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PostPosted: 11 Dec 2010, 05:30 

Posts: 4
We're playing the top team in next week in U14 boys. They have a dominant tall boy who scores a third to half their points, rebounds, dribbles full court, has speed, posts up well etc.
We are an excellent team also, but haven't been able to put them away, missing out each time by about 10 points max.

Any suggestions welcome.


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PostPosted: 11 Dec 2010, 11:27 
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Here is something that we did from time to time. Show a press and double team to this kid...... once he gets rid of the ball, have your best defender lock up on him and don't let him have the ball back. In other words, everyone else is playing standard m2m except this defender gives NO help.

You might double team him when he is IN THE POST before he has the ball...... force someone else to beat you.... sometimes we have to pick our poison. Force one of the weaker players to step up and see if he can beat you......IF that kid steps out to the perimeter, you can single cover him.... I saw Bobby Knight do this against Northwestern and it worked very well..... did it myself once and we held a 27 ppg player to 7 points.... we still lost because we couldn't hit the Bull in the Butt with a Banjo, hard to win if you cant score.

Let me know what your thougts are on this.


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PostPosted: 13 Dec 2010, 09:15 
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First you have to understand that you can't defend everything so you have to pick what you defend and then try to dictate what other shots you will allow. My belief is the team that makes the most layups, wins. That is true all the way up to the NBA. You can't win on any level without making shots in the lane. I structure my whole defense around that philosophy. At higher levels you will give up some jumpers and 3s so you make adjustments but I will still do whatever I need to to get the ball out of the lane.

When the ball goes into the post, I would dive all 5 players to play the ball. Just forget your man and get in there and dig until he throws the ball out and then recover out. If you are being hurt by a perimeter player, adjust and don't send that defender.

As you move up in levels, you will have to work on rotations and which players to send, from where and when, but players of your level you don't need to get to that. Kids of your age don't shoot it well enough from areas that will hurt you. They do not have the experience to find kick out lanes and kids that play in the post don't know how to spot out, so I would go after the post guy with everyone. Just don't foul him and make sure you get the rebound (with all in the lane, if you can't get the rebound you have other problems).

If they do make a couple of shots from the perimeter, don't worry about it and adjust if you need to. But, remember, it doesn't matter if they take shots, only if they make shots. You are choosing what you will defend and dictating where they will shoot from, nothing in the lane but you can't get all the long ones you want. Eventually, they will stop throwing the ball into the post.

Even at the very highest levels, you can't survive on jumpers alone.

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PostPosted: 13 Dec 2010, 10:32 
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I always called that "Picking my own poison" Don.


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PostPosted: 14 Dec 2010, 06:17 

Posts: 4
Thanks Coaches,
You have been very helpful. In a way, you have confirmed my thoughts. Our game plan was going to revolve around playing a full court press except playing m2m on this kid ie. deny him the ball on every occasion. We would fall back to a zone. If he posts up, we'll continue to overplay him, deny him the ball, and let his team mates try to hit shots from outside. As you say, if they get the odd one, I can handle that, but I certainly don't want cheap point inside the lanes. If he plays outside, I'll continue to overplay him m2m and deny him the ball. I'm quite comfortable with this plan. All our players will be on alert to double team him when he does get possession. We'll have to adjust if thing's don't quite pan out.

Let me know your thougths and thanks again to both of you.


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PostPosted: 14 Dec 2010, 08:20 
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Tony -

I am a proponent of playing m2m, especially at this age... but thats another story. :-)

As for your game plan.... pressuring, denying and overplaying him is a good plan (at least for me it would be) When you are in the half court zone is there still going to be someone playing him m2m denial D? To me, the less touches he has the less he can hurt you... hopefully..... you have to remember to keep him off the boards too.... because IF he can keep his wits and just get good position he can hurt you a lot that way too.

Here is another way to "soften" his game - IF they play m2m, run him off multiple screens every time down the floor... getting bounced around the entire game will tire him out also.

Look at their personnel, figure out who their weakest shooter is and that is the kid that you wont pay as much attention too.... see if he can beat you.... and yes, its always good to have a Plan B.


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PostPosted: 14 Dec 2010, 10:16 
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Location: Miami, Fl.
Ken

Good plan. Especially running him off screens to wear the post player down. You can also isolate the side and run side screen and rolls, force him to defend on the perimeter, probably create fouls and make him such a defensive liability that they would have him come out of the game.

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PostPosted: 17 Dec 2010, 04:42 

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Gentlemen,
Thx for that. Tomorrow is the game....Grand Final actually. I love trying to strategize. You're commentry has been fantastic. Our game plan is this:
-Defense:
A Plan - full court press back to a 3-2 zone.
B Plan - Adjust the zone to a 2-3 if they are hurting us low.
C Plan - m2m; or a box zone and 1on1 on the big kid.

-Crash the boards, especially defense.
-Block their inside lanes
-Run a fast transition, emphasis on fast passing and less dribbling.
-play tough on the big kid..double team and deny the pass as much as possible.
-allow their less capable players to shoot for 3's

I'll let you know the outcome. It's challenging and exciting being the underdog..just the way I like it. It's been done before...so we're going to give it a shake. I'll let you know the result.


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PostPosted: 17 Dec 2010, 08:47 
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That sounds like a good plan..... good luck and I loved the underdog role because they never knew what we were going to do to them - on both ends of the floor!

If you want - take a look at this game, the team we were playing was #8 in the State at the time..... great game plan.... LOL ... of course it was - we hit 9 of 10 from the arc.... and hit our free throws in the 4th quarter..... we made their 6'11" kid play D AWAY from the basket.

http://www.ihigh.com/school5105/video_886382.html


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PostPosted: 18 Dec 2010, 07:08 

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Coaches, I have news..very good news....winners are grinners!! 35-27 win. They we're undefeated and we knocked them off. They haven't scored under 45 pts a game all season. To keep them to 27 shows how effective our D was. The game plan was executed to perfection. I didn't have to adjust as the boys played it out. The big kid tried to do it all. He got caught on doubles and sometimes triple teams...no space...only 10 pts when he averages 20-25. He only got a quarter of his normal number rebounds....and we let his teamates shoot outside for threes. They hit 2 from 12 attempts. We dominated the boards, especially in D.
Gentlemen, I don't think I've been involved in a game plan execution such as I experienced today. It was hard fought and clinical. Except for my indicretion with a tech foul...it was the best experience I've had coaching in 30 years.
I've enjoyed your commentry and have appreciated your thoughts.


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