1-3-1 Defense Drills by Rory Hamilton

Written by Coach Peterman

I have coached at the NCAA Division 2 (Southwestern Oklahoma State University), NAIA (USAO), and JUCO Levels (Blinn College and Carl Albert State College) as well as high school. I just felt that fellow coaches especially young coaches need to constantly work on their “game”. Just like the basketball players that we coach. We as coaches need to improve ourselves. That is my story and why I do this blog.

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Basketball Drills

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February 8, 2014

1-3-1 Defense Drills by Rory Hamilton

After last week’s post on our 1-3-1 defense, I have had numerous coaches contact me on how we teach it as well as what 1-3-1 Defense Drills that we use for implementation. I have created a playbook that illustrates the 1-3-1 Defense Drills, we use and more importantly why we do them.

1. Anticipation Drills: In our 1-3-1 defense, we stress being “big” on the ball and “wide” off the ball and playing the passing lanes first. Each player in the 1-3-1 is asked to “play 2 “ defenders at times and must read the shoulders of the passer. Our anticipation drills allows our players to simulate where they need to be in relationship to the basketball, regardless of the alignment of the offense. A big teaching point for our defense is our alignment and coverages if based upon ball location and not offensive alignment.

2. Piston Drill: This is the most important drill we do cause the 1-3-1 is weak diagonally at times. Our pushers must work in unison with one “big on” the ball and the other splitting the distance on the weak side. Once the ball is passed guard to guard, they must exchange roles.

3. Warrior Drill: This drill is specifically for our bottom player we call the warrior. A common attack we see for offenses to use a double low attack and set screens on our warrior so she cannot corner to corner effectively. We teach going low side of the screens forcing offense back to the middle of the defense into an umbrella trap.

4. 5-8 Shell Drill: This drill puts all the pieces together in one drill and we play it in a competitive fashion 5 defenders versus 8 offensive players. We feel like if we can cover 8, then 5 is piece of cake. Nothing new here, just a defensive disadvantage drill.

5. Rebounding Coverages: Finally we breakdown our rebounding coverages based upon where the shot is taken. We try as much as possible to form a triangle with our pushers, cloggers, and keeper.

I hope this helps all coaches interested in the 1-3-1 defense. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me anytime at rhamilton@mountstmary.org.

Coach Hamilton is the head girls coach at Mount St. Mary High School in Oklahoma City Oklahoma. He has 13 years of basketball coaching experience at various levels. He has coached at the collegiate, middle school and high school level. This past year he led Mount St. Mary to its first ever state tournament and ending the season with a 20-7 record.