X’s & O’s Insider – The Swing Offense by Wes Kosel

There are many types of offenses and formations available to basketball coaches including motion, continuity, ball-screen, 1-4 high, blocker-mover, etc. There is no one “perfect offense” for a team or program, but the goal of a coach should be to find the offensive system that works best for his/her team. A lot of times, this includes making adjustments year to year with an offense or adding tweaks to existing plays. A good offensive system gets all of your players involved and promotes the fundamentals of the game (spacing, passing, and screening). The Swing offense is a great offensive system if you are looking to promote these skills with your players. Under Head Coach Andy Partee at Colorado College, we have ran a variety of offenses but our base motion uses swing principles. I am not an expert with how Coach Bo Ryan and other swing offense coaches implement their systems, but I have noticed similar actions and patterns with how we run our offense at Colorado College.

Basketball offense wheel play: Wheel offense. Clinic Roma 2003 Italian national team WHEEL OFFENSE METODOLOGY In teaching Wheel offense, use WHOLE – PART- WHOLE metod. After demonstration of principes, use 5-0 to 5-5. In the PART phase, analise all possible. Wheel Offense - vs 2-3zone pg.3 Printed from FromtheFastModel SportsPlays. In play 2, “Iowa Offense”, the ball-side triangle is shown through various actions in the swing offense (up-screen, flare-screen, and shuffle-screen). In the last play, “Izzo”, a wheel action is created as 4 sets a flare-screen as 3 is setting a down-screen. This option gives 5 to cutters for shots. Wheel Offense - vs 2-3zone pg.3 Printed from FromtheFastModel SportsPlays.

Benefits of the Swing Offense

Animated basketball play called carolina motion. From the categories: offense motion and offense man.

There are many benefits of running the swing offense including:

Wheel Offense

• Promotes good spacing
• Promotes versatility (guards need to be able to post up and posts need to be able to play on the perimeter)
• Promotes good screening actions
• Can lead to excellent offensive efficiency (in 2015-2016, Colorado College was ranked #1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in assists per game, field goal percentage, and 3-point field goal percentage).
• Creates scoring opportunities for all types of players
• Difficult to defend
• Many variations of the offense that you can use (as I’ll show with the Colorado College and Utah sets below).

Spacing and Basic Actions

Spacing – the basic spacing for the Swing offense is four out and one in. Typically, there is a ball-side triangle (as shown below). It is important to keep in mind that in most swing offenses all players are interchangeable and it doesn’t matter who is in the post or on the perimeter. This can be a huge advantage if you have long wings who are capable of posting up.

Initial Action – Wing Up-Screen – As the ball is passed from 1 to 4 (shown below), there are several options for continuing the offense. In this option, 5 sets an up-screen for 2 on the right wing. 2 can cut over or under the screen, but will finish the cut at the left block creating a ball-side triangle.

Initial Action – Slot Up-Screen – Another option as the ball is reversed is for 5 to set an up-screen for 1 in the slot. Embroidery software for mac reviews. Again, 1 can choose to go either direction on the cut, but will finish at the left block creating a ball-side triangle.

Greg Gard Wisconsin Badgers Swing Offense

Below is a video showing some of Wisconsin’s offense during the 2015-2016 season. As you can see, they use a variety of screening actions and combinations of actions.

Swing Offense

The combinations of up-screen/down-screen and up-screen/flare-screen are staples of swing offense teams. Swing offenses also can have the big (or post player) screen as a part of the ball-side triangle (instead of waiting for it to reverse). In Frame 2, you see 5 set an up-screen for 1 in the slot. This “UCLA” action forces the defense to guard the cutter to protect against layups, and if you have a good shooting big you can often get open shots from 5 stepping out to get the ball on the perimeter. In Frame 4, the ball is reversed and 1 sets a screen for 2 on the wing then cuts around a down screen from 5. This combination can be difficult for teams to effectively defend, especially with post defenders on the perimeter and guard defenders now in the post.

Swing Flare Slip

In this play, the Badgers start with a flare-screen as the 4 trails into the half court. Then, 5 sets an up-screen on the wing and 1 sets a down-screen then slips to the rim for an easy layup.

Utah Utes Swing Set

Swing Wheel

Utah starts in a four out set and swing the ball into a staggered screen away for 3 on the right wing. Out of the staggered screen, Utah moves into a blocker-mover type set with 5 setting a cross screen at the block and 4 setting a flare screen in the slot.

Wisconsin-La Crosse Offense

Swing Stagger

This is a simple secondary action to open up the post. The ball is swung to the right wing and 2 looks to pass to 5 posting up. The staggered screen away occupies the defense allowing for 5 to post up 1 on 1. You can also get good shots off of the staggered screen with 3 cutting to the top of the key for a shot.

Colorado College Sets

Old Badger

In this set, 5 sets an up-screen as a part of the ball-side triangle then gets the pass from 1. 5 looks for 3 posting up and cuts through the lane on a post cutting pattern.

Ram

This is a continuity set that we used against man and zone defenses. The offense shifts a little bit to create an overload on the right side of the floor and continues with multiple up-screens to the wing by 4.

Single Double – Big Option

This action starts with an up-screen as a part of the ball-side triangle then 2 curls around a second screen by 5. 1 dribbles over looking to pass to 5 posting up.

Swing Gaggle

The ball is reversed with 5 following the ball to the left block. 4 and 1 then set a staggered screen away, and once 3 has cleared the screen 1 circles out to the left corner. Once 3 has the ball near the top of the key, he looks to use a ball-screen from 4 at the right elbow to attack the empty right side of the floor.

Swing Gaggle Post

This play is similar to the last, but 5 will go away from the ball as it is reversed to 3 on the right wing. 1 and 4 set a staggered screen for 2 on the left wing, and once 2 has cleared 4 circles out to the right block. If x4 is helping on the staggered cut by 2, it may open up 4 for an easy post up.

Click on the pdf link below to download the Swing Offense Playbook by Wes Kosel

Swing Offense Playbook

If you're coaching a youth basketball team, playing against a 2-3 zone can be incredibly difficult.

Your players will often be forced to throw up long-distance shot attempts which have very little chance of going in the hoop.

Until now..

The 'Trilogy' 1-3-1 offense will allow your team to get the basketball into the gaps of the opposition's defense to create scoring opportunities close to the hoop.

Read on to learn how it works..

'Trilogy' 1-3-1 Offense Setup:

This offense starts in a 1-3-1 setup.

As you can see on the diagram below, the middle three players aren't set up across the free-throw line extended as most 1-3-1 offenses are..

Instead, the middle three players are in a straight line half-way between the free-throw line and the low block.

'The reasons for this subtle change?'

We'll talk about that soon. But it's very important.

Player Roles and Responsibilities:

Let's take a quick overview look at what each position is required to do during this offense.

Point:

The 'point' is the player tasked with setting up the play, deciding which side of the floor to initially attack from, and helping to move the ball around the perimeter.

This player doesn't have much of an attacking responsibility in this offense as most of the action happens on the wings and inside, but they will get their opportunities.

Middle:

The 'middle' player has several responsibilities on offense and is heavily involved with scoring, passing, and reading the defense.

They will mainly patrol the high area of the key but will be asked to occasionally step out and screen for the players on the wings.

Wings:

The 'wings' are in charge of getting the basketball inside and also attacking the paint with dribble penetration from the perimeter when the time is right.

The players you put at these positions have big decision making responsibilities during this 1-3-1 offense and will be asked to attack often.

Warrior:

The 'warrior' is required to patrol the baseline between the short corners.

Despite their limited movement, the warrior must have a high IQ as they're heavily involved in passing and the spacing of the offense.

The Goal of this 1-3-1 Offense

Before we get into exactly how to run the full offense, it's important for coaches to understand the simple advantage we're trying to achieve with this 1-3-1 offense.

And that's to create a triangle on the wing.

For this offense to work, you need to force the low defender of the zone to guard the basketball on the wing. This is the reason why the players on the wing start closer to the corner.

This will allow you to split the middle defender with your two post players which is a very advantageous position for the offensive team to be in.

Here's an diagram:

Sure, there are ways for the defense to stop this triangle..

For example, x1 can drop down to guard the wing, or x2 can guard (5) while x5 guards (4).

But the defense using these methods will open up other opportunities that the offensive team can take advantage of.

How to Run the 'Trilogy' 1-3-1 Offense:

The point (1) starts the offense by getting the basketball to either (2) or (3) on the wings.

This will require them to dribble to either side to create the angle for a pass.

Once the basketball is on the low wing, (5) steps towards the basketball into the mid-post area just outside the key and (4) moves to the short corner.

This creates the triangle options the offensive is looking to take advantage of.

The player on the wing now looks to pass the basketball to either (4) or (5).

When this happens, x5 will be forced to guard the ball which will allow the other player to dive towards the rim looking to receive the pass for a layup.

If the wing is unable to make the pass to one of the post players, they have two options:

a. Pass the basketball back out to (1) who can dribble across and reverse the ball.

b. Skip pass to (3) which will force a long closeout resulting in a driving opportunity.

Spread Offense Basketball Pdf

If an immediate drive by (3) against the closing out defender isn't available, (4) and (5) will slide across to the opposite side of the key to create the triangle options again.

The offense continues like this, with the post players move side-to-side in the gaps of the zone defense, until an opportunity to get the ball inside and attack opens up.

Conclusion

The 'Trilogy' 1-3-1 offense is a basic continuity you can use against any 2-3 zone defense.

It's simple enough that it can be used by young and inexperienced teams..

But will also work for older and more experienced teams who understand and can take advantage of the spacing and angles that this 1-3-1 offense creates.

If you're looking for an offense to use against a 2-3 zone, give this one a try.