Buffalo Continuity This continuity offense was developed from a set play ran by Buffalo high school in Minnesota. I was an assistant coach for a team that played them in the playoffs and this was one of the set plays our scouts sent to us. I really liked the action and just tweaked it to make it a continuity offense. In all reality, I am a guy through and through. But I’m not against using set plays or simple continuity offenses from time to time. This is one I feel I could implement easily and employ if need be. I’m going to add some thoughts and notes in on the possible little things you could add here and there. Take what you want, throw what you don’t! Make this offense your own.

Basic Overview For the diagrams, the offense starts out in a 1-2-2 look. I will have a section in the end on getting into it out of different alignments.

The guard brings the down and picks a side by at one of the wings. As the wing sees that they are being dribbled at, they should cut to the basket, across the lane and to the opposite corner of the floor. The backside post player can set a flair initially for him if you desire, especially if he is a shooter. The post player on the back side should flash up to the back side high post as should the ball side post player. The ball side post player, however, can wait a second or two and look for a post up if you desire. Or else he can vacate immediately to make room for the guard. The back side wing should stay in his position line extended. When the point guard reaches the free throw line extended, all the players should be at or close to their positions.

When the point reaches the wing, the first action takes place. Both the posts should be stacked outside the lane at about the area of the elbow. When they are set, the two guards in the corner and at the wing run to the double and should get there at nearly the same time. Both players should start to curl around the double. After they both start to curl, one player has to pop. This is where you as the coach can dictate what happens. You can dictate that either the corner or wing player curls while the other pops. You can also have your players read the defense and have one call “pop”, when the other player hears that they continue the dive. I personally like having my players read, but if you want to dictate that is fine as well! Lastly, you can have your matchups dictate who does what. For instance, if one guard is more of a and the other a shooter, have the slasher know to curl and the shooter know to pop. The curler should curl all the way to the lane and post for a 2 count. If the curling guard is much bigger than the defender, he can hold for a 3 count and post. The guard that didn’t curl should pop hard to the point looking for a quick pass and a three. If the popping guard’s defender sinks, the post screeners can change the screening angle and pin the defender.

As soon as the curling guard starts to clear, the posts should separate. The bottom post should dive hard to the and post up looking for the ball. The top post should immediately turn and face up to the ball side elbow. This is a great look because of the post isolation on the block with no backside help. You also have a high post for a high- low look. If no options are open, the guard with the ball can pass back to the point. If the ball is passed to the high post, it can also be reversed that way to the point.

As soon as the guard on the point receives the pass, their job is to dribble reverse the ball as fast as they can. To make the action work, you want to dribble reverse quickly and run the action so that the defenders don’t have a chance to jump help side. This is also a good look if the guard with the ball is your stud because they are basically isolated 1 on 1 on the back side. Coach your stud guards to look for a drive here. As he starts to dribble reverse the ball, the post on the low block should come up and make the stack.

As the guard with the ball reaches the wing, the action should be taking place again. Your guard dribbling the ball has to keep his eyes on the action so he will know if either player is open coming off the double.

As the guard with the ball reaches the wing, or quickly after, the post players should be starting to separate. It may take some practice to get the timing down, but it will come. Once again, you are in to the high low overload look. After this, the ball would be reversed again and the action would run once again. You can run this action over and over, just as you would the flex, or you can run this action into some other offense you want to run.

Running Buffalo Out of Different Starting Looks You do not need to start in a 1-2-2 set to run Buffalo. Something you could do is have between 2-4 different initial looks that go into the Buffalo continuity and call them different names to confuse the opponent and make them think you are running different offenses. Also, if you are a set guy, you could run between 2-4 different sets into Buffalo in order to confuse the opponent. Anyway, below I have how to get into Buffalo out of a few popular initial looks. They are pretty basic, but it is just to get you thinking here. Be creative and run your favorite sets into this if you want. 1-3-1 Double Stack

Line 1-4 High

Trouble Shooting Now, after reading all of this, I am sure you have some questions. Your first one most likely is this: won’t a team that plays good help side defense be able to easily defend this. The answer is yes they will, but if you instruct your dribblers to dribble swing the ball quickly, you should be able to catch the defenders still in on the line up the line position. It works kind of like the flex in that respect. And if you find the defenders dropping off right as the pass to the point is made, instruct your point to throw it right back to the player on the wing for a jumper. If they play good man to man you should be able to catch them on a quick dribble swing. That is why I show the action take place as the dribbler is swinging the ball. Also, if they start sagging off very badly, have your players run a flair cut back to their original positions for open jump shots. This move will be your counter to sagging defenses. The second question you are probably asking is: what if I have a guard that is a poor ball handler? That question has a pretty simple answer. Instruct your players that you do not want player X having to dribble swing the ball. When player X is at the point, instead of passing him the ball, have the player with the ball on the wing (guard who ran the last dribble swing) dribble at him. When the player who is on the wing with the ball dribbles at player X, that causes player X to cut to the basket and out to the backside corner, the player who was in the backside corner cuts up to the free throw line extended. The ball is swung by the player who had the ball on the wing and the offense continues. The third question may be: what if they overplay the pass to the point and don’t let me have it. If this happens, the same rules apply as above. The wing with the ball dribble swings the ball himself, the player at the point cuts to the rim then out to the corner and the player in the corner fills the wing.