some thoughts and went to work in practice. We played man defense on every possession that year and switched on all screens. We finished 17-2, just a couple of heartbeats away from another undefeated season. I could count on one hand the number of times that an offense could exploit a size mismatch due to our switching.

The pressure, switching man-to-man became our mainstay defense for the next nine seasons, with our teams compiling a 150-49 record. When I moved up to head coach in 1999-2000, we took an 11-10 team to a 24-3 state runner-up finish without a player over 6'2"!

Over the 11 seasons that the pressure, switching defense was our main defense, I learned to appreciate many of its benefits.

1. Helps overcome a lack of height.

2. Takes away opponents' most effective opportunities off their screens.

3. Helps overcome any scouting shortfalls, since we are switching on everything. The screens we haven't seen aren't going to cause us a problem.

4. Reduces practice time needed.

5. Eliminates indecision. We are not telling the players to switch on certain screens and not on others.

6. Since it is different, the opponents must prepare especially for us.

7. Gets more players into the game, as the effort and focus expended by the players tire them out.

8. Players love the system,

In developing this defensive system, we tried to figure what the offense would do to take those things away from us.

For example, the man with the ball would like to be in a comfort zone, with room and time to determine what to do. The offense would like to have the ball in the middle of the floor, or at the high or low post. We'd like to take those things away.

Rules that govern the defense

1. Keep the ball out of the middle of the floor.

2. Allow no inside drives.

3. Seal off the inside.

4. Allow no second shots.

5. Allow no layups,

6. Communicate constantly.

To teach these defensive concepts, we divide the floor into two areas-the control area and the pressure area (Diag. 1).

[DIAG. 1 OMMITTED]

In the control area, the defender does whatever is necessary to keep the ball from being driven down the middle of our defense. The quicker the defender is, the tighter he can play the ball.

It is preferable to influence the ball out of the middle as it is dribbled into position. The drive down the middle from the point is the most dangerous situation to the defense. This threat must be minimized.

In the pressure area of the floor, we want our defender to exert aggressive pressure on the player with the ball. We don't want the player with the ball to be in a comfort zone or to be able to take his time and be able to make easy passes. We want the player to put the ball on the floor (always to the baseline side).

The quicker the player with the ball starts the dribble, and the faster he goes with the dribble the less likely he is to make good decisions.

We used to deny the wing pass, but we now prefer the ball to be there than in the middle of the floor. We will deny out to the 3-point line and let the offense catch it outside.

Once the ball is at the wing, we have our hall side and help-side established and would like to keep the ball there and not allow the offense to reverse.

Anytime the ball is at the wing (or anyplace else in the high pressure area), we want to put hard pressure on the ball with active, high hands. We want to force the player with the ball to put it on the floor, but we want the defender to shade to the high side of the hall, as we do not want it to be dribbled to the middle (Diag. 2).

[DIAG. 2 OMMITTED]

If the ball goes on into the corner, our defender will play even higher on the ball, as we want to encourage the baseline drive, forcing a dribble into an area in which the defender has good help and the offense has limited options once help arrives (Diag. 3).

[DIAG. 3 OMMITTED]

Defending the post

Our desire to keep the ball out of the post is such that we front every ball-side low post. We really don't care how the defender gets around the post into a fronting position (although we teach the two-step method for getting in front) and we really don't care whether the defender has his back to the post or goes chest to chest.

The two key points for the defender fronting the post are: (1) be able to see the ball, and (2) do not allow separation to occur between the defender's body and the post player.

To be consistently successful in keeping the ball out of the low post, it takes the focused effort of three defenders-the defender fronting the low post, the defender on the ball, and the help-side defender. If any of the three break down in their assignment, the offense will most likely have an easy lay up. The defender on the ball must maintain the proper pressure to make it difficult to pass the ball into the post.

The defender on the post must main tain contact with the post, even if he releases to the basket.

The help-side defender must be in proper position and anticipate the lob pass and help take it away if it comes.

Unless there are extenuating circumstances, we do not front the high post, but we do play half-a-man to the ball-side. It is much easier for the offense to get a successful lob pass to a high post than it is to a low post.

The ball pressure makes this defense tough, but it is the help-side play that will make it successful. We want the offense to be driving aggressively (remember: always to the baseline side, never back to the middle) and that means we need defenders who are in proper position, am an anticipating the drive, and are willing to work diligently to get into proper position to take a charge.

To help us attain effective help-side defense, we work on several drills every day.

Rotation drills

Four key drills help players learn the footwork, communication, and rotation necessary to make this defense successful. Two coaching points must be emphasized at all times.

Important coaching point 1: In all of our drills, we ask the offensive players to help us become better defenders whenever they are carrying out their offensive duties.

For example, our players know that our defense wants to pressure the ball-handler to drive to the baseline side of the defender, never hack toward the middle. Thus, when on offense, our players are expected to try hard to get a middle drive every once in a while in order to keep the defender focused on the assignment and footwork needed to be successful.

Important coaching point 2: When help is provided on the dribbler by a defensive teammate, the defender guarding the dribbler must do two things: first, he must force the dribbler into the help so there is no gap between defenders that the dribbler can exploit and, second, he must then rotate on to the open man.

Ball in corner with or without a post (Diag. 4)

[DIAG. 4 OMMITTED]

From this position, defender #] wants to play aggressively on the high side of the player with the ball. High pressure and active hands are necessary to force the offense to put the ball on the floor and drive to the baseline side.

Defender #l helps all teammates by talking as the offensive player starts the dribble. We want him to yell, "Help!" if he is going to need help in cutting off the dribble. This is most likely going to happen since Defender #1 is playing on the high side of the dribbler in order to deny the reversal out of the corner.

As soon as helpside Defender #2 starts out to stop the dribble, Defender #3 must rotate down into a position to take away the crosslane pass (or the flash by offensive player #2). We do not rotate if Defender #1 can stop the dribbler on his own. In that case, he is hollering, "I got him! I got him!"

Ball at wing (Diag. 5)

[DIAG. 5 OMMITTED]

Wing Defender #1 is playing enough on the high side to discourage the inside drive. But he does not play quite as high as when the ball is in the corner. Again, pressure and high hands are necessary to keep the player with the ball from having a lot of time to determine the best play to make.

We want to encourage the dribble as we know exactly where the ball will go and the entire defense is ready to help stop it. The ideal situation is: Defender #1 cutting the dribbler off on the baseline about six to eight feet from the basket. If he feels that is going to be accomplished, he will holler, "I got him! I got him!" to let his teammates know that they do not have to rotate.

If he feels he doesn't have the leverage to stop the dribbler alone, he must yell, "Help!" This is the audible signal for the helpside player to rotate.

Ball at point (Diag. 6)

[DIAG. 6 OMMITTED]

A drive down the lane from the point puts a lot of pressure on the defense. This kind of penetration can cause a breakdown in the defense and result in easy baskets, unless the defenders are well trained in how to react.

The best remedy is to not let penetration from the point happen. The defender guarding the ball is trained to force the ball to one side or the other as the dribble crosses half court. If we can accomplish this, we have established the ballside and helpside of our defense and then can work to keep the ball off the point.

If, however, the ball does get into the center of the floor near the top of the key, the defender is taught to do whatever it takes to keep the ball-handler from driving down the middle. He may lay off the ball if he is not quick enough to pressure and yet keep from getting beaten by the dribble (Remember, this is the control area of the floor).

If the ball does get by the defender, we want early help to stop tee drive. If the post defender(D.sub.2) helps on the ball, Defender #1 must force him into the help, and then rotate to the open man. This rotation will vary depending on where the other offensive players are positioned, but one thing remains constant: We will not help from the ballside wing, as it is far too easy to kick the ball to that player for an easy jump shot.

Progressive 4-on-r shell drill (diag. 7

[DIAG. 7 OMMITTED]

A favorite of many basketball coaches. In order to make it most effective in teaching our pressure, switching defense, we teach it in a progressive manner. Once the defense is established, we tend to use the live version of the drill on a daily basis. We will, however, revert to specific progressions of the drill as the need arises throughout the season.

1. Positioning. In the stage, the four offensive players stay in one place and the defenders move quickly to the proper position, depending on the location of the ball Early on, the offensive players will only pass the ball when the coach yells, "Pass," in order for the coach to be able to control the tempo of

2. Jump to the ball. In this stage, the drill is pass and cut, with no dribbling. Each time an offensive player passes the ball, he executes a basket cut, trying to get between his defender and the ball. This action helps file defenders learn to "jump to the ball" oil the pass and then actively deny the basket cut by their man.

3. Boxing out. In this phase, the offense passes the ball actively until one of them has the opportunity to school. When he does shoot, the defense must all yell "Shot!" loudly and get into a proper box out position on the offensive players, who are crashing the boards once the shot is taken.

4. Help on the drive and rotate. In this phase, each time an offensive player receives the ball, he must dribble drive until he is stopped, and then pass the ball. We know that each drive will be to file baseline side (or our defender has violated cardinal rule #2) and all the concepts from our rotation drills explained above come into play.

5. Switching. In this phase, once an offensive player passes the ball, he must go screen (either for the ball or away from the ball) or interchange with another player. We do not allow drilling in this phase of the drill (except when a screen is set for the ball) as we are watching for proper switches, and good communication on the part of the defensive players.

6. Live. When we feel that the basics have been mastered, we will have the players go through the 4-on-4 drill in a live mode-everything goes once the ball is in play. We will monitor all the skills we are looking for and remediate as necessary.

Going live in a 4-on-4 set is especially effective as if spreads everyone out providing more room for the offense to operate and stressing good positioning, footwork, and action from the defense. It also makes it more difficult for the defenders, as there is no post defender to help.

Summary

This defense must be played aggressively to be successful. It is not a defense that is based on reactions; it is proactive. It dictates to the offense what they are going to be allowed to do The switches oil screens call never be slow or soft. We constantly refer to "hard" switches, especially on screens for the ball. We want the defender switching onto the bail to force the man to extinguish his dribble, to pick the ball up.

The defense has proven very successful for us, even in years where we have had true bit men. It is a learn defense that is predicated upon the proposition that we are never going to have to stop a player one on one.

BY AL SUMMERS Former Head Basketball Coach St. Henry (OH) High School