I found these toughness drills on the Xavier Men’s Basketball Newsletter Site.
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I hope that these drills give you some ideas that you can modify and adapt to fit your program.
Full Court Guard Toughness
1 guard attempts to advance the ball against 2 defenders
Either split the defenders or attack the slower of the two
Cannot use the shaded area of the floor
Make sure that players understand that this is an overload toughness drill. If players are double teamed in a game, look to pass the ball.
I like to make the drill competitive and use the following scoring system. Each individual in the group of three is competing by him or herself against the score of the other two individuals.
4 points if the offense draws a foul (We don’t want the defense to foul when trapping) or scores a basket
3 points if the offense beats the 10 second count and can keep the dribble alive (without a five count) for a total of 15 seconds without a turnover.
2 points if the offensive player crosses half court and has to pick up the dribble, but holds the ball without being stripped, tied up, or getting a five count.
1 point for the offense for a 10 second or 5 second turnover (we don’t want to lose the ball in live turnover
0- points for losing a live ball. If the defense scores that lost ball, each defender receives 2 points.
Straight Line Toughness
The goal is to advance the ball up the floor. Offense gets 1 dribble. Defense needs to stop the ball from being advanced.
Players on offense must stay in their designated lane.
Offense must make game cuts to get open. Look to beat the defense deep using north and south dribbles.
Option: You can make a rule that the ball always has to go to to the middle player.
To make this competitive, time the offense to get to the opposite endline, or give the offense a point per pass. They stay on offense until the defense deflects a pass or creates any kind of turnover or violation including traveling.
3 on 2 Fullcourt Toughness
Offense gets two dribbles.
Defense traps and rotates.
When in a trap, don’t shift weight back.
Determine a scoring system that fits the purpose of the drill for your program. Put players in teams of 3 with one offensive player out for each possession,
If you are a trapping and pressing team, give the defense points for deflections and turnovers caused. If your purpose is to work on being strong and tough with the ball, use a scoring system similar to the one above for 2 on 1 offense.
Always fit the scoring system of your drills to reward playing the style you need to play to win and reward the fundamentals and techniques that you emphasize and teach.
