Going Backdoor with Georgetown

There's nothing more pure in the game of basketball than the backdoor cut. It's player and ball movement at it's finest. It's how we as coaches all envision how our teams should play, smart and unselfish.

In watching the Georgetown Hoyas play this year, they use the backdoor almost exclusively in everything they do on offense. I wrote earlier on what Georgetown's Princeton style motion offense looked like live. It's really a 4-out 1-in played like a 5-out but with Roy Hibbert planted in the middle. Everything is backdoor, they run a lot of UCLA cuts off Hibbert who then posts up after the upscreen.

In any case, ESPN color commentator Fran Fraschilla does a fantastic breakdown of how Georgetown uses the 'dribble-to' technique to draw the off-ball defender, then use the 1-handed bounce pass to go backdoor,



One of the things about the Princeton offense is that you must be a patient team to run it. The Princeton offense is not about early offense, it's about executing precise cuts to the basket, spacing, ball reversal and constant player motion. In many cases, you will probably need all 30 seconds of the shot clock to get a good shot off. But that is OK, that should be your goal.

Case in point, Georgetown. They are 6th in the country in FG% at 50.3, yet they are 12th in scoring offense in the Big East out of 16 teams at 71.7 ppg. The Hoyas value each and every possession and work to get the best possible shot out of their patient Princeton offense (usually a backdoor play or through Hibbert).

There are plenty of notes on motion offense principles but I would highly recommend taking a look at coach John Carrier's notes, he does a great job breaking down the many options out of a 4-out 1-in, he's a guru of the offense. You can find them at the X's and O's Basketball forum. For video instruction, one video worth taking a look at for sure is Kevin Pigott's DVD on the Princeton offense. Coach Pigott really features the back door cut in the video.