Open Practice with Vermont's John Becker: Offense & Defense Practice Drills & Techniques

with John Becker,
University of Vermont Head Coach;
7x America East Coach of the Year ('14, '17, '18, '19, '20, '22, '24);
6x America East Tournament champions ('12, '17, '19, '22, '23, '24);
9x America East Regular Season Champions ('14, 2017 through 2024);
2x NABC All-District I Coach of the Year ('18, '19);
2018 CollegeMadness.com Mid-Major Coach of the Year;
2x U.S. Basketball Writers Association District I Coach of the Year ('17, '19);
2017 ECAC Coach of the Year

Learn how John Becker's teams have been on top of the America East for the last four seasons with this inside look into one of their practices. Coach Becker breaks down each segment to their practice on major themes such as skill development, offense, and defense. This video is absolutely crammed with content that will help your team!

Skill Work and Offensive Elements

Dedicate time in your practice every day to improve the skills of your players. See how Vermont warms up with ball handling and full court drills that will work on passing and shooting. Coach Becker describes shooting drills for working on free throws as well as "50 in 5 Shooting", which is an excellent way to give your players a high volume of repetitions for spot shooting. You will also see how actions within Becker's offense are connected to player development through positional breakdowns. In this segment, players work on drills that improve their drive and kick game as well as making reads on ball screens.

Coach Becker breaks down three drills for putting together the elements in his offensive system. You will see how to work on the pace of your offense with "5-on-0 Offense". This drill teaches players how to flow into early attacks that penetrate the paint for drive and kick. You will also learn how the "4-on-4 Offensive Breakdown" can be used to focus on teaching specific actions within your offense. Finally, Becker shows how to end practices with live play that challenges players to connect all the pieces that have been worked on that day.

Defense

Defense is a priority in every practice for Coach Becker. You will see eight different drills that break down different elements of Vermont's man-to-man defense. These drills will help your players improve their rebounding, closeouts, post defense, help rotations, and more. The "Transition 4-on-5" drill forces defenders to recover with urgency and work together to survive disadvantage situations. Variations to the "Shell Drill" cover Vermont's philosophy on defender positioning, handling help side exchanges, and rotating to stop baseline drives.

Coach Becker also goes in-depth on how his team will hard hedge against different offensive tactics and alignments. With a 3-on-3 drill, you will learn how to read the screener to properly cover slip screens without opening up drive angles. You will also see how the corner defender can tag the roll while still putting themselves in position to cover their match-up.

This practice session will show you how the best of the best build a system for success!

74 minutes. 2021.