Cliff Ellis: Pressing Options Out of a 1-2-1-1

with Cliff Ellis,
Coastal Carolina Head Coach;
2009-10 Big South Coach of the Year; Over 600 career NCAA Division I wins;
Won conference championships with 4 different teams in 4 different conferences, including ACC (with Clemson) and SEC (with Auburn); named conference Coach of the Year six times in his career; National Coach of the Year in 1999

All teams at some point during the season will need to press. Are you ready to effectively pressure your opponent?

In this on court demonstration DVD, Cliff Ellis teaches you his patented 1-2-1-1 Full Court Press. Coach Ellis does a great job of describing each individual responsibility and role within the 1-2-1-1 press and the intricate details that make the press defense a successful strategy.

The cautious coach will find security in the many effective ideas that are taught on how not to get beat down the court. For the more aggressive coach, Ellis teaches how to get multiple trapping opportunities and also demonstrates a simple way to get into the press off of a missed shot.

He shows you how to start the press in a safe, conservative manner and how to pick up the tempo when your opponent least expects it. This aggressive 1-2-1-1 full court press morphs into a three-quarter court press that is sure to leave your opponents guessing as to what will come next.

You will see how to corral your opponent into a trapping situation on the first inbound pass, which will protect your players from foul trouble. Coach shows you how to teach your wings to trap and be active by taping off sections of the court, which will help wing players better understand how to move when the ball is passed. Ellis lets his middle man know how to move with the basketball. Finally he teaches his safety, or back of the zone, how to "lie in the weeds" in order to entice the ball forward for a trap.

Coach Ellis provides an in depth demonstration and teaching of his recovery method out of the press - the most important part to any press. He takes two different approaches in teaching the recovery: conservative and aggressive.

Finally, Ellis explains numerous situations that they put their players through from Day 1. He teaches his "multiply" situation in which he describes how to scramble into a secondary press if a steal occurs and a bucket is made. Ellis demonstrates how to defend any of the four basic passes out of the initial trap. He covers in detail how to switch from a conservative 1-2-1-1 full court press into an aggressive three-quarter "12 Press" when the pass is made backwards in the press. He explains how the front line should influence the ball sideline and how to take away any gap situation.

These full court defensive concepts will create panic in your opponents and allow your team to capitalize on their in-decision.

Produced at the Spring 2010 Myrtle Beach (SC) clinic

73 minutes. 2012.