(Rental)-Basketball Pressure Defense Without Fouling

Put on the pressure without being reckless!

• You can apply a lot of pressure and not see an increase in fouls
• Reduce complexity without compromising its effectiveness
• A simple, but effective countermeasure that streamlines your ball screen coverage is a good idea.

As Brad Underwood has shown many times, good defense can transform a program. Underwood transformed an Illinois basketball team that was ranked 330th nationally in defensive efficiency into a top-ranked defensive team. Underwood did this by changing some key points in his defensive philosophy and teaching his players that vision. This video will show you the drills and principles that are used to create a top-five defensive program.

Defensive Principles

Any defense must reduce fouls, easy baskets, and open 3-pointers. To guide his team from the bottom up to the top, Coach Underwood needed to focus on just one concept at a given time. He learned from the Milwaukee Bucks, the greatest team in the world. This taught him how to make every game winnable and not foul.

As a coach, one of the most important principles to control is your team's communication skills and listening abilities. You can improve your players' listening and communication skills by changing the pick up point or ball screen principles. Your defenders will be able to communicate early, loud, and often so that they can process the screen quickly and move on. Coach Underwood shows you how to use your closeouts and force 3-point shooters to shoot mid-range jumpers instead.

Underwood also explains how to use On-Ball Defense to keep your opponent's ball handlers on the one side of the floor. This will allow you to not have to break down or rotate defensively. You can "guard your yard" and keep ball handlers on one side of the floor.

Shell Drill

You will see Coach Underwood's defensive strategies in action in a 5v5 game. Your players will be taught to remove driving lanes and fill in gaps that can make it difficult to see. Athletes also learn to throw their hands up in contesting a shot, which forces the offense away at the 3-point line.

Underwood's approach to defense focuses on closeouts. He walks you through wing drives and middle drives as well as ball screens and post defense. The Shell Drill will teach you how to defend and teach one pass away, as well as side defense. Teaching the flat triangle to players who are only one pass away will change the way they can attack the driving lanes. As they go through Shell Drill, Coach Underwood says that he is always looking for the rhythm in his defense. They have become one of the most respected defensive teams in the country because of this rhythm.

It is not easy to teach an old coach new things. You have to modify the way you teach when your team is having trouble defensively. That was the lesson Coach Underwood learned and had to change his defensive strategy. He has helped Illinois return to the championships with his new vision and philosophy. This video is great and shows how you can make small changes to your philosophy to turn around your program!

70 minutes. 2022.