Boston College Cross Cutting Inbounds Play

Went through some recorded games from yesterday's busy schedule of college basketball games and I saw this interesting baseline out of bounds play by Boston College at the end of their game against St. Louis. The game was already out of reach for BC, but I like this BLOB play because I think you can get a decent look underneath the basket against any form of M2M defense. Take a look,




It's a real simple play. BC uses a 3-1 set. The middle and high player come and set a stagger screen that closes in the middle allowing only the wing player to come over the top and in between. The defense is in a M2M full switch because it is at the end of the game. The wing defender decides to switch, but due to a communication breakdown, his man is allowed to go through the screens and the far side defender is still trailing his defender. The middle defender decides to switch on the cutting wing but is late on the play,


Summary:

I once read an article that said the sign of a well coached team is one that scores on inbounds plays. I don't think I'd put all my stock into whether a team is well-coached entirely on BLOB or SLOB execution, but I do think they are an important "special teams" x-factor to the game, especially at the lower levels where the defense is sometimes suspect, to pick up some easy points.

For some great special teams info from a great charismatic coach, take a look at Bruce Pearl's DVD on OB nuggets. Tennessee puts so much importance on special teams that it is famous for defending BLOBs and forcing 5 second violations. Be sure to check out the X's and O's of Basketball Forum to discuss this and more of your favorite basketball topics.