That Basketball Life

Below are 2 nice drills that Bob Higgins uses to train his teams in the different phases of a man to man. These drills cover everything from on ball defense, to how to defend one pass away, to how to defend 2 passes away, to how the defense collapses on a dribble drive.

Here at TBL we are all about the fundamentals.  Nothing is more fundamental and nothing is more important than layups.  At the end of a close game, the difference between a win or a loss can usually come down to which team made more of their layups.  It's not enough to have a play drawn up that will get your team an easy layup.  It's not enough to spend time in practice just practicing uncontested layups.  You need to simulate game conditions. Below is a nice layup drill which can be used to put your players in a situation where they are not just dealing with the basket but with an opponent chasing them.

Here is another post on one of the most important but often neglected parts of the game.  As I've mentioned before, footwork is so important yet so often neglected by coaches.  It should be a part of every practice especially early in the season and often reinforced during the year. In an effort to cover all of the important elements of footwork, I am prepared to discuss another of the essentials.  Closeouts are a very important part of the game.  Closeouts are the moves a defender tries to make to cover a man who generally has the ball.  The quicker you close out the better off you will be.  There are different steps to a good closeout: Dig deep and sprint to the man you are closing out on as quickly as possible. Once you are about 2/3 of the way there begin chopping your feet.  This serves 2 purposes: It helps you slow down and prevents you from over running the offensive player. It keeps you in balance and your feet close to the ground in an...