I think it is a great play and will try it esppecially when u have a great shooter and a mobile Big Man.

"1 dribbles off of the screen and passes to 3.." should read "2 dribbles off the scrreen and passes to 3."

I think these plays are very useful at a high school level. I''''''''m currently coaching 3rd/4th grade girls and would love to have a few easy screen plays that they can execute fairly easily. Some of my girls will likely not take basketball further than middle school, so I''''''''m dealing with a team that has at best 3 players on the floor who can truly execute!

When I coached 4th & 5th grade boys, our offenseive play consisted of almost entirely (1) pick and rolls or (2) give and goes run out a 1 - 4 low.

Cutter v-cuts to foul line; if a wing, low post on the same side moves out to the vacant wing. Any of the 4 low players could be called to pick or to give and go.

The lane was open with plenty of space to operate and a clear path to the basket.

The league required m-2-m defense and being within an arm's length of the offense player the defender was guarding, unless double-teaming the ball.

While I'm not a big fan of trapping at that age, why would the league frown on teaching proper m2m fundamentals... HELP SIDE DEFENSE?

was Oklahoma M2M or zone when OSU ran this play? I could see my girls (6th grade with a couple good dribblers and shooters) learning this play quickly and could be pretty good at it. I would expect to see this play against M2M.

This is a very good play, whether it's for a grade school or high school team, as long as the players are disciplined, especially in dishing out those passes and setting the picks. Timing is very essential in execution of any offense pattern.

I see the play as too limited; that is it's focussed on the right side shot by the 2 man or feeding the 5 man slipping to the basket. Further, 1 and 4 don't seem to have planned scoring options (going from the text) which would free their D to help on the split line. In the set play the 2 man should be open but the 5 man should be covered by 1 and 4's D from the helpside.
I would make the following changes to occupy the helpside D, to open the centre lane, to give 3 additional options and to create a strong scoring plays from the left side.
FIRST: In Diagram 2, after 4 has screened 3, I would have him roll into the left low post and present. It's possible he could be there to set a screen for 1's baseline cut.
SECOND: I would have 1 swing across higher so he's level with the high rebound marker.
THIRD: I'd have 2 flare out to the 3 point circle either on the right baseline or right wing and present for the shot or drive.
FOURTH: I'd have 5 roll to the rightside low post if he doesn't get the ball on the slip.
That would create the following options:
1) 3 has centrelane drive, OR feed 5 cutting or 4 posting, OR 2 for 3 point shot OR 1 for forward entry from left side.
2) 1 has forward entry from left side, feed 5 cutting, pass to 2 outside and works with postmen 4 & 5.
3) 4 & 5 slip off screens and have post moves.
I'd see these moves adding to the play while maintaining the original planned moves and giving all players a scoring role which wold keep the D honest.

I agree with Coach Patrick. 1 and 4 are idle. It's good to stick with the original play. 1 and 4 can communicate on what and how the defense reacts. 1 can cut to the base line after a screen from 5 then slips to the leftmost corner. This gives 2 an option at the corner if defense prevents him from scoring.

Patrick & George, we appreciate your input and suggestions. Thank you for getting people thinking.

Here is my concern with what you are recommending and the only reason I know this is because we've had quite a bit of experience running the play. The recommendations sounds great in text and diagram, but what happens when you play the game?

This play should happen quickly. If the players stopped for a few seconds after each diagram, you could do everything proposed, but they don't. The timing would be off with the what was proposed.

1 would almost be in the corner by the time 4 rolled to the basket and would miss the baseline screen.

If 4 rolled after the screen, there isn't enough time for him to get out the lane with the timing of the player. As a result, 4 would his defense down to the lane area which would make the flare screen set by 5 less effective, because the slip to the basket would not be as open.

Now if the defense cheats, play basketball and hit the open man. The play is used as a tool to create an open shot. If 2 is open off of the original ball screen, attack the rim. If 3 is open off of the down screen, attack the rim.

Also, there is another concern. How do you get your players to remember all of that? Sometimes, simpler is better, especially for high school and college coaches and even pro coaches.

Hi Julie,

You want to keep things very basic for that age group. Spend very little time on plays. Here is a little article that elaborates more on that stance: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/should-youth-coaches-avoid-plays-and-patterned-offenses/

Here is a high pick and roll play that helped my youth teams quite a bit, because it is simple and gets kids attacking the basket: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/playcreator/view.asp?id=61&type=play

I actually like setting the pick close to half court. You can also have the player dribble down the left sideline and have the screener set an angled screen rather than a flat screen.

Jack, Oklahoma was in man to man defense.

I would be hesitant towards running this play with youth teams. It will take lots of practice time to get players to execute the play properly. And you probably wouldn't see it executed properly during a game until about 20 game repetitions. Unfortunately, I've learned this from experience.

As a result, it takes away from time that you could be improving their skill and teaching them offensive and defensive concepts that will go a lot further for your team in the long-run versus learning a set play.

There isn't anything wrong with a couple of quick hitters, but I would keep it very basic at the youth level.

I would tend to agree with Joe since he has run the play. A lot of plays have to do with the timing and if you throw the timing off.... the play doesn't work... defense can recover.

You can see that a lot today when players are late breaking and the point guard has a hard time entering the ball - OR they get there too soon and the D has recovered. JMO

Perfect open middle. Confuses defenders on the ball-side. However, without compromsing the OR, the weak side OP (1 and 4) may try to change positions, feigning to receive the ball or one OP to move farther up. Thanks a lot for this.

The other problem is that if the defnders are playing proper man defence then 3's defender will have a foot in the lane. The down pick will head in that direction and end up around the lane line in any case so perhaps having the 4 in the receivers spot at the opposite low block may be a good option if the timing isnt right for the screen for the 1 cutter.

Potenitally 4 could exit to the short corner area to stretch the split line help.

Food for thought... I will try this with my team and report back! Thanks.