Home / Defense Articles / Principles of Man to Man Defense
1. Keep the ball-handler out of the middle of the floor.
2. Always have vision of both your man and the ball.
3. When defending 1 pass away, deny your man in an “on the line, up the line” position.
4. When defending 2 or more passes away, position yourself in the middle of the lane in “pistols” position, pointing to both the ball and your man. You should be be one or two steps back from being in on-the-line, up-the-line position, so that you hasve vision of both the ball and man inside of your peripheral vision. At the same time, the head should be “on a swivel”, scanning back and forth between the ball and the man so that you will be ready to make adjustments.
5. Close out on all shooters a hand up on the ball.
6. “Line of the Ball” – discuss the option of denying reversal and using line of ball in backcourt.
7. Be the Aggressor. Force the offense to react.
8. Jump to the ball. When the offense makes a pass, adjust defensive positioning as the ball is in the air, not after the pass has been completed. Be quick!
9. Help early! If you need to help on the drive, do it early, putting your feet and shoulders directly in the ball handler’s path.
10. When you help, be prepared to recover to your man on a pass.
11. When your man cuts to the ball, position yourself between your man and the ball in denial position
12. Box out! If your man is 2 or more passes away from the ball, leave the key to box out.
13. If you get beat back door, open up to the ball, temporarily losing sight of your man.
14. Keep the ball out of the paint!
15. Hands up – ball and passing lane – palms up in backcourt
16. Establish a help side. By getting the ball out of the middle of the floor, the on-ball defense can play more aggressively, with the knowledge that help defenders are waiting in the event that they get beat off the dribble.
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