To begin, Summitt leads her squad through a variety of drills. Full court transition drills, inbound plays, 5-on-4 drills, and offensive sets are all covered.

This behind-the-scenes look gives coaches, parents, and players a glimpse inside one of the nation’s most dominant basketball programs. You’ll also get a chance to see how practices are organized and conducted at the Division I level. See what kind of drills, techniques, concepts and overall tips you can pick up and immediately begin implementing with your own team.

Full Court Transition Drills and Inbound Plays

Watch the Vols in action as the team works on full-court transition drills. Players start in a circle going around and around continuously (with the circle getting wider each second) until the coach throws a ball into play. The players immediately move into their 5-on-5 loose ball transition offense/defense.

Next, players cool down with a free-throw session before working on a number of inbound plays from under the basket, first against a ghost defense and then 5-on-5.

5-on-4 Scramble

Here, the team works on defensive tactics against offensive ball movement around the perimeter. Players are preventing middle penetration, staying low, blocking out, communicating, and working on help defense.

From here, the squad transitions into half-court 5-on-5 defense, which includes blocking out and then transitioning to offense down on the other end of the floor. It’s continuous play back and forth and points are tallied for each respective unit.

Offensive Sets

Next, the team works on its offensive sets against a ghost defense. Notice that players are always crashing to the basket on a shot and at least one outlet person is getting back on defense to prevent quick fast breaks off the shot.

Also, pick and rolls are involved, plus a play called “Spin.” The team then moves into 5-on-5 action while working on those specific plays. Summitt eventually goes step-by-step through one play and reminds players about spacing, techniques, and more.

Notice the quick pace of practices as players are always hustling, communicating, and moving fast. Also, drills are always timed. All in all, each practice session is quite methodical and each player knows her role.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “All-Access Basketball Practice with Pat Summitt.” To check out our entire All-Access collection, simply click here.

First, Summitt leads the team through “toss back” shooting drills before implementing various defensive warm-up drills. Be sure to pick up some new ideas from Summitt and her national championship program and see how incorporating them can benefit your own squad. But as Coach Summitt likes to say: “There’s no substitute for working hard and playing together as a team.”

Toss Back Shooting

The drill commences when a player makes a pass to a coach or teammate in the paint from the corner and behind the 3-point line. The player that passed the ball will then cut toward the elbow and receive a quick pass back before taking a jumper and following through on the shot. Remember, players should get their feet set early and hips low at all times.

Teams can easily change the toss back drills to focus on different areas around the court depending on which types of players are involved (i.e. guards, forwards, centers). You can change up the drill to incorporate no dribbling, hand off toss backs, passes to the baseline, pump fakes, drives to the hoop, pull-up jumpers after a dribble, and even getting coaches involved by acting as a defender and getting a hand up in the face of the shooters. Remember, keep the drills fast-paced and always moving briskly.

Defensive Warm-up

The Tennessee women’s basketball team prefers to feature a lot of variety in their drills, particularly at the defensive end. First, players begin a defensive warm-up with a 3-on-3 drill above the 3-point arc. The players on offense will dribble to one side of the arc and then dish off to a teammate before replacing one another. The only movement offensively happens above the arc. Meanwhile, the defenders must communicate and work together effectively, switching on screens and keeping up with the offensive players’ movements.

On the other end of the practice floor, players work on a 1-on-1 drill in the low post. The drill pits together one offensive and one defensive player at a time. The ball will then move around the perimeter, and as it does, the offensive player in the paint looks to move and adjust her positioning based on where the ball is located on the floor. All the while, the defensive player must react and establish her own positioning down low to prevent easy entry passes and layups. The offensive player is always working to get open as the defender is denying and using frequent pivots to force a poor entry pass.

Another effective defensive warm-up is the “caught dead” drill. Here, an offensive player dribbles hard in one direction before picking up her dribble abruptly. Now, the defender must play tight defense and swarm their counterpart, hopefully forcing a turnover in the process.

A final defensive warm-up finds players working on their deny defense and moving their feet as an offensive player works some backdoor cuts. The goal is to maintain proper form and footwork while denying any passes down the backside for an easy layup.

The previous drills can be seen in Championship Productions’ exclusive DVD “All-Access Basketball Practice” with Pat Summitt. Check out our entire All-Access catalog by clicking here.

The AP Top 25 is filled with programs / coaches who have partnered with Championship Productions to produce instructional basketball DVDs.  Check out the Top 25 coaches who have worked with us below:

1.  Connecticut  (Coached by Geno Auriemma)
2.  Baylor
3.  Stanford  (Coached by Tara Vanderveer)
4.  Tennessee  (Coached by Pat Summitt)
5.  Xavier
6.  Duke  (Coached by Joanne Palombo-McCallie)
7.  Ohio State  (Coached by Jim Foster)
8.  Texas A & M
9.  Kentucky
10.  Oklahoma  (Coached by Sherri Coale)
11.  West Virginia
12.  Notre Dame
13.  Georgetown
14.  St. John’s
15.  North Carolina  (Coached by Sylvia Hatchell)
16.  UCLA
17.  Texas  (Coached by Gail Goestenkors)
18.  Florida State
19.  Georgia  (Coached by Andy Landers)
20.  Iowa State  (Coached by Bill Fennelly)
21.  Maryland  (Coached by Brenda Frese)
22.  Iowa
23.  TCU
24.  Vanderbilt
25.  Michigan State

All Access Kentucky Basketball Practice with John Calipari
All Access Practice with Pat Summitt
All Access Kansas Basketball Practice with Bill Self
All Access Duke Basketball Practice with Mike Krzyzewski
All Access Practice with Geno Auriemma

Connecticut (Coached by Geno Auriemma)
Stanford (Coached by Tara Vanderveer)
Tennessee (Coached by Pat Summitt)
Duke (Coached by Joanne Palombo-McCallie)
Ohio State (Coached by Jim Foster)
Oklahoma (Coached by Sherri Coale)
Iowa State (Coached by Bill Fennelly)
Georgia (Coached by Andy Landers)
Virginia (Coached by Debbie Ryan)
Texas (Coached by Gail Goestenkors)
LSU (Coached by Van Chancellor)
Rutgers (Coached by C. Vivian Stringer)
Middle Tennessee State (Coached by Rick Insell)
North Carolina (Coached by Sylvia Hatchell)
Depaul (Coached by Doug Bruno)

1. Connecticut (Coached by Geno Auriemma)
2. Stanford (Coached by Tara Vanderveer)
3. Nebraska
4. Notre Dame
5. Tennessee (Coached by Pat Summitt)
6. Xavier
7. Ohio State (Coached by Jim Foster)
8. Duke (Coached by Joanne Palombo-McCallie)
9. West Virginia
10. Florida State
11. Oklahoma (Coached by Sherri Coale)
12. Texas (Coached by Gail Goestenkors)
13. Iowa State (Coached by Bill Fennelly)
14. Georgetown
15. Texas A&M
16. Kentucky
17. Oklahoma State
18. Baylor
19. Georgia Tech
20. Georgia (Coached by Andy Landers)
21. Gonzaga
22. St. Johns
23. LSU (Coached by Van Chancellor)
24. TCU
25. Vanderbilt

1. Connecticut (Coached by Geno Auriemma)
2. Stanford (Coached by Tara Vanderveer)
3. Notre Dame
4. Nebraska
5. Tennessee (Coached by Pat Summitt)
6. Duke (Coached by Joanne Palombo-McCallie)
7. Xavier
8. Ohio State (Coached by Jim Foster)
9. North Carolina (Coached by Sylvia Hatchell)
10. Oklahoma State
11. West Virginia
12. Texas A&M
13. Oklahoma (Coached by Sherri Coale)
14. Georgia (Coached by Andy Landers)
15. Florida State
16. Baylor
17. Texas (Coached by Gail Goestenkors)
18. Georgetown
19. LSU (Coached by Van Chancellor)
20.  Kentucky
21. Georgia Tech
22. Iowa State (Coached by Bill Fennelly)
23. Green Bay
24. Gonzaga
25. St. Johns

1. Connecticut (Coached by Geno Auriemma)
2. Stanford (Coached by Tara Vanderveer)
3. Tennessee (Coached by Pat Summitt)
4. Notre Dame
5. Ohio State (Coached by Jim Foster)
6. Duke (Coached by Joanne Palombo-McCallie)
7. Nebraska
8. Georgia (Coached by Andy Landers)
9. Texas A&M
10. Baylor
11. Xavier
12. Oklahoma State
13. Oklahoma (Coached by Sherri Coale)
14. North Carolina (Coached by Sylvia Hatchell)
15. Florida State
16. West Virginia
17. Wisconsin-Green Bay
18. LSU (Coached by Van Chancellor)
19. Georgetown
20. Texas (Coached by Gail Goestenkors)
21. Vanderbilt
22. Georgia Tech
23. TCU
24. Vermont
25. Virginia (Coached by Debbie Ryan)

1.  Connecticut (Coached by Geno Auriemma)
2.  Stanford (Coached by Tara Vanderveer)
3.  Ohio State (Coached by Jim Foster)
4.  Notre Dame 
5.  North Carolina (Coached by Sylvia Hatchell)
6.  Duke (Coached by Joanne Palombo-McCallie)
7.  Baylor
8.  Tennessee (Coached by Pat Summitt)
9.  LSU (Coached by Van Chancellor)
10.  Michigan State 
11.  Xavier
12. Texas (Coached by Gail Goestenkors)
13.  Oklahoma (Coached by Sherri Coale)
14.  Virginia (Coached by Debbie Ryan)
15.  Florida State
16.  Arizona State
17.  Depaul  (Coached by Doug Bruno)
18.  California  (Coached by Joanne Boyle)
19.  Georgia Tech
20.  Kansas
21.  Georgia (Coached by Andy Landers)
22.  Vanderbilt
23.  Louisville
24.  Middle Tennessee State (Coached by Rick Insell)
25.  Rutgers (Coached by C. Vivian Stringer)

#8 -   Dean Smith
#11 – Pat Summitt
#16 – Bob Knight
#19 – Mike Krzyzewski
#31 – Pete Newell
#42 – Geno Auriemma
#49 – Gregg Popovich

The entire list of coaches can be seen in the article at: http://www.sportingnews.com/college-basketball/article/2009-07-29/sporting-news-50-greatest-coaches-all-time