Education Care

Basketball Transition Defense: Are you Tom Izzo or Dick Bennett?

Why is this Important?

If you ask most coaches to describe what the game of basketball is when you simplify it to its basic principles they will give you offense and defense. While this is true, Bobby Knight believes that transition is a critical component of sound basketball. Think about it for a second…if you are a great half court defensive team, but you allow transition lay-ups, how good is your defense? In a worse cast scenario, if your players aren’t crashing the glass for the offensive rebound and they aren’t back in transition, then where the heck are they? We are going to examine where they should be in regards to two different philosophies on what a team should do after a missed shot. For more information, join our online coaches club at Basketball Coaches Club (www.basketballcoachesclub.blogspot.com) or email me at coachdeforest@gmail.com.

Offensive Rebounding or Limiting Transition Opportunities

As a coach you basically have to choose between two options in regards to transition defense. Remember that you can’t be good at everything or you are going to be good at nothing. For example, if you try to crash the offensive glass, but you expect the other team not to score any lay-ups in transition then you are setting your team up for failure. CHOOSE and EMPHASIZE your philosophy based on the talent of your team. Also remember that the philosophy a coach chooses should mirror their offensive philosophy. I would like to present the two basic philosophies that most coaches adopt in regards to transition defense.

The Philosophy to Offensive Rebound

Tom Izzo, the great coach at Michigan State, has built his program on the belief that most teams aren’t good at the defensive box out. His teams are among the nation’s leaders in rebounding margin (+11.7) since he took over the Spartan program. He spends at least 15 minutes each practice on teaching his players the habits to crash the offensive glass. They fight and compete to tip the ball, keep it alive, and own the offensive glass. A byproduct of this hard work is that his teams are fantastic at defensive box outs because they are used to going to “war” (a drill he uses) each day in practice. Most teams don’t compete like the Spartans on the glass. For more information, take a look at his DVD: Tom Izzo-Dominating Rebounding & Man to Man Defensive Drills.

Basic Offensive Rebounding Principles

· Choose if you are more athletic than the best teams in your conference

· Point guard to half court line and everyone else to the paint to rebound

· Stress that 70% of all rebounds come opposite – overload that side on shots

· Practice and chart – do your players get 4 to the paint and the PG to half court in your drills? Offense? Defense?

· Teach them to tap the ball against the backboard if they can’t come down with it

· Keep the ball alive – TIP it!

· Celebrate offensive rebounding

· Never accept it, but be prepared to see teams fast break more often

The Philosophy of Limiting Fast Break Opportunities

On the other hand, another great coach that believes coaches have control over transition, Dick Bennett of Washington State, would send two and sometimes three players back depending on the opponent in an effort to neutralize fast break opportunities. His teams traditionally held opponents under 60 points per game. Coach Bennett’s philosophy was that his team was better than your team at half court execution on offense and defense. His teams only pressed if behind in games late and they played strictly man-to-man defense. In other words, his teams were simple to prepare for, but difficult to beat because of their execution. For more information, take a look at his DVD: Dick Bennett’s “Pack-line” Pressure Defense.

Basic Principles of Limiting Transition Opportunities

· Choose if you are less athletic than the best teams in your conference

· Send the PG to the opposite FT line and the Off Guard to the half court line

· Another option is to also send the shooter back immediately against superior teams along with the two guards

· Stress that we are not giving up ANY transition lay-ups

· Work on defending scramble situations in the full court every day

· Teach how you want to match-up and remember that open shots NOT match-ups beat you

· Practice and chart – do your players have defensive balance in your drills? Offense? Defense?

· Choose offensive sets that allow for defensive balance; For example: stay away from 1-4 low sets or the Flex. Instead use 2-3 high sets or 4 out – 1 in motion

Prepare them the best you can so that your team can achieve to the best of their potential because you put them in the best situation to succeed. Transition is often overlooked and the main thing a coach needs to do is decide from Day 1 what their team is going to do in regards to defensive transition. Teach that all year long and emphasize it in practices and games. I hope this article has helped you to better understand the two basic philosophies of transition defense. If you want to learn more about these coaches or philosophies, join our online coaches club at Basketball Coaches Club (www.basketballcoachesclub.blogspot.com) or email me at coachdeforest@gmail.com.

 

Many PC users believe that if they clear their computer history and close their browser, the trails of whatever sites they have surfed will disappear forever. However, this is not always true. In fact, a lot of such information stays back on the hard-drives. Unless we know the exact location where such information lay hidden, they could stay in the system and may act as a potential threat to our privacy by disclosing the browsing habits. Just imagine what will happen if your spouse, boss, kids or a friend becomes curious to know what you have been doing online, the websites that you have visited, the music that you have listened to or the movies that you have watched. It will not be hard for all these people to use some software or dig out the required information manually from your PC.

To protect your online browsing habits from falling into the wrong hands or to prevent your privacy from being compromised, you should clear computer history. If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can view your browsing history by selecting \”Tools\” menu followed by choosing the tab marked \”Internet Options\”. Next, click the button labeled \”Settings\” and click the \”View Files\” button after that.

Web surfers using Microsoft Internet Explorer can clear computer history by following these steps:

 

Mozilla Firefox users can clear computer history by clicking in succession the following: \”Tools\” menu, \”Options\” tab, the \”Privacy\” button, and then click the \”Clear Now\” or \”Clear\” button listed under \”History\” tab. Alternatively, these users can also press three keys marked Ctrl, Shift and Delete so that the Clear Data Window opens. From there, they can check the relevant boxes to clear some specific browsing history or delete the saved Internet history totally.

For Netscape users, history files can be deleted by clicking the menu marked \”Edit\” and then selecting \”Preferences\”, \”History\”, and finally clicking the \”Clear History\” button.

Opera users can clear computer history by clicking the \”File\” menu at first and then selecting \”Preferences\” and \”History\” in succession. After that, the button marked \”Empty now\” should be clicked. In addition to this, Opera users can also check \”Empty on exit\” if they want their browsing history to be deleted every time they exit their browser.

 

Stress management implications are vital to study and when you manage stress, you imply that the stress is not helpful to you. There are people who consider stress helpful to some degree but, stress is to be discouraged to avoid all the bad effects it brings to the body. When thinking of stress management and implications, it is absolutely crucial to have every information that is necessary and to understand how exactly stress works in our bodies. We have found ourselves telling others that we do not need stress from them and this statement is a clear suggestion that stress can be caused by external factors as well as internal factors. Sometimes we might bring stress to ourselves or attract stress and we therefore need to know all the major causes so that we can make informed decisions.Stress is a condition which left untreated can cause bigger problems to our lives. Stress is a feeling of inadequacy and emptiness and the feeling is usually brought about by a specific cause or stressor no matter what it might be. Our negative reaction to a stressor is what stress is therefore, we can actually choose to keep a positive attitude and avoid bad stress altogether. There are people who go through stressors and yet they have a willingness to fight back but they and being stressed. When decide that you will not let something bother you, mean it from the bottom of your heart so that you can sincerely deal with the problem. You do not have to escape because life is full of challenges and the sooner you get to dealing with the issues the better it will be for you.When stress becomes overwhelming, you need to seek professional help which is very much available. You do not have to wait for the stress to take over and depending on your individual evaluation go and see somebody. They will provide tips to stress management. Some of the tips that will help you manage the condition include keeping of a stress diary where you put in writing your feelings. This is very therapeutic and it relieves a load from your mind and you can get to have a fresh mind. Another thing that is recommended to everyone is a self burn out test which will help you determine what your stress levels are and you can do all you can to keep yourself healthy without severe stress.At a job situation, job analysis and performance planning will go a long way to ensure that a worker is able to work in a conducive environment which will in turn make them more productive. Other ways in which you can manage your stress include rational and positive thinking. If you engage in positivity, you will be sure that stress will no longer bother you. This is because stress in the first place comes due to negativity and feelings of defeat therefore, if you are able to master the art of staying positive, you will also attract the same to yourself. Things like laughter will come easily to you and your life will be better. Laughter is the age old medicine that always does the job.