Randy Bennett – 2017 Final Four – PICKANDPOP.NET
Randy Bennett St. Mary’s 2017 Final Four – Phoenix, Arizona
-Two things in the last 30 years have changed the game: 1. Three-point line 2. Use of on-balls (pick & roll)
-We were ahead of the game with using the pick & roll as our primary offense. The rage then in the college game was “Dribble Drive Motion” but our guards weren’t athletic enough to just blow by you. They were good, but they needed help to get that penetration. We studied Mike D’Antoni’s Phoenix Suns teams and thought it fit nicely with our personnel.
-On-balls are a talent equalizer of sorts. The on-ball gives you the advantage/penetration and everything goes from there.
-Why on-balls? 1. Create penetration (leads to layups, 3’s, and free throws) 2. Create mismatches 3. Gets their bigs away from the rim (makes x5 cover more floor / gets him away from rim) 4. You can hide a 5-man that can’t score 5. You can get your 5-man easy baskets (rolls, drop-offs, offensive rebounds)
-So much of our scouting gets down to “How are they going to defend our on-balls?”
-I’ve heard the D’Antoni thing about slipping the screen early and I’m not saying he’s wrong, but we teach our bigs to set a good, hard screen. If there’s one thing my guys are sick of hearing me talk about, it’s actually setting the screen. You have to make the big help. • Screener straddles the hip of the ball-handler’s defender • The guard waits
-The on-ball isn’t for the guard. They all think it’s for them, but it’s not. It’s for the roller. It’s all about the roller. We are looking to throw it to the roller every time. If we can’t, that means someone helped. Where did that help come from?
Randy Bennett – 2017 Final Four – PICKANDPOP.NET
-That guard should be looking for the roller every time. You can tell how well- coached a point guard is by where he’s looking. If you’re the ball handler in the on- ball, the roller tells you everything you need to know.
-On-balls are a great way to get the ball into the post.
-Whatever kind of spacing you want to go with – we’re 4-out/1-in, Gonzaga is more a 3-out/2-in – it’s important your players know that spacing and get to their spots every time.
-You want your screener on the run into the on-ball. A lot of the things we do, there’s something in front of the on-ball.
-Our on-balls are broken up into side on-balls (outside lane lines) and middle on-balls (between the lane lines).
-On your side pick & roll, make sure to get off the sidelines where the defense can pin you.
“Side” If 4 is a non-shooter, dive him or you could even add a screening action
“Side with Duck”
-How we attack depends on how they’re going to play this. If they play us flat on our side pick & rolls, we’re looking to hit the roll man.
Randy Bennett – 2017 Final Four – PICKANDPOP.NET
-Where are they bringing help from to stop the roll? It’s all about the roller!
“Strong”
-You can great post-ups on the backside seal out of “Strong”
“Strong Duck” Great action against a team helping big/big. What you’ll also get is the guard turning the corner and using the seal as a screen for a clear
-The defense helping on the roller creates rotation which leads to long closeouts and then second penetration. A second penetration in a given possession equals really good offense.
-Versus ICE: flip the screen and guard tries to snake it back to the middle of the floor.’
-Versus hard show: flip the screen late – screener sprints up to set it one way and then flips the screen late.
“Step”
Randy Bennett – 2017 Final Four – PICKANDPOP.NET
-All our middle pick & rolls are out of a spread formation (no one inside the 3-point line). The big question is are we bringing the ball to the 2-man side or the 1-man side? Below on the left is a middle pick & roll to the 2-man side. On the right is a middle pick & roll to the 1-man side. A middle pick & roll to the 2-man side with your best shooter behind (would be 3 in the diagram on the left) is a great action. If you’re playing a non-shooter, the best place to hide him is put him as the top guy on the 2- man side that you’re dribbling to (2 in the left diagram).
“Vert” or “Flat”
Will run this versus a x5 that struggles to move
Like the middle pick & roll, we like to run this to the 2-man side to put pressure on that defender guarding the shooter behind the pick & roll
-Important that the guy behind the on-ball lifts up so your defender can’t help on the roll and guard you.
“Elbow” (flat on the side)
Randy Bennett – 2017 Final Four – PICKANDPOP.NET
-It makes you significantly better offensively if you have two guys that can use an on- ball.
-In “Horns”, the point guard isn’t looking to drive it to the rim. We’re trying to engage the hedge and then throw back to the top of the key. On that catch, he should be looking vertical entry to 5 on his seal. If he can’t feed 5, he should be looking to go “one more” to 3 to feed 5.
-It makes the on-ball so much harder to guard if there’s something (some kind of movement or action) in front of it.
-We’re going to attack your coverage. There’s a solution of every kind of on-ball coverage and through scouting we’re going to identify how you’re going to guard our on-ball and what we’re going to do to attack it.
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