The purpose of the drill is to simuate the end of game situation where the team with the ball is playing ball control .  Our philosophy is that we are either going to shoot wide open layups, free throws (if our opponent wants to foul us in their attempt to catch up), or run time off the clock.  Our call for nothing but a layup is “4!” meaning that we are only going to shot shots that we consider to be a 4 on our shot rating system.

In the drill, teams alternate possession of the ball as in a game with the ball changing hands on a basket, a defensive rebound, or a turnover.  If the offense misses the layup and gets the offensive rebound, they maintain possession of  the ball.  First team to 60 points wins.  Scoring for the drill is as follows:

Made Lay-up = 5 points
Each pass = 1 point
Each foul = 1 point (for the offense and offense retains possession)
Turnover = 2 points for the defensive team

It encourages the offense to work to get open, and the defense to work on pressure and denials.

To start the drill, the player with the ball tries to beat the defender off the dribble.  After that player makes a pass, there is no dribble, or it is a turnover.  There is also no passing back to the same teammate who just passed you the ball, unless it is a give and go for a layup.

Depending on your philosophy of using timeouts to save possession, you can give each team a timeout or two to call during the drill to save possesion.  That teaches them to make sure that they are aware of and ask to find out how many timeouts they have remaining.  Our rule is that we don’t call timeout to save a possession until the final two minutes of the game.

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Split your sqaud into two five player teams.  You can also split into six or seven player teams and rotate the players in if you have more then 10 players in practice. Each team will have four possessions in the drill with each team getting one shot on each possession.  The shots  on the four posssessions must be taken by four different players.   The team scores 2 points for a made two pointer and 3 points for a made three pointer. All shots must be game-like perimeter shots with no layups or post shots allowed.

The drill begins with the team that is going to run that 5/0 possession in a defensive stance and a coach with the ball.  The coach shoots with the player nearest him challenging the shot.  All other defenders block out an imaginary opponent.  If the shot goes in, inbound it just like a game, if it misses, play the rebound into your transition offense going to the other end.

The point guard calls the play, the set, or whatever it is that they are going to run. If the ball is fumbled or mishandled in any way during the possession, it is considered a turnover and the team does not get to shoot-so that possession results in no points.  If the offense does not cut, screen, and move the basketball at a game-like pace to the coach’s satisfaction, it is also a turnover and they are off the floor with no points on that possession.

If you run a continuity or motion offense, the point guard calls for a combination of movements or a certain number of reversals and who the shot is for.

As soon as one team completes their possession, the other team is ready to go at the other end of the floor to go through the same procedure.  Each team makes four offensive trips with the team who gets the highest score winning.  If it is a tie, overtime is one possession for each team with the fifth player shooting this time.  If necessary, keep playing overtimes until one team has a higher score after both have had their overtime possession.

Three other rules to add in if you want are giving one point for a put back on a missed shot where the rebounder’s feet do not hit the ground on the catch and put back.  Second, once the game is over,
the player who did not shoot in the drill who is on the winning team has to make a free throw to “validate” the win.  If he or she misses, then the win goes to the other team.  The final extra rule is that you can have the other team guard only the post player each possession and allow the post to score in the drill if he can do so while being guarded.

Hopefully, there are some ideas you can utilize to make what is already a very valuable drill even better.

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http://www.goxavier.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/xavi-m-baskbl.html

Like everything else I post, I hope you can adapt a version of this to fit your defensive system.  We don’t trap the post from the post feeder, but rather from another helper.  We then position the post feeder’s defender to take the pass out of the post if it is made to the ball side.  But, that would be an easy change to make in this drill.

Here is Xavier’s Drill:

Three offensive players are positioned on the floor.  Two on their respective wings free throw line extended and one above the top of the key.  One defender is positioned under the basket facing half court.

A coach passes the ball to the offensive player on the right wing.  As this happens, two
managers step onto the court with one on each block.

As the offensive player catches the initial pass, the defender closes out and establishes ball pressure.

The offensive player then passes the ball to the right block to the manager. The defender “covers down” on the post.

The right block manager then passes the ball to the top of the key. The defender goes from a “cover down” on the right post area to a closeout at the top of the key.

The ball is now passed to the manager on the left block. The defender again covers down on the manager who has the ball on the left block.

Finally, the ball is passed to the left wing out of the post. Again, the defender closes out to the ball, this time on the left wing. On this catch it is a live one on one drill with everybody out of the way except the offensive and defensive players who are playing one on one from the left wing.

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from Coach Eric Musselman

RULES:

1.) Put 5 defenders in line right under the rim facing half court.

2.) Place 5 offensive players on the perimeter. Put a player in each corner, each wing, and one at the point.

3.) The coach shoots the ball from different spots on the floor.

4.) When the shot is taken the defenders rush out to block out the offensiver players. If they get the defensive rebound the get 1 POINT and pass the ball to the coach and go back to their original positions.

5.) If the offense gets a rebound they get 1 Point and must put the shot right back up and if they make the shot they get another point. They have to put the ball right back up they cannot take it back up top. Every time the offense gets a rebound they get a point.

6.) You play to the first team getting 10 points. Losers run! (You can have either an offensive or defensive winner.

Here is a short video of Coach Izzo running a rebounding drill:

Scroll down the page to see the drills.

Tom Izzo 2 on 2 Rebounding Drill

Tom Izzo 5 on 5 Rebounding Drill

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Consider telling your team at the beginning of some of the competitive drills that you run that at the end they will need to “validate” it.  For example, if you split your team into two groups and do a competitive shooting drill, the team that wins the drill must then make a free throw (coach chooses the player to shoot so that all players have a chance to shoot the free throw eventually) to validate their win.

If the player makes the free throw, the team that lost the drill must run.  If the player misses the free throw, then the team that won the drill must run.

It is a good way to shoot some pressure free throws and to teach that for most of the games you win, you have to close them by making free throws.

We have posted the audio recording of the webinar for those of you who couldn’t make it or would like to hear it again.

Bob Hurley Webinar

HoopClinics

The Animal Drill is a rebounding drill for high school and college players that develops timing and hand strength.  You can check it out at this link:

Animal Drill

Straight Line Driving Drill is a video clip from Coach Ed Schilling’s DVD–Mandatory Drills, this page has two other videos.  One of the other videos gives some ideas on taking care of the basketball and the other video some ideas for scoring off of an offensive rebound. An extra bonus on this page is the 40 minute audio recording of a webinar with Coach Schilling.  He made some great coaching points, so it is certainly worth it to take a listen. We do have a link on the page to order Mandatory Drills as well.

Straight Line Driving Drill

Competitive Defensive Drill Here is a competitive defensive drill from Geno Auriemma where the player has to make a one on one defensive stop to get out of the drill.

To make the drill more even more competitive and quick moving than what the short video shows, split your team into groups of five using as many baskets and coaches as you can.  I think it is best to make the players in each group as similar in ability as you can.  The drill is scored like golf.  Each time a player goes on defense, he or she gets a point.  So, if they make the stop the first time, they only get one point (hole in one in golf).  If they have to go five times and get their defensive stop, then they get five points.

After 4 “rounds” where each player has been on defense four times, the low score wins.  That also gives incentive for the offense to work to score because they are putting points against the players they are competing against within their own group.

I like the setup in the video with the two offensive lines so that the defender has to change sides of the floor if they have to go again.

Competitive Defensive Drill

Baseline Drive and Baseline Drift Here is a shooting drill that would be good if you use this movement as a part of your offense.

Baseline Drive and Baseline Drift

Five on the Line Conversion Drill If you can’t see the video right away, you might need to refresh the page.
This is an illustration of one of my favorite defensive conversion drills.  Coach Monson also makes a great teaching point as to having an expectation of getting your halfcourt defense set in five seconds.

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