Hi guys,

Firstly, background: I am an Aussie Coach - U14 boys team, but have virtually no Basketball Background as such. Our team has been undefeated all season, and is made up of a number of 12 YO lads who have strong ball skills. While I like the team to perform well, I have a strong ethical streak and do not wish to win games unfairly (problem is I dont know what I dont know :)).

Last night we played the season semi-final, winner straight to GF and from previous games, I know the opposition has one dominant player in their team. As we play and concentrate on a tight Man-On-Man defense, I specifically allocated one lad who is tall, but very mobile to their dominant player, but after the first minute of the game, the opposition coach is yelling that my player was illegal, and calling to the referees pointing in their direction. I think my player was fair, he was in close to the opponent, but was grabbing or holding them, and the referees didnt see any issues with the play at all, however this could have been experience also. What I was wondering is, what are the rules around what players can and cant do for man-on-man, and is there clips either here or on youtube that you can recommend that teaches this skill correctly?

Cheers David.

It s eems like you aren't doing anything wrong.... the refs weren't calling any fouls and I take it you meant that they weren't holding or grabbing them either. You picked your best defender to stop him, good game plan... why not!

They talk about NO hand checking - pushing or shoving. There will be some contact, just part of the game.

Was their something in particular that the other coach was complaining about?

If you look on the left side under DEFENSE... and then Man to Man there are several TIPS to playing good m2m D.... here is one-



http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/defense/onball.html

Hmm, I am wondering if hand-checking was the issue. Thank you very much for your advice anyway. My take home to work with this player is as follows:

1. Keep a slightly larger gap between him and his opponent (to ensure he doesnt invade the player's cylinder/space),
2. make sure his arms are kept low at all times until the ball is coming in play (no checking)
3. and lastly, make sure he doesnt inhibit his opponents movement around the court (while he is without the ball), just moves with him.

Again, thank you very much.
.

You might ask the ref what the issue was for 1.

As for a larger gap, I think you have to play by YOUR rules their. I wouldn't give him to much space, especially if he has the ball. Be proactive, pressure him where you want him to go, sideline/baseline/short corner.

Palms up if he is defending the ball, flip up at the ball and you shouldn't get any fouls and you should also be able to keep your feet moving.

I don't think I would let him make a cut to the ball without me denying that.... another thing I wouldn't do is let him face cut me, force him to go behind.

Hope this helps.

By the way.... you are undefeated... I certainly wouldn't change to much because somebody complained. Congratulations on an undefeated season to this point.

Welcome to the forums! I have a good friend who lives in Tasmania, need to get out there sometime and visit him.

First thought: don't pay attention to the other coach or what he says. Coach your players and let the officials worry about him/her. Quite honestly, I run into more coaches that don't know the rules of basketball and start chirping about something they don't understand fully. Here's a pretty good link for that: http://bcrefs.com/MisunderstoodRules.htm Btw? Refs don't like it when coaches start yelling about rules they don't fully understand.

Regarding "what can a player do when playing man to man", it depends on the officials during your game. Usually it becomes apparent if they are calling it tight or letting the kids play. Sometimes, before the game, I'll ask ahead of time if they are watching for anything specific, so I can instruct my players. They might come back and tell me hand checking is a problem, so I warn the players. I like to watch the game before ours to see how the refs are calling things. It gives me a feel of what to expect.

Experienced officials look to see if there is incidental contact by the defender or did he create a disadvantage for the opponent.

A few generic examples:
A1 is driving to the basket and B1 is getting beat, so B1 moves his hip out. A1 is forced off his path to the basket. I'm guessing a ref would make a call.

A1 is in the backcourt dribbling, B1 is guarding tight and bumps A1. Ball stays with A1. I'd say that is incidental contact because no disadvantage occurred for A1.

In short, does the official think the defensive player created a disadvantage for the offensive player? If so, then they will make a call. In your case, obviously they didn't in spite of the opposing coach's protests.

My personal philosophy is to come out playing tough aggressive defense. I'd rather test the waters early than have the other team get up by 10pts while I'm wondering why the refs aren't calling "fouls". You're there to coach your kids and let the officials do their thing.

Good advice from Coach Sar on these. If you run into a situation where the refs are calling a player for something and you don't understand why, catch them during a time out and ask. As long as you're brief and respectful, most refs are cool with that.

Thanks Rob and Sar, much appreciated. :)