Michigan State University Defensive Playbook

Michigan State Defensive Playbook: The Complete Guide to a Final Four Defense

Tom Izzo has built the Michigan State University basketball on the foundation of defense and rebounding.  Izzo, a future Hall of Famer, has led the Spartans to an incredible 7 Final Four appearances with the most recent coming this past season.  Izzo boasts and overall record of 499-199; good for a .719 winning percentage.  The crowning achievement of Izzo’s career came in 2000 when his Michigan State Spartans defeated the Florida Gators to capture his only National Championship. Coach Izzo’s success also isn’t just in the college game.  He’s coached and mentored a slew of NBA Stars including Jason Richardson, Zach Randolph and Draymond Green of the World Champion Golden State Warriors.

Regardless of the level you coach at, a good defense is always the great equalizer.  If you are sound and defensive minded team you will be able to shrink the talent gap between any two teams.   

In this playbook you will learn the core principles and concepts of the defense that Tom Izzo runs at Michigan State.  

We cover everything from the proper defensive stance, where every defender needs to be at all times, and ball screen coverages for all situations. A huge factor in Michigan State is so successful on defense is because they are an outstanding defensive rebounding team.  6 times in the past 8 seasons the Spartans have finished in the top ten in rebounding percentage for the entire country. (Rebounding percentage is the percentage of rebounds a particular team or player gets in relation to the amount of missed shots.)  

This playbook will teach you how to put yourself in proper position to be a great rebounding team and goes over the techniques required to make that a reality. Scattered throughout the playbook are a handful of drills that you can use with teams of all ages. They teach and stress the importance of transition defense and challenge your team to be solid in their principles.

Each page contains a specific defensive concept and breaks them down to the smallest of details.  Some example of page titles are “Guarding the Basketball,” “Guarding the Post,” “Help off the Ball” and “Off-Ball Screens.”

Don’t wait until it’s too late to install a stingy defense into your team or program.