Youth Offense - Michigan

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Summary

If you're a youth coach, this offense is continuous and has a very simple motion. Even if you're not a youth coach, I've seen this offense used at the High School Varsity level.


Personnel

You want Players 4 & 5 to be your post players. You want players 1, 2, & 3 to have good ball handling skills. All your players will cover every spot on the floor after a few rotations.


Instructions

Youth-Michigan1 (4K)
  1. Your players should start in these positions.

Youth-Michigan1 (4K)
  1. Soon as Player 1 comes down the court, Player 4 sets a down screen for Player 2 and Player 5 sets a down screen for Player 3. Players 2 & 3 flash to the wings.

  2. After Players 4 & 5 set a screen, they should try to seal the defender behind them and open up to the ball.

Youth-Michigan1 (4K)
  1. After Player 1 throws the pass to Player 2, Player 4 sets a cross screen for Player 5 & Player 1 sets an away screen for Player 3.

    Player 5 explodes to the ball side and Player 3 comes to the top of the key.

    You also have the option to have Player 4 post for one or two seconds to see if he can get good post position on his defender before he sets the screen for Player 5. Player 1 would wait to set the screen for Player 3 until Player 4 turns to go set the screen.

Youth-Michigan1 (4K)
  1. If Player 5 comes across the lane wide open, Player 2 should hit him with the pass. If he is not open, Player 2 should pass the ball to Player 3 at the top of the key.

    Now, they are in their original formation again and they can continue to run the offense from there.

Youth-Michigan1 (4K)
  1. Player 2 sets the screen for Player 5 & Player 1 sets the screen for Player 4.



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Comments

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Troy says:
8/15/2016 at 3:44:46 PM

This is actually a great play. Ran this play in college (small College) and now run it for my 5th grade Gold Team and we score on it a lot. Takes some time to teach the kids to set up the guy playing defense on them for the screener, but once they figure that out you have yourself a formidable offensive scheme.

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Bird says:
5/3/2015 at 3:54:41 AM

Once you have initiated one side ,don''t screen down the weak side so you can get a mismatch on your cross screen ,you don''t want you 4 and 5 screening for each other so the can switch.

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Wesley says:
3/8/2014 at 4:26:42 PM

My 8th grade boys team ran this play two thirds of the time this season. Teams got the hang of the down screen so we began to use back door cuts when they jumped the pass. When the opponent switched, we use that as a mismatch maker

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Joe Haefner says:
1/15/2014 at 8:12:12 AM

That is always an option, but if you were running this offense without any issues, you would pass to 4 or 5.

If 3 passed to 5 on the right wing...

2 would screen across for 1 in the low post.
3 would then screen for 4 on the left wing.

If 3 passed to 4 on the left wing,

1 would screen across for 2 in the low post.
3 would then screen for 5 on the right wing.

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Darcy says:
1/15/2014 at 1:08:52 AM

At the end of step 6, are the post players 4 and 5 coming up high then just going back down low to pick the guards? Or am I missing a step?

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Joe Haefner says:
12/2/2011 at 9:04:47 AM

Absolutely, Brad. On the pass to the wing and maybe 1 or 2 count, you could have the low post on the opposite block, flash to the high post. This creates a hi-lo opportunity.

I wouldn't worry about the timing too much. I would worry more about putting players in opportunities to score. That is part of the reason I don't teach a continuity to youth teams. I teach them spots (top, wing, wing, corner, corner, high post, etc) and rules (pass and move - cut or screen).

It sounds like you're on the right track with your thinking.

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Brad B says:
11/30/2011 at 6:23:50 PM

I like the looks of this. I have done some 3 out 2 in Motion with my 7th grade boys team with some success, but I have not added the part where the wings set a down screen after making the pass back up top. I don't see much action around the high post/elbow area. Would it make sense to give the posts the option to flash to the high post for some high/low looks? I'm not sure when they would do this, though, and would that throw off the timing of the whole offense? Any thoughts on this Joe or Jeff? Thanks!

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Coach Kip says:
11/17/2011 at 11:00:01 AM

I love this play!! My 8-9 year old boys really seem to pick it up. I'm excited to try it in a game situation. As the year goes along, we'd like to see players 2 and widen away and allow players to ball cut like a 5 out. Lots of different options as the boys continue to learn. Very exciting.

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sheriff says:
10/26/2011 at 7:30:16 PM

this is sparta!!!

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LarryG says:
2/24/2011 at 12:08:04 PM

The great thing about this play is that it teaches players how to move. A fantastic way to teach players offensive principles. Also everyone plays the post, everyone plays a wing and everyone gets the ball up top. A really nice way to get all players to work on skills for every spot on the floor.

P.S. I played at the NCAA division 1 level and we ran this play very successfully.

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