Derrick Clark is the head men’s basketball coach at Metro State University and is in his fourth season with the program (13-14). In his first 3 years at the school, he has totaled a 79-18 record and was also named the NCAA Division 2 Bulletin national coach of the year. Before coming to Metro State, coach Clark was on the Colorado University staff as an assistant coach for 3 years. These basketball coaching clinic notes are from when Derrick Clark spoke at the NAU clinic in 2013. They are going to cover some of the aspects of player pressure defense.
Basketball Coaching Clinic Notes
Pressure Defense
- Mike Anderson’s Missouri pressure D was good because even if you broke the press, they would still pursue just as hard from behind!
- Mike Anderson/Frank Martin great at raising his players level of COMPETITIVENESS
- If you want to press – you must be married to it
- One thing that helps a pressing team is making shots! More opportunities to set up the defense
- The goal is to be DISRUPTIVE
On Makes:
- Take away primary ball handler
- Play at altitude – Make conditioning a factor
- May not see results in TOs, but the press will wear on a team as the game goes on
- Control Tempo (Speed up / Slow down)
- Semi-Final game w/ West Liberty (2 teams that play hard = going to have a lot of TOs)
- Force TOs
- Get the opposing team to take uncharacteristic/bad/quick shots
General Notes
- Not about athleticism, but EFFORT – Must have it!
- Team must be good CONVERTING from O to D – Get to spots!
- Forget about matchups when you trap – be ready to move!
- Know the difference between Traps and Run & Jump
- When 5 man or post has the ball – everyone yelling “STICK” (Even bench)
- * Usually if big has the ball in the backcourt or away from the hoop in the frontcourt *
- Alerts team to go into full denial
- “Back Flow” – Ball gets ahead of defense – players must sprint back to the ball (Good opportunity to trap)
- When working on the press, he will put bigs up front to make them appreciate how much work the guards have to do
- Have a press to take time off clock – contain (No traps/ not aggressive)
- 5 man/ posts must have Great Communication (see everything)
