Pack Line Defense

The ‘pack line defense’ was created by Dick Bennett of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Wisconsin-Green Bay, University of Wisconsin, and Washington State. It is now commonly used in some form by many coaches.

For a bit of history, the term ‘Pack Line’ wasn’t coined or even thought of by Bennett. The word was brought to the attention of Bennett by a person at a marketing company after convincing Bennett to create a DVD on his new defensive system.

The ‘Pack Line’ defense is a variation of man-to-man defense. The biggest difference between the two is that instead of the off-ball defenders being out pressuring their player and denying the pass, everyone except the player guarding the ball must be inside an imaginary line 16 feet from the rim. This 16ft line is know as the pack line.

At all times there must be one defender pressuring the player with the basketball, and four defenders in gap/help positions. The only exception is if the offensive player picks up the dribble and it becomes a ‘dead ball’, then all players can go out and deny looking for the steal.

The premise behind this defense is that by having four players within the pack line, it discourages the opposition from penetrating and getting inside the paint and forces them to beat you with well executed offense and great outside shooting.

When the ball is passed around the perimeter, the next defender closes out with high hands to prevent the rhythm shot and then provides on-ball pressure while the defender who was playing on-ball defense falls back within the pack line.

Again just to emphasize the most important point: at all time there must be one defender pressuring the player with the basketball and four defenders in gap/help positions.

What teams give up in exchange for always being in help position is that players don’t have the benefit of denying the pass on the perimeter. This is why the pack line defense is also referred to as ‘sagging man-to-man’.

For this reason, the pack line defense requires the players to be patient and play smart defense until the offensive team takes a contested jump shot, or makes a mistake.

All five players must work together as a defensive unit for this defense to be successful. If any of the five players aren’t performing their job properly, there will be open gaps that can lead to easy scores.

Advantages of pack line defense:

1. Prevents dribble penetration. Due to four defenders always being inside the pack line, the offensive players will find it hard to find gaps through the wall of defenders.
2. Prevents back-door cuts. This is a great defense if you’re playing against an offense like the Princeton offense that likes to utilize the back-door cut. Since players are sagging off their man, the offensive team will find it hard to get easy layups off back-door cuts.
3. Lower opponent field goal percentage. If your team can be patient on defense and not gamble, it will lead to the opponent taking tough contested jump shots.
4. Increased rebounding. Sagging off their players will put players in better rebounding positions as long as they box out.
5. No easy scores. This advantage ties in with dribble penetration. If the opponent can’t get to the ring and your defense is packing the paint, there will be no easy opportunities to score.
6. Always in help position. Unlike traditional man-to-man defense, players don’t need to move to be in help position, they’re already there.

Weaknesses of pack line defense:

1. Three pointers can beat you. As players are playing off their player and are in help position, it can lead to open three-pointers.
2. If there’s no shot clock. If a coach in a league doesn’t use a shot clock then the opposition can use as much time as they like passing the ball around the perimeter until they find an open shot. It will come down to who is more patient, the offense or defense.

Must be patient. One problem that arises when using this defense at a youth level is the players sometimes aren’t patient enough. They want to gamble and get a steal so they can stop playing defense and start playing offense.