Not much in basketball is original and I'm going to lean on Jordan Sperber for much of this breakdown because he has the videos with graphics already done. There is no use reinventing the wheel. Sperber went to Villanova and has worked with Ken Pomeroy, ESPN stats, and done stats/analysis with a variety of NBA and college teams. He also tried his hand getting into the coaching world for a few years, working as a grad assistant doing analytics at Nevada under Eric Musselman and then as the video coordinator under Chris Jans at New Mexico. A couple of years ago he quit coaching and put all of his effort into his website (https://hoopvision.substack.com/) and his YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/c/hoopvision68) as well as social media like Twitter and Instagram.
Many of us we remember the old man to man principles made popular in the 80s/90s; stuff like "ball-you-man", "see both", force the ball base line, one pass away, two pass away, help, etc. etc. Many of those still are there today, but different versions (and terminology) of man to man principles have come over the years. Then for some things flipped a bit to where teams want to take away the baseline and force the ball middle to help while taking away passing lanes. More basic phrases like jump to the ball, "on the line/up the line"; sometimes just new ways of saying the old things. Regardless, you've heard most of these (and more) if you've been around the game in any playing/coaching capacity.
Here at K-State, we're used to the man principles of Bruce/Lowery, which were ball pressure heavy, but with some gap schemes and incorporating some of Dick Bennett's pack line concepts, though we were far from a true pack line defense under the old staff. Still, with Barry as the "head of the snake" there were some really good defenses with those schemes the former staff built one of the best defenses ever at K-State in 2019 which helped win a Big 12 title. However, the best in the league that year was Texas Tech and their introduction of a "newer" man to man phase (at least to college basketball), the no middle defense. Beard got the credit, but the defense was really Mark Adams' baby and Beard didn't let him implement it fully until part way through their first season in Lubbock in 2017. They took that defense to a shared title (with us) and a national title game appearance. It helped eventually land Beard the Texas job and Mark Adams the Tech job. Then everyone started to copy it, including Scott Drew at Baylor with Jerome Tang as the main defensive coach. It vaulted Baylor to elite status and top 10 rankings and then a national title.
The biggest thing you'll notice in no middle defensive schemes is how people guard the wings, how defenders close out, and the big emphasis on forcing the ball to the baseline. (for some of us an "old" man defense concept) A big part of the defense is to not allow a ball reversal (at all) and cut the court in half, thus "no middle" (as @bornploopers pointed out earlier). Everything is about forcing the ball to the side and then to the baseline and then to the low defender with aggressive help Ideally that help comes to stop/trap the ball outside the lane around the block area. This philosophy continually shrinks the court and gives the offense few options and little space which takes them out of the stuff they want to run. Close outs will come to the upper foot (away from the baseline) of offensive player on the wing and then defenders on the wing be taught to be parallel to or facing the sideline, guarding on the upper foot of the ballhandler, again to force the ball to the baseline and to help. On ball screens that come from inside out the defense will always be iced, forcing the ball back to the side/wing and not allowing the ball to get to the middle. When the ball gets forced to the help in the short corner, the weakside defenders eventually will be in zone. In Baylor clips you'll see the weakside guys completely facing the ball with the old ball-you-man principle no where to be seen. If the ball does somehow get skipped, then it's a scramble drill which is where Baylor and Tech's elite athleticism and length from most of their guards made them killers.
Of course, a big reason teams went to this is because of the stats/analysis made popular the last decade or so focusing on efficiency and ball reversals and paint touches like you see below. When you allow teams to reverse the ball, their efficiency goes up. When you allow teams to reverse the ball AND touch the paint, their efficiency goes way, way up. The principles in play with the no middle defense try to take both of those away and the defensive efficiencies of teams that run no middle really well speak loudly.
Anyway, Sperber explains this all much better than me and here are a few videos. This first one is a good one to start with because it differentiates no middle from pack line defense as well as the style of defense used mostly in the NBA and by teams like Michigan which helps only when necessary. In many ways Baylor morphs the Tech no middle concepts with Michigan's rare help concepts.
Here is one that focuses just on Baylor's defense from 2020 when they first made the switch and reached elite defensive status.
Here is another one about Texas Tech and Michigan's defenses from a couple years ago.
And here is one about Loyola's defense which is more of hybrid of many of these.
Many of us we remember the old man to man principles made popular in the 80s/90s; stuff like "ball-you-man", "see both", force the ball base line, one pass away, two pass away, help, etc. etc. Many of those still are there today, but different versions (and terminology) of man to man principles have come over the years. Then for some things flipped a bit to where teams want to take away the baseline and force the ball middle to help while taking away passing lanes. More basic phrases like jump to the ball, "on the line/up the line"; sometimes just new ways of saying the old things. Regardless, you've heard most of these (and more) if you've been around the game in any playing/coaching capacity.
Here at K-State, we're used to the man principles of Bruce/Lowery, which were ball pressure heavy, but with some gap schemes and incorporating some of Dick Bennett's pack line concepts, though we were far from a true pack line defense under the old staff. Still, with Barry as the "head of the snake" there were some really good defenses with those schemes the former staff built one of the best defenses ever at K-State in 2019 which helped win a Big 12 title. However, the best in the league that year was Texas Tech and their introduction of a "newer" man to man phase (at least to college basketball), the no middle defense. Beard got the credit, but the defense was really Mark Adams' baby and Beard didn't let him implement it fully until part way through their first season in Lubbock in 2017. They took that defense to a shared title (with us) and a national title game appearance. It helped eventually land Beard the Texas job and Mark Adams the Tech job. Then everyone started to copy it, including Scott Drew at Baylor with Jerome Tang as the main defensive coach. It vaulted Baylor to elite status and top 10 rankings and then a national title.
The biggest thing you'll notice in no middle defensive schemes is how people guard the wings, how defenders close out, and the big emphasis on forcing the ball to the baseline. (for some of us an "old" man defense concept) A big part of the defense is to not allow a ball reversal (at all) and cut the court in half, thus "no middle" (as @bornploopers pointed out earlier). Everything is about forcing the ball to the side and then to the baseline and then to the low defender with aggressive help Ideally that help comes to stop/trap the ball outside the lane around the block area. This philosophy continually shrinks the court and gives the offense few options and little space which takes them out of the stuff they want to run. Close outs will come to the upper foot (away from the baseline) of offensive player on the wing and then defenders on the wing be taught to be parallel to or facing the sideline, guarding on the upper foot of the ballhandler, again to force the ball to the baseline and to help. On ball screens that come from inside out the defense will always be iced, forcing the ball back to the side/wing and not allowing the ball to get to the middle. When the ball gets forced to the help in the short corner, the weakside defenders eventually will be in zone. In Baylor clips you'll see the weakside guys completely facing the ball with the old ball-you-man principle no where to be seen. If the ball does somehow get skipped, then it's a scramble drill which is where Baylor and Tech's elite athleticism and length from most of their guards made them killers.
Of course, a big reason teams went to this is because of the stats/analysis made popular the last decade or so focusing on efficiency and ball reversals and paint touches like you see below. When you allow teams to reverse the ball, their efficiency goes up. When you allow teams to reverse the ball AND touch the paint, their efficiency goes way, way up. The principles in play with the no middle defense try to take both of those away and the defensive efficiencies of teams that run no middle really well speak loudly.
Anyway, Sperber explains this all much better than me and here are a few videos. This first one is a good one to start with because it differentiates no middle from pack line defense as well as the style of defense used mostly in the NBA and by teams like Michigan which helps only when necessary. In many ways Baylor morphs the Tech no middle concepts with Michigan's rare help concepts.
Here is one that focuses just on Baylor's defense from 2020 when they first made the switch and reached elite defensive status.
Here is another one about Texas Tech and Michigan's defenses from a couple years ago.
And here is one about Loyola's defense which is more of hybrid of many of these.
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