BOB HUGGINS DEFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY

These notes were passed on to me from Taylor Harris, assistant basketball coach at Metro State College. They are taken from teh 2010 Nike clinic in Las Vegas. Thanks Coach Harris!

How do you get your players to play so hard?


Run – in practice
Sit – in games
In practice, players would run 22’s but wouldn’t touch all the lines
Set up a treadmill set at 17mph
Make a kid run on the treadmill for 44 sec
He can’t cheat the treadmill, and if he doesn’t run fast, he’ll fly off
Tape a “help” line on the court every day
From rim to rim, middle of the court
Guys need to straddle the help line
If they’re not at the help line, they go to treadmill
 
DRILL

2v2 Sprint to Help Drill
-Coach up top
-Player at each wing (offense & defense)
-Pass to one wing, other wing must sprint to help line
-We do this every day during practice
-If they don’t sprint and straddle the help line, they go to treadmill

On defense, we want guys to be closer to the ball than their man is
To get through the screen, throw your arm out and hit the screener
Go back and look at game film regarding opponents passes
Passes that hurt you are direct passes
Not lobs or bounce passes
Direct passes set up easy shots
Philosophy: “You can through it over, under, or around us, but you can’t throw it through us”
Closeouts – We work on closeouts more than anyone in the country
Closeout to outside, high shoulder
Prevent middle penetration

As coaches, do you do things in practice not knowing why you do it?
Think about those drills that you do “just because”
Do you have time for all those drills?
Everyone speaks of spacing – what is it?
15-17 feet
Close enough so you can make a direct pass
Far enough where 1 guy can’t guard 2

You don’t get beat off of 1st shots – you get beat by 2nd and 3rd shots
Shoulders point to where the ball is going to be thrown – not the eyes
Teach players to read shoulders, not eyes
Key to rebounding: Staying lower than your opponent