A new offensive twist.

[MickMick]

We are seeing more and more of it.

Up tempo basketball featuring Bell, Landry Edie, and Harris. All have taken it to the rim in transition to include a nice full court drive by Harris who kicked into another gear about 3/4 of the way down and blew by a two USD defenders to the rim.

Bell has got the reverse layup "thang" rolling after impressive, multiple transition drives in consecutive games. He can certainly take it the distance. Then there is Landry Edie that seems to get his high percentage shots after the Zags have turned the opponent over.

The one factor in common to the fore mentioned player's success is that the Zags immediately pushed the ball upon aquiring possession. This is why I jump for joy when Pangos gets a rebound. I know the sparks are gonna fly.

Although this is a high risk/high reward type philosophy, I like it for a couple of reasons:

1) We are starting to see more and more opponents playing a trapping style defense. Up tempo ball can kill that defensive tactic.

2) Up tempo ball takes full advantage of GU's defensive rebounding and especially the offensive talents of players like Bell, Landry Edie, and Harris.

Here is the painful part. This up tempo philosophy will also result in more turnovers regardless of disciplined intentions because it is just the nature of the beast. You simply turn the ball over more when you push.

To me, it is a fair trade off when looking at the strengths of this team. If Pangos or Stockton are the guys feeding GU's playmakers in transition, then I really like the concept.

[JPtheBeasta]

Not surprising given the lackluster job in the SF game. Maybe a point of emphasis for this game?

[Coach Crazy]

We are seeing more and more of it.

Up tempo basketball featuring Bell, Landry Edie, and Harris. All have taken it to the rim in transition to include a nice full court drive by Harris who kicked into another gear about 3/4 of the way down and blew by a two USD defenders to the rim.

Bell has got the reverse layup "thang" rolling after impressive, multiple transition drives in consecutive games. He can certainly take it the distance. Then there is Landry Edie that seems to get his high percentage shots after the Zags have turned the opponent over.

The one factor in common to the fore mentioned player's success is that the Zags immediately pushed the ball upon aquiring possession. This is why I jump for joy when Pangos gets a rebound. I know the sparks are gonna fly.

Although this is a high risk/high reward type philosophy, I like it for a couple of reasons:

1) We are starting to see more and more opponents playing a trapping style defense. Up tempo ball can kill that defensive tactic.

2) Up tempo ball takes full advantage of GU's defensive rebounding and especially the offensive talents of players like Bell, Landry Edie, and Harris.

Here is the painful part. This up tempo philosophy will also result in more turnovers regardless of disciplined intentions because it is just the nature of the beast. You simply turn the ball over more when you push.

To me, it is a fair trade off when looking at the strengths of this team. If Pangos or Stockton are the guys feeding GU's playmakers in transition, then I really like the concept.

At this point, the way I see it, it adds another dimension that has been needed. The sets have been too predictable this year, and teams have been able to put pressure on the points where we "recycle the ball". On the wings and at the top of the key. That is very little movement and too mechanical. We need more than 1 or 2 entry points for the post, and we have to be able to penetrate so there isn't so much pressure in those few key spots that the movement of the ball is at for this team.

If we keep our basic sets, supplement them with some brisk, aggressive transition, as well as with some dribble-drive penetration...we can take advantage of our shooters, and then go back to working it into the post. From there you get the inside-out game working, and start to make the play calling sequencing a little more dangerous for opposing D's. Perhaps it is what needs to happen to get Rob some decent opportunities to get his game back on track. And not just against patsies.

Plus, I'll be honest, KP should be getting at least 5 or 6 open looks at a 3 point shop where isn't just improvising off of a broken play, or a stagnating offense. All of the above scenarios (especially the inside-out game) help him accomplish that.

[FieldHouseFishHouse]

We are seeing more and more of it.

This is why I jump for joy when Pangos gets a rebound. I know the sparks are gonna fly.

Although this is a high risk/high reward type philosophy, I like it for a couple of reasons:

1) We are starting to see more and more opponents playing a trapping style defense. Up tempo ball can kill that defensive tactic.

2) Up tempo ball takes full advantage of GU's defensive rebounding and especially the offensive talents of players like Bell, Landry Edie, and Harris.

Here is the painful part. This up tempo philosophy will also result in more turnovers regardless of disciplined intentions because it is just the nature of the beast. You simply turn the ball over more when you push.

Agree with your analysis for the most part. I just was wondering if you could be more specific about the part in bold.

Is this a function of having more possessions per game?
Or do you think the turnover "rate" on a fast-break is higher than the rate in the half-court offense?

It seems to me a fast break usually results in a shot or a foul (more and more these days it's an offensive foul, which IS of course a turnover), and rarely is the ball immediately turned back over.

Overall, I like speeding up the game because this team has the depth to deal with the fatigue and potential foul trouble.
On the other hand, Sacre Dower and Harris can really frustrate an opponents front-line in the half court offense.

I remain undecided on this subject.

[awberke]

Agree with your analysis for the most part. I just was wondering if you could be more specific about the part in bold.

For one you are forced to either make long passes (causes turnovers), or dribble very quickly down the court (can result in out of control offensive calls).

[MickMick]

Agree with your analysis for the most part. I just was wondering if you could be more specific about the part in bold.

Is this a function of having more possessions per game?
Or do you think the turnover "rate" on a fast-break is higher than the rate in the half-court offense?

It seems to me a fast break usually results in a shot or a foul (more and more these days it's an offensive foul, which IS of course a turnover), and rarely is the ball immediately turned back over.

Overall, I like speeding up the game because this team has the depth to deal with the fatigue and potential foul trouble.
On the other hand, Sacre Dower and Harris can really frustrate an opponents front-line in the half court offense.

I remain undecided on this subject.

Somehow, I always relate stuff to football.

Back in the day, teams like Air Force and Oklahoma would rack up consistent and very high offensive rushing production using the wishbone offense. The offense was considered high risk/high reward because a fundamental part of the offense was the pitch from the quarterback to the perimeter shadowing tailback. Too many "big" games were lost due to the turnovers from those risky pitches despite astronomical rushing totals.

Eventually, the offense faded from favor although variations exist today. Even in the NFL you see Tim Tebow or another "Wildcat" type quarterback using a variant of the option.

As to hoops, what we could expect from up tempo basketball are more turnovers because of the nature of the offense.

For the outlet passers, quick decisions must be made. Court vision is a prerequisite. Some players have knack, many do not. (If only we had Kevin Love)

The playmakers are the receivers. They have to keep their head up and their hands ready. They have to look at the ball handler and immediately identify if he is in trouble. If he is, they must immediately make themselves available.
If not, they are running down their assigned lane, toward the hoop, at a sprint.

It is a style that must be given dedicated practice so that proper spacing is used as the players become more comfortable with the pace.

I think the Zags are capable of pulling it off, but there are a couple players that would be better off strictly as receivers that finish.

[DZ]

GU used to be known for their up tempo fast break style. I think that Few has fallen in love with his bigs. Short of a Tim Duncan or even a Batista, most teams can adjust to slow down the bigs, plus both our bigs have been known to have bad hands at times.

So, I totally agree with MickMick and I think that we will see it more and more with Pangos and Bell getting more comfortable. I also believe that Pangos and Bell need to be quicker to pull the trigger earlier in the possession to shoot their deadly three point shots, not sure of this but I believe that Bell is shooting 3s even better than Pangos.

You know that something is kind of off when (I - we?) are almost happy that the shot clock gets down to 10 and the guards are forced to get more aggressive with the drive, the bigs crash the boards or look for a dish and someone spots up. Makes me wonder why we aren't that aggressive much earlier in the set, fewer passes around the defense, fewer turnovers, I'll take a hard shot over a turnover any day.

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

Overall, I like speeding up the game because this team has the depth to deal with the fatigue and potential foul trouble.
On the other hand, Sacre Dower and Harris can really frustrate an opponents front-line in the half court offense.

I remain undecided on this subject.

I don't think you need to be exclusively one type of team. Harris is a very good ball handler for a power forward and he can play either style. The team just needs to have the mindset that it is always going to attack in transition, if the fast break is available. If the Defense gets back quickly enough to stop the fast break, slide into the half court set and get ready to pound the ball into our big guys.

Our best teams have been teams that were effective at both styles of play. Think about the Santangelo, Frahm fast break switching to the Calvary/Dench post game or the Dickau/Stepp break feeding Viollette, Turiaf, and Gourde. Those were teams with guards who were very effective at dictating the tempo of a game - either speeding it up or slowing it down - and forcing teams to defend the entire length of the court at high speed (to tire defenders out) or defend for the entire shot clock (to tire defenders out).

We have the talent to run teams out of the gym at times, and grind it out on the low block at other times. As our young guards become more comfortable, I think we're going to see them push the tempo more when fast break opportunities are there and slow it down when the fast break is not available.