Will Wade: Practice Drills for Half Court Pressure Defense

Learn how you can develop an aggressive identity on defense with disruptive ball pressure while limiting the ball from touching the paint. VCU established a reputation for consistently being one of the most disruptive defenses in college basketball. Will Wade shows you how that brand of half court pressure defense led to top 10 rankings in forced turnovers and steals.

Coach Wade discusses the style of play his teams have and how he goes about making it happen in practice. In this video, you'll get nine competitive drills that he uses on a daily basis to maintain defensive emphases such as defending the 3-point line, transition defense, ball pressure, close outs, post defense and rebounding.

Transition Defense

The strength of your defense begins with how you convert down the floor. Coach Wade discusses how he balances an aggressive approach to offensive rebounding while limiting fast break chances for the opponent. He gives you two disadvantage drills to start your practice. The Rat Race and 4-on-2 Continuous drills will teach your transition defensive system while serving as an immediate conditioner in your practices. Your players will learn how to communicate and disrupt your opponent through levels of fatigue that resemble an actual game.

Closeouts

Learn VCU's unique approach to covering open shooters. Coach Wade places a huge emphasis on taking away the opponent's 3-point shot attempts. See how to identify players of different shooting abilities in your scouting report. The Raiders and Heart Check drills will develop a mindset of anticipation and help players learn to aggressively cover ground to shut down open looks for the offense.

Ball Pressure

Forcing deflections and disrupting the ball handler is the basis for turning up the pressure in this defense. Coach Wade demonstrates two competitive drills that use a defensive scoring system to emphasize ball pressure. Each focuses on individual on-ball defense as well as the positioning and rotations needed off the ball.

Post Defense

Teaching your entire team how to defend the post will take away the possibility of mismatches down low. Making all of your players capable low post defenders can also increase your ability to switch screens. Coach Wade shows two physical practice drills to train players how to prevent catches in the "post box" with both _ and full front denial.

Rebounding

VCU has an aggressive philosophy for offensive and defensive rebounding that will help you dominate the boards. Coach Wade gives you ideas for drilling the rebounding instinct during every second of your practices. You will also see one rebounding drill that is used to end all of their individual workouts through the off-season.

This video from Coach Wade gives you half court defensive drills that will help your team create the pressure that forces turnovers and determines the outcome of games in the final seconds.

Produced at the Spring 2016 Myrtle Beach (SC) clinic.

79 minutes. 2016.