The Set-Up: Divide into three teams with a coach on the baseline with a basketball. Four defensive players will start underneath the basket. Four offensive players will start out on the perimeter. Two will be in each corner and two will be about three feet off the lane-line and outside of the three-point line. Finally, the third team fills in behind the offensive players and will wait to come on.

The Action: The coach throws the ball to one of the offensive players and yells “Close Out.” The defensive team will close out hard to the ball or help. Play is now live.

How to Award Points: A point is awarded for a defensive stop. If the defense gets a stop, they stay on defense and the new offense comes on. If the offense scores a basket or gets fouled in the act of shooting, they will become the new defensive unit.

There will always be a new team on offense after each possession. As for fouls on the ground, we check up with the same two teams and close out again. Also, if there’s one offensive rebound in a possession, the defense cannot be awarded a point. However, if they get a stop, you can play the same two teams again. If there are two offensive rebounds in a possession, this will send the defensive group to the end of the line and the offensive group becomes the new defensive unit.

The Kicker: Additionally, the coaching staff can kick off the defense at any point for not executing any of the defensive principles you are looking to use to build your man defense. For instance, our coaches will kick off a defensive unit that doesn’t close-out properly, doesn’t apply strong ball pressure, lacks communication, allows dribble splits or dribble penetration down the middle, or doesn’t defend screens properly.

Summary: This is a terrific drill to build your man-to-man team defense. It’s competitive and the players love it – especially the aspect of removing a team from defense for not executing what you are looking to implement. In other words, it creates a great learning environment. Rarely do we kick the same team off twice in a row for making the same mistake.

Know of an effective basketball drill that really improves the performance of your team? Send us an e-mail at info@championshipproductions.com.

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“By noon, we had seen a major shift in the ordering patterns … it quickly became a Bob Knight event!” said Craig Rover, the General Manager of Championship Productions.  “An event that seems to show no sign of slowing down anytime soon.”

Bob Knight, the legendary Indiana and Texas Tech basketball coach, had done some instructional videos, over twenty years earlier, while at Indiana University, where he won 3 NCAA titles.  Back then, Championship Productions sold Knight’s videos through their monthly coaching catalog and they remained popular into the early nineties.  As Coach Knight transitioned from his legendary Indiana career to Texas Tech, and created a resurgent new tradition in the Texas Tech men’s basketball program, ultimately becoming the all-time Division 1 coach in terms of wins, the Bob Knight interest and buzz was fanned once again.

For the past several years, a common question was, “When will you guys shoot a new series with Coach Knight?” says Thom McDonald, the Director of Coaching Education who successfully recruited Coach Knight to ‘come out of retirement’ to leave a lasting legacy of education and instruction on DVD.  “Coach Knight was really terrific to work with and he knows that his experience is highly prized by coaches all around the world as he still appears at coaching clinics and talks to many coaches at all levels.”

McDonald adds, “The three DVD sets are not only highly anticipated because they feature Coach Bob Knight, but also because of the topics … he did one series on his ‘trademark’ Man to Man Defense, a series on his highly-successful, time-tested Motion Offense, and the final DVD series, nearly four hours of instruction, may be his best – Practice Planning and Mental Toughness Drills.  They are incredible!”

The Bob Knight DVD collection is available, exclusively, at www.ChampionshipProductions.com

Championship Productions is the world’s leading producer/distributor of instructional sports DVDs in over 20 sports. Founded in 1976, Championship Productions in headquartered in Ames, IA.

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