I coach an elite 11th grade girls AAU team. We are 100% m2m in the halfcourt with variations; pressure and pack line. We are athletic 1-4 and not as much at the 5 position. We have an exceptional 6' 1' athlete that causes problems for the offense when she is around the ball. Do you have a suggestion for a simple m2m fullcourt press with a possible trap option? Is it neccassary to trap if we want to speed the game up? I will spend 80-90% of our practice time on our halfcourt m2m and the remainder fullcourt. I do not want multiple trap options with rotations because we just don't have time to get it right.

Thank you!

Coach -

I would put my most athletic players up front and let your post player be your safety. Put your best player on the ball..... you could run and jump.... or maybe just apply a lot of pressure, force sideline and trap just over half court?

Just a thought.

Hi Coach!

A few random technical questions/thoughts...

-I could have my athlete, who is over the inbounder either run n jump a middle dribble or trap a sideline dribble one time. Correct?

-Could I get away with not rotating up to the open player on a sideline trap? In other words only two players are involved in the trap. How do we defend the pass out to the open player? I imagine like a delayed run n jump?

-My athlete is always over the inbounder and my 5 is always back as a safety. Do I tell the remaining three defenders to match up with the closest player? What if the entire offense is in the the backcourt (4 across) do we leave a player unguarded or bring the 5 up?

Thank you

Coach B -




Hi Coach!

A few random technical questions/thoughts...

(-I could have my athlete, who is over the inbounder either run n jump a middle dribble or trap a sideline dribble one time. Correct?)

Two thoughts here, you can do a one and done sideline trap here... I like the trap just over half court myself.

(-Could I get away with not rotating up to the open player on a sideline trap? In other words only two players are involved in the trap. How do we defend the pass out to the open player? I imagine like a delayed run n jump?)

Most presses and traps utilize the element of surprise to be successful, unless you are head and shoulders above the other team talent wise. Any good team will handle a press by being patient. JMO You can decide which player you are going to leave open when you trap.... with a run and jump you would like to think that you will have everyone covered or at least put enough pressure on them to take them out of their comfort zone. Yes ??

(-My athlete is always over the inbounder and my 5 is always back as a safety. Do I tell the remaining three defenders to match up with the closest player? What if the entire offense is in the the backcourt (4 across) do we leave a player unguarded or bring the 5 up?)

This is just me, but I would not cover the inbounder. If you want to put a lot of pressure on the other team, face guard everyone else leaving your 5 back as safety.... especially IF they bring everyone up. IF they do 4 across... have your defenders cover 1/4th of the court... that way you wont get burned with screens etc. All of this becomes a chess match, who makes the right moves at the right time.

This is something that Al McGuire said ( x coach of Marquette ) cut off the head and the body dies.... so, here is something else you can do, let them inbound the ball to their point guard... and let your best defender hound her the entire game.... maybe an occasional trap just over half court,.... this is the simplest thing you can do. Shouldn't take up to much of your practice time.Thoughts?


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Coach Sar-

I like this option. Maybe we could trap the "clear out" for the point guard. Have one player rotate up and leave the player furthest from the ball open. The trap could happen anywhere in the backcourt. If there is no clear out, there is no trap-the element of surprise. We normally switch all screens, but I could have my athlete fight under and stay with the point guard. The fact that we want the point guard to get the ball makes a switch not neccassary.

If the unguarded inbounder gets the ball back, who defends that player?

Thank you

Coach -



We usually had that defender playing center field... you can put that player as far back as you want... OR.... you coutd have her around the FT line - IF they start giving her the ball.... jump her as soon as she makes the inbounds pass.,.... but, IF you do that.. make sure she goes ball side to defend that pass back.

I've had success teaching full court m2m with a speed dribble option. Apply intense pressure to point and try to force in a speed dribble. Once that happen you trap or run/jump. They never know when we will trap. Many times we don't trap. This is easy to teach and worked well against most boys teams at freshman and soph level. Only time it didn't do much is when other team had really good point that would always use "control dribble" and never got in a hurry. You need rotations but its just m2m principles. See man and ball. Early help to keep ball way out. Quick recovery. All the same as our half court principles. Playing 4on 5 helps with rotations.

Along with your full court pressure, you might want to consider a half court press. We used (and played against) a 3-2 half court press. Very effective.

Thanks to all for some great coaching advice!

Here's what I'm thinking will get my team what we're looking for in a fullcourt press. I think we will utilize a 1-2-1-1 fullcourt zone press with m2m principles. I will have my athlete over the ball and my 5 will be back to protect the basket. We will trap the 1st pass to the corner and transition back into m2m on any penetrating pass or dribble. Thoughts?

Coach B

Coach -

I had to read this a couple of times to see if I understood what you wanted to do....



So, you will show a 1-2-1-1 - TRAP the first pass and (what we called ONE and DONE) go right into your m2m IF you don't get a turnover, correct?

Try this a bit in practice and see how it goes... remember, the more your players have to think the slower their feet will get. BUT, IF you feel like your players can handle this and get something out of it.... go for it.

Good luck and let us know how that goes.