Mike Divilbiss

Athletic Director - Lakeland High School

The Buzz Defense
4/1/20

Coach Lynch’s FastDraw PDF of the Buzz Movements:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iAgECScMIzW-NdTjvd_3HAxR2YtRXzkL/view?usp=sharing

I. Intro
● Contact Info: ​mikedivilbiss@gmail.com

● Make sure you share what you’ve learned.

● When Wisconsin Green Bay made the tournament they only got their wins because of The Buzz. It
gave them an edge vs more athletic opponents.

The Premise of The Buzz -

1. Guard Passing Lanes
2. Force Skip Passes
3. Then Steal the Skip Passes

II. Coaching Thoughts

● This defense pairs well with an aggressive style of man to man defense.

● The Commonalities were always Ball Pressure in Buzz and Man to Man

What if there is no Strong Side Corner Man?

This is a scenario where he can be more aggressive. They can put more pressure on the wing that
way.

● The Wings should not get too high, because the Center is Higher they need to be lower.
○ The Free Throw Line Extended
○ Wings Need to Really Anticipate & Fly Around

● Coach says that he would never run more than Two Defenses and a Press.
○ You need to Really get Good at Something

● He definitely thinks this is something you can run at the High School Boys Level.

DRIBBLE DRIVES -
● On a Dribble Drive - the ​5 Man needs to Retreat​ and Keep the Ball in front of him. You don’t want to
Step Up and Open Up holes behind you.
 ● Do Not Want to Give Up ​Drives Through the Elbow​ Either.... Those Expose the Backside.

SKIP PASSES -
● The Wing Closing Out can not get beat on the baseline.
● Versus a Really Good Driver, we may have to “Point Her” not allow her to drive the basketball

PERSONNEL -
● Left Hand Side of the Defense get your Bigger Tougher Guard (Right Hand Dominance)
● Put your Best Rebounder on the Right Hand Wing for Long Rebounds
● SLOWEST PLAYER - Probably the best place for them

HIGH POST -
● You can not allow the ball to get to the High Post - Because the next pass will beat you.

Don Meyer Quote, “You can overcome physical slowness with mental quickness” (and aggression)

Jerry Tarkanian, “The more they think the slower the feet”.

READS -
● Read their Eyes
● Read their Shoulders

SPRINT TO YOUR SPOT -

● There is no Sliding, You are Sprinting to your Home Base
● You need to be there on the Catch

HIGH BALL SCREEN -

● Just go Around it

HINTING AT THE STUFF THAT GAVE THEM THE MOST TROUBLE -

● He does not want it in the HIGH POST
● He does not want it dribbled “Down the Rail”
● He does not want it dribbled “Through the Elbow”

● Trap the Ball in the Short Corner, the other bottom players needs to sprint over.

● Focus on yourself NOT on your OPPONENT, Coach Stressed that a few times.

● Is the other team running what they want to run, or are they just surviving.
III. Final Notes

● Thinks this works really well with ​High School Boys

● He commented that the ​Kids Love It ​and gets them to play hard without you being having to bring the
fire every single night
○ He thinks this can really put the onus on them to make it work

● Coach Divilbiss thinks that ​Pressure Man to Man and 131 c​ an make the best compliments to the Buzz
Defense.

● Practice to ​BEAT THE BEST​!

● Do NOT get beat by the same thing ​TWICE in a ROW​.