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Session Plan · U14 · Team (7 or more) · 60 min

Dunker: Wheel Under, Wheel Over

Why it works

The defender guarding the weak-side dunker is usually the last help between a drive and the rim. When the drive gets past its defender, they have to step up and stop it, and the moment they do, they turn toward the ball and leave the dunker. Where the space opens depends on which way the drive came. A drive to the middle pulls the helper up into the lane, so the space is behind them, under the rim on the baseline side: wheel under. A drive along the baseline pulls the helper down toward the baseline, so the space is in front of the rim: wheel over. Either way it's two attackers against one defender at the rim. If the helper doesn't come, the driver scores. If the dunker's defender stays attached and the dunker is behind the play, the dunker seals them so the driver gets the rim.

The thread through every block

  1. Wait in the dunker spot, under the rim line
  2. see which way the drive goes
  3. middle: wheel under · baseline: wheel over
  4. helper stays attached: seal them
  5. catch with two hands, score at the rim.

Setup. 10 players, 1 coach, 2 hoops, 10 balls, 2 sets of bibs. Five per hoop until the finisher. Rotate every player through the dunker spot, every possession. It's a spot, not a position.

Prints on A4 for the clipboard: diagram on the left, rules on the right, and no block split across a page.

Warm · 7B1 · 8B2 · 9B3 · 10B4 · 10Finisher · 11

Warm-upUnder or over7 min

12312drive middle: wheel underdrive baseline: wheel over
Five per hoop. The driver picks middle or baseline; the dunker wheels the right way and finishes the pass off two feet. Driver goes to the dunker spot, dunker to the back.
  • Five at each hoop: a driver on the wing, a dunker on the weak side, three waiting. No defence. The driver picks middle or baseline without saying; the dunker reads it and wheels the right way, then catches the dump-off and finishes off two feet.
  • Team race: first hoop to 10 makes where the dunker wheeled the right way. Driver goes to the dunker spot, dunker to the back. Alternate wings.
  • Theme link: reading the drive's direction is the first half of every rep tonight.

Block 1Two on one at the rim8 min

123122helper steps up: dump-off · stays: scorebaseline drive here, so wheel over
2v1. No defender on the driver. X2 guards the dunker and chooses: step up to the drive, or stay. Here they step up on a baseline drive, so the dunker wheels over in front of the rim.
  • Adds: the helper, who has to choose.
  • 2v1: a driver on the wing with no defender, the dunker, and X2 guarding the dunker. The driver goes to the rim, middle or baseline. X2 chooses: step up to stop the drive, or stay home.
  • X2 stays: the driver finishes. X2 steps up: the dunker wheels the right way and the driver dumps it off. Defence scores 1 for a stop.
  • Rotate: driver → dunker → defender → line.
  • Progress when: the dunker is moving as X2 commits, not after the pass.
  • Regress if: the dunker wheels the wrong way. Back to the warm-up for one round, driver calls the direction out loud.
  • Cues (questions): "Which way did the drive go, and where did that leave space?" "When did you start moving?"

Block 2The defence picks the direction9 min

AB1122X1 decides which way the drive goesA middle: wheel under · B baseline: wheel over
2v2. X1 guards the driver and shades one way, so nobody knows the direction until the drive starts. The dunker reads it live.
  • Adds: a defender on the driver, so nobody knows which way the drive will go until it starts.
  • 2v2 plus one waiting. X1 guards the driver and shades whichever way they like. The driver attacks the side X1 gives up. X2 guards the dunker and chooses to help or stay.
  • Live until a score or a stop. Offence 2 for a dunker score, 1 for any other make; defence 1 for a stop.
  • Progress when: the dunker's wheel matches the drive on most reps, without the driver telling them.
  • Regress if: X1 stops every drive, so the dunker never gets a read. X1 high-fives the waiting player first.
  • Cues (questions): "What told you which way to go?" "If X2 hadn't come, what would you have done?"

Water2 min

Block 3Seal it10 min

121122defender stays with you? seal thembody on them, the driver gets the rim
Same 2v2. When X2 stays attached on the high side and the dunker is behind the play, the dunker seals X2 so the driver can finish, or turns the seal into a catch under the rim.
  • Adds: a dunker's defender who can stay attached instead of helping.
  • Same 2v2, but X2 now has a third choice: stay on the dunker's high side, between them and the ball. When that happens the dunker is behind the play and a wheel won't get open. Instead they seal: step into X2, chest to their side, and hold them away from the driver's path.
  • The driver finishes, or hits the dunker under the rim if X2 fights round the seal.
  • Offence 2 for a score out of a wheel or a seal, 1 for any other make; defence 1 for a stop.
  • Progress when: the dunker picks between wheel and seal from where X2 is, not by habit.
  • Regress if: seals turn into pushes or fouls. Walk two reps: arrive, set the body, then hold, no arms.
  • Cues (questions): "Where was your defender when the drive started?" "Did you wheel or seal, and why that one?"

Block 4One defender, two jobs10 min

113322Cdunker score or assist: 3kick-out three: 2 · other make: 1
3v2 at each hoop: driver unguarded after a high five with the coach, a weak-side wing and the dunker. The helpers choose between the drive, the kick-out and the dunker.
  • Adds: a weak-side shooter, so each helper has two players to worry about.
  • 3v2 at each hoop: a driver who starts unguarded, a weak-side wing, and the dunker, against two defenders on the wing and the dunker. The defenders decide together who stops the drive and who's left with two to guard.
  • Scoring: a score by the dunker, or a pass from the dunker that leads to a score, is 3. A kick-out three is 2. Any other make is 1. Defence scores 2 for a stop.
  • Rotate after each possession: offence to defence, defence to the back.
  • Progress when: the dunker, wing and driver are reading the same helper.
  • Regress if: the defence just guards the dunker and gives up the drive. The dunker's defender has to start a step higher, on the split line.
  • Cues (questions): "Who helped, and who did that leave?" "Did the ball go to the right player?"

Finisher4v4: the dunker counts triple11 min

11223344dunker score or assist: 3any other make: 1 · stop: 1
4v4 at one hoop, three out and a dunker; the two waiting players sub in after every possession. Whoever finishes a possession on the weak side becomes the next dunker.
  • One hoop: 4v4, three out and a dunker. The two waiting players sub in after every possession. Every possession, a different attacker fills the dunker spot.
  • Scoring:
    • 3 pts: a score by the dunker, or an assist from the dunker.
    • 1 pt: any other make.
    • Defence, 1 pt: a stop.
  • First to 11, then change teams.
  • Progress when: dunker scores come from reading the drive, not from parking under the rim waiting for a lob.
  • Regress if: nobody drives, so the dunker never moves. Every possession has to start with a drive from the first catch.

Huddle3 min

  • One question to the group: "When you were the dunker, what did the helper do that told you where to go?"

Coach notes

  • Decision errors vs execution errors:
    • Wheeling the wrong way for the drive, or wheeling when the helper never left, is a decision error. Ask Block 1's question.
    • Getting to the right spot but fumbling the catch or rushing the finish is execution. More warm-up reps: two hands, two feet.
  • Common failure: standing in the dunker spot too high, up near the block. From there the dunker is in the driver's way. Start on the line of the rim, close to the baseline.
  • Common failure: moving before the helper does. The dunker's defender just stays with them. The wheel goes as X2 commits.
  • Everyone takes a turn. The weak-side dunker isn't a "big's" spot. Move every player through it, every possession.
  • Link: Drive and Fill (U12) introduces the dunker as one of the five D's. This plan is the next step: what the dunker does when the help comes.

Sources

SourceUsed for
Transforming Basketball — How Elite Teams Create Easy Points in TransitionWarm-up, Blocks 1 and 2 (dunker options on middle and baseline drives), Block 4 (dunker scores counting extra)
Transforming Basketball — How to Teach Players to Seal in the Dunker SpotBlock 3 (the seal when the dunker is behind)
Will Twigg — Transforming U14 BasketballMechanism (wheel under on a middle drive, wheel over on a baseline drive, hold or seal), rotating every player through the dunker spot
junior.basketball (original)Warm-up race, Block 2 and Block 3 formats, all block scoring, finisher scoring

Related

More session plans, the Session Design guide this format follows, Game-Based Practice for why every plan ends live, and blank session plan templates to write your own.

Unofficial resource. Drills are adapted from recorded coaching clinics and credited to the coaches named in Sources above; anything marked junior.basketball (original) was written for this plan. Not affiliated with or endorsed by those coaches or the organisations that ran the clinics. Full credit to every presenter.