Fine Tuning Your Man-to-Man Defense: Fine Tuning Series, #2

By Kevin Sivils

There is something about teams who play intense, effective and hard nosed man-to-man defense that sets those teams a notch above other good teams. These great defensive teams exude a confidence that other teams often find intimidating.

What sets these great defensive teams apart from average man-to-man defensive teams is usually not the overall defensive system. It is a combination of small details, intensity and an emphasis on the team concept.

Fine Tuning Your Man-to-Man Defense contains 101 concepts capable of improving any man-to-man defense plus 60 drills designed to teach defensive skills and concepts. The concepts and drills, as well as additional bonus content, are illustrated with over 150 diagrams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kevin Sivils
• Release date: Dec 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781497700963

Kevin Sivils

A 25 year veteran of the coaching profession, with twenty-two of those years spent as a varsity head coach, Coach Kevin Sivils amassed 479 wins and his teams earned berths in the state play-offs 19 out of 22 seasons with his teams advancing to the state semi-finals three times.  An eight time Coach of the Year Award winner, Coach Sivils has traveled as far as the Central African Republic to conduct coaching clinics.  Coach Sivils first coaching stint was as an assistant coach for his college alma mater, Greenville College, located in Greenville, Illinois. Coach Sivils holds a BA with a major in physical education and a minor in social studies from Greenville College and a MS in Kinesiology with a specialization in Sport Psychology from Louisiana State University.  He also holds a Sport Management certification from the United States Sports Academy. In addition to being a basketball coach, Coach Sivils is a classroom instructor and has taught U.S. Government, U.S. History, the History of WW II, and Physical Education and has won awards for excellence in teaching and Teacher of the Year. He has served as an Athletic Director and Assistant Athletic Director and has also been involved in numerous professional athletic organizations. Sivils is married to the former Lisa Green of Jackson, Michigan, and the happy couple are the proud parents of three children, Danny, Katie, and Emily.  Rounding out the Sivils family are three dogs, Angel, Berkeley, and Al.  A native of Louisiana, Coach Sivils currently resides in the Great State of Texas.

Book preview

Contents

Fine Tuning Your Man-to-Man Defense

Using This Book

The Strength of the Pack

You Get What You Emphasize

Why is Man-to-Man Defense So Important?

Key Questions About How To Defend

101 Defensive Concepts

On (The) Ball Defense

Closeouts

Coaching Concepts

Contesting the Shot

Defending Cutters

Defending the Post

Defending Screens

Defending the Three-Point Shot

Denial Defense

Early Help Defense

Odds and Ends But Still Important

Rebounding

TEAM Concepts and Strategy

Lagniappe

The Best Play in Basketball

The Mental Game

Transition Defense

Thoughts on Teaching and Practicing Man-to-Man Defense

On (the) Ball Defense Drills

Closeout Drills

Contesting the Shot

Drills for Defending Cutters

Drills for Defending Screens

Drills for Defending the Post

Drills for Denial Defense

Drills for Early Help Defense

Odds and Ends

Drills for Defensive Rebounding

Drills for TEAM Defense

Transition Defense

Man-to-Man Baseline Out-of-Bounds Defense

There Is Always More To Learn

About the Author

To Contact the Author

The Spiral of Mastery

In Mastering the Skills you Demonstrate Ability.

Demonstrated ability breeds Confidence.

Confidence allows you to stay Calm Under Pressure.

Calmness leads to Concentration or the ability to Focus.

Concentration leads to Proper Decision Making.

(Proper Decision Making is defined as accessing the

correct skills and strategy learned in practice)

Proper Decision Making leads to

Effective Execution of the Skills.

Effective execution of the skills leads to success!

By Jerry Meyer

Collegiate Basketball’s All Time Career Assist Leader Used with permission

Chapter one

Using This Book

If you looking for a complete man-to-man defensive system to install, this book might not be for you. I suggest you skip to the chapter There is Always More to Learn. There you will find a list of books and DVDs that contain detailed descriptions of excellent man-to-man defensive systems. In fact, the push and pack defensive systems of Coach Dick Bennett are the basis of many of the defensive systems commonly used today.

This book is meant to be a guide to take the man-to-man defensive system you select, or create yourself, to another level of defensive intensity and execution. Most coaches understand basic positioning and the concepts of ball side denial, help side positioning and help and recover and do a good job of teaching these concepts.

Yet there always seem to be teams who play man-to-man defense with ferocious intensity, so much so it often is the trademark of the program. The difference between the average man-to-man defense so commonly found and the teams whose reputation is based on man-to-man defense is seldom due to the defensive system employed. The difference is in the little things. The great defensive teams not only execute their overall defensive system as a team, but take great collective and individual pride in executing the little details that take their team defense to the next level.

Every concept in this book is designed to make individual defenders better or to improve the overall team defense. All of these concepts are ones I have taught my own players and teams and can be applied to nearly any sound man-to-man defensive system.

If your team is struggling with a particular area of defense, start with that section of the book first. The ideas presented can be taken to practice the next day and taught to your players.

A word of caution is necessary. It is not enough to talk about playing great man-to-man defense. It has to be taught, drilled with constant repetition and emphasized daily in practice and hold an important place in the overall system of the program.

The best approach is to select the concepts that best apply to your defensive system and during the off-season develop a well thought method and schedule for teaching the system and the concepts intended to fine tune your defensive system.

You will find 60 drills in the section on drills to teach defense. All of these drills teach specific skills and concepts and can be adapted to teach any man-to-man defensive system.

Chapter two

The Strength of the Pack

"For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,

and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack"

- Rudyard Kipling - The Jungle Book

Basketball is a team sport. It takes a true team effort for the game to be played with the beauty and grace the sport is capable of inspiring in players who compete in this elegant game. 

Offensive play may bring fans to the game, occupy the minds of coaches and is probably a bit more fun for players to engage in. But it is the defensive element of the game, more than any other that brings team play to its highest elevation.

The offensive skill and athletic prowess of the players today make it nearly impossible for a single defender to stop, or even contain one individual talented offensive player.

Yet, when five defenders, united in purpose, passion, intensity, strategy and technique set their collective minds to stopping a gifted offensive player, not only can that player be contained, the entire offensive unit of the opponent can be frustrated. The result, usually, is victory for the great defensive team.

Still, just as it takes a true team effort to play great defense, individual defenders are important too. The team defensive unit is only as strong as the weakest defender on the court.

Not only must each individual defender play with great passion and intensity, each defender must have mastered the individual defensive skills necessary to play basic individual and collective team defense. If just one defender is not committed to the collective success of the defense, the entire team will suffer.

Herein lies the great challenge for coaches. Some players feel it is beneath them to exert great effort on the defensive end of the court, believing their offensive skills justify neglecting their defensive responsibilities. Defense is something their teammates do to get the ball back so the self-centered offensive player can score.

Other players are so self-centered they do not want to look bad by getting burned defensively. Sadly, these selfish players don’t realize their poor defensive play makes the entire team look bad defensively.

Unlike offense, most players can develop a decent defensive skill set. Every team needs a defensive specialist, a player so effective defensively that with help from teammates, this player can disrupt a talented offensive player’s play.

Defense does have techniques that must be mastered, but man-to-man defense is in large part about effort, heart, intensity, passion and group effort. Nearly every player good enough to earn a spot on the roster can demonstrate these qualities.

It is the coach’s responsibility to rise to the challenge and instill in the players making up the team the important life lesson of selflessness. You become more when you commit to serving others. When each member of the team adopts this view, it is amazing what can happen.

Each player must be developed fully as an individual defensive player. Then each player’s individual defensive skills must be melded into the overall team concept. Each player must realize each relies on the other players to complete their individual defensive task. Without the help of teammates, successful defense will seldom happen.

Players must also realize each has a serious responsibility to not only fulfill his or her individual defensive assignments, but to be quick to anticipate and provide help to teammates. To move as one defensive unit while the ball is in the air or being dribbled. Defense is the true melding of individual talents and efforts into a true group effort.

Last of all, the coach must instill the lesson of Kipling’s famous quote from the story The Jungle Book. "The strength of the Pack is the Wolf and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack!"

Chapter Three

You Get What You Emphasize

Players seldom do what their coach teaches. Yet, players always do what their coach emphasizes. Paying lip service to concepts as important as team attitude, mastery and execution of basic fundamentals, work ethic, sound offensive and defensive play will not produce players or teams who demonstrate these traits.

A coach must emphasize the concepts important to the program, the success of the team and the development of the players.  Playing a self-centered, selfish player while verbally stressing the team concept teaches players raw ability is more important than demonstrating a team first attitude.

The same is true when if comes to playing defense with passion, intensity and proper execution. Teaching players man-to-man concepts will not produce positive results unless those concepts are emphasized.

Playing time is one of the best ways to emphasize what is important. Sitting down a self-centered, selfish player for lack of team play sends a message to every player on the team. If you want playing time, you must demonstrate a team attitude. Sitting players down for failure to give their best effort on defense also sends a powerful message.

Attaching both positive and negative consequences to concepts taught and practiced in daily practice sessions is another way to emphasize essential concepts of any kind.

Coaches do not need to go overboard setting extreme consequences for the concepts being emphasized. Two push-ups for failure to execute will effectively communicate the desired message. A drink of sports drink instead of water during a hydration break is a simple but effective reward.

Defensive effort must be recognized and rewarded, not just offensive prowess. Make it a point to always praise great individual and team defensive efforts. Give awards for team attitude and defensive performance.

Consistency is essential. Players watch their coach like a child watches their parents. Players, like children, learn almost as much by observing their coach’s attitude, actions and choices as they learn from direct instruction from their coach.

Always be aware, players will do what you emphasize, not what you teach!

chapter four

Why is Man-to-Man Defense

So Important?

Lots of championship teams play zone defense. There is nothing wrong with zone defense. In fact, the best man-to-man defensive systems combine ball pressure and ball side denial with zone concepts such as the help side triangle.

The best zone defenses also utilize man-to-man concepts such as footwork, on the ball pressure, closeouts and covering flash cutters. Teams that play sound fundamental man-to-man defense can play any pressure defense with success. All defenses utilize individual man-to-man skills and many team man-to-man concepts.

Jim Boeheim of Syracuse University, one of the great zone defense coaches, tells coaches when speaking at coaching clinics about his fabled 2-3 zone defense that he spends 90% of his allotted practice time half court defense on man-to-man fundamentals and principles. Once Coach Boeheim feels his team has mastered the zone, he seldom works on it in practice other