How to Execute a Basic Man-to-Man Full Court Press in Basketball

Applying full court defensive pressure can allow you to cause a turnover and lead to easy scoring opportunities. Full court pressure can be used effectively when playing against an opponent that does not handle the ball well or as a surprise tactic to cause a quick turnover at a key point in the game. This article will describe a basic full court press. This basic full court press will focus on trapping and disrupting the offense.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Good foundation of defensive skills

1. GET PLAYERS INTO POSITION. Each player is assigned an opponent to guard and is responsible for staying with this player until the ball is inbounded.
2. FORCE PASS TO NARROW CORNER. The player that is guarding the opponent that is passing the ball inbounds should force the passer to throw the ball to the narrow corner by positioning themselves to block a pass to the long corner (the narrow corner is the corner closest to the passer...by having the pass go to the narrow corner, it will make it easier to trap the player who receives the pass). If the inbounder has the freedom to move along the baseline, the defender should change body position to force the ball to be passed to the narrow corner at all times.
3. ALLOW THE PASS TO COME INTO THE NARROW CORNER. Once the pass is received in the narrow corner, the defender should play strong defense and force the opponent to dribble to the sideline. Ideally, you can try to deny the best ball handler and force them away from the narrow corner ... try to get a weak ball handler to catch the pass in the narrow corner.
4. TRAP ALONG THE SIDELINE. As the opponent is being forced to the sideline, the player who was guarding the inbounder quickly moves toward to person with the ball (forcing them towards the sideline if necessary) and works together with their teammate to force the opponent to pick up the dribble and into a trap. Once the opponent picks up the dribble, the players should yell "Dead" which will alert their teammates that a pass will be thrown and they should be ready to steal it.
5. OTHER PLAYERS ROTATE. At this point, we have 3 defenders available to guard 4 opponents. This will be done effectively by rotating to the proximity of the 3 closest players. The distance that they are from the opponent is based on how far they are from the ball. If they are less than 15 feet away, the defender should be right with their player making it difficult for them to receive a pass. If they are further than 15 feet away, they should be close enough to jump into the passing lane when a pass is made. Be careful not to let an opponent run long down the court without having the ability to recover to the pass.
6. ROTATE AFTER PASS IS MADE. If the opponent is able to make a pass to a teammate, the defenders must rotate to get back to guarding each player again.
7. FORCE DRIBBLERS TO THE SIDELINE. No matter where the ball is or who has the ball, they should be forced to the sideline. The next closest defender should come to double team and the rest of the team rotates to cover the other 4 players.
8. COVER THE BASKET. As the ball gets across the half court line and towards the hash mark, one defender should always be in the lane ready to defend an opponent who gets through the press. This will help to minimize easy baskets.

Tips & Warnings

• Executing a full court press takes good communication and teamwork
• Remember the keys to this basic full court press ... force the ball to the sideline and trap at the sideline - otherwise, it is strong pressure on the ball at all times and off-ball denial in "Dead" ball situations
• If you do steal the ball, try to score right away before your opponent can react
• Besides getting steals, a full court press can:
• 1.Cause other turnovers (traveling, double dribble, out of bounds)
• 2.Fatigue an opponent
• 3.Speed up the tempo of the game in your favor if playing against a team that is dominating you in the half-court offense
• The pressing team must balance the benefits of causing turnovers with the probability that the opponent could get some easy shots if they break the press