The Unconventional John Wooden and Blocking Out

The Unconventional John Wooden and Blocking Out

 

When Coach Wooden was teaching at UCLA, other teams were either using a “Man-to-Man” or a “Zone” defense. Coach Wooden used a combination of the two, something he called, “Man-to-Man with Zone Principles.” Staying with our assigned offensive players (for the most part), we zoned the weak-side (side away from the ball) and often used two players to guard one player on the strong-side.  

 

At UCLA, we never ran windsprints. “Windsprints” is a running drill where the players sprint without the basketball, changing directions often. One windsprint may take a minute. The duration for this drill us usually around five minutes. Windsprints is usually the last item of the practice plan with the idea of sending the players into the locker room exhausted. Many coaches believed then and believe now, windsprints is an essential and irreplaceable part of practice.

 

Coach Wooden believed, five minutes of running without the basketball to the point of exhaustion, does not get a team in shape to play a two-hour basketball game. On the contrary, he believed two hours of game-type conditioning prepared a team for a two-hour contest. What a concept! Hence, we had the Three-on-Two Conditioning Drill, lots of fast break drills, and almost every other drill was a conditioning drill as well.

 

From the above two examples you begin to understand, Coach Wooden was very “unconventional.” He was not different for different sake, but rather due to a deeper study of basketball, he came to different conclusions than the other coaches. Here’s one more example, blocking out.

 

“Blocking Out” means, when you are on defense and the other team takes a shot, and your assignment (the person you are guarding) makes a move to go get the rebound, you “block” his path. Most coaches teach players to “hit” the opponent with their backsides and “hold” him away from the basket, even if the ball has already made contact with the rim.

 

Coach Wooden believed, if a player spends too much time trying to keep his opponent away from the basket, he will miss the opportunity to go get the rebound. In other words, while he’s blocking out, somebody else is grabbing the ball.

 

Coach Wooden taught us to “check out,” not “block out.” The concept, as he explained it, was to

 

“Get in your man’s way to make him take the long way to the basket, and quickly go for the basketball.”

 

In other words, don’t let the block out keep you from going for the basketball.

 

While the “block out” took somewhere around two seconds, the “check out” took less than one. In fact, it was so speedy, the “check out,” combined with going for the rebound, was actually one motion. This maneuver enabled UCLA players to get to the ball in a hurry and start the fast break, something that was part of our culture. It was not uncommon in those days to see us on the fast break while the other team’s rebounders were still around the basket.

 

There was one exception. While “Checking Out” was the general rule, if a guard found himself trying to keep a tall player from the rebound, he may have “checked out” a little longer or even “blocked out.” But as for the centers and forwards, we went after that basketball.

 

Does it work? You tell me. This is the exact technique I used when I went pro. I led the NBA and ABA in rebounding, I’m somewhere around 5^th in rebounds per minute played, I’m one of the few players in NBA history who had 30 or more points and 30 or more rebounds in a single game, and I hold the record for defensive rebounds in one half at 18. I did all of that without “blocking out.” Worked for me and certainly worked for UCLA.  

 

The truth is at the end of deep study.