Building the Mayhem Full Court Trapping Defense

with Jamion Christian,
Bryant University Head Coach;
Pallacanestro Trieste (Italian LBA) Head Coach from 2023 to 2025;
2024 LNP Serie A2 Champions;
George Washington University Head Coach from 2019 to 2022;
Siena College Head Coach from 2018 to 2019;
Mt. St. Mary's Head Coach from 2012 to 2018;
2017 Ben Jobe Coach of the Year;
2017 Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year;
2017 NEC Regular Season Champions;
2x NEC Tournament Champions;
played college basketball at Mt St. Mary's (for Jim Phelan & Milan Brown)

Jamion Christian's teams have had a lot of success creating a "Mayhem" style of play through full court, pressure man-to-man defense. His former Mount St. Mary's squads consistently ranked among the top five teams in the country for forcing turnovers by making their opponents play at an uncomfortable pace.

In this video, you'll get a complete breakdown of each player's role within Coach Christian's "Mayhem" style of play, along with a teaching progression for the defense and plenty of drills to teach players how to be aggressive

Concepts and Roles

From the start, players must understand the small details and techniques needed to create an advantage. Christian begins his on-court demonstration with a breakdown of roles within the "Mayhem" defense. By pressuring a team for 40 minutes, you can force your opponents to become fatigued and turn the tables into your favor by creating turnovers in the open court.

You'll see how players need to sprint from one spot in a trap to the next in diagonal bursts, causing constant ball pressure. One by one, Coach Christian adds defenders. Players will take their time walking through how to force opponents out of the middle of floor or recover to the middle of the floor out of the trap. Weak side or strong side, Christian demonstrates how you can keep the pressure on your opponent and avoid giving up layups in return.

Drills

With every layer installed in the "Mayhem" defense, you'll get the opportunity to fine-tune your players' misconceptions. Christian uses his Wolf Drills to teach players how to chase down a ball handler and not get into foul trouble by going after and knocking the ball out of their hands. Players must be comfortable sprinting from one end or one side of the floor to the other.

In the Recovery Drill, the second line of defense is added and chasers must force the ball handler to the interceptor, creating another possible trap and turnover situation.

Breakdown

Beginning with a trapping situation in 2v3 full court, players will learn the finer points of trapping - locking hands and being elastic with their feet and bodies. Only a perfect pass will be allowed out of the trap. Christian continuously adds players to build up the defense until you can play 5v5. By keeping your trapping and build-up segments short, players learn to become efficient at trapping and you can emphasize the details athletes will need to be successful.

This is an excellent video for coaches looking for an effective, uncomplicated defense that provides consistently positive results!

55 minutes. 2018.