Drills play
Drill: 1v1 Full-Court Containment
- Court
- Full court
- Length
- 5 steps
About this play
Every scheme depends on one defender containing one dribbler, which is why I run this full court and why it tells me who my best on-ball defender is. Setup: pairs with a ball, two lanes from each sideline to the lane line so pairs do not collide, a line in each baseline corner. The dribbler attacks the length of the floor, and the defender has one job: keep him in the outer third all the way to the far baseline. Crossing half court does not end the rep; the far baseline does. He starts an arm's length off, chest on the ball, inside foot up to wall off the middle. When the dribbler crosses over toward the middle, the defender slides early enough to meet him where he is going, stays square, and sends him back toward the sideline without ever opening a hip. Getting beaten is not the failure; chasing is. The moment the dribbler's shoulder is past him, he stops sliding, turns and runs to a spot ahead of the ball, and squares up again. Score it by counting the turns the defender forces, or a point to the defense if the ball never enters the middle third. Four to six minutes. Common mistakes: crowding the dribbler so one move beats him, grabbing at the ball instead of moving the feet, and sliding alongside a dribbler who has already gone by. Progression: a trailing defender, or mix guards on bigs. High school and up. It comes from Breakthrough Basketball's 1-on-1 contain drill (LoGalbo) and Coach's Clipboard's cut-and-pressure version; Geno Auriemma's 1-on-1 defense clip takes you deeper on the stance.
