Man to Man Defense

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Summary

Man to Man Defense is one of the most popular defenses used by the most successful coaches in the world. Here is a sample of one of the man to man defenses we have used throughout the years at the youth and high school levels.

Instructions

Ball on the Top of the Key & Player in the Low Post:

Player 1 is guarding the ball. He or she should be approximately 3 feet or one arm's length away from the defender.
Player 2 is guarding Offensive Player 2. He or she is one pass away and should be approximately 1/3 of the way up an imaginary line drawn from Player 1 to Player 2.
Player 3 is guarding Offensive Player 3. He or she should be in the same position as Player 2, but on the opposite side.
Player 4 is guarding Offensive Player 4. He or she is two passes away. If you were to draw a line from Offensive Player 1 to Player 4 to Offensive Player 4 back to Offensive Player 1. It should form a shallow triangle.
Player 5 is guarding Defensive Player 5. Player 5 should be denying the entry pass into Offensive Player 5.

Ball on the Top of the Key & Player in the High Post:
When the offensive player is in the high post, Player 5 should be on the player's hip, to disallow an easy entry pass, but in good position if they were to lob the ball towards the hoop so he or she could recover.

Ball on the Wing & Post Player on the Opposite Block of the Ball:
Player 1 and Player 4 are one pass away. They should be ready to help with dribble penetration, if needed.

Ball on the Wing & Post Player on the Block on the Side of the Ball:
Player 5 will need to deny the ball into the post and Player 3 is responsible to slide over for help on the lob.

Ball on the Wing & Post Player in the High Post:
Player 5 plays the bottom side of the player, but is closer to the ball and should be denying or challenging the entry pass.

Ball on the Opposite Wing & Player in the Low Post:

There is one slight difference from the previous diagrams, an offensive player is sitting in the opposite corner.
This makes Player 4 responsible for the lob pass into the post. Player 2 is two passes away and should be on the rim line. Player 1 is pass away.

Ball in the Corner & Post Player in the Low Post
Player 2 is one pass away. Player 3 is on the rim line and is responsible for the lob pass.
Player 5 should be fronting the post and ready to slide over stop the dribble penetration if the offensive player goes baseline.
Player 1 will want to form a shallow triangle.

Ball in the Corner and the Post on the Opposite Block:
The only difference is that Player 5 is on the rime line. He is still responsible for the dribble penetration along the baseline, if the offensive player gets by Player 4.

Lob into Post & Rotation:
If the ball is lobbed into the post, Player 3 rotates over to try to prevent the lob pass. If Player 3 can not get there in time to prevent the lob, he or she will go straight up and try to make Player 5 pass the ball out of the post.
Player 1 is responsible for the offensive players on the top of the key and the opposite wing.
If Player 5 passes the ball out to the player on the wing, Player 2 closes out on his or her player. Player 1 slides into the position to be one pass away. Player 3 slides back to the rim line.
This should be the positions after the rotation.
If the post player passes it to the top of the key, the Player 1 closes out on his or her man. Player 2 & Player 3 hustle to their proper positions when one pass away.
Player 4 forms a shallow triangle. Player 5 slides to the opposite side and denies the post.
Position of Players after rotation.
If Player 5 throws the pass into the opposite wing, Player 1 covers the ball. Player 2 rotates over to cover the player on the top of the key. He or she is one pass away.
Player 4 slides up to the rim line to guard the player on the opposite wing.
Player 3 is responsible for the offensive player in the corner.
New positions after rotation:

Overload onto the Side of the Ball:

Some teams will overload one side of the ball to take advantage of a team fronting the post or a team that is smaller in size.
If this happens, Player 3 is responsible for the lob pass. Even though, he is in the proper one pass away position in this diagram. The diagram below show the proper position of Player 3.
Proper position of Player 3.