I see a lot of info here about footwork, hand position, help defense, 1-away, 2-away etc, but I have a more fundamental question. I am about to start coaching a Y team of 6th-9th graders (what an awful range of ages!). We will have a total of 6 1 hour practices with two practices before the first game. I don't expect that we will have numbers on the jerseys.

Here are the questions:

1) Should I assign the match-ups or let the players work them out on the floor?
2) If they work them out, how do I teach this skill in the 20-30 minutes of time I will have to spend on defense before the first game?
3) If I assign them, how do I communicate that especially without jersey numbers available?

With the laundry list of skills to teach, what are the most important aspects of M2M to get in in the couple of practices before the first game? I'm thinking that the concept of knowing where both the man and the ball are and that it's ok to leave your many to prevent a layup are the two most critical.

It might be better if they pick out who they are going to cover. At leaa for the frst couple of games..

Play a sagging m2m to prevernt penetration. Pressure on the ball and know who you are covering 1 pass away,
Help defense is very important... EVERYONE is responsible for stopping the ball which is help D. There were times we talked about pistols for off the ball D... pointing one finger at the ball and one finger at your man.

IF you can get them to communicate, you will be eons ahead of the game. This is the hardest thing there is to teach, that and rebounding.

Did this help? If not I will try and clear up any questions you might have.

I think I answered some of these questions in your other post. For calling out who to cover... not having jersey numbers makes it a challenge. I would require my players to point to their man and call out their name (if they know it) on every dead ball and transition situation. You'll have to remind them constantly... point to your man.. Every time you sub, shoot free throws, etc.

When you tell them to point, that does not mean they go stand next to them. They still need to get in proper defensive position. Some players need to be told that.

With my team I let them pick their man with a general principle that they should match up by size. If mismatches emerge once play begins then I will tell those players to switch either at a time out or dead ball. They intuitively will understand help defense because it has to do with being around the ball (and they all want to do that) but the positioning, timing and execution will take time and repetition. Shell defensive drills are the best way to teach this.

The biggest challenge you will have is when there is a substitution by you or your opponent of more than one player (even bigger challenge when both occur at the same time). It can get confusing and you will often have 1-2 players at any one time not knowing who to cover (and not willing to ask) sort of hovering around watching the ball in some sort of neutral space on the defensive end. You can burn a time out but that option isn't always available if the ball is in play and in the opponent's possession and you might want to keep it for another situation. Some kid inevitably will be standing alone in the corner or under the basket for an easy shot and you'll find yourself just yelling out "stop #6!" to the whole team. But as you and the team get more experienced both of you will get better about preventing these kinds of lapses.