In this week’s player development feature, we highlight a pair of effective shooting drills that should pay immediate dividends with your players. The shooting drills are used frequently by Coach Wright and the Villanova men’s basketball program and can also be used across every level of the game.

Slide Threes

There are certain situations in a game when you need a three-pointer and your opponent knows it, too. According to Coach Wright, this is one of the tougher game situations to deal with and that’s why Villanova practices this often.

With Slide Threes, we’ll catch the ball, make a fake, and slide dribble in order to get off a three. Watch the players below go through the drill simulation. There’s a catch, rip, one dribble and slide. This drill really works the shooters and gets them working on game-like situations. Many times, Villanova will have shooters doing this drill while the big guys are working on something else.

Two-Ball Shooting

This drill really simulates shots that Villanova takes in their offense and situations where they get shots in the offense. We’ll start with two players at a basket and separate them by forwards and guards. The forwards are the screeners and the guards are the cutters.

Here, we are simulating screener/cutter situations. Any time that you have these situations, the cutter should set his man up and always come off the screen ready to plant his inside foot and be ready to step and shoot. Players should think shot before they get the shot – and this a perfect drill to practice that.

Meanwhile, the screener should hold the screen until the cutter passes him. The cutter should look to go eyeball-to-eyeball with the screener before going shoulder-to-shoulder at the last second. Once he clears his shoulder, the screener now becomes the cutter. And if the defense takes that away, the cutter looks back to the screener in any screener/cutter situation.

As for player movement/positioning in this drill, start with one player up top and one player on the wing. The player up top makes a screen for the wing player. The cutter then comes around the pick, receives the ball, pivots and makes a bounce pass to the former screener in the corner for a shot. Next, the passer receives a pass and steps into a shot. It’s all about footwork and getting a feel for game situations. Start out with straight cuts and then move to curl cuts and curl & pops.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Jay Wright: 28 Competitive Drills for Shooting and Footwork.” To check out more videos in the Jay Wright/Villanova collection, click here. For more shooting-specific videos, click here.

Here are four effective shooting drills that should pay immediate dividends with your players. Hopefully, with a little practice, you’ll be able to foster good habits and see a marked improvement on the basketball court.

Set Lifts
Coach Wright’s Villanova players perform this drill 10 minutes before practice every day. Here, the players are simply practicing the technique of shooting. The goal is to have the elbow under the ball, knees bent, and then lift the ball and follow through all in one motion. While it’s a simple technique, it’s important that players get the concept of lifting the ball and holding the follow through. Simply, it’s a drill that exaggerates good habits and is a way to get repetitions every day regarding proper technique.

Bradley Drill
In the Bradley Drill, players will make hop steps and practice the rhythm of jumping, lifting and shooting on the way up. Each player gets a set of five. They will get a little bounce in their feet and get their elbow as high as it can. The closer to the rim you are, the higher you release the ball. Players should be about 5-6 feet away from the basket and concentrate on keeping the elbow under the ball and then shoot on the way up. Be sure to always hold the follow through. The goal here is to exaggerate getting the ball in the lane and then needing to shoot with a lot of wrist. Players will do five shots total, two from the sides and one in front, before rotating.

George Mikan Drill
The Mikan Drill is an old standard when it comes to shooting drills, but it continues to be used at all levels for a reason: It works. Here, players are simply practicing layups. They’ll go back and forth under the basket shooting layups at a quick pace with no stops in between. The ball should never hit the floor; it’s always kept above the head as players catch it out of the net. Remember, catch it up and keep it up. Players should do 10 reps before switching to a reverse Mikan, which works on reverse layups going back and forth.

One-Two Step Shooting
Here, we’re working on the concept of stepping with our inside foot. Players will start by facing the basket around the foul line area. One at a time, players will receive a pass from a teammate at the foul line and then take jump shots using the one-two step format. Players should switch back and forth between stepping with the right and left foot. Passes should be right to the hands of the shooter and then the shooter should step into the shot immediately. To help with the footwork, players should say in their heads, “1-2, lift and follow through.”

The ultimate goal here is practice proper footwork and technique. Players should establish that proper pivot foot and be thinking about it in practice. Coach Wright believes that you never want your players to be thinking about shooting in a game. Come game time, players should just go out and play. However, it’s practice where the good habits are created.

The previous shooting drills can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “28 Competitive Drills for Shooting and Footwork” with Jay Wright. Check out our extensive shooting catalog by clicking here.

Jay Wright: Perfecting Your Team’s Basketball Skills

• Learn nine drills that emphasize good habits in practice, so players have more confidence during a game
• Get your team’s basketball technique as close to perfect as possible
• These drills contribute to some type of shot they will see in a game

Craig Robinson: Mastering the Princeton 1-3-1 Match-Up Zone

• Learn the famous Princeton 1-3-1 zone defense
• Turn the traditional 1-3-1 zone into an aggressive, defensive weapon
• Increase scoring opportunities by adding momentum-changing trapping action to the 1-3-1 zone
• Utilize the extended 1-3-1 press to disrupt offense using the same zone principles

Mastering the Open Post Motion Offense

• Learn how to teach the fundamentals of the open post motion offense
• Defeat any defense using one offense
• Discover how to incorporate post play and spacing to get players better as the season progresses
• Over 2 hours of Smartboard and on-court demonstration show you how to implement these motion concepts into your overall program

1.  Kansas (Coached by Bill Self)
2.  Villanova (Coached by Jay Wright)
3.  Syracuse (Coached by Jim Boeheim)
4.  Kentucky (Coached by John Calipari)
5.  Michigan State (Coached by Tom Izzo)
6.  West Virginia (Coached by Bob Huggins)
7.  Georgetown    
8.  Purdue (Coached by Matt Painter)   
9.  Texas 
10.  Duke (Coached by Mike Krzyzewski)
11.  Kansas State (Coached by Frank Martin)
12.  BYU
13.  Ohio State
14.  Tennessee (Coached by Bruce Pearl)
15.  New Mexico (Coached by Steve Alford)
16.  Wisconsin
17.  Gonzaga (Coached by Mark Few)
18.  Vanderbilt
19.  Temple
20.  Baylor
21.  Georgia Tech (Coached by Paul Hewitt)
22.  Pittsburgh (Coached by Jamie Dixon)  
23.  Butler (Coached by Brad Stevens)
24.  Northern Iowa
25.  Mississippi (Coached by Andy Kennedy)

1.  Texas
2.  Kentucky (Coached by John Calipari)
3.  Kansas (Coached by Bill Self)
4.  Villanova (Coached by Jay Wright)
5.  Syracuse (Coached by Jim Boeheim)
6.  Michigan State (Coached by Tom Izzo)
7.  Duke (Coached by Mike Krzyzewski)
8.  Tennessee (Coached by Bruce Pearl)
9.  Pittsburgh (Coached by Jamie Dixon)
10. Kansas State (Coached by Frank Martin)
11.  West Virginia (Coached by Bob Huggins)
12.  Georgetown
13.  Purdue (Coached by Matt Painter)
14.  BYU
15.  Gonzaga (Coached by Mark Few)
16.  Temple
17.  Clemson (Coached by Oliver Purnell)
18.  Wisconsin
19.  Georgia Tech (Coached by Paul Hewitt)
20.  UNI
21.  Ohio State
22.  Mississippi (Coached by Andy Kennedy)
23.  Mississippi State
24.  North Carolina (Coached by Roy Williams)
25.  Baylor

1.  Kansas (Coached by Bill Self)
2.  Michigan State (Coached by Tom Izzo)
3.  Texas 
4.  Kentucky  (Coached by John Calipari)
5.  Villanova (Coached by Jay Wright)
6.  North Carolina (Coached by Roy Williams)
7.  Purdue (Coached by Matt Painter)
8.  West Virginia (Coached by Bob Huggins)
9.  Duke (Coached by Mike Krzyzewski)
10.  Tennessee (Coached by Bruce Pearl)
11.  Butler (Coached by Brad Stevens)
12.  Connecticut (Coached by Jim Calhoun)
13.  California (Coached by Mike Montgomery)
14.  Washington (Coached by Lorenzo Romar)
15.  Michigan
16.  Ohio State
17.  Oklahoma
18.  Mississippi State
19.  Louisville (Coached by Rick Pitino)
20.  Georgetown
21.  Dayton (Coached by Brian Gregory)
22.  Georgia Tech (Coached by Paul Hewitt)
23.  Illinois (Coached by Bruce Weber)
24.  Clemson (Coached by Oliver Purnell)
25.  Minnesota (Coached by Tubby Smith)

All Access Practice with Geno Auriemma
All Access Practice with Jim Calhoun
Tom Izzo: Dominating Rebounding & Man-to-Man Defensive Drills
Brad Stevens: Winning with Undersized Teams
Vance Walberg: Mastering the Dribble Drive Attack Offense
John Calipari’s Dribble Drive 3-Pack
The Encyclopedia of the Dribble-Drive Motion Offense
Jay Wright: 28 Competitive Drills for Shooting and Footwork
Bob Knight: The Complete Guide to Motion Offense
Bob Knight: The Complete Guide to Man-to-Man Defense
Bob Knight: Practice Planning and Drills for Mental Toughness
Mike Krzyzewski: Duke Basketball – Agility & Conditioning Drills for Defense