Build an Elite Basketball Defense
Yale's James Jones, 4v4 SSG, KU 2-3 Zone Quick Hitter, Dominate 2-3 Zone Ds
Define Your Defense with Coach James Jones
This week on A Quick Timeout podcast, Yale Bulldogs’ James Jones shares his philosophy for team defense. The Yale head coach provides strategies for breaking down individual skills, teaching team defense, and maximizing your coaching staff.
Q: A good part of defense is tied to effort. How do you train you players to play hard?
Jones: A lot of that is desire. People ask me, “What do you look for in players?” We look for toughness. When the ball is on the ground, you’re either going to look at it, or you’re going to go get it. If you’re going to look at it, your team’s losin’. So we want the guys who aren’t afraid to get on the ground and “get dirty.” And that' gets contagious, and it goes both ways. If you got guys who don’t dive on the ground, then you have a team that doesn’t dive on the ground. If you got guys that dive on the ground, you have a team that dives on the ground.
We like to say we want some guys with some “snot in their nose.” I can’t make you tougher. We can do some thing to help you out, but if you’re not a tough guy, it’s going to be hard to want to get into a fight at get dirty.
Listen to the full episode…
Also available on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
Play of the Week: Kansas Jayhawks 2-3 Zone Quick Hitter
Solid zone offense from Bill Self's Kansas Jayhawks. Shift the zone with the pass to set up the ball screen, then screen inside for the open look. Love screening the zone on multiple levels.
You can download this play to your FastDraw playbank (and all of my FastModel Chalk Talk plays) here.
SSG of the Week: Fogler Disadvantage 4v4 With Bands
Stressing footwork and lateral quickness with the defense. We added the bands to the defense to remove playing with hands, overemphasizing correct footwork. On the whistle, play goes live.
Looking for more small-sided game ideas? Here are 35 Small-Sided Games Playbook for Player Development.
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