We should take satisfaction and find encouragement in the structure and the O sets that the Dawgs ran last game even more than in the final score of the game. What we ran and how we ran it bodes well for the rest of the season.
Our team played against So. Carolina with discipline and stayed faithful to the sets and offensive schemes installed earlier in the year by Coach Mike. We stuck with the schemes even when our guards had trouble in the first half handling the double teams Coach Paris applied every time Roberts received a ball screen. Our starters were in position and were efficient in the way they were running those sets even though the first half shots weren't falling. CMW is about creating open driving lanes to the rim and that's difficult to do if you lack outside shooting.
Coach Mike departed from some of the recent 4 out 1 in schemes we've run and returned to the pro-style HORNS / CHINS sets and to the streamlined single high post sets that he ran in his last year and a half at Florida and that he installed early in our preseason schedule. That single high post is a modernized update of the Princeton "Point Series" and essentially has the PG throw the ball into the high post and then the PG plays off of it, usually rub-cutting above the post towards the basket.
I posted after the Vandy loss that this aspect of our single high post O sometimes resembled the Hawks' pick and roll. Roberts acted the part of Trae Young but we lacked a Capela lob option and that didn't make any sense. Well, the lob wrinkle was finally added in the 2nd half against USC with Frank Anselem playing the part of Capela and rolling to the basket after setting a back screen for Roberts. The USC double team left Anselem open to the rim and we ran it consecutively until it loosened the automatic double team on Roberts and created space for him to drive the lane or get free for midrange jumpers.
We also ran frequent action involving a guard-to-guard pass or a dribble handoff where the player that gave up the ball will then cut to the hoop, receiving a "chin" back screen from the lone big on the floor. The guard with the ball throws it into the post player who just set the chin screen and that's when the off-ball action that we've previously been lacking started.
The guard who threw the ball into the post then runs to a wing player and engages in what's called "split action" which was essential to what Coach Mike ran successfully at UF. You can recognize the action by the fact that the strong side of the court suddenly looks crowded inside the arc near the elbow of the lane with two players and their defenders nearly colliding. The guard sets a screen for the wing player who can decide what he wants to do with the screen. He can either curl off the screen (something the Gators loved for Keyontae Johnson), deny the screen, or flare off the screen for a three-point attempt. This is the action I hope we see more of tonight in addition to the post lob.
If we rely heavily upon these same O sets against Auburn, I'll write more later about the Pinch Post, Split Action and Point Series. And about how CMW seems to have settled on some tweaks to what he ran at UF that take into account the fact that our Bulldawg roster lacks the outside shooting that the Gators enjoyed. UF enjoyed the benefit of Castleton and other bigs being able to pick and pop out for open shots.
Our bigs lack that skill, so CMW has to use other options to create open shots, O rebounds, and put back opportunities. Most every half-court set we ran against USC condensed the action near the lane. We will hopefully figure out how to patiently stay within these sets and still end with an option to kick out to our open wings more efficiently than we did in overtime against USC.
Our team played against So. Carolina with discipline and stayed faithful to the sets and offensive schemes installed earlier in the year by Coach Mike. We stuck with the schemes even when our guards had trouble in the first half handling the double teams Coach Paris applied every time Roberts received a ball screen. Our starters were in position and were efficient in the way they were running those sets even though the first half shots weren't falling. CMW is about creating open driving lanes to the rim and that's difficult to do if you lack outside shooting.
Coach Mike departed from some of the recent 4 out 1 in schemes we've run and returned to the pro-style HORNS / CHINS sets and to the streamlined single high post sets that he ran in his last year and a half at Florida and that he installed early in our preseason schedule. That single high post is a modernized update of the Princeton "Point Series" and essentially has the PG throw the ball into the high post and then the PG plays off of it, usually rub-cutting above the post towards the basket.
I posted after the Vandy loss that this aspect of our single high post O sometimes resembled the Hawks' pick and roll. Roberts acted the part of Trae Young but we lacked a Capela lob option and that didn't make any sense. Well, the lob wrinkle was finally added in the 2nd half against USC with Frank Anselem playing the part of Capela and rolling to the basket after setting a back screen for Roberts. The USC double team left Anselem open to the rim and we ran it consecutively until it loosened the automatic double team on Roberts and created space for him to drive the lane or get free for midrange jumpers.
We also ran frequent action involving a guard-to-guard pass or a dribble handoff where the player that gave up the ball will then cut to the hoop, receiving a "chin" back screen from the lone big on the floor. The guard with the ball throws it into the post player who just set the chin screen and that's when the off-ball action that we've previously been lacking started.
The guard who threw the ball into the post then runs to a wing player and engages in what's called "split action" which was essential to what Coach Mike ran successfully at UF. You can recognize the action by the fact that the strong side of the court suddenly looks crowded inside the arc near the elbow of the lane with two players and their defenders nearly colliding. The guard sets a screen for the wing player who can decide what he wants to do with the screen. He can either curl off the screen (something the Gators loved for Keyontae Johnson), deny the screen, or flare off the screen for a three-point attempt. This is the action I hope we see more of tonight in addition to the post lob.
If we rely heavily upon these same O sets against Auburn, I'll write more later about the Pinch Post, Split Action and Point Series. And about how CMW seems to have settled on some tweaks to what he ran at UF that take into account the fact that our Bulldawg roster lacks the outside shooting that the Gators enjoyed. UF enjoyed the benefit of Castleton and other bigs being able to pick and pop out for open shots.
Our bigs lack that skill, so CMW has to use other options to create open shots, O rebounds, and put back opportunities. Most every half-court set we ran against USC condensed the action near the lane. We will hopefully figure out how to patiently stay within these sets and still end with an option to kick out to our open wings more efficiently than we did in overtime against USC.
