Dusty May: My Favorite Drills for Basketball Practice

Dusty May,
University of Michigan Head Men's Coach;
2026 NCAA National Champions;
2026 Big Ten Regular Season Champions;
2026 Big Ten Coach of the Year;
2026 Henry Iba Award;
2025 Sweet Sixteen;
2025 Big Ten Tournament Champions;
Florida Atlantic University Head Men's Coach from 2018 to 2024;
2023 Final Four;
2023 CBS Sports Coach of the Year;
2023 C-USA Coach of the Year;
2023 C-USA Tournament Champions;
2023 C-USA Regular Season Champions;
Coached as an Assistant for Mike White from 2015-2018 (Florida) and at Louisiana Tech (2009 - 2015);
Assistant coach for Mike Davis at UAB from 2007 to 2009;
at Indiana (his alma mater) - was student manager for Bob Knight from (1996 - 2000)

One of the most promising new head coaches in basketball is Florida Atlantic University's Dusty May. In this video presentation, Coach May presents some of his favorite practice drills. He begins by sharing his coaching journey and background that led him to FAU and then provides a detailed overview of each drill while showing it play out in practice film.

In this video, you will get:

• Fresh warm-up ideas/drills
• Transition offense and defense drills
• Ideas for keeping players engaged in opponent prep

Warm-Up and Shooting Drills

Right off the bat, you will get a fresh new take on warming up with the Ukrainian Tag drill. This is a unique and engaging drill that players will love while working on their offensive fundamentals.

Next, small group drills allow players to get more direct instruction while getting valuable repetitions. Several 2-on-1 drills will force athletes to read and react to defensive rotations through shooting drills like 2v1 Shooting and 2v1 MIG & Goalie. 2v1 MIG & Goalie is a great drill for players to work on closing out after giving help on middle or baseline penetration. The drill also works on offense and shooting while simultaneously working on defense.

Memphis 2v1 is another small group drill that works on offense and defense in a 2-on-1 scenario where the offense begins the attack from half court.

5-on-0 and Transition Defense

Coach May's next series of drills involve defensive communication, offensive execution against defense, and transition. The Atlantic Scramble drill will train players to communicate in a half court scramble situation. Moving to offense, May believes in moving quickly from 5-on-0 to 5-on-5 so players can get a feel for the reads and timing of the play they just learned or ran through previously.

Next, you'll see three transition defense drills that also work on offensive flow. The Boston Transition drill is an absolute favorite and is one that FAU runs quite often. It starts out 5-on-5 with players positioned at different parts of the floor and a coach passing to any player they choose, who then begins the drill. This is a fast-paced drill that combines all the necessary components of great team transition.

Block Outs and Opponent Scouting

To end this video, Coach May shows a block out drill and different ideas they have implemented to help keep players engaged in opponent scouting.

If you are in need of new ideas and great transition drills for your practices, look no further than this collection offered up by Coach May!

60 minutes. 2021.