Handling Pressure Situations, Backdoor Concepts, Drills, Matchup Zone & 2-3 Zone Defense, Skill Development & More!

with Todd Simon,
Bowling Green Head Men's Basketball Coach;
Southern Utah University Head Men's Coach from 2016 to 2023;
2021 Big Sky Coach of the Year;
2021 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year;
2021 Big Sky Regular Season Champions;
UNLV Interim Head Coach in 2016;
UNLV Associate Head Coach from 2013 to 2016;
Findlay Prep Head Coach from 2012 to 2013;
Findlay Prep Associate Head Coach from 2006 to 2012;
finished the 2013 season at 35-1;
2013 Bluestar Media National co-#1 High School National Champion;
3x National High School Tournament Champions;

Bowling Green’s Todd Simon has earned a reputation as one of the great ‘teaching coaches’ in all of college basketball.

As the head coach at Southern Utah University in 2021, Coach Simon earned 2021 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year honors, and gained acclaim for notably developed highly competitive players who possess high basketball IQ and has done so through a developmental system and coaching style that begins in his daily practices.

In this exclusive Open Practice instructional basketball coaching video, Coach Simon provides a rare glimpse into the building process that occurs inside his team’s practices – demonstrating his ‘teaching approach’ to practice and a player development system that has led to on-the-court success as a collegiate head coach. 

Coach Simon uses this Open Practice setting to showcase his team’s style of play and demonstrates how he goes about coaching it in a manner that benefits his players.

On offense, Coach Simon uses the instructional coaching segments of this video to highlight an offensive system that incorporates a highly effective combination of set plays and motion offense.

Coach Simon also explains his process for improving his players basketball IQ on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, showing off all the breakdown drills, coaching points-of-emphasis and the specific defenses he uses to be successful on the court, while also building up his players confidence as the season progresses. 

Defensive Breakdown Drills

Beginning with a defensive segment, Coach Simon highlights his favorite breakdown drills, which he uses to teach his players how to close out on dynamic shooters, while also maintaining heavy pressure on the rest of the opposing team’s offensive players.  

In a drill he calls the ‘4-Closeouts Drill,’ Simon shows how he gets players to work on maintaining high hands, while also forcing the shooter to put the ball on the floor. 

Within each defensive drill, Simon emphasizes playing defense without the defender being overly reliant on using their hands. This tactic has helped limit his team’s foul trouble and places an emphasis on playing defense by using proper footwork and bodying-up on ball handlers.

In the ‘Kobe Drill,’ you will see how this drill teaches players to put pressure on the ball handler, while simultaneously building up confident offensive ball handlers; this drill teaches them how to play while under defensive pressure and uses a retreat-dribble move to stay calm and run the offense. 

Simon also showcases his Shell Defense, which features several effective twists to traditional shell drills - these twists will keep your players engaged and growing!

Offensive Breakdown Drills 

Switching to a focus on offense, Coach Simon teaches and implements a backdoor set, while also stressing the proper way to cut within a 4-Out, 1-In Motion Offense. 

Using drills to reinforce key concepts, Simon showcases his ‘5-Star Drill,’ in which players learn to use their first dribble as an effort to take them somewhere into the paint. This drill also teaches ball handlers how to push the ball out in front of them and get into a hop landing on two feet.

Coach Simon explains how the ‘Backdoor Dribbling Drill’ is a great tool that helps players more quickly learn when they should be cutting and receiving passes. These drills also build polished offensive players who use effective finishing moves around the paint.

Next, Simon shows off a highly informative 5-on-0 segment to illustrate how various plays:

•  attack the paint, 
• use backdoor screens, and, 
• through off-ball screening actions - help develop your half-court offense at the same time.  

2-3 Defense and Matchup Zones 

Moving into a segment on system defense, Coach Simon shares two different styles of zone defense. Using a 2-3 Zone, he says, shows how players learn to take away an elbow shot, while also making the first pass tough for any offense.

Simon explains how teaching players to understand where the offense is trying to attack, helps them also understand how and why help defense works within the zone.

In his Match-up Zone Defense, Coach Simon shows players the basics of how to better defend their area – just like they do when they are playing man to man defense. 

From a 5-on-5 setup, Simon provides knowledge on running a successful ‘slow-down, 2-2-1 press defense’ and then how to fall back into a matchup zone. All the while, Simon emphasizes how and why using proper defensive techniques is a sure-fire way to frustrate defenders.

Coach Simon showcases an extraordinary number of coaching details and provides a wealth of winning basketball secrets that have played a role in his consistent coaching successes.

This is a must-watch coaching video for coaches at all levels!

Customer Review: 5 Out of 5 Stars: ‘This is a great video with lots of drills and skill-building work that coaches at all levels can add to their programs!’

131 minutes. 2024.