A Pack-line defense is a basketball term used to refer to an alternative to the man-to-man defensive strategy. In a pack line defense, the defensive players stay within the pack line, which is found 16 feet from the rim.
It was developed by Dick Bennet and was popularized by several coaches including Sean Miller, Chris Mack, and Tony Bennet.
A key strategy to the pack line defense is to have one player always pressuring the ball while the other four are filling in gap positions.
Advantages of the pack-line defense include:
- It prevents dribble penetration
- Lowers the opponent’s field goal percentage
- Does not allow for easy scoring of the opposing team
- Increases rebound chances