Pressure defenses in basketball put the offense in difficult situations to create turnovers and take teams out of their offensive flow.

You can create pressure in 1/4 court, half court, 3/4 court, or full court. You can press using man to man or zone. 

See below for more information on various types of basketball full court presses as well as pressing philosophy:

• Man To Man Press (Run & Jump)
• Zone Full Court Presses
• Half Court Basketball Presses
• 7 Reasons You Should Consider Pressing
• 10 Keys To Effective Press Defense
• How To Choose The Right Press For Your Team

Man to Man Basketball Full Court Press (Run & Jump Based)

The Relentless Pressure System With Mike Hillmer

• 6 Relentless Pressure Defense Drills - From 3x State Champion Coach

• Master The Tip From Behind Drill To Turn Setbacks Into Opportunities

• Learn How To Press On MISSES From A 3X State Champion Coach

To learn more about full court pressing from a 3x State Championship Coach, check out the Relentless Pressure System With Mike Hilmer!

Zone Full Court Presses

The Versatile 2-2-1 Press With Rob Beucler

• The Beucler 2-2-1 Press Defense is What Keeps Opposing Coaches Up At Night

• How The 2-2-1 Press Defeats Dribble Attacks

• Confuse Your Opponents By Dancing Traps in 2-2-1

If you’re looking for a versatile zone press that can speed teams up or slow them down, check out The Versatile 2-2-1 Press With Rob Beucler!

Other 2-2-1 Resources

• Don Kelbick’s 2-2-1 Press (part of Don Kelbick’s Matchup Zone Defense)

The Uptempo Basketball System With Keith Haske (Diamond Press)

• The Perfect Basketball System For A Football School
• Pressure defense and how to easily confuse the offense on every possession 
• Full Court Pressure - The Stat You Should Focus On (It's Not Steals)
• 3 Critical Tips For Suffocating Ball Pressure In A Full Court Defense
• Do You Trap On Defense? You Better Teach This
• 9 Reasons To Use Coach Haske's Uptempo System – Pressure Offense – Pressure Defense

Other Diamond/1-2-1-1 Press Resources & Drills

• How to Run the 1-2-1-1 Diamond Press
• Diamond Press Drill #1 - Free Throw Situations
• Half Court Overload

Half Court Basketball Presses

The Buzz ½ Court Trapping System

• The Buzz Defense - Creating Easy Baskets With This 2-3 Zone Trapping Defense

• Utilize "The Buzz" 2-3 Half Court Trapping Defense to Force Turnovers and Tempo

• Buzz Defense Walling and Trapping Half Court 2-3 Zone Defense

To learn more about an aggressive & unique half court trapping system, check out The Buzz Defense With Kevin Furtado!

7 Reasons You Should Consider Pressing

To get a FREE PDF of 5 drills that will elevate your team no matter what press you run, click the banner below!

As the season gets underway, you are no doubt implementing your defensive systems and strategies.

Most teams have some sort of press in their repertoire... that they may use, occasionally.

Here are 7 reasons you may want to consider using pressure defense more each game (or even pressing the entire game!):

1. Play More Kids - Playing time is always an issue. Pressing requires you to play more players. It also allows less skilled players to make an impact.
   
   In a press, players can make up for some skill deficiencies with relentless effort. Subbing players in and out frequently keeps them fresh and allows them to play at max effort. The bottom line, pressing creates better team morale since more players get to play and feel like they are contributing to the team (and this doesn't hurt with parents as well).

2. More Exciting - In today's world, there are so many things competing for kids' time. This has led to fewer kids playing sports. One way you can retain more good athletes is by playing an exciting style.
   
   Pressing does just that. It's fun and fast. Players and fans will be attracted to the style, bringing better athletes and more attention to your program.

3. Uniqueness - There is value in zigging where others zag. Because most teams don't press, you become harder to prepare for if you do. This gives you a leg up on your competition. Your team becomes unique and forces opponents to prepare for more!

4. Wear Down Your Opponent - I can't tell you how many games I've coached where we've pressed and after the 1st quarter the score is 24-22. At halftime, we were up 10. By the end of the 3rd quarter, it's 20.
   
   Pressing has a cumulative effect. Because other teams aren't used to the pace and don't sub as much, you can wear them down. As the game goes on, you start to pull away. Make your superior conditioning your ally!

5. Create More Skilled Players - If you press every day in practice, your players' passing and ball handling will improve.
   
   By going against your pressure every day, players get more reps passing and dribbling under duress. That leads to better game time performance.

6. Generate Easy Offense - Scoring can be hard. Pressing creates a bunch of transition opportunities for your team. These should result in quality scoring opportunities.
   
   Yes, your opponent will get some transition opportunities too. However, they won't have practiced them as much as you because they don't play at your pace. Additionally, because of the fatigue factor, you'll be able to run for 4 quarters, while they'll start to wear down.

7. Minimizes Scouting - When you press, the game becomes about players and not plays. This means you don't need to spend nearly as much time scouting, as you aren't allowing your opponent to 'run their stuff.'

That means you can spend more time on making your players better!

10 Keys To Effective Pressure Defense

1 - High Active Hands

Players must have active hands and keep them high to get deflections. Keith has found that if they are able to get 20 or more deflections in a game, they almost always win that game.

So it's important for you to require your players to keep their hands high and active to encourage deflections. Their hands should be high in traps, one close outs, and passing situations.

2 - Pressure the Ball and Get "Up"

Force the speed dribble and get up on the ball (have to be close). Common mistake is to back off your man. Need to enforce ball pressure constantly.

3 - Hit at the Right Time

Players must be somewhat disciplined when they "hit" and double team. If the dribble is under control, they should not hit and double team. This can cause disadvantage situations. The exception to this rule is when the dribbler is in a prime trapping spot (corner or half court sideline).

Players and coaches should also watch to make sure they are hitting at the right time. It's beneficial to learn good timing.

4 - Sprint Out of Traps

Once the ball is passed out of the trap, your team must learn to turn and sprint. They should anticipate that they pass out of the trap and be moving as the ball leaves the passer’s fingertips.

5 - Always Have One Player Protecting the Basket

You need a safety valve to protect from over the top passes and to limit lay-up opportunities.

6 – Anticipation

The pressure will force your opponent into lazy passes. Your team can take advantage of this by anticipating those mistakes and stepping into passing lanes.

7 – Communication

Because the press can look different almost every time down the court, your players must always be communicating. This will create unity in your team’s motion and it will also create more havoc for your opponent.

8 – Work Hard and Be Aggressive

This system requires your team to always be working. The style is not effective if you are not pressuring, pressuring and pressuring. As a coach, you must remind your team to always be aggressive by rewarding aggressive play.

9 – Repetitions and Practice

The pressure system is easy to learn but you must also continually work on it every day in practice. As coach Haske says in the video, working on the pressure gets the sweat going at practice.

10 – Have to be Dedicated

This is something you have to be committed to and practice. Keith thinks this works best if you commit to it and always press, unless you are way up. It's not something you do against certain teams and not against others. It's a culture.

How To Choose The Correct Press For Your Teams

During the summer and fall, many coaches are in the process of planning for next season. You may also be tinkering with your defensive schemes. Many coaches throw numbers around for our defensive sets: 1-2-1-1, 2-3, 2-2-1, etc.

But what do those numbers really mean?

Sometimes, you fall in love with a certain combination thinking it will be a panacea for your team. Some of you also think certain personnel dictate a specific scheme. A common point of view is that the team with the better personnel should play aggressive pressure to create more possessions and not allow the underdog to compete (see a reference to the contrary from one of America′s best contemporary thinkers at the bottom of this article).

Big teams seem to automatically feel a 2-3 half court makes the most sense. In my early coaching days, I fell in love with the 1-3-1 mostly because I felt I had two quick players to play the front and back and tried to hide the other three.

Choosing Your Defensive Alignment

Truthfully, there is a lot more to a successful pressure defensive scheme than personnel. These numbers should not be as random as a roulette wheel. That means “beginning with the end in mind.” You need to resist falling in love with a set defense, but rather ensure that the defense we put on the floor gets us quickest to our desired outcome during a stretch of the game. The specific numbers you use in your defense set a tone, style of play, and give your team an identity.

Within a game, it can set your team’s mindset during a specific stretch of the game. Are you trying to speed up tempo to get more possessions because you are down? Are you trying to slow the game down with something like a soft 2-2-1 back into a ½ court zone so that your opponent has to run clock while you have a lead? Are you trying to send a message to your team with your scheme? Or are you trying to send a message to the other team?

When I was coaching in ultra-fast tempo systems ala Paul Westhead or Grinnell style, I wanted to set the tone with my team very early that we would be extremely aggressive and the pace needed to match that tone. That meant playing the 1-2-1-1 with a man on the inbounder, and two quick guards pinched up to the foul line. This defense said to the opponent “go ahead make our day.” We knew we would give up some layups. We also knew that our defense would create many turnovers, which would in turn give us more possessions. We knew if we had more possessions, we would score more.

We stuck with this defensive alignment most of the time, but slightly altered our tactical positioning of the players. Sometimes, we would take the on-ball defender and have him turn his back to the ball. This allowed him to double the corner quicker or deflect the intended inbound pass to the opponent’s point guard. Other times, we never left the inbounder to trap after the ball was inbounded. We did this to deny an inbounding point guard. Sometimes, we played the trapping foul line guards soft to ensure a corner trap was easily set up. Sometimes we played those guards tight in a man to man with the opponent’s guards denying an inbounds pass. Each variation gave us an opportunity to achieve a different mini-outcome at critical points of the game.

Here is a list of adjustments we made with each desired outcome within the 1-2-1-1:

Personnel	Adjustment	Desired Immediate Outcome	Desired Game Plan Outcome
Inbound Defender	Shadow Ball on Inbound	Deny First Pass in, Create Turnovers	Mentally wear down inbounder, speed up tempo
Inbound Defender	Play off the ball into likely entry passing lane	Really Deny First Pass in, Create Deflections	Fatigue Point Guard
Inbound Defender	Play off the ball, leaning to trap area	Set up trap after the first pass	Get the ball out of Point Guard's Hands, make him throw out of the trap
Pinch Guards (second line of 1-2-1-1)	Play Backside to Ball	Deny any guards coming to the ball	Make opponent throw over the top, increasing tempo
Back line	Play over half court so that all 5 defenders are in the opponent's backcourt	Full denial in the backcourt; invite long baseball pass. Make those uncomfortable handling (bigs) handle.	Seriously increase the tempo of the game. Increase opponent's turnovers
Move whole zone back so pickup point is foul line	Allow entry pass in and allow ball reversals.	Offense will have to make many passes to get the ball over and may have unforced turnovers.	Greater basket protection while still maintaining pressure. Slows tempo.
Inbound Defender and Guard closest to point	Double deny point guard with Inbound defender and guard closest to point guard.	Keep Ball away from point guard; disrupt offensive flow of opponent.	Force opponent to make broken plays. Cut the head from the body so to speak by disengaging the point guard. Fatigue point guard.

Alignment Considerations Checklist

Here is a list of items you should think through when you send out a specific defensive alignment. Ideally, you will have thought out and written down your positions on each of these considerations with your staff prior to the first game.

This could be a great exercise to go through with your staff while away at a clinic or during the summer when minds are clear and sharp.

• Does the defensive alignment (DA) fit your team′s philosophy?

• What type of intensity will you encourage in your players with this DA?

• Does the DA fit your personnel?

• Does a particular DA allow you to play more personnel?

• Does this DA fit the time/score situation your team is in? Do you want to be pressing with a lead late? Do you want to be in a soft zone when you are down?

• How will this pressure alignment convert into half court defense? Will it be a smooth transition?

• Do you want to show this defensive alignment at this point in the season or save it for a critical stretch?

• How will this DA affect critical components of the game situation like foul trouble?

• Will this DA create more or less possessions in the game? Will more or fewer possessions favor your team?

• Can I maximize practice time by utilizing a DA that can easily be converted to another DA?

• How hard is it for the opponent to prepare against this DA?

• Does this DA accentuate my team′s strengths and hide weaknesses?

• How often do my primary opponents see this DA? How comfortable are they against it?

• Does this DA fit my team′s offensive philosophy?

Is it possible to teach this DA effectively program wide? Can it/ should it be brought down to my middle school feeder?

What defense should you use?

So, what’s the answer to “What defense should you use?” Well, I hope that if you got anything from this article it is that the answer lies in thinking for yourself. Go through these concepts with your team in mind. You know your team best. Do not let the “conventional wisdom” dictate what you do. The conventional wisdom usually means a .500 or worse season. Many of you are in a situation where your defensive alignment will be critical to “stealing some wins.”

To get a FREE PDF of 5 drills that will elevate your team no matter what press you run, click the banner below!