offense

July 14, 2017

Using ‘Elevator Screens’ to close the door on defenders

The “elevator screen” is appropriately named because it has two stationary screeners that are stacked together but leaves just enough room for a teammate to cut through to the opposite side for a perimeter shot. Once the cutter has passed through...


June 23, 2017

5-out motion offense helps players read the defense

Our high school is small and our team lacks size. As a coaching staff, we felt that we needed to develop an offense that would help overcome this size differential and allow our players to do what they do best on the offensive side of the court. The ...


stagger-screens
May 25, 2017

Effectively using brush screens in your offense

The brush screen is more popular in the college game and has been modified from its original form: the downscreen. With a brush screen, the cutter breaks from a screen that is in motion and stays in motion. There is no jump-stopping by the screener b...


May 2, 2017

‘Mouse’ counters help defense, attacks players in foul trouble

Coaches are always thinking of new plays to attack the defensive schemes they encounter during the season. Basketball is a game of adjustments, with one coach or team running a play while the other coach works to take away that play. The other coach ...


April 26, 2017

10 tips for breaking zone defense

This article looks at offensive concepts against the zone defense. Rather than provide specific plays or actions to run, I want to look at certain concepts that enable you to tailor your offenses to fit your personnel, your style and the variations o...


June 2, 2014

Versatile press breaker thwarts zone, man defenses

Our team recently started using a press breaker that's successful against all types of presses — zone and man-to-man. This press breaker not only gets an offense through the press, but it also aggressively attacks the basket and offers numerous sho...


January 13, 2014

The seven ‘S’s of the pick-and-roll

For decades, coaches at every level have regarded the pick-and-roll as arguably the single most efficient offensive tool in their playbooks. Regardless of the offensive set, a well-executed pick-and-roll is effective and can create an array of scorin...


December 30, 2013

Basketball: Two plays from Villanova’s Jay Wright

[caption id="attachment_25175" align="alignright" width="180"] Jay Wright[/caption] Jay Wright, the head men's basketball coach at Villanova, utilizes a four-out, one-in motion offense that consistently makes the Wildcats one of the top teams in t...