Hello. I coach 5t & 6th grade recreation level basketball. My background is football, so occasionally I use sites like this to get answers. Can someone help me with the terms 'back cut' and 'front cut'? I know what a 'cut' is, but not sure about the above mentioned. I presume that it has something to do with the defender's floor position as well as positioning relative to the offensive player. Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure what you mean by the term "front cut" but as for BACK CUT .... we use that term when someone is overplaying us on defense.... we tell our players to make a back door cut - we also told them to go all the way to the block.... don't fake out your own player by going part of the way and coming back, a recipe for a turnover. IF they are overplaying you... have your player take another step out asking for the ball and then make a hard back door cut to the rim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcDCA6OafQk

IF you mean cutting in front of your defender as you make you move.... that can be a front cut.

If you will give us an idea of what you are referring to when you say "front cut" we can help you out......

You are working with young kids which is great.... keep things simple.... I'm sure you know the KISS method :-) Teach them m2m defense and the fundamentals of the game and then, let them have FUN. Good luck.

If you have access to the Big Ten network, try to catch a Northwestern Basketball game. They run a ton of back cuts. Good luck.

Thanks for the info. I'll try to find how the term 'front cut' is used so it can be put in context. Coach Sar, your description of 'back cut' matches what I thought it might be. Thank you. As far as 'front cut' goes, I believe it's a cut made when the defender is 'not' overplaying. I'll get back to this subject later.

I've never used the term "front cut" but it makes sense. You cut in front of the defender like you said. Let's say you have the ball on the top of the key and pass to the wing. Next, if you want to cut to the basket, you would fake in the opposite way and cut in FRONT of the defender, hence front cut.

Another tip on back cuts - sometimes younger players are so focused on the guard holding the ball they don't notice they are being overplayed and that a back cut is an option. I will tell the ball handler that if he sees a defender overplaying a teammate, then dribble hard at the defender - and the teammate knows to back cut if someone dribbles at him.

The spacing between the two offensive players is critical to creating a passing lane though - they can't be bunched together. If they are too close in that case, (I teach the boys the visual concept of how far "a pass away" is) I tell the boys to set a screen if someone dribbles at them and they are closer than a pass away.

Practice this as part of layup drills.