Primary Coverage Area

[Camron Rust]

To add to the many good comments...

Talk to your self...."where is the ball...is it mine or not? If no, actively and consciously find something else to watch".

Note that when you are off ball (the ball is not in your primary), you have ALL players that are not near the ball, even if they are not in your primary. The PCA definitions are for on-ball coverage only. The most interesting thing that you need to watch may or may not be in your "primary". Find the most interesting action...the action most likely to create trouble. Hunt for trouble. Often, it will be the two nearest competitive match-ups as Nevada said, but not always.

Square you body to the area you should be watching. If you are to be on ball, face the ball. If you are off-ball, turn your body and not just your head towards the off-ball players you need to cover, wherever they may be. Also move to get the best view of what you need to see.

Examples:

You're lead with the ball above the FT line near your sideline but not so close that the player is at risk of stepping on the sideline. You'll move out to be even with the ball ready to cover the sideline if the play moves closer to it or if the player with the ball drives down into your primary BUT you'll be facing the lane with both your body and head.

You're lead. The ball is near the trail's sideline. There is screening action away from the trail above the FT line....that is yours. The trail can't look at a play down his/her sideline and look across the court as well.

You're trail, table-side. The ball is deep in the lead's corner and is under pressure. There is heavy off-ball post action at the block on the lead's side of the lane. Guess who covers that....the trail. This is well into the lead's primary but there is no way the lead can cover the ball in the corner and cover the post action...and that IS the most likely place the ball will go next if it is not shot. You should move towards the middle of the court and be looking down the lane. If the ball is passed into that post, you move off of it when the pass is received and the lead has shifted their attention.