Coach Vance Walberg shared his Dribble Drive Man-to-Man & Zone Offense concepts and schemes during his time presenting on the NABC Championship Basketball Webinar Series. I’ve heard multiple coaches reference coach Walberg in the past and learned a lot by listening. I’ve compiled my notes from the presentation.

• Blow up zone – the backcourt, we’re trying to blow the ball up court
• Pass it up the court vs dribble – wings three-point line extended – if we can’t kick it up to them by the time we cross half court, they will slide to the corner
• #1 mentality is attack the rack – you have to love to attack the basket
• #2 gaps – single, double, triple and super gaps
• #3 spacing – how do you space to open those gaps
• Love layups and like threes
• Different zones of the dribble drive – blowout zone (backcourt) breakdown zone (old hash marks – can I get to the rack as the ball handler or not) drop zone, drag zone, rack zone (always trying to get here, love layups and like threes)
• When we get zoned, we go to more threes, but want to get to the rack zone
• If we can’t get to the rack zone but get to the drop zone, this starts a whole different set of actions (DHO’s, backdoors, give and go)
• In the drag zone as a driver my number 1 look is to score, number 2 look to big man up high, number 3 is a skip out to whatever side we attacked
• Account positions – 1 and 5 are the ball handlers/drivers, 2 and 3 are going to shoot more from the wings – would love to have the 1, 2, 3, 5 both drive and shoot well – if you aren’t a good driver, cut backdoor and keep moving
• 2 side is the right side, 3 side is the left side
• 4 man is the rim runner
• Single gap is guard to guard up top or guard to wing if he is FT line extended
• Double gap is if the guard is at the top and wing is in the corner
• Triple gap is guard to guard and cut through, attack opposite
• Super gap – one FT line extended to the other drive
• Drops are the drop zone, backdoors
• Drag zone looking to score
• Open window is finding the open area when teammate is driving
• Kick ups are anytime on penetration the corner man lifts
• Kickbacks are when a teammate replaces behind the drive
• 4 relocate – big one side to other
• 4 t up – baseline drive slide middle of key
• 4 middle of key – clean up misses
• Pass, cut and move until you get the advantage – if I can’t beat my man off the dribble, pass and cut until we get the advantage
• Teach your players how to play in practice and then play during the game – we do the coaching during practice
• 3 ways to make your players look better than they are – 1. Open gaps 2. Go and catch vs. catch and go (kick ups and kick bags, only time to stand is catch is an open 3 or being hugged) – when you catch in the corner, shoot it – never catch and mess around with the ball, catch it and shoot it – if you can’t shoot it you should be catching on the move
• 3 areas of turnover – 1. Hesitate then go 2. Driving 3 baseline 3. Straight line passes in paint (when you drive the first look is high, bounce pass, wrap around)
• If they go under the screen or DHO we shoot the 3
• #3 – attack dribble from one side of court to the other side – send a cutter through and attack the double gap – can attack the inside man and DHO curl
• Takes the best out of the 3 out and 4 out – keep a man in motion
• When and when not to be patient when in the corner – 3 ways to guard it (hug, high side, flat side)
• If being hugged, be patient – if being played flat, kick up – if you are on the weak side, be patient
• High side – go backdoor
• Flat side – kick up
• Why I don’t teach the triple threat – If you make the catch on the run you become a better driver, especially with gaps
• Play 1 on 1 at different parts of the court, third person is the hold man which is a defender inside – 2 dribble limitation – 2 on 2 with hold, 3 on 3 with hold, 4 on 4 with hold
• Understand the value of cutting – every time you pass you must cut or move
• Teaching how and why we cut to score, 95% basket cuts – if you cannot beat your man then cut or DHO
• Teaching points around the drive – whenever we penetrate strong side a good driver will get one foot in the paint, both feet you’re great, no feet you’re not very good – We want to get at least one in the paint – guard to guard and attack the double gap we should have both feet in the gap
• Learn to attack all areas of the court – learn how to attack from wings/corners – flashing the 4 and using the 4 as another way to start the attacks
• More 3’s against the pack line and switch, penetrate wide, pass and cut hard to score to open up the gap, get their worst defender on our best offensive player or defender with a couple fouls
• Great PG’s conquer the lane line to lane line in transition, rotate the ball from one side to the other
• Against the zone – philosophy is the same, no fear to shoot the 3, still going key or 3 – if we get 65 shots up a game, I want 45 in the key and 20 threes – more 50/50 against zone
• You have to be able to offensive rebound against the zone – big is always opposite, and you have a weak side corner – big drives middle for the rebound, weak side wing comes through the baseline – send 4 to the boards, send someone right through the weak side gut – the back man at the NBA 3
• The freeze dribble is dribbling as hard as I can at my teammates man who comes off me hard
• Transition into the dribble drive – our primary break is our offense – kick it ahead and start the offense – we use the blood 44 drill to teach them how to play off each other
• Teaching points to rack it – 1st dribble, clip the hip get low, get shoulders facing the basket asap, Toughness factor – hit them first before they hit you, 1 bump, 2 bump – win the war at the FT line
• Dribble drive vs the zone – wings are up instead of down