A sneaky fun team to watch this past season was Colgate. Head Coach Matt Langel has built the program up over his tenure going from 8 wins in year one to 25 wins this past season. They were in the top 25 for half court offense in all of Division 1. Although they weren’t an elite ball screen team when looking at P&R ball handler and P&R roll man numbers, they did a great job of creating shots for other guys out of their ball screen looks.
Off Ball Cutting
Colgate does a great job of moving off the ball and making the ballscreen a 5 man action. Most of their ballscreens come out of very basic action. They run a lot of shake action and do a good job of manipulating the 2 side. They mix in pin downs and flare ins to create space which makes their ballscreens more effective. Sometimes it looks like they get in the way of the ballhandler with the cutting, but I think it is a good trade off because they get so many good looks from the 2-Side movement.
This movement although simple is effective because it constantly puts pressure on the defense to position and reposition. They have to not only worry about the roller, but the weak side. Some teams would attempt to switch the 2-side actions but that led to slips and miscommunication.
One of the things I like about them offensively is they play really well out of transition. They flow into offense and action with ease. In this clip they eventually get into a shake P&R. As the bottom cutter clears, his man becomes the low man and is helping in on the roll by #14. The Colgate player on the top, screens in (more on his own guy) for the cutter and gets him open for the 3. In this situation, the only player that can impact the actual shot is the screener’s defender, so by screening his own man he eliminates the switch out.
Here is a 2-side pin/cut out of a more static look. As the 2nd side P&R happens and the guard starts dribbling to the top. The player on the top wing cuts hard and gets in the way of the low man. Opening up the player out of the corner for a kick out 3.
One of the benefits of weak side screening is that you can open up slip opportunities. A lot of teams will switch the 2 side to keep position. Regardless, when #10 screens the top and #0 starts coming up out of the corner the defense is caught between staying and a distance switch which opens up the slip for #10. What is interesting in this clip is that the roller is open too against the single tag.
Colgate will also flare in from the bottom. One of the things this does is move the next defender guarding the ballscreen. You can see that by moving the top of the 2-Side it opens up the PG’s pullup.
The flare opens up the corner 3 or drive for the top guy. In this clip the screener gets behind the defense on the ball movement and gets the layup. The defense is put in a scramble on the flare and they never recover. (Yes they scored on the layup)
I really like the actions that they use when they have 3 guys on the weak side. Being able to distort the defense in these situations (especially the tag man) will usually result in a open shots at the rim or pick & pop 3’s. It is really hard to switch with 3 guys on the weak side especially when they have to be cognizant of the ballscreen.
As the ballscreen is occurring #13 works out of the corner, #15 steps in and goes corner while #10 works to screen in #13’s defender. Because #13’s defender has to help on the roll, he is a step behind. This allows #10 to create a roadblock for #13’s defender to get to the shooter. #13 does a great job of reading his defender and getting back below the screen to create even more space
Same concept as above. This time Colgate doesn’t screen at all and its just purposeful movement. #10 cuts hard to the rim and the corner guy comes up. The defense tries switching the action and get messed up because of the timing.
Playing behind the Pop is important because it takes away the closest tag defender on the pop. These next 2 clips show a 45 Cut where the guy in the slot area dives hard to prevent the tag. The second clip shows a simple cut through.
Colgate loves running this Ram into a ghost screen. It helps to give the screener a couple more steps of space. The thing that makes it effective is that they have the 45 guy #15 dive which puts his defender in the position of staying to tag the pop or going with him. The pop guy makes a great read and hits #15 under the basket for a layup.
Similar to cutting the 45 guy in the clip above, when the Colgate player leaves the corner it opens up the pop even more. This opens up the shot fake and drive. The bottom defender is preoccupied with his cutting player that he doesn’t see the pop guy driving to the rim until it is too late. He should have been able to Lag and help on the drive.
Slips & Ghosts
Colgate did a really good job of slipping ball screens. Slips are a great way to punish a defensive coverage. They open up layups for the slip guy, driving lanes for the ball handler, or shots for players on the perimeter after their man has to help in on the cut.
Slips are a great way to get the on ball defender to open up his hips to create a driving angle for the guard. Defensively the hedge and on ball defenders must communicate thru the coverage to determine how they will guard the action. Slips create indecision at the point of attack and like rejecting a pick & roll it will limit the defense’s aggressiveness on future ball screens.
One of the best teaching points for slipping is that the farther you run to set it, the more likely you should try to slip it. In this clip the big runs from the top of the key and slips hard to the basket for the layup.
Transition slips are really effective offensively because the defense is scrambling back to get set. When the screener is coming from a higher angle to the screen it opens up a slipping opportunity. Here in this clip you can see the screener get to the screen and plant off the top foot to the basket. This creates the drive for the ball handler.
A more traditional slip out of a set. The ball screener sprints to the screen and slips hard off the top foot to open up the driving lane for the guard.
Colgate not only attacked the basket with the slips but also with pops and ghost cuts. They had a versatile big that could put a ton of pressure on the defense with his shooting ability. As seen in the clips above, they also did a great job of diving the 45 to open up even more space for the pop.
In this flat screen the screener initiates the coverage and ghost cuts for 3. The PG does a good job of making the hedge guy guard him. This opens up more space for the 3.
This ghost screen is a great example of why some coaches call it a “running slip”. The screener never stops running and the hedge defender is still baited into coverage. A creative pass and a good 1 more pass from the big opens up a wide open shot.
Punish the Coverage-Initiate and seperate
One of the best things that Colgate does offensively is beat the Push coverage. They bait the defense and separate into space. With the short roll they get a great chance to play 4 vs 3. This does require a big that can make good decisions and get the ball to the open guy.
Agains the push coverage, #14 baits the defense into getting into the coverage. He then separates into space for the PG to throw him a pocket pass. On his catch he reads the bottom guy helping in and hits the open man for the 3.
This key for the offense is to see how far the screener can be from the ball to get the defense into the coverage.. He short rolls to the elbow area and the 45 cut occupies the low defender.
Once the big baits the defense into the coverage he slips out where he is able to catch and kick to a shooter.
The Boomerang
Another really good concept that they do to attack switches is the Boomerang. In this action they get the switch and pass it off to the next guy. The pass goes back to the PG who now has a completely live dribble against the bigger slower defender.
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