Drills to Build The Pack Line Defense -Chris Mack, Xavier [email protected]

-Practices their Pack Line every single day.

Coaching Point: Have an identity. !-Hard to build habbits if you change your defense a lot. !-They more or less keep the pack line no matter who they are playing

Their pack line d is not a soft one where you sit in the lane. !-Their PLD is an aggressive defense, with incredible ball pressure, and you must be smart off the ball.

The PLD helps give you a “system” to play defense. The PLD: 1) Gives players answers and accountability !-Certain things players can/can’t do do !-They are given specific rules ex. “You can’t play behind the post” vs “Play hard” 2) Simplifies Scouting--> Their coaches watch a ton of film but do not give it all to the players. Instead they play certain actions in very specific ways and practice these every day. !Ex. Practice defending staggered screens so when they play a team they already !know how they will defend this and get better at it through out the year. 3) Creates a culture your players can believe in. !Varsity players “pass” down the defense by teaching your younger players !without a lot of involvement from coaches.

****Mark the pack line in practice every day**** Think of it as a 16 foot 3 point line. (Figure 1a)

GOLDEN RULE: When your man does not have the ball YOU MUST HAVE 2 FEET IN THE PACK LINE.

Exceptions: If your man is cutting you must chase the cutter.

1) On the Ball: Have extreme ball pressure ---> do not get beat to the outside NEVER !GIVE UP BASELINE !-Keep your butt to the basket !-Don’t get beat baseline !-If your man goes towards the middle do not get beat through the elbow, they !can’t attack you on a straight line.

Post D: 3 quarter the post on the high side ! -Undersized teams can front ! -Stay low + use and arm bar --> stay on the high side. If the ball is on the wing and the man gets beat baseline it will be a layup. How you play the post determines how you pay the perimeter: !-Pop back if the post player catches and show the officials yours hands. !-Make the offensive player catch outisde the box so now the perimeter player can help if they need to.

Xavier will tape off a box that goes three feet around the block. The offensive player should be forced to catch outside this box (Figure 1a)

2) You must have two feet inside the pack line when your man does not have the ball and you are trying to form triangles

Figure 1b !-Be active in your “gap” !-Stunt on the drive !-Close out with two high hands (be in two places at once) !-Your positioning is constantly changing !-See both

Defining Your Team !-How do you close out? !-Close out with two high hands to discourage rhythm shots !-Play in then out

**Your positioning is your help**

Discourage shots, play the drive, call shot when the shot goes up.

Positioning Drills- !Vegas Close Out: Toss the ball out, close out, yell shot. Two big steps then chop your feet, stay low, elbows bent hands up --> Stay square and stay at a good distance.

Black Hawk Fig 1c- 1) Coach throws the pass out... jump to gap + swipe + contact cutter 2) Player passes to wing... close out !-Go love when coach calls it out...only allow two dribbles

1-0 Positioning Drill Fig 1d- !-Defense stays in “gap” positioning !!-Gap !!-Ball !-Offense keeps moving for 15 seconds at a time *Constantly coach or teach positioning in this drill*

Post Defense !Drills Fig 1e 3 Out 1 Guarded !-Stay low, arm bar, initiate the contact !-Push post player down the line !-On the line up the line !-On the reverse pass open up “Beat the hell out of him block to block” hit then peel **Discipline when the ball goes into the post. 3 quarter to behind (pop back and show ref your hands) Do your work before the post gets it!** !-Boxer’s stance when the post catches the ball !-Wall up --> keep your ground and on shots walk through your man Wall Up- On offensive rebounds push offensive player out w/your feet. !Quick Drill- Throw off the glass offense can only pivot defense wall up -->guards look for chargers.

3 Out 1 Unguarded Fig1f !-Don’t ever switch !-If the offense interchanges you must change positions. !-Always recover to the gap !**Don’t get beat to the outside** Xavier will post trap Big to Big !-Crowd the post and play cat and mouse !-Know who you’re guarding (scouting) so you know how much you can help

**Scouting personnel is important shooter vs non shooters etc**

QUESTIONS: Q) How do you block out if you’re playing the high side? A) Physical block outs and seal your man don’t just run in.

Q) How you do you play the baseline? Where is the defender’s foot? A) When their taught to keep their butt to the basket the player will play how they are comfortable stopping the outside.

Q) Do you deny really good players the ball? A) No. Help w/accountability. Must pressure the ball especially w/no shot clock.

3 on 3 Identity Fig 1g !-15 seconds!!-No ball screens!!-No post ups Scoring: +2 for 2!!+3 for 3!! +2 in the box (possession starts over)!+2 offensive rebounds (possession starts over) 2 Questions: How do do you guard inbounds underneath + how do you defend screens?

1. The man guarding the inbound pass will shade to protect the basket more than being squared up. Any player that is lined up on the block we will play him with an arm bar seeing both the ball and their man. If a player is lined up in the corner or elbow we will guard him depending on position/scouting. We will guard all guards and posts that can shoot with an arm bar ready to chase of screens. We will sag off non shooting bigs, making it easier to defend cuts to the basket.

2. Ballscreens we are always OVER the screen and the big is HARD HEDGING the ballscreen attempting to keep the ball handler on that side of the floor. Off ball screens we have different rules for all of the types of screens we could see. To simplify:

INTERIOR SCREENS (SCREENS BRINGING PLAYERS TO THE BLOCK)- The player guarding the screener always places to “TWO EYES ON THE PASSER” discouraging the passer from making an easy pass in to the paint. The player getting screened gets to the level of the screen, hits the cutter as he uses the screen with a forearm and rides him out of the play.

SCREENS FOR JUMP SHOTS (PIN DOWNS, STAGGERS)- The player guarding the screening action always has a chasing mentality unless the screen is set too high or too low where he will show chase and then go under the screen at the last second (we call it “WHIP the screen”.) The player guarding the passer will jump and swipe at the ball discouraging the chase dribble as will the player guarding the screener. We call this a “THREE ON THE BALL MENTALITY” FIGURES: