Want to see our playbook?

[NJHoops]

This is what I want to know. Must be Luke because he is the newest addition? We went from running a super simplistic offense to one of the most intricate. A lot of that is personnel and Cole being good in the pick and roll but certainly not all.

Luke is great at this stuff, but he’s worked with Dan before. It always has to be the right kind of talent mixed with the right kind of players and coaches to get what we’re seeing. Next year, if they end up having to rely too much on freshmen, it’s going to look different.

It’s like Rhode Island with Archie Miller this past season. He didn’t all of a sudden forget how to coach pack line defense. They just didn’t have the right people or the experience.

 

[runner11]

Luke is great at this stuff, but he’s worked with Dan before. It always has to be the right kind of talent mixed with the right kind of players and coaches to get what we’re seeing.

It’s like Rhode Island with Archie Miller this past season. He didn’t all of a sudden forget how to coach pack line defense. They just didn’t have the right people or the experience.

Presumably there is a lot of stuff you can only run when you have a guy like Hawk

 

[B1GEast]

That's not a playbook, it's a list a play names. I want to see the plays diagramed

 

[NJHoops]

That's not a playbook, it's a list a play names. I want to see the plays diagramed

I think you have to pay for that.

 

[Matrim55]

and assuming every possession is an actual play.

Who is calling the plays, and how? I can see plays set up during a timeout, but I doubt every possession is planned out.

Dan calls out the vast majority of our plays from the sideline.

I'm not sure who constructed the new playbok for this season, but it's night & day from his first 4 years in charge so he must've had somebody in his ear. And if you want to know why there's NBA whispers, it's because of this:



That's an NBA-style shot chart.

We ran the best, most modern sets in all of college ball this season. Getting 20-year-old kids to buy into that is a hell of a coaching job.

 

[B1GEast]

Dan calls out the vast majority of our plays from the sideline.

I'm not sure who constructed the new playback for this season, but it's night & day from his first 4 years in charge. And if you want to know why there's NBA whispers, it's because of this:



That's an NBA-style shot chart.

We ran the best, most modern sets in all of college ball this season. Getting 20-year-old kids to buy into that is a hell of a coaching job.

No mid range shots for UConn. It's either Sanogo or a 3 point shot. That's crazy.

 

[Matrim55]

No mid range shots for UConn. It's either Sanogo or a 3 point shot. That's crazy.

Yup.

Here's last year's chart for reference. Still very good, but not even in the same neighborhood as 2022/23:

 

[That Guy]

Hurley did say in some interview right after he got the job that he would like to coach in the NBA someday, BUT that was before bringing us back to elite status and winning a national title. I think it would be very difficult for him to leave what he's built here.

 

[brihman]

Yup.

Here's last year's chart for reference. Still very good, but not even in the same neighborhood as 2022/23:

Hurley and team really put it all together this year, it’s been extremely impressive to watch.

 

[metsfan2323]

This is what I want to know. Must be Luke because he is the newest addition? We went from running a super simplistic offense to one of the most intricate. A lot of that is personnel and Cole being good in the pick and roll but certainly not all.

Danny Hurley is the offensive coaching genius, check out his coaching record at three different stops and maybe learn about his hall of fame father and famous brother and his career as a point guard at Seton Hall.

It's Danny Hurley's show and we are lucky to have him as our coach.

What changed? The players got better and being healthy all season was a big factor. Hurley announced a year ago that he wanted to go back to the offense he ran at Rhode Island and needed to find shooters.

 

[CL82]

I would be surprised if Hurley went to the NBA.

Really early on he talked about aspiring to that. I’m not at all sure that he would be a good fit.

 

[Inyatkin]

Imagine if they had a point guard to run this stuff.

I thought our plan was to give it to Sanogo to deal with the full-court press? Isn't that what I saw happen repeatedly over the past three weeks?

 

[Palatine]

Bet Bob Hurley Senior ran many of those plays.

BTW, our in bounds plays still need some tweaking.

 

[runner11]

Danny Hurley is the offensive coaching genius, check out his coaching record at three different stops and maybe learn about his hall of fame father and famous brother and his career as a point guard at Seton Hall.

It's Danny Hurley's show and we are lucky to have him as our coach.

What changed? The players got better and being healthy all season was a big factor. Hurley announced a year ago that he wanted to go back to the offense he ran at Rhode Island and needed to find shooters.

Hurley and our reality as UConn fans is incredible. And yet you still want to live in fantasy land.

Calhoun alluded to Danny being stubborn. Even Danny admits to making changes in philosophy. Watching Hurley through his first 15 years or so, he definitely had an archetype. Hurley is huge into personal development so maybe it was him that needed out.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

We went from running a super simplistic offense to one of the most intricate. A lot of that is personnel and Cole being good in the pick and roll but certainly not all.

Who is Cole?
Edit; never mind…RJ… thought you were talking about this years tram

 

[HuskyHawk]

Imagine if they had a point guard to run this stuff.

Ironically enough, this stuff only works if there is no one PG. They run these actions for different guys. That's what's cool. Saw another coach saying it makes everything harder to defend that they will run those twist actions for Hawk, Alex, Joey, Alleyne, Newton. If you are focused on the player being a specific piece in the action, you just lost. It's wildly complex and I don't know how they do it really.

 

[B1GEast]

Hurley did say in some interview right after he got the job that he would like to coach in the NBA someday, BUT that was before bringing us back to elite status and winning a national title. I think it would be very difficult for him to leave what he's built here.

I don't think Hurley has any intentions on leaving for another team or the NBA. He has a chance to become a legend here at UConn. There's too much low hanging fruit. The northeast and mid atlantic is fertile recruiting ground. He has the facilities. He'll be able to earn more through endorsements with a title.

The NBA has nothing for him.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Bet Bob Hurley Senior ran many of those plays.

BTW, our in bounds plays still need some tweaking.

Bob coached in a different era. A lot of this probably comes from Murray. These are very modern positionless basketball plays, nothing like what Bob ran back in the day.

Hurley always wanted to run this kind of offense, but you have to have certain interchangeable players to do it. This year we finally had it, once we figured out how to adjust Jackson.

 

[caw]

Danny Hurley is the offensive coaching genius, check out his coaching record at three different stops and maybe learn about his hall of fame father and famous brother and his career as a point guard at Seton Hall.

It's Danny Hurley's show and we are lucky to have him as our coach.

What changed? The players got better and being healthy all season was a big factor. Hurley announced a year ago that he wanted to go back to the offense he ran at Rhode Island and needed to find shooters.

He's pretty much said himself that he is a defense first coach and his assistants helped a lot building the of playbook. Though it's hard to tell how much he is building up his assistants for head coaching jobs and how much is true. It is a bit surprising the assistants didn't get a ton of interest this year.

Have to say Joey and Alleyne deserve a ton of credit when it comes to learning the playbook and running it so well.

However, watching it over the year, one of the things that annoyed me the most about people criticizing Newton, was watching the plays being run. He was pretty phenomenal running that offense all year as a first year in the system, and got a ton of crap for his play. The timing for those plays is super tight and between him and Jackson they did a fantastic job.

 

[husky429]

None of this stuff is particularly complicated basketball. Honestly--it's pretty basic stuff. It needs to be for college kids to be successful running it. Most any decent high school coach could write up these plays. The Xs and Os is not what made this a great basketball offense.

Picking the sets that work for our personnel, and coaching up the kids to be fluid with our sets and know all the scoring options is what made us great. There are SO many teams that run a decent set, but the players aren't even looking to score. Our guys all have the green light to make a play after every touch, and seem to know what the reads and scoring options are. That is GREAT basketball.

 

[Fatroony5]

None of this stuff is particularly complicated basketball. Honestly--it's pretty basic stuff. It needs to be for college kids to be successful running it. Most any decent high school coach could write up these plays. The Xs and Os is not what made this a great basketball offense.

Picking the sets that work for our personnel, and coaching up the kids to be fluid with our sets and know all the scoring options is what made us great. There are SO many teams that run a decent set, but the players aren't even looking to score. Our guys all have the green light to make a play after every touch, and seem to know what the reads and scoring options are. That is GREAT basketball.

I think for those of us that actually have coaching experience, working with players, and in skill development, this comes as zero surprise at all to see the sets listed out. When you watch them, you see the types of sets they want to run. How they hunt shots for Hawkins, the movements for Karaban, 1-on-1 touches for Sanogo. There are lots of fun wrinkles in here and the movement was excellent. Really the biggest difference this season was having guys who could actually run these efficiently. Having multiple ball handlers, catch & shoot guys, and Andre being so efficient feeding the post. The pieces finally fit. With improvements from the returning core & adding pieces that could shoot, dribble, space the floor, and pass, we saw the offense explode. Personnel is so important, without it, these plays don’t work as drawn up.

 

[Samoo]

Imagine if they had a point guard to run this stuff.

We can dream, someday they could be championship contenders...

 

[NJHoops]

Never mistake someone saying something with confidence with them actually being correct or making any sense.

 

[Matrim55]

None of this stuff is particularly complicated basketball. Honestly--it's pretty basic stuff. It needs to be for college kids to be successful running it.

Man, you're underselling the depth and diversity of this playbook. We ran so many plays with multiple screening actions & weak-side movement to generate switches or just as distractions so that Adama could get isolated in the post. Nobody else in college hoops -- not even Gonzaga or Miami, who had great offenses -- did that.

And hell, lots of NBA teams struggle to put together playbooks with this much off-ball action. Just watch the Sixers or the Knicks!

 

[NJHoops]

Man, you're underselling the depth and diversity of this playbook. We ran so many plays with multiple screening actions & weak-side movement to generate switches or just as distractions so that Adama could get isolated in the post. Nobody else in college hoops -- not even Gonzaga or Miami, who had great offenses -- did that.

And hell, lots of NBA teams struggle to put together playbooks with this much off-ball action. Just watch the Sixers or the Knicks!

Hurley to the Sixers!

(not really, I’m just very tired of Doc; his brother did work for the Sixers at one time, though)

 

[husky429]

Man, you're underselling the depth and diversity of this playbook. We ran so many plays with multiple screening actions & weak-side movement to generate switches or just as distractions so that Adama could get isolated in the post. Nobody else in college hoops -- not even Gonzaga or Miami, who had great offenses -- did that.

And hell, lots of NBA teams struggle to put together playbooks with this much off-ball action. Just watch the Sixers or the Knicks!

Every coach in the league could draw up these sets with their eyes closed. Not every coach in the league can pick the right sets for their personnel, get the right players to run their sets, and coach up a group of players to effectively run sets and understand the scoring options. The difficult part of coaching is not understanding what a UCLA slice is or a horns twist exit.

 

[Yanksrock615]

Man, you're underselling the depth and diversity of this playbook. We ran so many plays with multiple screening actions & weak-side movement to generate switches or just as distractions so that Adama could get isolated in the post. Nobody else in college hoops -- not even Gonzaga or Miami, who had great offenses -- did that.

And hell, lots of NBA teams struggle to put together playbooks with this much off-ball action. Just watch the Sixers or the Knicks!

Correct. I’d say a third of the nba teams actually run offense like this. The Lakers coudlnt figure out something as simple as countering post help in 2020 and 2021 for Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

Lakers Post Analysis - Basketball Index

The Lakers have a problem handling extra help on their post ups. Read more about it in my introductory writeup here. Note: click on any element of the visualization and the viz will update to filter specifically to that data. Ex: click on "Turnover" from the Outcome of Post Up section to see the...

www.bball-index.com

I believe the future of basketball is similar to NFL playcalling. You see the defense in drop coverage? You run plays that beat drop. You see defenses hedging or switching, you run plays that beat hedging or switching. What makes this playbook so good is that they have all the answers, it’s just the matter of picking the correct play that beats the defense.

I loved watching kemba or bazz beat their man and create breakdowns in the defense through that, but I much prefer this style of offense.

 

[Umami Zen]

Oversimplification.. But to make a point.. If you compare last year's roster/personnel and their sets/offense to this year's roster/sets.. And the fluidity and precision shown this year..It was like night and day.. I felt our team BBIQ this year provided improvisational opportunities off of the sets when the defense/defenders broke down.. Our guys capitalized on that dynamic.. Sanogo's in -the- paint dominance and Jackson's point forward efficiency off of the defensive boards that allowed for transition buckets/threes when the ball was in his hands was huge.

A secondary benefit to our offensive sets was that it took some pressure off of Newton to be a classic PG(pass first) and more of a ball handling CG with great vision and the opportunity to go to the hole or get an uncontested three. In other words.. Danny adapted to his players/roster and maximized their unique talents through their ability to take what the defense gave them and the flow of the offensive scheme and their execution was flawless..

EDIT: Clearly the mid-season redeployment of Andre in and around the dunkers spot facilitated opportunities for he and his teammates that didn't previously exist..

 

[HuskyHawk]

Every coach in the league could draw up these sets with their eyes closed. Not every coach in the league can pick the right sets for their personnel, get the right players to run their sets, and coach up a group of players to effectively run sets and understand the scoring options. The difficult part of coaching is not understanding what a UCLA slice is or a horns twist exit.

I'm not sure if you an @Matrim55 disagree or are saying slightly different things. I agree with @Matrim55 that you can watch NBA teams struggle to get their guys to play this way. The Warriors do it, the Celtics do it, and even they have lapses where Tatum plays hero ball. Many NBA teams struggle to get guys to run this stuff and almost no NCAA teams pull it off. Yes, they can have the plays, those aren't all that special, but UConn actually played unselfish, move the ball, off ball motion basketball most of the year. On top of that one of the anonymous coaches said what he couldn't believe was that they ran these no matter who was on the court. About 5-6 guys had interchangeable roles in these plays. He was amazed by that. Sometimes Joey is Newton, sometimes he's Hawk. Sometimes Newton is Hawk and Andre is Newton. Sometimes Alleyne is Alex, sometimes he's Newton.

For a college team trying to play man defense, that is just brutally hard to defend. Kansas did some similar stuff at times this year and every year really under Self. But they had trouble staying on script this year. I really think our depth allowed us to us far more constant off ball motion than most teams can. Most teams tire, get lazy, take bad shots or somebody stops moving.

 

[McLovin]

and assuming every possession is an actual play.

Who is calling the plays, and how? I can see plays set up during a timeout, but I doubt every possession is planned out.

They have sets where they can run multiple things off of. I’m sure part of it is the coaches picking up on opponent weaknesses and telling the team to run the plays to exploit them, and I’m sure some of it is on the players reading the defense.

A lot of it is “if based”. “If we run a staggered screen for Jordan and the defender goes over both and Adama’s defender stays back in the paint, then XYZ (plan b, c or d).”