Indiana Leaks One Out on the Fast Break

I've watched several Indiana games now this season and one of the things that I've enjoyed watching has been their ability to push the ball. Part of being a good fast break team is to look for numbers advantages. You must have the numbers to be a good fast break team. Tonight against a good Purdue team that likes to play tough half-court M2M pressure defense, the Hoosiers needed to get easy baskets and they got just enough to squeak out the win. Here is a sequence where after the long 3-pointer, they leak 1 player out for the easy layup,



4 to the Glass, 1 Leaks:

Some think that the gamble isn't worth it, but if you want to create a numbers advantage, you have to be willing to sacrifice something. Here, the Hoosiers send 4 to the defensive glass and the defender on the shooter, Ellis, flies to the offensive basket instead of the traditional box out of the shooter,


Also notice how the guard-defenders rebound down to get the defensive rebounds. I know some coaches that like to gamble even more, by sending 2 to fly and only 3 to defensive rebound, especially if they have a lot of size down low.

Practice makes perfect, a brand new video that might be worth a good look is Joe Mihalich's DVD on Practice Drills for the Fast Break. Joe Mihalich is the head coach at Niagara University. Be sure to head over to the X's and O's Basketball Forum to discuss this and more of your favorite basketball topics.