Bruesa 1-4 High Set with Many Options

I've been posting a lot of 1-4 stuff lately, as it seems to be really popular these days. This is a 1-4 high set play from a game I watched earlier in the day between Bruesa and Alicante in Euroleague action. They must've ran this about 10 times. It's pretty basic but there are some good options out of the set. Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below.



Setup:

It's a 1-4 high set. The point guard sets up at the middle. The wings can start lower, but I think it's better if they are at the foul-line extended.

O5 and O4 do an X-cut to the top of the key. O1 dumps the pass off to O4 on the right side. O2 meanwhile will do a v-cut to the baseline and cut back up. O1 will set the screen on O2 coming back up.

Handoff:

The video doesn't show it, but the other times I saw them run this play, O2 would come off the screen from O1 and either cut to the basket for a quick hitter from O4, curl to receive the handoff and shoot the open 3-pointer, or curl to receive the handoff and drive straight to the basket.

In this case, O2 receives the ball and decides to hold onto it. On the weak side, O5 is setting a screen for O3 in the corner. O3 comes up and receives the ball while O5 rolls to the basket. Again, lots of options here, O3 can do a basket cut instead and O2 can hit O3 going to the basket, or O5 in the low post on the roll. Here, O3 just takes his man off the dribble and scores on the pull-up in the key.

Summary:

They ran this play about 10 or more times and I probably only watched half the game. You can have 1 set play and run multiple options off of it allowing your players to be creative.

You want to teach your players how to read the defense and how they are playing you to determine which option would work best in a given situation. If they defense is in a M2M and non-switching, you should have easy basket cuts. If they are switching everything, you may have a mismatch in the post or on the wing.

If your interested in any high-post offenses or the like, take a look at Geno Auriemma's DVD on the high-post offense. Also, be sure to check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum for notes including coach Auriemma stuff.