Adapting & Implementing Pressure Team Defense with Brad Underwood

Description

Features & Benefits
Ramp up the pressure on your opponents without being reckless!
Apply a high amount of pressure without seeing an uptick in fouls
Simplify your defensive plan without sacrificing its effectiveness
Streamline your ball screen coverage with an unorthodox, but successful counter
with Brad Underwood,
University of Illinois Head Coach;
former Oklahoma State University & Stephen F. Austin University Head Coach;
3x ('14-'16) Southland Conference Regular Season & Tournament Champions;
2x (2015 & 2014) Southland Conference Coach of the Year;
2014 Joe B. Hall Award Recipient (Nation's top first-year coach)
Good defense can change a program, as proven by Brad Underwood multiple times during his coaching career! Underwood took an Illinois basketball program that ranked 330th in the country in defensive efficiency and helped turn them into a top ranked defensive team. He did this through changing a few key points to his defensive philosophy and reteaching that vision to his players. In this video, you will learn the principles and drills used to build a top 5 defensive program.
Defensive Principles
Cutting down on fouls, easy buckets, and open 3-pointers is key to any defense. In guiding his team from the bottom to the top, Coach Underwood had to start by focusing on one of those concepts at a time. By studying the best team in the world, the Milwaukee Bucks, he taught his teams how to not foul and make each game a winnable contest.
One of the principles you will learn to control as a coach is your team's communication and listening skills. Changing your pick up point and ball screen principles can improve you players' communication and listening skills. Through communicating early, loud and often, your defenders will have time to process a screen and get over the top. To help control open 3-pointers, Coach Underwood demonstrates how to use your closeouts to force shooters from the 3-point line and instead shoot contested mid-range jumpers.
Rounding out his key principles, Underwood explains how to use on-ball defense to keep players in front of you to avoid having to rotate and break down defensively. By containing ball handlers to one side of floor and forcing mid-range jumpers, you can create a defense that succeeds by "guarding your yard."
Shell Drill
In a 5v5 format, you will see how Coach Underwood installs his defensive principles in the Shell Drill. Starting with closeouts, your players will learn to take away driving lanes and fill gaps to deny an easy look. Additionally, athletes work on throwing their hands up to contest a shot and force the offense away from the 3-point line.
Building on closeouts, Underwood takes you through wing drives, middle drives, ball screens, and post defense. Within the Shell Drill, you'll see how to teach and defend one pass away and help side defense. For players who are one pass away, teaching the flat triangle changes the way an offensive player can attack driving lanes. As Coach Underwood states, he looks for the rhythm of his defense as they go through Shell Drill. This rhythm has helped them become one of the best defensive teams in the country.
Teaching an old coach new tricks is never easy. When your team is struggling defensively, you have to change the way you teach things. Coach Underwood found that out the hard way and had to adjust his defense. His new philosophy and vision has taken Illinois back to championship contention. This is a great video that demonstrates how you can make little changes to your philosophy and turn your program around!
70 minutes. 2022.