"A GREAT PRACTICE SCHEDULE"
By Coach Mike Holland
copyright 2002

B team Practice Schedule:
Defense, Rebounding, Teamwork

// here are some "musts" for preparing for the season. 
// 1. teach m2m defense with shell drill
// 2. inbounds play underneath on offensive end
// 3. press breaker play
// 4. some set to attack 2-3 zone (either #1, overload play or 1-3-1 set)
// 5. teach either 1-3-1 zone or 2-3 zone to mix in with m2m (optional)

Warmup - 15 minutes:
1) 3 laps
2) starting from opposite end, foul line extended, do 3/4 court layups
right hand, left hand, front of rim, stop/shoot at free throw line

Dribbling - 15 minutes:
3) zip zag dribbling - reverse spin, crossover (remind defenders that
this is a defensive feet-moving drill too, and they must beat the
dribbler to the spot)
4) gauntlet

Defense - 20 minutes:
5) defensive positioning and slides (1st practice only)
6) shell drill defense - with cuts (1st, 2nd, 3rd practice only)
7) half court m2m drill

Passing - 15 minutes:
8) sideline passing drill - 2 hand chest pass
9) sideline passing drill - bounce pass (or 2 hand overhead pass)

fastbreak offense - 15 minutes:
10) teach 2 on 1 and 3 on 1 fast breaks (1st & 2nd practice)
11) fast break drill

half court offense - 20 minutes:
12) half court set walk through
13) three guard position shooting - no defense, with 2 guard defense
14) three guard position with forward shooting

shooting - 10 minutes:
15) 3 group shooting drill competition

playing - 20 minutes:
16) scrimmage (without dribbling?)

Inbounds Play (against 2-3 zone)
Line up four guys on free throw line, numbered 1,2,3,4 where 1 is
on end of free throw line furthest away from inbounder and 4 is on
end of free throw line closest to inbounder. Numbers 1 and 3 should
be tallest players. When inbounder yells break, 1 and 3 cut into
the paint, criss-crossing. 1 goes first cutting towards inbounder,
stopping in the position where he would be making a layup just to
side of rim in the paint. If he is not not open, he will draw the
attention so that when number 3 cuts to opposite side of rim he will
probably be wide open for a layup. Number 2 pops up top for safety
valve if no one is open, while number 4 cuts to wing/corner of 
inbounder's side of court. 
We just use a simple stack against m2m defense.

Half court set (against 2-3 zones)
Position in a 1-2-2 half court set. The 1 man (man in point position)
passes either to wing on either left or right. The wing player not
on the ball side, cuts to ball side elbow. The baseline player not
on the ball side, cuts to ball side baseline. The wing who receives
the pass from the point, looks to pass to cutter at elbow, man on 
block, or cutter now on ball side baseline. Point can fade to wing
not on ball side and look for skip pass from wing with ball as well.
Alternative to attack 2-3 zone: Offense is spread in a 1-2-2 formation.
Wing sets pick on guard. Point uses pick to try to drive down lane.
If lane isn't open (probably wont be) the point can pass to man setting
pick who should have rolled down lane after pick, or he can dish to
man on baseline corner who should be open as the defensive forward 
should move in to cut off the point guards drive.

Sideline passing drill
Split into two groups. One from each group in the paint near blocks, 
the rest on opposite sidelines. Man in paint chest passes to each group 
member on sideline, and they pass back, as he slides up paint toward 
free throw line. After receiving pass back from last group member, he 
makes a layup at opposite basket, passes back to the next in line and 
joins group on sideline. First group to have every member complete 
passing and make a layup, wins.

Fast break drill
5 players positioned in 2-1-2 defense, one coach shoots, closest player
to rebound (or made shot) grabs rebound. Guard on rebound side of court
must receive outlet on wing. All 5 players run the fast break with other
coach playing defense at opposite end of court. Next 5 players do same
while 1st 5 players return.
Alternative fast break drill: 3 players line up in straight line with
first player in position to catch a rebound off of backboard just to
right or left of the rim. The 2nd player bounces ball off backboard
for 1st player to rebound. 1st player must first box out 2nd player,
then get rebound. As 1st player is grabbing rebound, 3rd player goes
out to wing to receive outlet pass. rebounder throws outlet to 3rd
player. 3rd player then dribbles to opposite end free throw line stops
and throws a bounce pass to 1st player who after throwing outlet has 
sprinted the length of court and down the lane for the layup. Next,
2nd player moves to 1st position, 3rd to 2nd position, new player takes
3rd position.

Gauntlet Drill (kids love this one)
Break up court into 4 zones - baseline to foul line (extended), foul 
line to half-court line, half court line to foul line, and foul line 
to base line. Place two defensive players in each of the four zones. 
They must defend their zone but cannot leave it. 
Two players must attempt to bring the ball up the court through the 
Gauntlet (eight defenders in the four zones) and score. On a miss and 
defensive rebound, steal, turnover or out of bounds, they must SPRINT 
back to the beginning and try again. If they make the basket, eight on 
defense run a double suicide or do pushups. Five attempts for each pair. 

half court m2m drill
Half court keep away is a game where the offense gets 5 points for 
scoring, 2 points for catching a pass in the lane, and 1 point for 
catching a pass inside the 3 point line. No rebounds, defense always 
gets ball on missed shots.
Play 5 or 10 minutes and losers do a pushup for each point they lose by. 
Whole team plays (so it could be 6v6) which requires good spacing and 
movement.

3 (or 2) group shooting drill (kids love this one)
One drill we do thats fun and really emphasizes accuracy is our long-short 
drill. We split up into 3 groups. Coaches can participate if you want. One 
group is at a wing, one at the point, and one at the other wing. 
At the whistle, the game begins. Each group's first player shoots a three. 
If made, his/her team get 2pts. If missed, the player must rebound his/her 
own shot and has one chance to make a layup (or shoot anywhere, actually) 
for 1 pt. The teams must constantly call out their scores. First team to 
15 wins the game, first team that wins 3 games wins the drill.

Feed-me drill
This is a good drill to get guys to hustle after rebounds and also has
shooting practice built in. Split teams up into even numbers. 3 or 4 
to a team. One team member is the shooter, the rest of team lines up 
on free throw line. Pick a spot as the designated shooting spot. Each 
team member must shoot 10 shots from the designated shooting spot. But 
the shooter cant shoot until all his teammates have both feet on the free 
throw line. His teammates must rebound and feed the shooter until 10 
shots have been taken, then hustle back to the line. The team that 
finishes first, gets 3 points. Each shot made counts for one point.

Points of emphasis in teaching m2m are: 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. If your man has the ball, you should be applying as much pressure as
possible without fouling. You win the battle if you get the dribbler to 
stop, preferably by herding the ballhandler into a corner or sideline. 
Steals are not the goal. Steals are a nice-to-have. When steals are the 
goal, you will have fouls and players out of position. 

2. If your man catches a pass, its your fault. You (the player, of course) 
should feel personally responsible if the player you are defending receives 
the basketball. The closer your man is to the ball, the more intensely you 
need to defend the passing lane. When your man is close to the ball, be 
between your man and the ball so the only way he can get the pass is if its 
lobbed over your head and behind you. 

3. If your man is far from the ball, cheat (sag in the key) so you can help 
out if a dribbler breaks free. If you are cheating, a long pass to your man 
won't hurt you. You will have time to run to your man and cover him. Also, 
if you're cheating correctly, a long pass to your man will be to an area away
from the basket, like the corner, where danger is low. 

4. All players should watch for lob passes. They are the food that feeds the
defense (not steals off the dribbler). Ballhandlers under pressure that find 
defenders between them and their intended recipients will throw long passes. 
The defenders behind those passes should anticipate and intercept. Once the 
players catch on to this concept, they'll be picking off long passes and 
loving it. 

5. Good ballhandlers under intense pressure will be able to drive around the
defender. That's a fact of life. The next closest defender must immediately 
step up and stop or slow the dribbler so his man can recover. When help comes
very quickly, the ballhandler will usually stop. Return to your own man. 

6. Do not double team. If you want to kill your defense, just leave your man
and go double team the ball in open court. Most of the time your man will be 
wide open, get the pass, and the imbalance will result in a basket. Help as 
needed, then return. If your teammate has the ball under control, let him do 
his job and make sure your man doesn't get a pass. 

There are other important elements to m2m, but for young teams, I'd focus on 
above for team m2m defense. Principles apply full court m2m or 1/2 court. 
When teams are lax in defending passing lanes, there is no real pressure 
because the ballhandler always has someone to pass to. Accept the risk of 
playing in the passing lane. The result will be many lob passes that your 
next line of defense will get. That's the team concept in man to man. Its not
an individual approach at all - man to man is somewhat of a misnomer that way.