Mike Dunlap Defense Clinic Notes by Mark Chapman

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 Coaching | Basketball Coaching Clinic Notes

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April 30, 2014

Mike Dunlap Defense Clinic Notes

Part 1

These notes are thoughts and philosophy of Coach Mike Dunlap and entail developing a sound defensive philosophy. It starts with the basics and what all teams should work to build and then develops some techniques that will help your team take advantage of skills your players may have.

A. Corner Stones | Mike Dunlap Defense Clinic Notes

1. Ball pressure – Don’t allow the offense to have a free look at the floor

2. Rotation – Players need to work together to stop the ball

3. Basket Protection – Players must defend the paint and take away easy baskets

4. Rebounding – This completes the defense. Don’t let players end drills without securing the defensive rebound. Create the habit.
*We want to pressure the ball the entire game. The ball is the most important thing in the game and should be given appropriate emphasis.

B. Pressure Points | Mike Dunlap Defense Clinic Notes

1. Alleys – Keep the ball on the sidelines as much as possible. By limiting the space offensive players can work it reduces ball reversals. Reducing ball reversals doesn’t allow your opponent to run their designated offense.

2. Turn the basketball – Pick up the ball full court and try to turn the player with the ball 2-3 times before they get to half court. As they get to half court keep them on the nearest sideline or “alley”.

3. Wing position – when the ball is pinned on the sideline alley at the wing position we will either front or side post the post while using help side defender to play the split line. In brief, we play the ball hard, deny one pass away, and play basket protection two passes away.

4. Post Position – Once the ball goes to the post we like to force the post player baseline and rotate our lowest basket protection underneath to double the post position. The defense is vulnerable when the ball goes inside and therefore the defense should address the fire in the house.

5. Screens – We trap screens on the ball and rotate from that point. We see a golden opportunity when two offensive players come to the ball. This allows us to keep maximum pressure on the ball while we have our players in an optimum position to rotate for help.

6. Rebounding – I have stated to our players many times, you can make every defensive mistake known to man but blocking out and getting the rebound rights all wrongs. Defensive boards complete your defense and a team must execute this consistently in order to be any good. While blocking out is important, ball pursuit off the shot is most important. We must be warriors in this area.

We have a new basketball coaching contributor in Mark Chapman He is doing an excellent job in providing basketball coaching clinic notes, basketball drills, and basketball plays. He is the Head Boy’s Basketball Coach at Hamilton Township High School in Columbus, Ohio. I think that you will enjoy the Mike Dunlap Defense Clinic Notes that Coach Chapman gave us.