All Access Basketball Practice with Scott Cross

Get an all access look inside three University of Texas-Arlington`s practices as head coach Scott Cross takes you through a series of drills he uses during each of his basketball practices. The foundation of UT-Arlington philosophy is their belief that successful basketball begins and ends on the defensive end of the floor.

Cross opens up his gym and demonstrates the fundamental breakdown drills he uses to teach aggressive full-court and half-court defense. In addition, Coach Cross demonstrates the basis of the team`s ball-screen offense. The terrific looks at their defensive breakdowns and their ball screen offense will help you see how this mid-major team is able to have so much success.

Video 1
Everything starts on the defensive end and that's what you will get in this first practice. Coach Cross takes his team through the defensive principles that have guided his teams to success year after year. He spends most of his time demonstrating how to build your man-to-man defense starting with a solid foundation of defensive stance and building up to 4-on-4 half court competitive game with an emphasis on taking charges and communicating.

He begins with a unique set of ladder drills that lead into a closeout drill and end with players taking a charge. Cross shows a twist to your shell defense in their Spurs Shell Drill where players have to earn their stops in order to be successful in this competitive drill. In 2-on-2 Turn Drill, Cross lays the foundation for building a successful Run and Jump Full Court Press. Your players will be pushed to the limit to get stops in the open court.

Video 2
Full of innovative drills, this disc picks up where the disc one left off. Coach Cross continues to build his man-to-man defense with different progressions. He lays out his vision for the Run and Jump Full Court Press with competitive drills in a 2-on-2 full court and half court set-up.

Knowing that defense creates scoring opportunities, he details his half court man offense called Cross. He provides you with a new look to 3-out 2-in motion offense including quick hitting strikes you can use out of the original set that will keep your opponent on its toes. He uses Box Shell Drill as another competitive drill where multiple down screens are set to help players get open and defenders learn to fight through the traffic.

Video 3
In his third practice session, Coach Cross offers insights of how to teach your players to run pick and roll offense by reading how the defense is playing you. In order to do so, Cross demonstrates a variety of breakdown drills that provide his players with the necessary fundamentals to make plays and develop an attacking mentality off of ball screens. The emphasis is on reading and reacting to the defense in three ways: caboose, split and twist.

Whether its pick and roll shooting or cavalier pick and roll, you will learn how to effectively teach a ball screen offense that will create many scoring opportunities. You will learn about two highly competitive drills that have made UT-Arlington successful: The 3-on-3 Run and Jump and Boys to Beast Drill. Each drill will push your players to learn how to trap and pressure their opponent anywhere on the floor. In addition to these drills, Coach Cross also shows some of the out of bounds options the team runs along the baseline.

Implementing the drills and concepts in this video will help to build your team's defensive identity. This season, create offensive opportunities by pressuring your opponent all over the floor and locking them down.

387 minutes (3 videos). 2013.

All Access videos are designed to allow viewers from all over the world to see how successful coaches run their practices in a "live" practice setting. All Access videos allow viewers to see the practices un-edited and in real-time. You will see how top coaches run their drills, interact with their team and staff, how they motivate their team, the cue words they use, the atmosphere of the practice and how practices are structured from day to day. Many coaches visit successful colleges and high schools to watch practice. But if you live out of state or out of the country, visiting another coach's gym can be costly. That's why we created the All Access Practice Series of videos -- to bring the practices to you!