One thing I would stress to your players is that positioning beats height. Right now I guarantee that they look at the other team and think "geeze those guys are tall, good luck rebounding." Convince them that by proper positioning, they can minimize the height advantage. And like was said above, pressure the permitier to keep the ball away from the bigs. They are going to get their points, just don't let them dominate. Good luck.

Sounds lke a great strategy, but I think it would be tough for us to stop all driving to the basket, given the restrictive defense rules we have in our league. Mandatory man to man, no trapping or double teaming, defenders must stay within 3 feet of their man on the strong side, one foot in the paint on the weak side (it's unclear what the strong and weak side is if the ball is at the top of the key...)

If you have similar rules in your league and can still manage to keep players out of the paint, I'd love to hear how!

In any case, it doesn't prevent them from getting an automatic basket on putbacks, if we can't get most of the defensive rebounds - wherever the shot came from.

Coach -

Get the ball off the center line and your helpside will be dictated.... when its in the middle of the floor, there isn't any help side... That should help you a lot. And... have your kids move on what we call AIR TIME... meaning. move to the ball when its in the air.

Yes. The defender should move on the pass and try to beat the pass (he normally won’t, but it gets him there quickly).

When we’re playing M2M and the ball is a top of key, our help-side guards sag to prevent penetration and our big guys are in full denial. Assuming they allow one pass away up top to sag a bit, no? There really isn't a weak side if the ball is in the middle, so I’d ask for clarification from someone (ref or AD) if you’re not sure how they view it.

If it were me, I’d customize drills based on the rules in your league and what’s been happening in games. For example, if your guards are getting beat off the dribble, I’d set up scenarios that are game-like to your specific situation. How do other teams stop the dribble penetration in your league? How do other teams stop the ball from getting into the paint? Seems the strategy for you will be to force shots from the outside which means more pressure on the ball and stopping dribble penetration and passes into the paint.

Are you consistently running into teams with several players taller than yours or just a couple of bigs? It’s water under the bridge at this point, but if you’re a travel team, did you have any input on who was on your team?

It's confusing because the rules are quite clear about what a violation is on the mandatory man to man defense. Other teams violate these rules and usually get away with it, but I'm hesitant to tell the boys to do the same thing, because if they ever get called on it, the ref is telling them that they can't do what coach told them they could do.

Regarding the size of my boys, we're pretty consistently smaller across the board. I picked the team - they're the best players in the grade in our town. It's just a small grade. Maybe there's something in the water.

Before the game starts, you can clarify (with the refs) the "special defensive rules" which would keep it fresh in their minds. I think this would help if the other team starts to violate the rules. At least you have a reference point when talking to the ref during a game.

If the refs aren't calling it tight in a game and seem to be letting the players play, I call time out and let my guys know what's up. My players know I'm not suggesting they start throwing elbows, but they know to play more aggressive. If they start tightening up, we adjust.

If the other team is killing you because they're violating the "special rules", you can either ask for clarification from the ref during the game or adjust your players to fix the problem. If the refs don't seem to care, then I'm not sure it's a huge deal if your players adjust in a game even if it's against the "letter of the law".