As the legendary coach, Pat Summitt, once said, ”Offense sells tickets. Defense wins games. Rebounding wins championship.” I am a believer that defense does win championship. Yes, it is the team that scores the most that wins the game but in order to be that team you have to STOP/PREVENT the other team from doing so. Which comes down to defense. Rebounding is a form of offense and defense - you have your O-Boards and your D-Boards. But defensive rebounding, in my eyes, is essential because you not only secure the ball from the other team, you also give your team an extra possession.
I think any activity you do in practice has to be competitive. Make player uncomfortable so that the games come easy to them. If I can keep score in most drills I will, reward points for O-Boards + score and reward points for D-Boards. Big 10 Rebounding does just that where the only way you can off on defense is to get the defensive rebound.
TAP TRANSITION:
Step 1: Split up into two teams, alternating in a single file line. Player will jump and tip the ball off the backboard and move to the end of the line.
Step 2: Coach will yell "LIVE" and the team who ends up with the basketball off that tip will transition on offense while the other team will sprint back on defense.
Step 3: No matter how the possession ends, the defensive team will transition back on offense for a possession.
ALTERNATIVES: You can play it like a STOP-SCORE OR SCORE-STOP in order to earn a point. You can play up and down for a few possessions before restarting and subbing. It's up to the numbers available and the amount of time you want to spend on this drill.
Great for communicating on offense of who's running where as well as communicating on transition defense of who has ball, sprinting back to basket then fanning out and finding someone to guard.
UCONN 3 v 3 CLOSEOUT
Texas Tech "KILL DRILL"
This tweet had gotten a lot of love when I had shared it so I thought it was only best to post it here as well. What I love about this drill is that I could see the benefits while watching the Texas Tech MBB team during their tournament run. They communicated well, they helped their teammate, and their ball pressure was second to none.
We actually implemented this drill at one of our AAU practices recently and I could see a change in effort from our girls on the defensive end. We had struggled on that side of the ball during our first tournament and part of it came down to a lack of pride and communication. When they found out that the time would restart if they did not talk, gave up an offensive rebound, or the offensive scored they stepped up their intensity on the defensive end to make sure they got three stops.
The parameters of this are wide and completely up to your preference as a coach. Since we just implemented it I did not want to a parameter of no middle/paint yet (even though we teach our players to force baseline) because some of our younger kids are still learning positioning of help and gap within how we want to play. But that is another parameter you could set for this drill that would restart the time for the defensive team.
If you ask any of our players, they'll tell you straight up I LOVE this drill!
