Largely because of the three point line, more and more basketball teams are forcing players baseline and refusing to give up middle. The reasoning is that a guard who penetrates the middle of a defense can either attack the basket himself or kick it out to the weak side wing for an open three point attempt.

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Defending Baseline Drives-hoopskills.com
Defending Baseline Drives
-by Coach Dave Stricklin
http://www.hoopskills.com
Largely because of the three point line,
more and more teams are forcing
players’ baseline and refusing to give up
middle. The reasoning is that a guard
who penetrates the middle of a defense
can either attack the basket himself or
kick it out to the weak side wing for an
open three point attempt.
As a result, many coaches find
themselves trying to answer the question
of "If we force baseline, where does the
help come from?" There seems to be two
popular answers to this question:
1. Strong Side Post
2. Weak Side Perimeter
#1 Strong Side Post
As expected, this method has its pro's and con's. The pro is that the strong side
post player is a lot closer to the help position and has a much better chance of
stopping the ball handler before he reaches the paint. The con is that if the post
player is too late or gets stuck on the high side of the offensive post, then a layup
will surely occur.
For defenses that play mostly behind the offensive post, this is by far the easiest
option. Post defenders can simply move around the bottom side of the offensive
player and establish a position to stop the drive.

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Defending Baseline Drives-hoopskills.com
For the team that primarily defends the post with either a three quarters front or
a full front, this can be a little challenging at first because many young and
inexperienced posts will get sealed or pinned on the high side of the offensive
player. If you are going to three quarters front the block, your guards must be
constantly drilled not give up direct line drives to the basket. This will give your
post defenders more time to recover to the crucial help position. When executing
a full front, the defender should come under the offensive player on the baseline
side before establishing his fronting position. This way the defender is in a great
position to quickly slide over and stop any baseline attacks.
#2 Weak Side Perimeter
The more traditional way to stop baseline penetration is by rotating defenders
over from the weak side. This is a great concept if your players have sufficient
quickness and anticipation skills. Since the most common habit pass for a baseline
driver is a dump pass to an open post player, rotating a guard over from the weak
side allows the post defender to stay home while still stopping the dribbler's
attack. However, if this guard is late with his help it is more than likely that a foul
will be called.
Personally, we currently rotate defenders over from the weak side. Why? Because
in our situation we usually have more good guards than good post players and do
not want to risk a foul call on our post. Your team personnel may be the complete
opposite of ours and so using the strong side post may be your best option.
Whatever method you choose to utilize, if you make sure that it fits your
philosophy and personnel, you can't go wrong with either one!
On a related side note, colleges are now using the same restricted area arc that
the NBA has been using for years. This is going to make it even more difficult for
perimeter defenders to rotate over since the arc is located three feet in front of
the rim. In order to take a charge, defenders must be completely outside the arc -
no heels on the line! Not only will this make taking a defensive charge more
difficult but it will also make recovering back out to an open shooter on the weak
side wing/corner nearly impossible.

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Defending Baseline Drives-hoopskills.com