In the mix

In our current league, we have two of 5 teams that are very capable of shooting 3's as driving or posting up in the blocks. I have tried man to man, zone, playing a modified zone with direct man to man on their prime shooter. They are still somewhat successful. We play man to man they find a mismatch and post up. We play zone, allows too much room for their shooters. They are a very aggressive and well organized team. We make our mistakes, our offensive efficiency is getting better, our communication on defence is getting better. However, they take advantage of misses, turnovers and defensive errs quickly. So besides running only defensive drills, here is what I am considering:

I am considering using a 3 man to man with 2 post zone defence. The 3 man to man portion will play 1 pass denial on opposing speed and shooters while leaving my two big guys (who get tired chasing others all over the court) in the paint to defend/rebound or help as necessary.
What do you think? Any other options?

What age group are these kids?

IF they are young I would advise you to play m2m.. a lot of ball pressure and dead front the post. You cant make it easy for them to dump it inside... and you cant allow them to just spot up and shoot either.

Be agressive on D, give a lot of help in the post ... dig down ON the pass, not after it is caught...... pick your poision.... stop the biggest scorers and see if someone else can beat you.

Thanks for that - kids are 13-14. We have played their key player tight, but then one or two others seem to step up. That is why I consider having 3 heavy on ball handlers/shooters and leaving my two big guys to battle the paint (with help from non ball side defender if needed)?

I hate to see kids that young playing junk defenses... I am a proponent of m2m D, especially at that age. I was a varsity coach and yes, we played a few... but our base D was on / up the line m2m... secondary was a 1-3-1 match up..... then I had a few junk zones up my sleeve too. :-)

Can I ask what your goals are for these kids? Are they going into high school next year? Do they know and understand m2m principals? Are they ready to take the next step and play at the next level?

I think what you are saying would work..

Hi Coach: what you are playing is a junk defense, and it will work but eventually, the other teams will find a way to exploit it. Presently your strategy looks and sounds good but not knowing the personnel of the opposing teams makes it difficult to answer this question. However, what I would do is try to keep the other team off balance by doing different things on defense. In other words, always make them find different ways to beat you. Following a made free throw show them a zone or a man press to slow them down. If they exploit the press, show them something different. This game of basketball is a chess match, you vs. the opposing coach's strategy. I have always used the strategy surprise and change. Meaning if your present defense is causing your opposition problems and it forces them to take a time out, during the time out change it to something else. Sometimes we show zone then on the first entry pass we jump to man or visa versa. But my entire point is, if you live by the sword eventually so ye shall die by the sword. Good Luck Coach Mac

Personally, I dislike zones and presses below the high school level. I just think that working on man principles every day and working on fundamentals and offensive concepts will benefit the players much more when they reach the varsity level. Even if the high school coach decides to play zone, the man principles that pounded into them from an early age will make them much better.

I've never seen a 13 & 14 year old team that was so good at shooting, passing, dribbling, rebounding, half-court offense, & man to man defense that they should work on pressing and junk defenses. It may get you a couple of extra wins, but working on the basics now will get you more wins in the future.

However, I understand some coaches are in different situations and these kids may never play high school basketball. And some coaches think that developing a winning attitude is more important.

However, Coach Sars & Coach Mac have seen & coached WAY MORE basketball than I have!

Joe,

You already know how I feel about zones on the lower levels. I am a firm believer that you teach m2m fundamentals exclusively!

Save the zones for the Varsity teams. I told my lower level coaches that I wanted them to teach m2m fundamentals exclusively..... I did say that they could throw in a zone later in the year if they felt it could get them a W. I watched every game so I knew what they were teaching...... they played very few games where I saw a zone.

I agree with this 100% -
I've never seen a 13 & 14 year old team that was so good at shooting, passing, dribbling, rebounding, half-court offense, & man to man defense that they should work on pressing and junk defenses. It may get you a couple of extra wins, but working on the basics now will get you more wins in the future.

The goal of every lower level coach should be to get their players ready to play at the next level.. no one cares if the 8th grade goes 30-0..... but they DO read the papers about the High School Varsity teams. Don't get me wrong... We do want them to be successful.. but NOT at the expense of their fundamentals. JMO

Joe Ken: You already know my philosophy on defensive concepts I too am a strong proponent of m2m and fundamentals at an early age. However, in this case, I merely wanted to give an answer to the coaches question not an opinion..I'll leave that for the purists..lol Coach Mac

We already know how pure you are Mac :-)

Thanks for all the comments. To answer some of the questions, the goal is to ready my players for the next level. To advance their skills in all fundamentals first, to let them enjoy the game, respect and learn from both wins and losses.

My guys are 13-14 yrs old most in Grade 10 and most have very good skill sets. I have had the majority since last year and I push M2M defence, but they did have a hard time keeping pace with other teams and without alot of outside shooters we primarily used a 2-3 zone. We did continue to work M2M and used it occasionally.

This year, with most players back, I pushed M2M right away, when used and they communicate, adjust to cuts/pentration they do really well. However we do play one specific team that has one awesome 3 point shooter(shoots from everywhere), and a couple big post players. So we have played zone, M2M, and have success but not as much as I would like. We have been very competitive in first half of games, end losing by 1-15 points. They have 12 players, each time we play I have 6-9 players and although my team is more talented and do play as a team I think we tire and cant keep up.

Therefore I am looking at a defensive option when we play them in the Area Championships end Feb, or do as you all suggest and stay with my M2M mixed in with a zone to keep them on their toes?

I like your goals! They will thank you down the line believe me.

OK, for one game and the championship... I would say to do whatever it takes.... let us know what they do offensively and a little bit about player personnel and then we can give you the right zone. What zone are you currently using?

Now, its game plan time... and they are a lot deeper than you - so you need to even the playing field. First of all my philosophy was this ... CONTROL the TEMPO .... Get a GOOD SHOT every time down the floor.... Control the boards if you can but at least break even there.... LIMIT TURNOVERS

I would shorten the game, that way their depth wont make a difference and you have 6-9 and that should be more than enough.

Use a 3/4 court zone press but more like pressure...NOT taking any chances..... keep the ball in front of you and slow them down.. make them think... force them to take some time off the clock that way. You can show the press... once THAT player gives up the ball, have one defender lock up on him telling him that he gives NO help... just deny him the ball all over.... then play the rest m2m or a box zone.

I would change defenses often, but have somebody log the results of how you did with the zone and m2m. That way in crunch time you know what to use. You can Box & 1 him.. or a 1 - 1 3 with one of them on him.

Offensively I would take a little time off the clock each time you have the ball... frustrate them. Look for great shots.. and offensively play to your strengths.
What are your thoughts?

Coach: I certainly hope this helps, for the past 20 years, i have been pushing the Don Myers m2m system on my players and it is not easy. I have continuously told my players, that this system will take at least three to four months of intensive drilling every night in practice. I have to continue to remind them, "its not where you are at the beginning that counts, its where you are at the end". I dont like to use past teams as examples however in this case, i coached a varsity team out of Ohio when i was there and we lost our first 7 games but i continued to stick by the system, continued to drill and teach every day. By the end of the season, we had won our league and went onto a regional. Too many coaches give up on their philosophies because either they truly dont believe in them or their players wont buy into it or someone else tells you to try something else ...cause it wont work. Its your job to sell your system to your kids and its their job to buy into it...finaly its your job to teach it.....good luck Coach Mac

Great thoughts Coach Mac!

You ARE absolutely right... you really have to believe in it 100%!
If you don't how do you expect your players to? I had pretty good luck with my players buying into my system... regardless of what we were running. Heck, we ran a Princeton Style Open Post offense... called Double Up... not the dribble drive of today, more about ball control and reading the defense, taking what they gave us. We played m2m - Dick Bennets ON/Up the line and a 1-3-1 Match up.... two completely different philosophies... and they played them pretty well. NOW IF I only had a couple of beasts inside we would have been a lot better.

Believe in your system and teach the fundamentals every day of the season... it WILL pay off.