A Look at The Gary Williams Maryland Flex Offense

Like all offenses, there are many different versions and variations based on how coaches have tweaked it to fit their needs. The Maryland flex offense under Gary Williams is one such variation of the generic flex offense. I like the flex offense a lot and I've used it in a few different situations in the past. The key to the flex is teaching proper screening and movement off the ball. It may not be as dynamic as the DDM, but I think the flex is a structured offense that will get good shot opportunities. Here are some more tips from Coach Williams himself talking about the Maryland flex at a Nike coaches clinic:

- "If you can’t screen, you can’t score. Anytime you set a good screen, you are dangerous."
- "Offense must get the ball inside to shoot free throws and it tests the defense to see how tough they are."
- "You need guys that can catch and pass."
- "Must enter the pass to the post from the wing on a bounce pass."
- "We don’t down screen cause that makes the flex into a jump shooting offense."
- "The duck in move is like bowling you need to pick up a couple extra pins."
- "The 3rd cutter is usually open in the flex."

As mentioned above, the main difference between the Maryland Flex than say the Gonzaga flex or the Boston College flex is that Williams doesn't believe in down screening. I personally like the downscreen because it does usually open up a good shooting opportunity, but I can see Coach Williams point about player settling for the outside shot instead of looking inside.

Maryland Flex:

So, essentially, this is what the offense looks like. They like being in 4-out 1-in, with a dominant post player. O5 goes to set a baseline flex screen for O3 from the corner who goes low side. This allows O5 to pivot and duck-in looking for the quick hit. As Coach Williams mentions above, make sure your post is really moving bodies down low, play big. O1 passes to O2 from side-to-side to gain a better passing angle,


Now, if the defense starts cheating with X3 taking off well before the screen or another common defensive tactic against the flex is to switch all screens, then O3 fakes to use the baseline flex screen and instead comes back to the ball for a 3-pointer, or a post-entry into O5,


I didn't go ahead and diagram the continuity but you can do any number of things to get from point-to-point. You can have everyone rotate from right to left, and restart the baseline flex from the left side. As Coach Williams mentions above, the baseline cutter usually gets open on the 3rd cut, so be patient with the offense.

If you really want to learn all the nuances of the Maryland flex, then you really need to take a look at Gary Williams DVD on the Flex Offense. Coach Williams is the long-time head coach of the Terrapins.