Article on Princeton Offense

Found another good article on the Princeton Offense and its principles. Main article link is found here. Thanks go out to Ernie Woods at Hoopstactics.com for putting the article together. You should really check the whole article out.

Here is a little preview.

Princeton Offense - Entries

One of the nice things about the Princeton offense is that it is very flexible in that it can be initiated with almost any type of entry. The various entry cuts are predicated automatically by the ballhandler's entry pass or dribble clear. The off guard (Hawk) and high post rub (UCLA) are the most commonly used entries to initiate the offense; however, recently, the Mid Screen entry is becoming the entry of choice. All entries can be ran equally on both sides of the floor.

Entries: | Hawk | UCLA | Mid Screen | Dribble Clear | Zipper | High Post |

Hawk Entry - Weakside Guard Rub

Ballhandler O1 passes to O2 and rubs off O5's high post screen to basket. O2 passes to wing O4 and cuts to opposite corner.	If O1 is not open on basket cut or post up, 04 passes out to O5 initiating wing exchanges or down screens.

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UCLA Entry - Strongside Guard Rub or Basket Cut

Strongside guard O1 makes a wing entry pass to O4 and rubs off O5’s high post screen to basket. Note: O1 also has option of making a direct "Give & Go" cut to basket.

If/when O4 cannot pass to O1, O4 makes a reversal pass out to O5 initiating wing exchanges or down screen action.

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Mid Screen Entry

O2 clears to opposite corner as ballhandler O1 drives off O5's high post screen. O1 has option or turning the corner and driving to the basket or passing to wing o4 and cutting to the basket.

If/when O4 cannot pass to O1, O4 makes a reversal pass out to O5 initiating wing exchanges or down screens.

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Dribble Clear Entry - Strongside Wing

O1 dribbles clears wing O4. O1 looks to feed O4 on back cut to basket or post up.

If wing o4 is not open, 01 makes a reversal pass out to O5 initiating wing exchanges or down screen action.

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Zipper Entry - Wing Loop

O1 dribble clears wing O4 as high post O5 rolls down to set a down screen. O1 looks to feed O4 popping out or O5 posting up against a smaller defender if the defense switches.

If defender X4 should over play and deny the passing lane, O4 immediately back cuts to basket for an over the top lob pass from O1.

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High Post Entry

Ball handler O1 passes to high post O5. O1 and O2 cut directly to basket looking for possible feed from O5.

If not open on basket cuts, O3 and O4 set down screens for O1 and O2 crossing under the basket. Note: O1 and O2 have option of faking the cross and popping out directly off of O3's and O4's down screens.

Tags: Basketball, Coaching, Princeton Offense, Backdoor Offense, Playbook

The 1-3-1 Match Up Zone Defense

Whenever I watched John Beilein's West Virginia team in 2007, I always was impressed by their motion offense due to its backdoor plays. I also liked their defensive strategies as well. It was always a hard defense to crack. Here is a good article explaining that 1-3-1 zone they played.

The 1-3-1 Zone

I explain a similar style match-up zone in my defensive system book. Check it out.

Tags: John Beilein, 1-3-1 Zone, Basketball, Coaching, Princeton Offense

Another Version of the Open Post Offense

Here's a nice link to another version of the open-post offense, similar to the Princeton Offense in that it keep the floor spread and there are a lot of opportunities to backdoor your opponents.

Open Post Offense, Double Up

Tags: Princeton Offense, Coaching, Basketball

Vanderbilt's Version of the Princeton Offense

Just wanted to post a link to another great article describing a version of the backdoor, Princeton-style offense run by Vanderbilt.

Here's a little sample:

"Let's begin by parsing the appellation of this offense. Calling it the Princeton Offense is like calling Yankee Stadium "The House That DiMaggio Built." While Princeton made this offense popular, Pete Carril did not invent it. I cannot say just how far back it goes, but the Boston Celtics ran this type of offense as their high-percentage game as far back as the late 1950's when Coach Red Auerbach had sleight-of-hand wizards like Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman in his backcourt. The Celtics usually relied on this offense to get demoralizing crip shots once their vaunted fast break gave them a nice lead.

Initially Carril's Princeton teams played at a faster pace. They employed a pressure man-to-man defense and relied on the fast break. Players like Geoff Petrie, John Hummer, Armond Hill, Brian Taylor, and Ted Manakas could run with anybody. The faster-paced Tigers won the 1975 NIT when that championship meant you were one of the top 20 teams in the nation. The Tigers scored 80 or more points in three of the four NIT games.

As 1975-76 approached, Coach Carril was faced with a dilemma. Too much of his team's tactical speed had graduated. His roster wasn't proficient for playing pressure man defense. What he had was a group of intelligent team players who were fine shooters. So, Carril installed a match up zone defense and relied more and more on his backdoor offense and less and less on a transition game.

Princeton still continued to win, sharing Ivy League dominance with rival Penn for the next two decades. Player like Barnes Hauptfuhrer, Frank Sowinski, Billy Omeltchenko, and Bob Roma continued to bring Princeton all-Ivy accolades. Other Ivy stars followed in the ensuing years. Make no mistake about it; Princeton kept winning because Carril kept identifying top talent that could enroll at the excellent school.

That's enough about Princeton. Let's return to the Ivy League school of the Southeastern Conference.

Let's move forward to 2003. Vanderbilt had just completed their worst basketball season since football assistants were coaching the team. Included in the low-water mark was a 62-point blowout loss to Kentucky. The offense had difficulty just advancing the ball into the scoring zone. By the time the next season started, Vanderbilt was now running their version of the backdoor offense. With exceptional talent playing together as a team and with Matt Freije leading by example, Vandy began 2003-04 with 12 consecutive victories. The season culminated with a trip to the Sweet 16 and 23 wins.

The same offense has remained in place since then. How does it work? To start with, this is not a set pattern offense where each player has a specific duty to carry out (like a football play). Each player is presented with multiple options based on how he perceives the defense to be playing. Thus, each player must make split-second decisions while the game is progressing. A player might have four or five different options available to himself in just five seconds of action. When the offensive players recognize the defensive weaknesses on a possession and execute the philosophy correctly and on the same page, it usually results in an embarrassing defeat for the defense on that possession. If there are enough embarrassments, Vandy wins the game."

Here's the direct link for the rest of the article.

Tags: Princeton Offense, Vanderbilt, Backdoor Plays, Coaching, Basketball, Strategies

Open Post Offense - Another One of My Favorites

Here's a good description of another offense I have run as a coach that is very similar to the Princeton Offense due to its spacing, constant motion, and emphasis on reading the defenders when cutting. Check it out.

OPEN POST OFFENSE

OPEN POST VERSUS ZONE

Tags: Coaching Basketball, Basketball, Playbook, Offenses, Princeton Offense, Playbooks

ESPN Article on Princeton Offense

Here is a link for a two-part series on the Princeton Offense written by former college coach Fran Fraschilla. Definitely worth a read, although not as comprehensive as a coach would like. For a better, more detailed description, please check out my book.

Part One

Part Two

Tags: Princeton Offense, Basketball, Coaching

Classic Princeton Footage

From the 1996 Upset of UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tourney. Video quality not great, but still good to watch and study. What a great game!

Tags: UCLA, Princeton Offense, NCAA Tournament