What is Man to Man Defense?
Man-to-Man or just Man Defense is when every player on defense is guarding a player on offense. Each player has an offensive player they are responsible for guarding and defending.
Man defense can be aggressive in trying to get out into passing lanes and make it hard for the offense to pass the ball. It can also be passive where each defender is playing off their man and standing in driving lanes. It is very versatile in how it can be played. It is the most used defense at the college and professional levels.
Man defense has 3 different concepts to learn to effectively run a man defense. These are…
- On the Ball
- Denial-One pass away
- Help Side
Each player must learn all three positions for man defense to work.
What is 1-3-1 No Trapping Zone Defense?
A 1-3-1 No Trapping Zone Defense is a zone defense setup in a 1-3-1 formation that uses positioning to try and stop an offense. The 1-3-1 no trapping defense does not trap the ball like its name indicates. This defense tries to play passing lanes to get deflections and steals. It is a passive defense in that it is not a defense built on ball pressure. The 1-3-1 no trap defense wants to force players to pick up their dribble and not be able to pass the ball to a teammate. This defense tries to force the offense to not be able to make any passes and make mistakes because of it.
The 1-3-1 no trapping defense goes against what a typical 1-3-1 trapping defense tries to do. By playing against the trends of a traditional 1-3-1 trap, the 1-3-1 no trapping defense tries to counter how an offense typically attacks a 1-3-1. The 1-3-1 no trap will leave the ball alone at times. The players will look to stay in passing lanes to prevent the ball from being passed around the court. This keeps the ball in one player’s hands thus preventing the offense from being able to properly execute an offense.
Best Team Personnel for Man to Man Defense?
I am a bit of a stubborn coach. My players know that we are going to play man to man defense most of the time. I do not think there is a certain personnel a team needs to have in order to play man-to-man defense. As long as the defense can match up and guard the offense then a team can run man-to-man defense.
For me, this means sometimes my center was guarding the other team’s point guard. The point guard did not score so it did not matter how well the center could guard the point because the point was not going to score anyway. I will be creative in my matchups to give our defense the best possible chance of defending the offense.
In a perfect world, the defensive players will be the same height or taller than the offensive players. The defensive players will have a speed and quickness advantage over the offense. And the one trait that can separate a good defensive player from a great player is quick hands. A defender with quick hands will get steals or deflections at a much higher rate than a defender with slow hands.
The last two things a good man-to-man defense will have is good positioning which can be taught and good instincts which cannot be taught. Good positioning is the players being in the right spots at the right time. Good positioning can be drilled in practice, so the players know exactly where to be at all times on defense.
Good instincts are when a player knows where and when to take an extra step so they can get a deflection or steal. This cannot be taught. Players will either have good instincts or they won’t. And if they don’t then they will never get them. Good instincts is just something each player naturally has.
Best Team Personnel of 1-3-1 No Trapping Defense?
The best team personnel of a 1-3-1 no trapping defense is a very tall team. The 1-3-1 is based on playing passing lanes rather than guarding a player or the ball. A team needs to be able to take away the ability to pass the ball. The taller and longer a defense is the harder it is going to make it on the offense to be able to see around them and to make passes.
The one exception to this is the bottom player in the 1-3-1. The bottom player needs to be fast. This player has to cover corner to corner so the team needs a player fast enough to run sideline to sideline.
When scouting and preparing for an opponent, the 1-3-1 no trapping defense would only be considered if the point and wings of the 1-3-1 are all significantly taller than the opponents guards. Without this size advantage the offense could not struggle as much with the defense playing in the passing lanes. The 1-3-1 no trapping defense takes the size advantage of the defense and increases it even more.
When to use Man to Man Defense?
Man-to-Man defense can be used at any and all times. I have gone an entire season coaching having used nothing but man-to-man except for 1 possession. That 1 possession of zone ended with the opponent making a 3-pointer. That was the end of zone defense for that season.
Man defense can be passive or aggressive. It can help guard against dribble drives by being passive. It can try and make passing for the offense hard by being aggressive in the passing lanes. Defenses can decide how they want to guard ball screens. So, there are no situations where man defense is unable to be used.
However, it is more about when not to use man-to-man defense rather than knowing when to use it. If the five defenders are unable to guard the 5 offensive players, then man defense might not be the best defense to use. Knowing when to change is really about determining if each defender can guard their matchup one on one. If the defense cannot guard the offense one-on-one, then the defense will constantly be rotating to help. If the defense is rotating to help, then the offense can attack and pass and get wide open shots on offense. When this happens, the defense needs to change matchups or switch to a zone defense.
When to use 1-3-1 No Trapping Defense?
There are two instances in which the 1-3-1 no trapping defense would be the best time to use it. The first is like I stated above and that i when the defense has a significant height advantage over the offense. The height advantage of the defense added to the positioning of playing passing lanes could make it very difficult for the offense to score the ball. The offense would need to rely on a single player creating and making their own shot and at a height disadvantage. This is very hard to do.
The second instance is when the opponent has a dynamic point guard or driver of the basketball. If an opponent has a player that can drive the ball and score at a very high rate, then the defense has to do something to counter this one player. The 1-3-1 no trap would disguise what it is doing. And in turn invite the driver only to collapse around them when they do drive. The defense can use the 1-3-1 no trapping defense to help corral the guard to limit their scoring.
The 1-3-1 no trapping defense is going to play the passing lanes. So, if a player on offense has the ball out front, the point man of the defense is going to be player the reversal pass and the wing on ball side is going to be in the passing lane to keep the ball out of the corner. This means the middleman of the 1-3-1 is actually guarding the ball in the traditional sense. This is inviting the scorer to drive the ball at the middleman. Once the drive starts and gets close to the middleman, the point and wing can collapse down effectively triple teaming that scorer. The 1-3-1 no trap invites the drive only to surround the drive as the ball gets close to the lane. The offensive player can get too deep into the zone and panic. This panic leads to turnovers. It is basically corralling the scorer into an area and then overwhelming them with defensive players. This can help limit the ability of the scorer to score.
Advantages of Man to Man over 1-3-1 No Trapping
- Ability to Put on Ball Pressure
Man to Man Defense is very versatile in how it can change the amount of ball pressure a defense puts on the offense. The defense can really be aggressive in their ball pressure or passive by playing off the ball. This ability to change is not something all defenses can do. The 1-3-1 no trapping defense is designed to play in the passing lanes. The pressure of the 1-3-1 no trapping defense is in trying to prevent passing and not by putting on ball pressure. In situations where ball pressure is needed the 1-3-1 no trapping defense is completely useless. Man to man defense can extend the defense and pressure when needed. It can also compress the defense back inside the 3-point line if needed. Man defense can modify to every game scenario that comes up. The 1-3-1 no trapping defense can work in some situations but is useless in others. And this all comes down to the ability to put pressure on the ball.
2. Rebounding
This advantage is less about man-to-man defense and more about a potential flaw of the 1-3-1 no trapping defense. In a 1-3-1, the bottom player is usually going to be shorter and faster. So, the defense has a short defender closest to the basket. And with the 1-3-1 no trapping defense, the point man and wings of the defense should be extended out away from the middle to stay in the passing lanes as much as possible. This is putting 3 potential rebounds away from the basket. So, the defender closest to the basket is usually short and 3 defenders should be at or outside the 3-point line. This is putting a lot of responsibility to the the middle defender to rebound. If the middleman struggles to get rebounds, then the offense could have a lot of 2nd chance scoring opportunities. This is a major potential flaw of the 1-3-1 no trapping defense.
In a man-to-man defense, every defender is matched up and responsible to box out and keep their offensive player from getting rebounds. There is a procedure to rebounding in a man-to-man defense whereas the 1-3-1 no trapping defense has a lot of question marks on responsibility.
3. Does not Need Certain Personnel to Run
Man to Man Defense can be ran by every team. It can work no matter if a team is tall or short or slow or fast. Man defense can adjust to fit each and every team. Fast teams can extend and put a lot of ball pressure on the offense. A tall team can back off from the offense and let their size help them. So, man-to-man defense does not rely on a certain personnel grouping to be effective.
A 1-3-1 no trapping defense really needs to have a height advantage to work. It is built on not allowing the offense to make passes. And if an offense cannot pass the ball, then the offense cannot run sets or plays. It makes the offense stand around and try to figure out how to make passes. But, without this size advantage the 1-3-1 no trapping defense does not work as well or at all. The 1-3-1 no trapping defense is built around not letting the offense pass the ball and if the defense is not tall enough to prevent passing, then the primary focus of the defense is not going to be accomplished. A team must have a certain personnel to execute the 1-3-1 no trapping defense well, whereas man-to-man defense can be used by any team with any personnel group.
Advantages of 1-3-1 No Trapping over Man to Man Defense
- Deflections and Turnovers
The 1-3-1 no trapping zone defense is built on getting out into passing lanes and preventing passes from going through. This should lead to more deflections and turnovers. Deflections can cause big disruptions to the offense. Turnovers on the other hand should lead to quick runouts and easy layups. A defense that is able to create turnovers is a very hard defense to beat. Turnovers take away opportunities for the offense to score and frequently lead to the defense getting easy points. Deflections and turnovers can make the offense panic and push harder which can lead to more deflections and turnovers by the offense. It can get into a continuous cycle that feeds into the 1-3-1 no trapping defense.
2. Uses Size Advantage to its Maximum
Size can be a massive advantage to a team. It should help them rebound better. It should make their defense better by forcing the offense to shoot over a taller defender. There is a reason why the NBA is filled with guys over 6’4. And the Nate Robinson and Muggsy Bogues of the world are the exceptions to this and not the rule. Size matters and the more size a team has usually means better teams and better records.
So, the question should be how can a team maximize a height advantage to the fullest. All too often a tall team uses its height well but does not maximize the advantage. The 1-3-1 no trapping defense gets the players in the positions to make it as hard as possible for the offense to make passes and get good shots.
If the offense cannot pass the ball, then the offense is unable to move the defense. If the defense does not move, then the defense is always going to be in the best positions to guard. And with the height advantage, the defense reduces the amount of space each offensive player has to play in.
The 1-3-1 no trapping defense uses size advantage to the maximum by filling in the open spaces the offense normally has. If the offense drives the ball inside, then they are just going into taller players. By extending the 1-3-1 out into passing lanes it forces the offense to start the offense near the half-court line. An offense cannot be successful starting so far away from the basket.
The last thing it does is reverse the idea of passing around the defense that is typical tendencies playing against a zone. The 1-3-1 no trapping defense wants the offense to see zone and think they need to pass the ball around the zone. By playing in the passing lanes, the defense wants the offense trying to pass more and not less. More passes mean more chances for deflections and turnovers. More turnovers mean easier layups for the defense.
3. Can Cause Confusion for the Offense
Most teams will practice to play against a man defense. They will have offenses and plays to help them score the basketball. Most teams will have a zone offense designed to go against a 1-3-1. But most 1-3-1 defenses will have some sort of trapping aspect to them. The offenses will know how and where a defense is going to be trapping and will avoid those areas. However, a 1-3-1 that does not trap and instead plays strictly in the passing lanes. This is not something that most teams see very often.
When an offense gets set up against a 1-3-1 no trapping defense and the guards are out front not being guarded by really anybody, then this can confuse the offense on what they are supposed to do. It looks like the guards can drive into the middle of the defense, but this just causes the defense to collapse around the ball and the guard is left with nowhere to go. So, the guard is unable to pass around the defense, but is also not able to drive into the defense. What is the offense going to do now?
Most teams will dribble at a defender to make them step up and guard them so they can pass around the defender. But what happens when the defender backs away from the ball when an offensive player dribbles at them? That is the beauty of the 1-3-1 no trapping defense. It takes the normal functions of a 1-3-1 trapping defense and does the opposite. If a team is not prepared for this type of defensive behavior, then can they figure it out during a game?
For me, when I put a new offense in during practice, the first few reps are going to be bad no matter what the defense is doing. It takes some reps for the players to understand the movement and timing of the offense. Now if an offense has to do something brand new during a game, this could lead to turnovers. Those turnovers could give the defense 3-5 easy runouts and all of a sudden the defense has a 6-10 point lead. That run while the offense is trying to figure out the defense could be the difference in winning and losing the game.
Which is better? Man Defense vs 1-3-1 No Trap
The 1-3-1 no trapping defense is a great defense in my opinion. I have used it and had it used against me. In every instance I can remember it was successful. I won games using it and lost games when it was used against me. As a coach playing against it and knowing that there is nothing I can do or the players can do to beat it is humbling. But it was always used in the right situations. The teams had a decidedly major height advantage. The guards on offense could not pas around it and could not shoot over it. It was a one-sided affair and a blowout game in every instance I can remember.
However, I have always seen it used with the right personnel. There was a height advantage by one team over the opponent. That is the drawback with the 1-3-1 no trapping defense. It is a great defense in the right situations. But those situations do not occur very often. Having a major height advantage does not happen very often. When the height advantage is not there, then it might not work. But it can work by mixing the no trapping defense with a trapping 1-3-1. Using the two variations together to keep the offense uncomfortable is what gives the 1-3-1 an advantage over most other zones.
Man-to-man defense does have flaws, but it can be used much more often than the 1-3-1 no trapping defense. The ability to teach man-to-man and not have any wasted practice time teaching other defenses is a benefit to a team. The amount of time needed to practice the 1-3-1 no trapping with the 1-3-1 trapping defense as well as a different defense when the 1-3-1 is not working is a lot of practice time. By simplifying the defense down to just man-to-man, practice time can be maximized thus making the man defense better than having multiple defenses that are good but not great.
If I had a team that was perfect for the 1-3-1 no trapping style, then I would teach man-to-man first. Then I would teach the 1-3-1 no trapping and the 1-3-1 trapping together. Even with a team that could run a 1-3-1 no trapping defense, I would still use the man-to-man defense first and then use the 1-3-1 to change the pace or flow of the game. If a team would get into a rhythm against the man defense, then I would switch to the 1-3-1.
So, which is better? Man-to-man defense is better because of how versatile it is and how it can be used in all situations.