Ep 26 What Is the Funnel Down Defense, and Why Should You Run It This Season?
Get the Funnel Down Defense: https://funneldowndefense.com/Or get Championship Access: https://teachhoops.com/
The philosophy behind pin, funnel, and trap, why it shrinks the floor, and how the whole defense fits on a three by five card.
Early in his career, Coach Steve Collins carried a defensive binder about three inches thick, and his players remembered almost none of it. After a loss to a team running a set he had a full page on, he asked his kids for the rule in the huddle and got blank faces. That night he started cutting, and what was left was three rules small enough to fit on a three by five card.
In this series opener, Steve explains the philosophy behind the Funnel Down Defense, the system he built with Jon Morgan. He covers why pinning the ball on one side shrinks the floor and turns the sideline and baseline into extra defenders, the simple language every player needs, the Rule of 3s, the honest downsides, and why Funnel Down becomes the base every other defensive look borrows from.
Part 1: Why Run It
The three inch binder and the huddle full of blank faces
Cutting a whole defense down to Pin, Funnel, and Trap and Rotate
Shrinking the floor by keeping the ball on one side
The sideline and the baseline as two extra defenders
Speeding up the offense and forcing rushed shots late in the shot clock
Running the same rules out of man or zone, with any kind of athlete
Part 2: The Language and the Honest Truth
The Gutter, Pin, Up the Line, Funnel, the Alley, the Strike Zone, and Trap and Rotate
The Rule of 3s and why kids react faster with three things than twelve
The downsides: layups, diagonal threes, wing drives, and baseline drives
Why every weakness comes down to angles, effort, or timing
Funnel Down as the foundation for combos and junk defenses
Why x5 stays home in every look, and the sophomore post with one job
The road map for the rest of the series
Chapters
00:00 Opening hook: the three inch binder
00:50 Preroll: Two ways to get the Funnel Down Defense
01:51 Takeaway 1: Shrink the floor
04:04 Takeaway 2: The language and the Rule of 3s
05:26 Midroll: funneldowndefense.com
05:43 Takeaway 3: Honest downsides and why it is your base
07:28 The challenge
07:41 Postroll: funneldowndefense.com and Championship Access
This week's challenge: Write your entire defense on one three by five card, and if it does not fit, start cutting.
Format: Teaching Mode, two parts.
Resources: Purchase the complete Funnel Down Defense course, with diagrams, handouts, drills, and practice plans, at https://funneldowndefense.com/, or get Championship Access at https://teachhoops.com/ and find it there.
Recorded at the Fifth Quarter Studios in Madison, Wisconsin.
Get the Funnel Down Defense: https://funneldowndefense.com/Or get Championship Access: https://teachhoops.com/
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