COMMIT TO DEFENSE

The question today is what are your defensive standards?  What is that you need your defense to do for it to be successful.  I'm a big believer that offense is principle-based while defense is more rule oriented.  At Texas A&M we refer to these as our "non-negotiables."  While your list certainly doesn't have to mirror ours, you need to give some thought to what you standards are going to support your defense.  Make sure you share those with your team on a constant basis.  They should be a part of your breakdown drills and whole method work....point them out in practice.  Make them part of your defensive culture.

Here is another great list via Del Harris from his book "Winning Defense."

Commit to Defense

To instill our philosophy, we drill our team defense to be able to accomplish the following items which we call The Defensive Seven- on a consistent basis:

Have a great transition from offense to defense. Don’t give up fast breaks with quick, easy offensive shots. Make the opponent score five-on-five against a set defense most of the time, not two-on-one or three-on-two.

Push the ball to a sideline in order to establish a good weakside defense as early as possible. A good weakside helps fortify the entry side, puts them in positions to attack penetration, and makes better defenders out of the players on the strong side.

Keep the ball from reversing easily from side to side. To allow the ball to swing easily creates defensive problems for the weakside people, preventing them from giving adequate help angles.

Concentrate on stopping penetration via the dribble and pass. Setting the defense early helps accommodate this.

Prevent a consistent low post attack. Do early work to prevent good positioning inside; challenge cutters and post up people. If the ball does get to a good position inside, it is vital to have a system of attack in terms of helping, trapping, and rotating to reduce the damage.

Rotate to assist a teammate who has gotten into trouble by getting beat on a drive, cut, post-up or by losing his man.

Rebound and pick up loose balls.