Cheryl Burnett Scramble Defense

Style of play | Cheryl Burnett Scramble Defense
• This is based on Dean Smith’s philosophy
• Prevents opponent’s offensive sets
• Changes the momentum- speeds up the game
• Uses your team’s intelligence
• Takes away all of your opponents strengths
• Use your primary man to man defense as your main defense and compliment it
with this attaching style

Defensive Pick-up positions | Cheryl Burnett Scramble Defense
1. You will only go into scramble if you score
2. Point of attack must sprint to half court then sprint back to a spot near the foul line to
pick up @ 3/4 court
• Makes the defensive call while sprinting toward the ball
• Make sure your other defensive players know what you are playing
• Must be able to turn the offensive player 3x in the backcourt
3. Off guard has sprinted back to the foul line and then back to half court to pick up his player
4. Wings and others sprint back to half court in outside lanes, bump their players and
get ready to attack

Defensive calls | Cheryl Burnett Scramble Defense
1. Straight man (22) (Signaled by arms straight out)
2. Down (Double team off of the pass) (23) (Signaled by arms moving down below the waist)- Allow
the pass to be made to the wing ABOVE the free throw line by not denying. The guard whose head was
passed over now chases to become the double team.
• The first pass after half court is doubled
• The point guard should try to direct the ball so that a down pass is made to a wing and a top
guard to guard pass is not allowed
• Front the post
• Rotate opposite guard over to intercept
• If the second pass is up, the scramble is off
• If the second pass is down, scramble again by rotating the man whose head
was passed over to the ball
• Do not foul within the trap
• Use 2 trappers, 2 interceptors open to the ball and post fronting
• 3 ways the scramble is off

1. Gut pass
2. Skip pass
3. Get behind and need to use common sense

• There will be mismatches
• Sprint off of the double team
• Must be able to guard the ball
• Must be a surprise
• Must anticipate and hustle
3. Fist (Run and jump) (Signaled by arms moving in a circle)- This is not a double
team. This works great when the ball handler is very quick and the defender is

slower. Here the person who is being dribbled at runs up to defend the dribbler and the defensive
point now just rotates to the man that was being guarded by the jumper.
• The point guard needs to get the ball to an outer third of the court and out of the middle
• No double team
• When the offensive guard gets even with the point guard, the next closest
defender call JUMP and runs to the ball
• The point guard just runs to the player that was left by the defender that made the jump call
• All 5 players must move in the direction of the ball
• Great automatic call against a great dribble penetrator
• A slow, big man will never be involved in a run and jump

4. Up (Double team off of the dribbler (23) (Signaled by arms placed straight up
over head)- The point turns the player and as this is occurring the closest defender jumps to the
ball and double teams immediately as the offensive player turns her back to the basket
• Get the ball to an outer third
• As soon as the ball gets past half court, it gets double teamed by the nearest wing
• The closest post player moves to the wing to intercept
• If the ball is caught on the wing, the post player must contain dribble
penetration
• The low post is fronted by the other forward
• If you want to double the wing if this pass was completed, peel the guard
down to double not the person running up toward the ball. This is an exception to the rule of
running if the ball is passed over your head.

5. Zone (13- 1-2-2 zone trap that rotates into 11) Principles
• All scramble defenses become a 2-2-1 zone when there is a trap
• There is risk involved- leave the player farthest from the basketball unguarded
• Interceptors play 50/50- 50% towards the first available pass and 50% to the middle
• If a pass is made to the nearest outlet, the interceptor sprints to a spot 6 feet nearer to the
basket than the ball and must contain the ball from going to the basket.
• Whoever had their head passed over now becomes the chaser and must sprint to the ball to reform
the double team
• The other two defenders must now get into 50/50 position
• If you do not get a steal or a score off of the first trap (down call may trap a pass
from the wing to the corner), you return to playing straight man
• Must be in great shape
• Must be a great half court defensive team
• Man principles
o Turn the ball in the backcourt 2 to 3 times to set up the scramble
o Deny all passes
o Front all posts
o The further away the ball is from your player, the farther away from your player you are
• Must double all on the ball screens
• Will give up easy shots on occasions but do not give up
• The players are guarding all different players and they must box out or rebounding can be a
problem
• If #1 or #5 get mismatched, try to switch back

3 ways the double team is removed and you go back to straight man to man defense
• The offense completes a skip pass
• The offense completes a gut pass- any pass to the center of the floor moving to the
basket as to the post or weak side cutter
• Common sense- you just know that the offense is at an advantage, as you are not getting into the
rotations quick enough

REPETITION PENETRATES EVEN THE DULLEST OF MINDS

Drills | Cheryl Burnett Scramble Defense
Trapping Drill
• The offense has no rules except to work on the dribble, changing speeds, and the retreat
dribble. After every pass, try to dribble to the rim.
• The defense must take away the sideline or take away the middle depending on the scramble call
• This drill can also be run out of a diamond formation and run 3/4 court trying to force the
dribbler to a certain area
• The drill can also be run 4 on 3

Click on the pdf link to download the basketball coaching clinic notes:

Cheryl Burnett Scramble Defense