Fran McCaffery: Building a Championship Defense

Fran McCaffery's breaks down his defensive philosophy in great detail in this video to help you make your team a better man-to-man defensive unit. He starts off by discussing developing an identity as a program defensively to help you become a better coach.

This video demonstrates how to defend ball screens, different ways to trap, how to help and where, and the key fundamental skills every great defender and team must be able to execute in a game.

Individual Defense
At the beginning of every season, Coach McCaffery reviews defensive fundamentals with his teams. The very first thing that needs to be mastered to become a great defender is the stance. In this video, McCaffery demonstrates foot position, hand position when guarding the ball, how players should sit in their stance, and the slide and drop step. Close outs are taught and then demonstrators are put through a drill that develop both closeout skills and defensive slides.

Team Defense
Using1-on-1, 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 drills, McCaffery teaches player positioning when guarding the ball from different spots on the floor and where the help should be, as that dictates where the defender will force the ball handler. Techniques for handling cutters, straight cuts, screen away, baseline drives as well as many other specific situations are demonstrated.

Ball Screens
Because ball screening is a popular offensive concept, McCaffery demonstrates all the ways to defend against it and, depending on where the ball screen occurs, reveals the best way to play it. The team then goes live 3-on-3 and 4-on-4.

Throughout the video, Coach McCaffery provides coaching insights not only into the "hows," but also the "whys." With a laser focus on the fundamentals, this video is will help you develop a stingy man-to-man defense.

76 minutes. 2013.