Full Court Drill – Two Touches

By: Lee Rose

Originally Published in: Winning Basketball Fundamentals

Provided by: Human Kinetics

Focus

Running hard and making those important layups.

Procedure

Players should be warmed up and loose for this full-court fast-break drill. Teach the drill with a one-dribble allowance for the first couple of days and then eliminate dribbling altogether. Two-handed chest passes are recommended. Players form three lines on the end line and follow these steps:

1. Have an even number of players in the three lines with the ballhandling guards in the middle. Centers, forwards, and big guards run the outside lanes.
2. O1, with the ball, begins at the free-throw line, and O2 and O3 are on the end line occupying the running lanes. As O1 throws the ball on the backboard, O2 and O3 sprint toward the opposite goal, staying wide in their lanes.
3. O1 throws a lead pass to O2, who catches the ball in full stride and throws a two-handed lead pass to O3, who catches and shoots the layup.
4. O1 must sprint to the basket and catch the ball before O3's layup hits the floor. O2 changes sides of the court by cutting across the top of the circle and taking the opposite lane. O3 shoots the layup and continues running to the opposite lane, looking for a short outlet pass from O1 (figure 6.39).
5. O1 rebounds the made layup and, without dribbling, passes to O3, who clears the area after making the first layup.
6. O2 has changed sides of the court and begins a sprint toward the opposite basket as O1 rebounds and passes to O3.
7. O3 catches the pass and, without dribbling, passes back to O1, who is cutting up the middle.
8. O1 catches on the dead run and, without breaking stride, makes a two-handed chest pass to O2, who is streaking to the basket for a layup (figure 6.40). All passes in this drill are lead passes.
   
9. The next three players in line begin as O2 is shooting the layup. The guard in the middle gets the rebound out of the net and, without dribbling, throws a lead pass almost to midcourt to the wing runner, and the drill continues. All players must be alert and ready to run when their time comes.
10. After any missed layups, the group runs again.

This drill builds with repetition. Begin with one, then two, and eventually three times up and down the court for each group. Layups become important, especially when players are running two and three times.