I coach 7th grade basketball and just wonder about the appropriateness of this system with middle school boys. Many resources on this site suggest using man to man and to avoid the press with middle school kids. But this is a system that teaches good man to man principles and is a full court press. I know the other parts of this system (offense and transitions) are suitable for middle school age kids but I wonder about the defense.

Any one try working on this with middle schoolers or would I be better off sticking to half court m2m principles?

I think a lot of this depends on your program, who the coaches are, etc.

In a typical program, I think focusing on man to man half court principles is usually best.

But if you have a good organized program that has some continuity with the teaching each year, I could see using this in 7th grade. So players are learning both m2m principles and principles of the press. But that needs to be continued next year. Otherwise I'm not sure it helps them as much as stick with man to man.

Other coaches might have a different outlook so I'l be curious to hear their viewpoint.

I agree with Jeff... teach good half-court m2m principles in middle school. The matchup press is a bit complicated and requires a fair amount of practice time... but you could start teaching it, keeping it as simple as possible, teaching basic rules and principles, and let it progress each year up the system.

Dr. Jim Gels
Coach's Clipboard

I have always used this system in middle school with great success. Plus great programs are consistent through all levels. Coach Haske

I coached 8th graders last season, we had two 90 minute practices per week. I discovered this system about halfway through the season. We were already using the principles of Pressure Defense, Pressure Offense to great effect. I didn't use 100% of this system as outlined by Coach Haske but we were totally on the same page philosophically, relentless pressure offensively and defensively and always pushing the tempo. I used a lot of the principles from better basketball for both offense and defense and those fit very well with this system. They work well together because both teach by principle and provide a means for breaking the big things (5 on 5) into smaller drills to teach.

We played 10 players significant minutes every game. Opponents commented on our remarkable depth, players got so many touches and we had so many possessions that everyone improved a ton. It was a lot of fun to coach and parents loved watching their kids play this style.

Most of our opponents were 2-3 zone teams, there is no better way to beat a zone than to beat it up the floor. Many of our opponents were slow it down, run a pattern offense, type teams that generally scored in the 30's-40's. We averaged in the 60's. I am absolutely certain that our way was a whole lot better for player development.

I agree with all the comments about too much pressing and zone defense in youth basketball and in an ideal world kids would learn to play m2m offense and defense really well before moving on to anything else. For our 5th grade level in our travel league (5-8th grades) I proposed no zone, no pressing for the first half of the season, 12 games. The vote was 11-1 against me. We don't live in an ideal world for youth basketball.

I highly recommend this system for middle school. Try it, you will have a ton of fun with it.

So far I have had two practices teaching this uptempo offense system to my 5th/6th grade boys. We aren’t allowed to press at this age so I can’t teach that yet . Today we had a game and ran K2, K3 and 2 pitch 4 pitch. It was so much fun ! The boys picked it up quickly . I learned the big thing in practice is telling the boys their number (1-5) and they really start to grasp what their position is supposed to do . Today we won 46-30 against a team who matched up well with us . This offensive system was the big advantage . The fun part was the parents and coaches coming up and telling us all how fun it was to watch the boys play . Thank you coach Haske . I am a big believe in this system !!