Look for Early Offense

[DogMania]

Watching some of the other top teams, I noticed that many of them look for early offense before the defense gets set, to create some easy baskets.

Uconn seems to bring it down the floor somewhat slowly, then gets into their half court offense, which they don't exactly run quickly or with precision like they have in past years, but that's not the point I'm making here.

I think they can generate some easier baskets and draw more fouls by getting down the floor more quickly and attacking the basket before their opponent sets their D. I'm not saying that they do this all the time, but they should look for it more often. I'm not talking about the fast break, which would be nice to see some of that, but moving the ball to the front court and letting some of our players who are capable drive it into the paint and try to get to the rim and maybe draw a foul or take an open midrange or kick it out for an in rhythm open three.

There was one game when they actually did this and were quite successful, but just aren't seeing enough of it. If the opportunity isn't there, then just pull or pass it out, then quickly get into their half court multi-action motion offense to wear down their opponent and generate good looks.
The eye test tells me that it's time in the season that they try to add a few wrinkles to what they are currently doing. They're having way too many close games against inferior teams that point to an opportunity to add something new to their arsenal.

 

[OceanDoggie]

What you're trying to describe is a concept known as Transition Offense. You can search to get the broad definition, but many of us, including myself, have mentioned this on the Board or Chat.

 

[DogMania]

What you're trying to describe is a concept known as Transition Offense. You can search to get the broad definition, but many of us, including myself, have mentioned this on the Board or Chat.

Whatever you want to call it, it's fine with me. I just would like to see them look more often for some early good scoring opportunities before the defense gets set. It doesn't have to be an advantage number situation where UConn has more players than the opponent down the court. Just some smart passing to an open teammate in scoring position or driving it at the defenders while they're still not quite set, which often draws a foul. I think that's one of the reasons why UConn doesn't get to the line often. Attack the paint early while some defeners are in motion figuring out who to cover or even have their backs to the offensive player with the ball. Sometimes a defender running back on D provides a moving screen creating a good path to the basket.

 

[Marat]

Agreed, but some are not capable of finishing at the rim consistently on a break . We know who they are . I would probably trust Silas, Mullins, Solo, and JStew . As for rhythm threes - Solo and Mullins .

 

[InKembaITrust]

Hopefully Dan and Luke read this. At 24-2, they need all the help they can get.

 

[OceanDoggie]

Whatever you want to call it, it's fine with me. I just would like to see them look more often for some early good scoring opportunities before the defense gets set. It doesn't have to be an advantage number situation where UConn has more players than the opponent down the court. Just some smart passing to an open teammate in scoring position or driving it at the defenders while they're still not quite set, which often draws a foul. I think that's one of the reasons why UConn doesn't get to the line often. Attack the paint early while some defeners are in motion figuring out who to cover or even have their backs to the offensive player with the ball. Sometimes a defender running back on D provides a moving screen creating a good path to the basket.

I think the only players that have shown this ability are Demary, Solo and Reed. With Reed's judgment on hooking and laying up over dunking, the opportunity isn't nearly as assuring as it was with our last 3 Centers. Transition Offense is not about numerical advantage but about opportunistic play making before the defense gets set--Calhoun was great at this.If we played smaller, maybe adding Ross in for additional minutes would help keep defensive sets ruffled but he comes with his own liabilites. All in all, I think we're all in agreement that we need "easy buckets", especially in the
B.E. play where we get chipped and held on every other screen.

 

[Palatine]

Our opponents would love to speed us up. Of course, we should take easy early baskets when they are available. However, we tend to have an advantage in efficiency in our half court offense. We need to consider this advantage before we give it away. Making our opponents play long defensive possessions are an important reason our opponents wear down. And the psychological effect of making someone play good defense and still scoring frustrates them.

The grapes in the other fox's mouth are always appealing. But we shouldn't abandon what we do very well and has been an integral part of our success.

 

[aceboon]

Agreed, but some are not capable of finishing at the rim consistently on a break . We know who they are . I would probably trust Silas, Mullins, Solo, and JStew . As for rhythm threes - Solo and Mullins .

Wouldn't include Stew in there unless there's zero defenders to contest at the rim. Too many times this season he's gone up in the air without any plan on how to finish.

 

[husky429]

I think we get enough true transition opportunities-ish. What I don't see from this team is a really cohesive secondary break. We tend to get the ball and run long sets, seemingly by design. I'm not sure true transition buckets are really the issue though. I wouldn't mind seeing our initiators see early gaps and attack (Silas, Solo especially) rather than wait for a slow-developing forced post-up opportunity for Reed or off-ball screen 3. But if it's our style of play, it's our style of play. And it's hard to complain considering our lowest ranked offense since Luke arrived is #22 in the country.

What kills us is our FT rate and our FT rate defense. We're probably 23-1 and #2 in the country if we hadn't put SJU at the line 31 times last week.

There are other teams with lower transition #s who are very good (Houston #354, Duke #250, Illinois #285, Purdue #294, all ranked ahead of us on Torvik). I'm not really concerned about our pace of play.

 

[Lafayette]

Motion offense limits possessions per game and free throws. Virginia has been doing this for awhile including crashing 5 on the glass.

Works for the most part but hard to get back into a game if down and need fast buckets.

This team can play fast and loose but it feels then the game is out of control. Hurley likes to work O fir a good shot. This does not mean shot clock has to be below 5 sec but that needs all 5 guys working and moving.

 

[Storrs South]

The one thing that drives me insane how end of half / end of game situations: this team takes 20-25 seconds to put up a shot but instead of just running normal offense they wait 15-20 seconds at the top of the key dribbling to waste clock then try to score quickly in a manner not generally in line with how this team gets their points. If you have last shot of the half they can just run their normal offense and it will organically zap up the entire clock and lead to a better look.

 

[boog204]

I think we get enough true transition opportunities-ish. What I don't see from this team is a really cohesive secondary break. We tend to get the ball and run long sets, seemingly by design. I'm not sure true transition buckets are really the issue though. I wouldn't mind seeing our initiators see early gaps and attack (Silas, Solo especially) rather than wait for a slow-developing forced post-up opportunity for Reed or off-ball screen 3. But if it's our style of play, it's our style of play. And it's hard to complain considering our lowest ranked offense since Luke arrived is #22 in the country.

What kills us is our FT rate and our FT rate defense. We're probably 23-1 and #2 in the country if we hadn't put SJU at the line 31 times last week.

There are other teams with lower transition #s who are very good (Houston #354, Duke #250, Illinois #285, Purdue #294, all ranked ahead of us on Torvik). I'm not really concerned about our pace of play.

I'd just like to see us try to push the ball a little more. I feel like our rebounders hardly ever look to outlet, and our guards rarely move the ball up the court with any urgency. Obviously, we run great half-court stuff, and I'm not advocating for abandoning it in any way. But we can at least try to push the pace now and then.

 

[boog204]

The one thing that drives me insane how end of half / end of game situations: this team takes 20-25 seconds to put up a shot but instead of just running normal offense they wait 15-20 seconds at the top of the key dribbling to waste clock then try to score quickly in a manner not generally in line with how this team gets their points. If you have last shot of the half they can just run their normal offense and it will organically zap up the entire clock and lead to a better look.

I agree with this x100000...