Duke Basketball Workouts

Love 'em or hate 'em, those Duke Blue Devils really know how to play basketball. A big reason for the Duke basketball program's continued success is Coach K, Mike Krzyzewski, who emphasizes practice and variety of workouts. Even his top recruits benefit from hours of drilling during both the regular and off seasons.

  1. Warm-up

    • Start your workouts with some sport-specific moves: Jog around the court three times and then line up on the baseline. Run the length of the court while circling your arms forward; when you reach the opposite baseline, run backwards to your starting spot while circling your arms backward. Turn sideways and side step the length of the court and back.

    Dribble Drills

    • Start at the baseline and dribble forward with your right hand, head up. At the free throw line, meet an imaginary defender who stops your progress. Protect the ball with your body and take two strong steps back while maintaining your dribble and keeping your head up. Now, imagine that the defender has pursued you. With a quick head fake, go around the defender and continue to half court where you meet the next defender. Repeat at the far free throw line and then at the baseline. Turn around and do the drill in the opposite direction using your left hand. Next, repeat the footwork of the drill but with two balls — one for each hand.

    Fast Break Drills

    • Moving quickly up the floor means taking fewer dribbles, not more. Beginning at the baseline, sprint up the floor pushing the ball up the floor ahead of you in a crossover pattern: Push the ball with your right hand ahead of you and to your left side. Repeat with your left hand back to your right. Keep your head up and your eyes focused on the far wall. Try to use six or fewer dribbles to get from one baseline to the other. Repeat five times in each direction. Now do a two-on-one drill by adding a defender and another offensive player. The offense brings the ball up the court, trying to score in one or two passes. The defender must stop the ball and then recover to try and rebound a miss.

    Shooting Drills

    • Feed a shooter as she takes shots from the side baseline, the low block, the wing and the elbow. Once she's made all four shots, she repeats the drill on the opposite side. Have post players shoot from the left low block, rebound and then shoot from the right low block. Repeat this for one minute while a partner counts the misses. The shooter has to run a sprint for every miss.

    Conditioning

    • Do one of three moves between drills: On the first break, do 50 push-ups; on the second break, do 50 crunches; on the third break, jump rope for five minutes. For the first minute, jump with two feet. For the second minute, jump with the right foot and then jump for a minute on the left foot. During the fourth minute, alternate feet with each jump, and then finish by jumping the last 60 seconds with two feet.