Florida's UCLA to Baseline Flex Offense

Catching up from earlier in the week, Wednesday night to be exact. NCAA conference play between Florida and Auburn. Florida led most of the way but it was a scrappy defensive affair. The Tigers running a really tough M2M defense while the Gators zoned up most of the game. Though it appeared sloppy at times offensively, I thought the Gators did well to stay ahead most of the game in the hostile crowd on the road. If there's one thing in college basketball you'll notice, the home team always has a huge advantage.

In a low scoring defensive minded game like this, it seems a little odd to be talking about offense. But I think it is in these games were your half-court offense, and/or individual offensive fundamentals become so important. We all know that most points in a game are scored through transition, but in defensive battles, your half-court offense needs to be good enough.

Watching Florida under Billy Donovan the years they won the 2 Championships were mostly spread PNR teams. They still do run the spread PNR, but they run some other continuity sets as well. I took these from the second half, of Florida's UCLA to baseline flex offense,




First some diagrams, then some more commentary afterwards

UCLA to Baseline Flex:

Very basic set, but a lot of good shot opportunities out of it. They don't have a predetermined initial setup, but roughly 4-out 1-in or 3-2 high. O3 comes out to receive the pass at the top from O1. O5 goes to set a UCLA screen for O1 who does a basket cut. O5 pops out to the top of the key. Also note, that O1 can fake the UCLA cut, and v-cut back to the 3-point line for an open 3-pointer. For many HS teams, you'd probably get 1 or 2 cheap baskets off this initial action.

Next, O1 goes to set a baseline flex screen for O4. O4 sets up the cut high, then goes low along the baseline flashing to the middle. O3 goes to O5 whose first look is to O4 in the middle.

O3 drops down to the midpost. O1 relocates to the wing. If O4 doesn't get the ball, he sets a baseline screen for O2. O3 helps to make a double baseline screen. O2 comes all the way across the baseline. O5 passes to O1 who looks for O2 on the curl off the 2nd screen for a mid-range.

Not shown in the video, but for most of you continuity coaches, you can easily reset by having O4 relocate to the opposite wing and O2 at the ballside corner-wing. Then repeat as below,


Summary:

Now, I picked two of the sequences specifically because Florida didn't score the first shot. They got the rebound and then scored. Your continuity offense is only as good as the players abilities. There was another play where Dan Werner received the ball off the baseline screen and missed the open layup. That is why you never short-change fundamentals work in practices. Remember, your players are the ones that score, not your plays or schemes.

If you're looking for more info on skill development and specifically shooting, take a look at Billy Donovan's brand new DVD on Shooting Drills. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's of Basketball Forum to talk about this and your favorite basketball topics.