Exploring basketball's best ideas, strategies, and coaches around the world

Happy Sunday and welcome all the new subscribers to the Newsletter! We appreciate your support of what we do!!

ICYMI: Our 3rd PnR Series collaboration with The Pro Lane on the Snake Dribble. Analyzing the various solutions it can provide against different drop depths and our "Inside the Drill" segment on drills to implement in a practice environment to improve skill & decision making. Get caught up HERE.

Today at a Glance:

📺 SG Plus Content: Shaka Smart - Marquette's High Slot Flow Offense (available for purchase)

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Jeff Van Gundy​

🥇Best of the Week: ​77 High Quad Spacing & Bologna Backdoors​

📋 SG Plus Coaches Roundtable Today!

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Let's dive in..

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Marquette's "High Slot" Spacing

Some of our favorite offenses to deep-dive into are one's that appear fairly simple on their face, but get increasingly interesting and complex as you peel back the layers of tiny details that make it so effective. Enter Coach Shaka Smart and Marquette's highly efficient offense this season. Here's a quick glance at their top play-types on Synergy for reference...

If you turn on a Marquette game this year you'll see what appears to be a fairly normal PNR/5-Out Offense that emphasizes empty-side ballscreens run through one of the country's best point guards, Tyler Kolek, which... is true. But, when looking closer, Marquette's clever use of Ghost Screens, timely 45 cuts, extra pass decisions, and unique "High Slot Spacing" give it a level of subtle sophistication even the painter of the Mona Lisa may enjoy staring at for hours.

We're not going to sift through the entirety of Marquette's actions here, but instead look at the details of the offense once they're in certain alignments. Before we get into those details though, it is worth noting one of the unique ways Marquette chooses to flow into their empty-side ballscreen action, and that is through a "corner ghost" screen. Here's a look...

We've written and broken down the benefits of the Ghost Screen in the past, so we won't dwell on it too much here, but there are a variety of spacing and alignment advantages Marquette uses the Corner Ghost Screen to set up. Here are a couple:

• Deep Empty-Side PnR Spacing: As shown above, Marquette does a fantastic job of getting that first empty ballscreen below the 45/free throw line extended with that Corner Ghost Screen. When watching Marquette you'll see how good Kolek is at attacking toward the basket on that Ghost Action and then pulling it back to set up the on-ball if there's no lane to the rim to score. This deep empty side ballscreen spacing makes it nearly impossible for the on-ball defender to go under the ballscreen without giving up a deep paint touch to Kolek. If you're the type of coach who's still reading to this point in the newsletter we probably don't need to explain why a deep paint touch is advantageous for the offense.
• High Slot Spacing: After the Corner Ghost Screen Marquette will have that player fly into the "High Slot". This is where things really get interesting and helps set up much of what makes Marquette so difficult to guard. Instead of spacing that top player on the three-side a step or two outside the three-point line (normal spacing), Marquette likes to space him almost 10-12 feet above that line. Take a look at the GIF above for reference of that spacing.

This Deep Empty-Side PnR angle coupled with a unique "High Slot" spacing on the backside helps build advantages and easier decisions for Marquette's offense in a number of ways which we'll look into below.

Opening the Nail

The most significant advantage of the "High Slot" spacing technique is that it gives the ballhandler a much bigger lane to penetrate into the paint off the empty side ballscreen. See below how spacing to the "High Slot" takes the first natural help defender one step further toward their man and opens the nail for Kolek...

Zooming In: The high positioning of the slot man naturally draws the defender away from the nail. If the slot defender drops to defend the nail, it creates a long closeout, which will be discussed later.

Slot Drives

One potential criticism of this spacing is that the high positioning of the slot man may make them less of a shooting threat. However, if the spacing doesn't have the desired effect of pulling the defender away from the nail and paint, then the defense is creating a long closeout for the slot player to catch and attack the rim off the throw ahead pass. This is sometimes referred to as "Stampede Action", here's a look...

Zooming In: The 45 cut creates the gap necessary for the slot player to attack into. If the slot defender stays to help on the nail, there is already ample space for the slot man to catch and attack the rim. It is nearly impossible for the defender at the nail to effectively defend the penetration.

Shown above is another small wrinkle within Marquette's offense that is worth noting. In the example above you can see the same great spacing but instead of an empty-side PnR the Golden Eagles decide to play through "Get Action". The same reads and cuts take place but they're able to give the defense a different look while playing into the skill sets of their individual players.

Today's Deep-Dive Breakdown video takes a look further at how Marquette uses these spaces, cuts, and variations to create one of the more fun offenses in college basketball to watch. You'll see more on:

• Ghost Attacks
• Elbow catches - Cuts, DHOs & Splits
• 45 cuts
• Corner skips
• Corner closeouts - Making the Extra Pass
• Ghost Re-Triggers

Unfortunately the Leonardo Da Vinci references end in the newsletter, but we hope you enjoy the full breakdown now available for SG Plus Members or for Purchase below.

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We're excited to announce a brand new partnership with a terrific new analytics site, Hoopsalytics! Hoopsalytics is an affordable, easy-to-use, advanced basketball video and analytics system for coaches of all levels that allows you to create your own custom events and sets. Hoopsalytics then analyzes those custom events for you through video-linked stats, interactive shot charts, and other tools. There’s no programming required and is a fraction of the price of other systems out there today.

Slappin' Glass subscribers can try Hoopsalytics for free with your own team’s games, and save 25% on any purchase by using the discount code on the page https://hoopsalytics.com/glass/​

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Slappin' Glass Podcast

It was another fantastic week on the podcast as we were joined by former NBA Head Coach and current ESPN analyst, Jeff Van Gundy. Coach Van Gundy is known far and wide for both his extensive knowledge and love of the game, along with unique outlook which can be heard weekly alongside Mark Jackson and Mike Breen. We had a blast diving into a number of topics with Coach Van Gundy including:

• The Mid Season Blues: Coach long enough and you'll inevitably have to coach through difficult seasons or rough patches during the season. Unless your last name is Wooden, it's a part of coaching that tests the most optimistic of us and we had a great time hearing Coach Van Gundy's thoughts on how coaches can best navigate these times. Tons of valuable insight here. ​
• Attacking a Box and One Defense: During "Start, Sub, or Sit?!" we picked Coach Van Gundy's brain on some of the best ways to attack a Box and One defense. Some nice insight here on giving your team confidence and a system to attack a junk defense.
• Playoff Adjustments: Coach Van Gundy lamented some of the cliches he hears about "adjustments" in general, but after sifting through the fluff we discuss what actually helps teams win game to game in a playoff series and what coaching staffs are looking at to find an edge.

Listen to the entire conversation with Jeff Van Gundy here...

Listen Now!

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Tactical

📺 Virtus Bologna - Zoom Backdoors​

"Using the zoom action as the decoy to set up a backdoor cut off the strong side corner."

✚ Pair With: Our podcast conversation with Coach Scariolo on alternative defenses, flare screens & poise under pressure.

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📺 Marquette - 77 High Quad Spacing​

"Marquette's double drag screen and the importance of spacing the first screener to the high quad behind the second screener's roll."

✚ Pair With: Our podcast conversations with Santa Cruz Warriors HC Seth Cooper on high quad spacing & ATOs.

Interesting Reads

📚 Why You Should Change Your Life Every Decade​

"You should change what you do, or how you live, every ten years. Now there’s a range; if things are going terribly, make a change in five years. If things are going great, you can drag it out for 15 years. But make a change."

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📚 Kevin Durant Blows the Ceiling off the Suns’ System​

"The Phoenix Suns’ well-designed offense is the perfect landing spot for Durant, and Durant in turn has the ability to propel the Suns further than their infrastructure ever could."

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📚 9 Mental Distortions That Are Sabotaging Your Social Life​

"7. You underestimate how much your appreciation will be appreciated. It’s easy to let an upwelling of gratitude for something someone did or who they are in general go unexpressed because you figure it won’t really mean that much to them or will make them feel weird. But research shows that people overestimate how awkward receiving an expression of gratitude will make someone feel and underestimate how much the person will appreciate it. Never hesitate to express your gratitude to others."

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Join the conversation, gain insights from others, and help your fellow peers when you become an SG Plus Member! As we use this community of coaches to make ourselves and our teams better...

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📋 SG Plus Coaches Roundtable Today at 8:30am PST.

We know it's Super Bowl Sunday in the U.S., so before you so start making that seven-layer dip, we're looking forward to catching up with you all for a late season Q&A. Please bring any questions, concerns or thoughts you may have on your team as we approach Post Season Play. Topics can include:

• Late Season Minor Offensive/Defensive Tweaks
• Scout Specific Strategies
• Maintaining Team Morale
• And anything else that pops up!
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🚨 Refer a Friend - Receive an additional 30 extra days on your Subscription!

We are excited to announce a new feature to the SG Plus platform, Refer a Friend! You can now receive 30 free additional subscription days for every invited friend who subscribes to SG Plus.

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Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

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