Jerod Haase's Pack Line Primer: Technique, Build-Up Drills & Implementation Plan for Solid Pack Line Defense

The very best Pack Line Defenses create an illusion that there is an extra defender on the court. It is a style of defensive play that’s designed to force opponents to beat you from the outside, while taking away easy buckets at the rim. Jerod Haase has successfully put his own spin on the Pack Line Defense. Using what he calls, ‘Cardinal Mistakes,’ his players know what is considered a ‘non-negotiable’ on defense and how those Pack Line Defense rules force opponents to play right into their gameplan. 

In this excellent video, Coach Haase breaks down his defensive philosophy and teaches an in-depth defensive lesson on his ‘Stanford variation’ of the Pack Line Defense.

Tenets of 1-on-1 Defense, Proper Closeouts

To begin, Coach Haase explains how good defense, regardless of the system, begins with players learning how to defend in 1-on-1 situations and working diligently on technique for proper defensive stance.

Coach Haase emphasizes that individual defenders must become adept at a concept he calls ‘guarding your yard’ if you want your team defense to play at a high level; this is the ability of a defender to move his or her feet while maintaining a ‘high-hand’ on closeouts and staying square to the offensive player!  These fundamental concepts keep opposing offensive players out of the paint.

An often-tricky concept for most coaches when teaching defense is the transition in moving from teaching off-the-ball help concepts to on-the-ball defense. Providing a solution to this complicated subject, Coach Haase demonstrates how he and his staff teach defensive closeouts by labeling players either HOT or COLD. Using these two terms, Haase explains, helps defensive players recognize if they need to crowd an elite shooter or if they can give some space and defend against a drive.Coach Haase then shows off a drill called ‘2-on-1 Defensive Closeouts,’ where defenders are instructed to hold one hand up and sprint toward the shooter as quickly as possible, while remaining under control and utilizing a proper defensive closeout to prevent either an open perimeter shot or a quick-scoring drive. As a coaching point of emphasis, Coach Haase explains that he wants his defenders to challenge with their stance as high as possible on an elite shooter – BUT, failing to get to the shooter quickly, is considered a ‘Cardinal Mistake of Defense.’ The repetition and intensity of how this drill is performed by the defenders, as well as the attention to detail on defensive technique makes this a great drill to emphasize defensive closeout technique from any location on the court. 

Pack Line Build Up, Ball-Screen Defense

Now that Coach Haase has taught how defensive players are supposed to guard the ball and execute an effective closeout on an opponent, Coach Haase moves on to a portion of the  presentation to showcase his process for teaching the defensive build-up in the Pack Line Defense.Coach Haase begins with a terrific 2-on-2 drill, where defenders are positioned ‘high in the gap’ – meaning that their toes are placed on the 3-point-line – and utilize their length to create an illusion that there is no room for the ball handler to drive. This is a great drill to demonstrate where players need to be positioned in gaps to create this illusion.

Next up, is a highly effective ‘3-on-3 Stunts-and-Positioning Drill’ where defenders work on their stunts and positioning in gaps, while Coach Haase provides key coaching points that help teach the intricacies of the defensive technique. 

This is followed by an equally effective drill that Coach Haase calls, the ‘4-on-4 Regular Drill,’ where the defenders are forced to take all defensive lessons and information they have been taught so far and put everything together as they perform the duties required – which makes this a perfect build-up for proper technique that’s used within the Pack Line Defense.  

Defending ball screens correctly is a must if you want your Pack Line Defense to be effective. Coach Haase describes his most important guy or ‘MIG’ – as the defender who calls out ball screen coverage while remaining constantly in proper help-side position.  

Demonstrating several types of techniques for ball-screen defense, Coach Haase outlines their Pack Line Defense. Whether it is a side ball-screen or middle ball-screen, the Cardinal’s head coach provides information on switching, double-teaming or ice that you can fit into your own defensive philosophy, even if you don’t utilize a Pack Line Defense.  

They say that ‘Defense Wins Championships.’ It’s the attention to detail, however, that transforms a good defense, a great defense. In this high-quality instructional video, Coach Haase explains defensive techniques essential to Pack Line Defense and uses such great detail, combined with an array of easy-to-understand defensive terminology, that it quickly becomes apparent why Haase-coached teams are almost always one of the top-rated defensive programs in the count