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

Happy Sunday! Welcome to all the newest subscribers from around the world!

ICYMI: Last week, we highlighted Coach Pedro Martinez and Valencia's commitment to punish extended pressure after made free throws with the Pistol action. Read the newsletter HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: Transition Offense - The Argentina Break​

🎧 Slappin' Glass Podcast: John Andrzejek {Campbell}

📣 Hudl Instat

🥇 Best of the Week: Horns Entry​

📚 Interesting Reads

But first...

2025 Recap & Mailbag

As part of our Mailbag, we’ve released a three-part YouTube series recapping the most impactful themes and trends we saw across the game in 2025, on both sides of the ball and beyond the whiteboard.

Each episode was shaped by the questions, conversations, and themes you’ve been bringing to us all year:

Part 1 — Defensive Trends​
Why elite defenses are getting more aggressive without gambling, including concepts like jumping on the pickup and smart, situational pressure.

Part 2 — Offensive Trends​
"Total Basketball", pace, backcourt screening, and how the best teams are creating advantage earlier and eliminating pauses.

Part 3 — Beyond X’s & O’s​
Decision-making, culture, analytics that actually translate to winning, and the off-court edges shaping elite programs.

Our Mailbag is built around the real questions coaches are wrestling with, from tactics and team concepts, to leadership, culture, player development, and the broader trends shaping the game. If there’s something you’re studying, struggling with, or curious about, send it in. We’ll feature and answer selected questions in upcoming Mailbag episodes.

📩 Submit your Mailbag questions HERE.

The Argentina Break

How one defines pace is an interesting exercise. Whether it’s measured by possessions per game, possession length, three-point volume, or shots at the rim, each metric can be used to communicate a staff’s desired tempo and to evaluate whether your team is truly playing with great pace.

However, no matter how you slice the pie, a major contributor to great pace is arriving in the half court already playing action and denying the defense time to reset.

As Coach Iisalo {🎧} put it, offensive advantage building should be played seamlessly in three phases:
​First, is there an immediate numbers advantage off the change of possession?
​Second, is there a mismatch advantage off the change of possession?
​Finally, if the defense is neutral, how quickly can offense flow into action and begin building an advantage?

It is this final phase, and the idea of arriving already playing in the half court, that brings us back to one of our favorite transition offenses for building early advantage...

The Argentina Break

The value of a screen the screener, or cross screen into down screen action, has been well documented in its ability to flummox even the most prepared defenses. Add pace to the equation and the effectiveness compounds. That is the essence of the Argentina Break.

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Being able to organize two scoring threats within the first few seconds of crossing half court carries a high yield in puncturing the defense and creating early advantages. While the benefits of a small screening a big to the rim are well understood, what we particularly enjoy about the Argentina Break is its ability to capitalize on early defensive confusion as opponents locate matchups and orient to the ball.

Often, this scramble leaves the defensive big exposed and vulnerable to being caught in the screen. At the same time, the screener’s defender can be caught chasing their match up, unaware to any action unfolding in front of them.

Additionally, on early possession small to big cross screens, defenses typically try to avoid a switch, knowing it gives good offenses time to attack the mismatch. As a result, defenses that are reluctant to switch the cross screening action leave the shooter’s defender with a difficult choice.

Either stay attached and hope the big can navigate the screen alone, or bump the cross screen and give the shooter precious separation to sprint off the down screen.

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Zooming In: Focusing on spacing for a moment, it is important that the corner behind the screening action is left empty. This prevents any guard to guard X-out rotations on the cross screen down screen, preserving the advantage created by the action.

Keeping the Defense Honest

As defenses scout the Argentina Break, they will look for ways to disrupt it, and they can do so in a few different ways. One approach is having a clear plan for guarding the cross screen, taking away the layup and either forcing the catch farther outside the lane or preventing the entry altogether.

Another way defenses can be disruptive is by neutralizing the drag ballscreen that creates space and passing angle for the entry pass. Some teams will blitz or hard hedge the pick and roll to make the ballhandler uncomfortable and shrink the passing window. Many teams will choose to weak the ballscreen too, attempting to disrupt the timing and direction of the action.

When defenses take away the first read, the possession turns into a cat and mouse game between the ballhandler and the big receiving the cross screen.

If the ballhandler is consistently facing aggressive coverage on the ballscreen or being denied the ballscreen altogether, the offense has the opportunity to attack through the reject. Paramount is coordination between the big and the point guard, otherwise the big will end up on the wrong side of the lane and completely out of the play. This requires the big to maintain vision of the ballscreen and recognize when a rejection is coming. When that happens, the big must also be ready to reject.

Zooming In: For the big receiving the cross screen, this is about deception and a bit of gamesmanship. As the cross screen occurs, their defender can lose sight of the ball while attempting to get over the screen. This creates an opportunity to misdirect by taking a step or two toward the screen before rejecting. A moment of physicality to connect and then separate from the defender, if your league allows, can further enhance the advantage.

Reject And Hook

During many of these actions, the guard setting the cross screen is a decoy, legitimately attempting to set the screen and allowing the big to read whether or not to use it.

However, if you want to take this action to the next level, that same guard can read the teammate rejecting the cross screen and pivot to set a "hook" screen, catching the defender caught on the high side. This builds on the advantage even further, giving the big more time and space to finish.

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Zooming In: Especially when defensive bigs are cheating the cross screen, creeping to the high side in an effort to slip over the screen, the hook screen becomes an invaluable weapon. It effectively creates a double screen, as the sreener’s defender is already positioned on the high side preparing to chase the shooter off the down screen. This leaves no one along the baseline to emergency switch and protect the rim.

Another advantage of this action is its ability to allow the big to drift wider, creating a cleaner passing angle for the point guard, while still retaining enough advantage from the screen to catch and finish in a high danger scoring area.

Throwing A Second Punch

Much to the chagrin of us coaches, opponents can adjust to our adjustments, and the Argentina reject will not always result in an uncontested layup. When defenses do stay connected and suss out the reject, there is still a clean angle to enter the ball and secure a deep post catch.

From there, the guard who was set to screen is already positioned under the rim, creating an ideal setting to flow directly into any of your favorite "punch" actions.

Given the spacing of the guard under the basket, splits may not be the best option, but it is an excellent opportunity to get into RIP screens...

Zooming In: In this variation, with both the guard and big rejecting their respective screens to enter the ball to the post, the wing under the basket turns his cross screen into a RIP screen for the trailing big at the top.

Much of what we have focused on centers around defenders on the block having to navigate a difficult cross screen action. But it is also worth remembering that there are defenders tasked with guarding the pick and roll and managing their coverage within the Argentina Break. If the ball is entered to the post off the reject, having the guard under the rim immediately set a backscreen for the would be ballscreener can catch a defender sleeping in an effort to build an early advantage within the possession.

Ultimately, this is why the Argentina Break remains such a valuable transition offense and worth another look today. Tenerife has leaned on this action for years, and their precision in executing the reject has extended its longevity, keeping defenses honest and preventing opponents from simply sitting on the first read. Layer in the hook screen wrinkle, and the action continues to punish teams that cheat the cross screen or overplay the shooter.

Whether used in its pure form or layered with rejects, hooks, and alternative variations, the Argentina Break reminds us that great pace is less about rushing and more about continuity, timing, and intent.

To learn more about the Argentina Break, including several additional variations, SG+ Members can view the revised and revamped breakdown now on SGTV!

Together with Hudl

Hudl Powers Every Possession

If you’re already using tools like FastDraw, FastScout, or FastRecruit—you know how essential they are to your workflows. And now that they’re fully part of the Hudl ecosystem, they’re more powerful than ever. From film and play diagrams to scouting reports and custom recruiting boards, everything flows together. One system. Built for high-performance programs.

​Learn more about Hudl and their variety of products or subscribers to Slappin' Glass can also directly email Winston Jones of Hudl at winston.jones@hudl.com.

🎙 John Andrzejek on Scrambling vs. Anti-Scrambling Defensive Systems, Doubling the Post, and PNR Cutting Actions {Campbell}

In this episode of Slappin’ Glass, we’re joined by John Andrzejek, Head Coach at Campbell and former defensive coordinator for Florida’s national championship team, for a deep dive into the real trade-offs that shape elite defensive systems.

Coach Andrzejek walks us through how his defensive philosophy has evolved across stops at St. Mary’s, Columbia, Washington State, Florida, and now Campbell—highlighting the tension every staff must navigate between precision and pragmatism, technique and energy, and staying out of trouble versus thriving inside the scramble.

We explore the decision-making behind scrambling vs. anti-scrambling defenses, how and why he blends principles from St. Mary’s, Houston, and Iowa State, and what it truly takes to guard the modern, spacing-driven game. The conversation gets deep into the weeds on no-middle principles, switching high and low, tagging schemes in middle pick-and-roll, and organizing rotations when things inevitably break down.

Offensively, Coach Andrzejek shares how he teaches cutting around the pick-and-roll through a mix of rules and reads, why simplicity drives better decision-making, and how repetition of core situations builds true situational awareness. We also tackle post-doubling philosophies, personnel adjustments, practice design, and the balance between scouting detail and playing fast.

As always, we close with a Start, Sub, or Sit that dives into cutting around the pick-and-roll and post-doubling strategies, plus Coach Andrzejek’s thoughts on the best investment he’s made in his coaching career.

This is a clinic-level conversation on defensive problem-solving, offensive clarity, and building systems that hold up against elite talent.

What You’ll Learn

• The strategic trade-offs between scrambling vs. anti-scrambling defensive systems
• How elite programs blend no-middle principles with modern spacing realities
• Why playing really hard often matters more than perfect technique
• How to organize rotations and tags when the ball gets to the middle
• Switching high and low to keep the ball out of the paint
• Teaching cutting around the pick-and-roll using rules that unlock reads
• Why offensive simplicity leads to better decision-making
• Different philosophies for doubling the post and protecting the rim
• How practice design, film, and repetition build defensive awareness
• The long-term value of film study and coaching mentorship

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Tactical

📺 Horns RIP Entry - Stagger PG Back • Pin Down​

"Bringing the PG back to the ball after the Horns RIP entry with a Stagger Screen, using the movement to set up a pin down behind the roll."

✚ Pair With: Layering in a stack screen off the Horns pin down screen.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on using the Horns alignment to "Pin the Tag Defender."

📺 Horns Entry - Pop • Zoom DHO • RIP Screen​

"RIP screening the center to the rim off their hand off in the zoom."

✚ Pair With: Another deceptive RIP screen set for the center out of the Horns Entry.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on creating space and separation in the Zoom action.

Interesting Reads

📚 Curt Cignetti's Small-School Path to Indiana​

That was only part of it. The entire team had to be at the fieldhouse with their toes on the line by 5 o'clock in the morning three times a week. At the first conditioning workout, the players noticed trash cans lined up everywhere. Cignetti told them they could throw up in them if they needed to. But if they missed a sprint or rep, they'd have to return the following morning and do the entire workout again.

"Our starting safety walked out after one day," Dovales said. "He shook everyone's hand and quit, saying, 'I don't love football this much.' I think we had 12 kids quit before the end of winter conditioning, just from the 5 a.m. workouts."

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📚 Coaches Can Boost Athletes’ Mental Toughness With This Leadership Style​

“We found two ways a coach can enhance mental toughness: by focusing on how they can accomplish their goal by working as a group and by recognizing that each athlete has his or her own personal issues that need to be addressed in a customized way.”

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📚 The 1 Gift High-Performing Leaders Give Themselves​

High-performing leaders are those who take the time for reflection to gain clarity, humility and conviction

Quote of the Week

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Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan, Pat, and Eric

info@slappinglass.com

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