Open Practice: Man-to-Man Offense, Practice Drills, and Scouting

Tom Izzo opens up access to a Michigan State practice so you can see how one of the best coaches in college basketball builds his team into a regular NCAA Tournament contender. Year in and year out, Coach Izzo's teams perform at their best as March nears, with their trademark toughness and physicality shining through in clutch situations.

In this open practice session, you are treated to a Michigan State practice devoted primarily to transition offense, man-to-man and zone offense, and installing a 2-3 match up zone defense. Coach Izzo also discusses his philosophy on practice planning and shows you how he teaches his players in film sessions. Even with cameras present, Coach Izzo holds nothing back!

Film Session

Sit in on a film session that shows the level of detail that a future Hall of Fame coach uses to analyze his team. Plays from the previous practice are displayed as Coach Izzo corrects flaws in ball and foot placement, player positioning, ball handler's line-of-sight, variations in speed and timing and situational recognition.

Transition Offense

Learn how to incorporate a variety of scoring options such as dribble hand offs, ball screens, and wide pin downs in your transition offense with the Five Man Break drill. You will also see how to take advantage of outnumbered fast break situations in the 3-on-2 Continuity drill. These drills will help you play faster and convert in transition for additional points each game.

Player Development

Train your perimeter players to shoot on the move with great technique from different locations on the floor. Meanwhile, post players demonstrate four scoring moves from the low post and high post. The Three Man Shooting drill has become a favorite of Coach Izzo to get players game-like shots through actions run in Michigan State's offense. You will see how this drill can be applied to teaching dribble hand offs and side ball screens.

Zone Offense

In a 5-on-0 half-court dummy offense setting, Coach Izzo shows you how to break down a zone defense with four set plays that target specific weaknesses of a zone defense. For example, in Arm Chop, the top two zone defenders are targeted for an open 3-point shot at the top of the key. The four plays are then on display in a full 5-on-5, half-court scrimmage setting as Coach Izzo continuously critiques timing and spacing issues within each set.

2-3 Match Up Zone Defense

Through breakdown drills, you will learn how to rotate players so that all immediate passes are covered. Adjustments can be made to also demonstrate how rotations change when the offense tries to overload the defense. Coach Izzo emphasizes technique and player communication on "bumping" defenders with the ball at the wing. These concepts are expanded to 5-on-5 controlled scrimmages so players can learn how to adjust to ball movement as a collective unit.

With so many aspects of Spartan basketball on display, this practice has nearly everything. Positional (guard/post) developmental drills, breakdown drills for transition offense and zone defense, and 5-on-5 zone offense (sprinkled with a bit of man-to-man sets as well) are all covered. This video is a peek behind the curtain into a practice featuring one of the greatest coaches of this generation.

217 minutes (2 DVDs). 2016.