One of the things that you need to do as a coach I think is to adjust your system to your players and not the other way around. Case in point, the Ohio St. Buckeyes last year. Thad Matta had Greg Oden and Mike Conley, 2 of the best players in college basketball, one a dominant center, one the best point guard of his class. Now, coach Matta has traditionally ran all of his sets out of the box formation. What they did last year was adjust a lot of their offense to pick and roll and hi-low action to take advantage of their offensive weapons while keeping the box set. Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below.
Setup:
Coach Matta still uses the box set here, but what he does is incorporate a quick hitter from the box. If the quick hitter is not there, they'll start their pick and roll hi-low action with dribble handoffs.
Pick and Roll:
If you had 2 players similar to Greg Oden and Mike Conley, the pick and roll is the perfect play for them. Add in hi-low action, to Oden down low and you've got the perfect offense.
In many ways, this is very similar to the Louisville women's play that I diagrammed earlier in the month. But this time, the pick and roll action can lead to an immediate score. Also, coach Matta emphasizes that his guards can drive to the rim after the ball-screen, and we saw Conley take advantage of that last year.
Hi-low action:
The hi-low action is the second option. If the pick and roll isn't there, the guard will hit the post coming up who will look for the other post who has sealed his man outside.
If the hi-low isn't available, the guards on the strong-side simply do a dribble handoff and the action repeats with the high post setting the pick and rolling to the basket while the low post comes up.
Summary:
With both Oden and Conley gone to the pros, I expect coach Matta to go back to a lot of the traditional box set that he's run in the past.
For a great look at a pro-style pick and roll offense, take a look at Jeff Van Gundy's DVD on the pick and roll. Van Gundy goes through both executing and guarding the pick and roll. Also, I have a some Jeff Van Gundy and Stan Van Gundy notes that might be useful, check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to request them.
I posted earlier in the month about monstering the post. I made this clip of a recent preseason game where the Lakers Kobe Bryant demonstrates beautifully how you can double the post from the weakside triple 'I'. Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below.
Notice how all 3 players form the triple I, #4 Luke Walton from the Lakers comes up to cut off a pass to either his man or Kobe's man when Kobe goes to double. Much like this diagram here,
I also like how Kobe waits for the post defender to put the ball down first. I bet if he left before the post defender dribbled, the ball probably gets passed to Kobe's man on the weakside for the 3-pointer. Also, #21 Ronny Turiaf knows Kobe is coming from the middle so he just stands his ground, keeps his arms up straight and waits for the help to come.
For more great ideas on the post-defense amongst other defensive topics, check out Jeff Lebo's DVD. Coach Lebo is the head coach of Auburn University of the SEC. I have plenty of notes on low post defense so check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum and request them.
With less than a couple of weeks left before the start of the NCAA basketball season, the Memphis Tigers look better than ever to get to their first final four in the Calipari era. I posted earlier this month with a breakdown of one option out of the Dribble Drive Motion Offense that the Tigers use. Here is a video clip from Coach Calipari's staff that highlights their style of play. Watch the video and then you can read my thoughts below.
You just have to admire the pace of this style of offense. Now, the video does appear to be speeded up, but still, these guys are going fast. I love the dribble handoffs, I think I will post on that the next time I breakdown this revolutionary offense.
Here are some thoughts from the video:
- pace, talked about it above, just all out speed
- crisp passing, you must be good passers and receivers to play this offense
- catch and shoot, you don't see any hesitation, players pivot and shoot. You can't be afraid of the 3-pointer
- post player always moving, you'll notice the post player is moving from weak side block to the elbow and diving on penetration
- read the defender, the dribbler is always reading the defender. Is the defender on-balance? Can I cross him over?
Now, as I posted earlier, neither Walberg or Calipari have made a DVD yet with the system. But you can check out Phil Martelli's DVD on becoming a better 1-on-1 player. Many of the drills taught in the DVD are the same ones that Walberg and Calipari use to drill their perimeter players. There are also plenty of notes from coaching clinics each has done over the past year or so which can be found by heading to the X's and O's of Basketball Forum.
Looking through my inbounds play stuff, I came across this play that Gonzaga runs on occasion underneath the offensive basket. I like it because it spreads the defense out and what I really like about it is that it's a safe one to use. Sometimes, in finding the perfect scoring inbounds play, you can get too cute that actually result in turnovers. I would much rather a safe inbounds play that scores less than an inbounds play that scores slightly more but is prone to the turnover.
Setup:
My personal belief is that the majority of the time you should have a guard inbounds, in this case it is the point guard. The other players are spread in a 4-high set. It's important that both forwards or posts play the side of the ball.
O2 will do a v-cut to the basket looking for the quick hitter from O1. If you want you can substitute v-cut for L-cut or whatever you think will get O2 open. O5 and O4 will set a stagger screen for O3 coming over the top. O1 will hit O3 as the second option.
After inbounds:
After the inbounds, you want another quick hitter opportunity before setting up your offense. 
After O1 inbounds, O4 and O5 will set a double screen and O1 will maneuver in between O4 and O5 to the top of the key. O4 will quickly seal his man and look for the post entry from O1 as option 1. If not there, O3 will simply pass to O1 and in this case Gonzaga will setup their flex offense.
For more information, there is a Winning Hoops DVD with over 70 baseline inbounds plays. I also have lots of inbounds stuff so head over to the X's and O's Basketball Forum to take a look and see what I have.
Recently I was at a varsity game that was very close at the end, Team A was up by just 1-point over Team B. Team B had the ball with 11 seconds left but it appeared that they didn't know the clock situation and the point guard held the ball too long. With just 3 seconds left, he passed the ball to another player who didn't look like he knew what to do. Everyone in the gym was yelling "shoot" and so he tried to heave something resembling a shot only to get blocked badly. The game ended and Team B won. This was a fall game, so I wasn't even sure the coach was their regular in-season coach but it cannot be understated, the importance of preparing for close games.
I've posted before on the fouling situation, but I read through a set of notes from Rick Barnes, head coach at University of Texas that articulated very well what every coach should be thinking about in terms of preparing for end of game situations.
It is very important to not assume that your players know what to do! Try to work on special situations every day.
Here are some questions all coaches should ask themselves. The answers will vary according to your personal philosoply and your team's strengths.
- In a tie game, would you ever foul to get the last possession?
- Do you push the ball and play or call a timeout to set up the last shot?
- Is your team prepared to deny the ball to one great foul shooter?
- How do you intentionally miss a free throw?
- With a 3-point lead, do you foul before a 3-point shot is taken?
- Do your players know when to foul?
- Do you have a sign or call so your players know to foul witout alerting the other team?
- Do you have visual signs for all of your players to ensure communication in loud environments where verbal calls may not be heard?
- When do you start taking 3's in order to catch up? Do you have a hurry-up offense designed to get you quality shots in less time?
- Do you save your timeouts or do you use them eraly to keep you kids in the game?
- Do you have your list of special situation plays on the bench with you so you can refer to them in pressure situations?
For a great DVD from a great coach, check out Coach Morgan Wooten's DVD on Coaching to Win in Special Situations. Coach Wooten is the winningest high school coach in the history of basketball and one of my favorite coaching mentors.
Also, check out the X's and O's Basketball forum for both Rick Barnes and Morgan Wooten notes.
One of the fundamental parts of being a center or forward is following your shot until you make it. Sometimes, I watch players and when they miss a shot, instead of going after the ball, they'll be standing there maybe cursing or whatever. This clip is a highlight clip of one of the great centers of all-time, Moses Malone. What you'll notice in the clip is Moses Malone is constantly attacking the rim following up his misses until he scores.
This is really more about attitude than anything else. You must have that never quit, want the ball more than the other person, kind of attitude to play this way. What's even better is that if you're not having the best day in terms of your shot, you can at least rely on your ability to attack the glass and follow your shot. Force the defender to work to box you out.
The 5Star Basketball Series has a great DVD focusing entirely on the skill of rebounding. The DVD features Miami Heat Forward Udonis Haslem showing you the art of tipping the ball and various moves to attack the glass.
Don't forget to drop by the X's and O's Basketball board for more great basketball discussions.
I found this play from one of the plays that the Russian Women's National Team uses. They play mostly a 3-out 2-in hi-lo offense, but I found this 1-4 set that looked very interesting. It is a handoff play with several options. I think it would work really well against a team that is playing very aggressive pressure man-to-man defense.
Setup:
It's a 1-4 high set. There are many options out of this set and you have to be patient, but I believe it will allow your guards and forwards some great penetration lanes. 
So O1 passes to the right wing O2 who does a v-cut to the ball to get open. O4 will step out and set an upscreen for O1 who will do a UCLA cut to the basket. O1 is looking for the quick hitting pass back from O2 if it's there. If not, he rolls out to the weak-side corner.
Setting up the Handoff:
After O4 sets the high screen, O2 should pass the ball back up to the top of the key to O4. It's important that once the defense has adjusted a little to the play, that O4 works hard to seal the defender to get the ball up top. I don't like the v-cut here because I think it can lead to turnovers if O2 and O4 don't communicate properly.
O1 goes to the corner and O3 starts coming up to the top of the key towards O4 but at least 5 steps away.
The Handoff:
This part is the heart and soul of this play. Once O4 gets the ball, pivots to face away from the basket. O3 comes over the top looking for the handoff from O4. 
Now what's happening here is a couple of things. First, how is the M2M defense playing screens, are they fighting through or switching? If the defense is playing through screens, you must read how X3 is defending the handoff, is X3 following or coming under anticipating the drive to the net. If X3 is trailing O3, O3 should receive the handoff and cut around O4 immediately attacking the rim.
Regardless of how the defense is playing, O2 should come and set the blind pick. Now if X3 decides to play under, O2 will need to split out. O2 will set the pick on X3 and O3 can either attack the rim if there is no help, or dribble out towards the wing and hit an open 3-pointer or mid-range jumper.
Against M2M Switching:
Against a team that is switching everything, you'll find that X2 will be told to anticipate O3 getting the handoff and to switch to defend O3.
This is a great counter for a defense switching on all screens. What's going to happen is O4 will fake the handoff, and will instead pivot and attack the rim. O2 will come of the blind pick and upscreen for O4. If the defense is switching everything, most likely they'll get confused with all the screens and O4 will have that brief opening to exploit, worst case is X3 steps out and defends the lane. Also, O5 will roll to the basket after O4 has passed the free-throw line looking for a pass back or an offensive rebound.
Summary:
I like this play because there are many options and counters you can run. For example, after the handoff to O3, O3 can dribble to the wing and O4 can still use O2's upscreen and cut to the hoop, O3 can try to hit O4 cutting to the hoop. Or on the weakside, you can have O5 set a flex screen for O1 coming underneath the hoop for a quick backdoor cut.
The 1-4 set is an offense that Arizona uses sometimes as well. Lute Olson's DVD on the 1-4 offense is one that you might want to check out if you're looking for a set to run against aggressive ball pressure. Check out the X's and O's of Basketball Forum for more notes and downloads.
