"Defense Wins Championships

College Teams and Defenses

Man to Man

Zone

Combo

Press and Traps

Glossary of Defense

Identity is Key

A defense is something that you feel best fits you team's personess, size, quickness, and your own defensive philosophy A good defense prevents your opponent from scoring and allows
you transition to your offense more easily. There are many types of defenses that teams use to allow them to do such.Defenses can be categorized as:

Defense
Man to Man

(1).(Man-to-Man defense) A Man-to-man defense has each defender assigned to defend a certain offensive player... his or her "man". Sounds simple enough, but great man-to-man defense is much more than that. Defenders two-passes away from the ball drop off their man into "helpside" defense. So away from the ball, the man-to-man defense looks and acts a lot like a zone defense, while you have a defender pressuring the ball at all times. Man-to-man defense has the advantage of maintaining pressure on the ball at all times. This defense may be susceptible to guard dribble-penetration, but this can be avoided by your on-ball defenders learning to become good defenders, your adjacent wing defenders learning to "hedge" in the seams, and by having good helpside defense. You can double-team the low posts, and occasionally "red" or double-team the point guard as a surprise tactic. You must have a plan for dealing with screens.

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Zone

(2).Zone Defense Zone defense is different from man-to-man defense in that, instead of guarding a particular player, each zone defender is responsible for guarding an area of the floor, or "zone", and any offensive player that comes into that area. Zone defenders move their position on the floor in relationship to where the ball moves. Their are advantages and disadvantages of zone defenses. For example, you can often stop dribble-penetration and protect the paint with a 2-3 zone, but you give up some pressure on the outside.Zone defenses can be categorized based on the defensive "set" that you use (2-3, 1-2-2, 3-2, 1-3-1, etc). Rebounding out of a zone defense is also important.

" 2-1-2 Zone

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Combo

(3).Combination Defenses Match-up zone is a "combination" defense, combining elements of man-to-man defense (on-ball), and zone defense (away from the ball). This is a zone defense that acts a lot like a good man-to-man defense, remembering that good man-to-man helpside defense looks like a zone away from the ball. The on-ball defender closes-out and plays tight like in a man-to-man. The zone away from the ball resembles man-to-man "help-side" defense. The match-up zones have specific rotations and assignment rules. You may confuse the offense by changing your starting defensive set, and they may not be certain if you are in a man or zone defense.

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" Combination Zone

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Press and Traps

(4).Half-Court Presses and Traps Starting your defense at (or just beyond) the half-court line can confuse the offense, result in turnovers, steals and lay-ups in transition, and can disrupt the normal flow of the offense, and make if difficult for them to "get into" their offense. Any press is a gamble that you might give up an easy basket, but half-court presses are less risky than full-court presses since your have all five defenders back in the half-court. Some teams will half-court press the entire game, or until the offense shows they can beat it. Some teams will use it intermittently, as a surprise tactic. I have personally witnessed the "Viking" half-court press (actually started out beyond the half-court line) as a very effective defense, when run correctly.