with Molly Miller,
Grand Canyon University Head Women's Basketball Coach;
2023 WAC Coach of the Year;
In every season at GCU, Miller's teams have averaged between 10.2 and 13.4 steals/game and have ranked as high as number 4 (in 2023), number 3 (in 2022) and number 2 (in 2021) in the US among all D-I teams;
Drury University Head Coach from 2014 to 2020;
2019 NCAA D II Final Four;
5x Great Lakes Valley Conference Regular Season Champions;
5x Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Champions;
2x WBCA Division II Coach of the Year (2019, 2020);
Undefeated season (32-0) in 2020;
played college basketball for Drury University;
second all time for scoring (1,570 points), assists (439), and steals (407);
2007 Drury Athletics Hall of Fame inductee
Grand Canyon University head coach Molly Miller takes you inside an early season practice with her annual ‘Camp Week’. In this video, Coach Miller takes you inside “Camp Go,” a day entirely devoted to transition offense. Miller covers full-court finishing drills, shooting drills, and advantage basketball.
Transition Offense and Finishing Drills
At the start of this practice, Coach Miller begins with three-man weave by making four perfect passes down before going back with three perfect passes. This is then followed up with ‘Perfection Drill’ with an emphasis on effective passing and finishing at the rim. “Short to Long Transition” is used to work on outlet passing and “send-it,” This is followed up by “Pitch and Fire,” a variation of “Speed Drill”.
Shooting Drills
At the start of practice, Coach Miller utilizes a period called “Load Management” which is a position shooting sequence during pre-practice for 4-5 minutes prior to her team’s warmup drills. After the early warm-up transition drills, Miller utilizes “Horizontal Shooting” with a goal of 60 makes. With the players somewhat exhausted, “Sixty in Sixty” shooting is presented to the players to work on running the floor and being able to shoot the basketball in transition.
Attacking with Advantage Basketball
Coach Miller opens with “Spider Drill” with restrictions including no backwards passes or the ball touching the floor being permitted during the drill. This leads to Miller teaching her team’s primary break attack in five trips. A “skinny,” a breakdown from a prior drill, is also presented with Miller covering how to get the ball out of the net and getting a deep outlet before going back to the drill. Practice also includes “Transition Buildups” which works on attacking with one-player advantages before going into 5-on-5 action.
While Coach Miller is renowned for her team’s aggressive, tenacious defense, what makes her GCU teams even more dangerous is the ability to make opposing teams pay for steals and missed shots.
Molly Miller’s ‘transition boot camp’ is ideal for any coach who wants to take their offense to the next level!
Customer Review: 5 Out of 5 Stars!
“One great thing about this video was the way Miller focused on making sure the players executed the drills correctly, plus adding how coaches can focus on a part of the drill that needs to tighten up! She was innovative with her drills by either combining drills or introducing new drills. Coach Miller does a wonderful job of showing how to create challenging practices that create efficient, highly conditioned players who are becoming better decision-makers and better shooters!”
121 minutes. 2025.
BD-06334B:
with Molly Miller,
Grand Canyon University Head Women's Basketball Coach;
2023 WAC Coach of the Year;
In every season at GCU, Miller's teams have averaged between 10.2 and 13.4 steals/game and have ranked as high as number 4 (in 2023), number 3 (in 2022) and number 2 (in 2021) in the US among all D-I teams;
Drury University Head Coach from 2014 to 2020;
2019 NCAA D II Final Four;
5x Great Lakes Valley Conference Regular Season Champions;
5x Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Champions;
2x WBCA Division II Coach of the Year (2019, 2020);
Undefeated season (32-0) in 2020;
played college basketball for Drury University;
second all time for scoring (1,570 points), assists (439), and steals (407);
2007 Drury Athletics Hall of Fame inductee
Renowned for her program’s defensive toughness and ability to shut down opponents year after year, Grand Canyon head coach Molly Miller coaches her team to be as tough to stop on offense! In this valuable early season Open Practice session, you get a look at Miller’s “Camp Buckets” - an inside look into how Miller teaches her offensive system and develops players to be great decision-makers with the ball!
Position Group Shots
Starting off practice, Coach Miller’s team works on getting up shots out of different actions in the Pistol Offense. From dribble handoffs to ball screen slip, pop and roll, post players are working on getting shots within their range and the guards are working on driving and attacking open space looking for flares, transition 3’s, and crackback shots. All of these open looks in practice build player’s confidence on when and where to shoot the ball on offense in games.
Station Rotation
To help players build their ball handling skill and agility, Miller and her coaching staff take players through quick station rotations. Each station is set up to work on agility and quickness. From simple slide drills to line jumps, players are working on agility.
In the final station you will see ball handling, where players are working on quick handles, pass fakes and ball fakes.
Pass and Catch
The foundation of every offense is being able to pass and catch. Coach Miller demonstrates several simple actions you can use within your drills to build players ability to pass and catch such as ‘Waffle Pass’ and ‘Pick and Roll Pass’. Using a Waffle Pass - simple jump stop pivot and pass - players work on hitting the crackback player filling behind them.
Space and Cut
The next layer to any offense is spacing and cutting. By maintaining spacing, you create advantages. Coach Miller uses different actions to teach pace and dialogue. This helps players control tempo and communicate with each other on the offensive end. Coach Miller breaks down actions for guards to do in the half court; guards work on drive and drift, drive and crackback, and baseline drive and drift.
After getting reps up, your players will be ready for decision-making. By adding a defender, players are able to read who is open and make the extra pass based on the driving action. These actions contribute to growth in your players’ confidence within your half court offense.
3 Whistle Drill
You will see how Coach Miller retrains her players to understand that a whistle is not meant to stop, but rather to get players to go to the rim. Players are going through 5v0 actions to learn how to play off of each other. Each new whistle brings a chance to reverse the ball, drive, and attack.
Building on reps, your players will love to put their decision-making to the test. Adding defense will help train players to know where the open shooter is located. This is an excellent drill to teach offensive progressions that players will need to go through as they make quick decisions!
Breakdown Actions
In order to build a sound offense that relies on making good decisions, players have to be trained into recognizing what the defense is giving up. Coach Miller will take you through a variety of different shooting drills within their half court offense. Each one is put together so players know what pass to make and what action is available for them to use. After going through each action in a 3v0 setting, players will have to go against defense. From ‘keep action’ - fake the handoff and drive - to hitting the crack option for an open shot or quick post entry, your players will feel confident running the Pistol Offense after going through these different breakdown actions.
5v5 Play
Putting the offense together in a 5v5 half court setting is the best way to put your offense to the test! Going through all options on offense gives your players plenty of ‘tools in the toolbox’ to play the game. Players can use Get, Pop, Keep, Dribble Handoff, Rescreen, Swing the Ball and Post Feed.All of these options make your offense extremely uncountable!
Having multiple scoring options that rely on making decisions is a recipe for a high powered offense. This style of play is set up through breakdown drills and building fundamental players. Coach Molly Miller will guide you through a variety of drills to help build the Pistol Offense and make your team unscoutable. Her knowledge in attacking the basket and building player confidence makes her one of the best in today’s game to teach offense!
Customer Review: 5 Out of 5 stars!
“Excellent video that breaks down the Pistol Offense into easy decision-making drills. Coach Miller is thorough with each drill in how she teaches her players to read the defense and play off of what they give you.”
142 minutes. 2025.
BD-06334C:
with Molly Miller,
Grand Canyon University Head Women's Basketball Coach;
2023 WAC Coach of the Year;
In every season at GCU, Miller's teams have averaged between 10.2 and 13.4 steals/game and have ranked as high as number 4 (in 2023), number 3 (in 2022) and number 2 (in 2021) in the US among all D-I teams;
Drury University Head Coach from 2014 to 2020;
2019 NCAA D II Final Four;
5x Great Lakes Valley Conference Regular Season Champions;
5x Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Champions;
2x WBCA Division II Coach of the Year (2019, 2020);
Undefeated season (32-0) in 2020;
played college basketball for Drury University;
second all time for scoring (1,570 points), assists (439), and steals (407);
2007 Drury Athletics Hall of Fame inductee
The trademark of a Molly Miller-coached team has always been their stifling pressure defense. In this excellent ‘Open Practice’ video, Coach Miller takes you inside “Camp Lock-Down,” her team’s full-length practice dedicated to building a pressure defense that focuses on breaking down defensive fundamentals with “skinnies” and builds up to her patented pressure defense!
Closeout Drills
“Camp Lock-Down” begins with “Box Closeouts” by placing an emphasis on having one hand up to take away the shot and “tickle the basketball” while the other hand is ready to deflect passes. While many coaches teach two hands up and chopping feet, Coach Miller emphasizes closing out under control and being ready to pressure the ball by taking away the middle. This leads into the changeup drill called “X-Out Closeouts” before “Straight Closeouts” teach how to guard the ball after successfully taking away the shot on the closeout.
On-Ball Defense
Coach Miller’s defense requires always having intense on-ball pressure. The tried and true “Zig Zag Drill” goes through several variations in what she calls her team’s “daily vitamins.” Using “athletic hands” and a “measuring stick,” two partners work on taking away the crossover, playing defense with their feet, and communicating verbally. The contingency of a defender getting too close and risking committing a foul, learns how to use a “Mickey” by making Mickey Mouse ears to show the officials that the defender is not initiating contact with the dribbler.
Full-Court Pressure Defense
Coach Miller’s full-court pressure defense is known as “Centerfield” and is predicated on getting turns and traps as much as possible. To achieve this, the ball must be forced into the “Green Zone,” the area between the volleyball sideline and the basketball sideline. Miller teaches reaching for the basketball with palms up whenever a player looks to pivot out of pressure.
Additional details include off-ball defenders in the press who are set to take away deep passes in the press to further add pressure of a dribbler looking to advance the ball under already difficult circumstances.
Guess what? NOBODY wants to play a team that learns to deploy this level of defense!
Any team that can learn to utilize the pressure that Coach Miller’s teams do will be disruptive for all other team’s offenses. The drills in this ‘Open Practice’ video are the building blocks to guide you to create a relentless level of defensive pressure with your team
Customer Review: 5 Out of 5 Stars!
“From start to finish, Coach Miller’s practice is very upbeat, very well structured, competitive and educational. Coaches at ALL levels can learn something from these practice sessions! Nicely done!”
166 minutes. 2025.
BD-06334D:
with Molly Miller,
Grand Canyon University Head Women's Basketball Coach;
2023 WAC Coach of the Year;
In every season at GCU, Miller's teams have averaged between 10.2 and 13.4 steals/game and have ranked as high as number 4 (in 2023), number 3 (in 2022) and number 2 (in 2021) in the US among all D-I teams;
Drury University Head Coach from 2014 to 2020;
2019 NCAA D II Final Four;
5x Great Lakes Valley Conference Regular Season Champions;
5x Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Champions;
2x WBCA Division II Coach of the Year (2019, 2020);
Undefeated season (32-0) in 2020;
played college basketball for Drury University;
second all time for scoring (1,570 points), assists (439), and steals (407);
2007 Drury Athletics Hall of Fame inductee
Known for her team’s grit, hard work, and pressure defense, Grand Canyon’s head coach Molly Miller has success wherever she goes. In this ‘Open Practice’ video you will see how she instills those principles with her team; in this excellent video you will see:
- Pressure defense drills
- Small group defensive drills
- Whole group defensive drills
- Toughness drills & more!
No matter your style of play, a coach can always instill more grit and toughness within a team. This video will set you up for great success as you raise the level of your team’s pressure defense!
‘Camp Grit’ Warm-up
To begin practice, players are put through position work in groups of two working on pick and roll and pistol reads on offense. From there players are split into three groups to maximize time and repetitions. Each group works on a different skill from ball handling to agility and then rotate in the Two-Minute Drill. After the warm-up, they meet in the middle of the court for the emphasis and motivation of the day.
Small Group Defensive Drills
After the team meeting in the middle, players quickly transition to the Charge Hustle Drill which develops heart and toughness - Player’s closeout, take a charge, grab a loose ball, and hustle to the other end to finish at the rim against contact!
The ‘Four Quarter Killer’ teaches players to stick to the fundamentals of defense even if they are tired. Players must complete four segments of on ball defense to create a deflection. The 1,2,3,4 Defense is a combo of four drills that quickly move from one to the next. From finishing at the rim to closeouts to “DCMB” (defensive conditioning of the mind and body). DCMB reinforces the little things that make their defense successful - the ‘little things’ that need to be repeated every day to ensure continuity and results.
Rebounding
You cannot end any possession without a defensive rebound! Rebounding is so important, so Coach Miller puts her team through two rebounding drills that reward a stop with offensive transition. You will see their principles in action with the 2 on 2 and 3 on 2 rebounding drills.
Cutthroat Drills
The next segment shows everything start to come together as the intensity ramps up exponentially! Three different cutthroat drills are explained and shown with the players. Each time restrictions are put on what the offense and defense can do. Moving from 3 on 3 to 4 on 4 you will see an efficient way to instill hard work, communication, and toughness! The Cutthroat Seam Drill is a great drill that gets players talking as switch coverages are presented in a 5 on 4 disadvantage scenario.
Screen Coverages and Shell Defense
To continue the momentum, players go through their different ball screen coverages starting with the trap. You will see again how much intensity is brought out of the players and how beneficial these drills can be with your team’s success and identity. The Shell Drill is somewhat different in how it also incorporates transition defense as offensive players must give up the ball on the whistle. The offense has full freedom to do what they want which will help keep the defense honest in their approach. On the whistle, the team with the ball must set it down or pass to the other team which begins the two full court trips.
If you are looking for ways to improve your team’s toughness and defense, this video is hands down the one for you! You will get everything you need and more to install a lockdown defense!
Customer Review: 5 Out of 5 Stars!
“This was a GREAT video - I loved the drills and teaching points. Coach Miller is a fantastic teacher of defense!”
135 minutes. 2025.