Coach Eddie Sutton is one of my favorite coaches. When he was at Arkansas, he never failed to write or reply when I requested information on his philosophy. At Kentucky, we would often travel from West Virginia to Lexington and his program was always open to high school coaches and he always took the time to answer questions. I respect that so much in coaches. Here is a list of his general principles for his "10 Defense" which is a sinking man-to-man with zone principles.1. Know where your man and basketball are at all times.
2. When you lose sight of your man, go to basket area and re-locate him.
3. Use a boxer stance when covering the ball (exception to this would be in covering post).
4. When covering a man more than one pass away from ball, sink to lane area and be ready to help if a mistake is made by a teammate. The quicker you are the more you can sink. The most important man is the sinker or helper.
5. Every man on defense moves whenever ball or man you are covering moves. Never stand.
6. Never let a man drive the lane area. You must have pride in not giving up cheap baskets. We refer to lane area as "no man's land."
7. Never trail a man to the basket...Ball - You - Man
8. Do lots of talking on defense.
9. Learn to move your feet before you use your hands. Once you can do this, then you can bring your in to play.
10. Any time the ball penetrates the heart of the defense, everyone must collapse like an umbrella. When the ball is force outside then everyone resumes normal position.
11. Don't foul carelessly. Games are lost whenever you put your opponent on the free throw line too much.
12. When shot is taken by your opponent -- if he goes to board to rebound -- it is your responsibility to screen him off. If he remains out on perimeter, then drop to a 15 foot radius of the basket and play the long rebound.
13. you become a defensive player the very instance you or your teammate shoots the basketball.
14. We follow 3, 3 1/2, or 4 man on offensive boards. this is determined by the type of team we are playing.
