Coaches, don't try to use all of these basketball offenses for your team. Select an offense(s) and those plays that you feel best fit your team's personnel, size, quickness, and strengths. For a man-to-man offense, you can choose a free-lance motion offense, or a more structured, patterned offense like the Flex offense or the Shuffle offense. The Triangle Offense has features of both patterned and motion offenses. You will also need a zone offense. Put in a couple of set half-court plays and have a couple out-of-bounds plays and you are ready to go. Teach and establish your main offenses first, and you can add additional set plays as the season progresses. See "Teaching Basketball by Progression". |
3-out, 2-in Motion Offense.
This offense has good court balance with three perimeter players and two post players, and gives you both inside and outside presence. Motion Offense (3-2) 3-2 Motion Options Simple 3-2 Motion Plays (youth teams) 3-2 Motion Plays (more advanced) 3-2 "Hi-Lo" 90 Series 2-Series Loyola Weave-Screen Plays Michigan Miami 3-2 Option Series Isolation 2 3-2 Mascot Motion Offense This 3-out, 2-in motion offense was important in our success over recent years, which included several trips to the state tournament (boys and girls). |
4-Out, 1-In Motion Offense.
A good offense for teams with good outside perimeter players and shooters, and a shortage of true inside post players. You open up the lanes for inside dribble-penetration, but still get a lot of 3-point shots. But you give up some inside presence and offensive rebounding. 4-Out, 1-In Motion Offense 4-Out "High" Offense Set Plays Topside and Counter, Flash, Slip, Swing, Fist, and Weave-Screen Plays (W2, W2-back, W3, W4) 4-Out "Low" Offense Set Plays Big, Big-15, Big-Left, Big-Down, Big-43, Big-Double, Loyola, Loyola-2, 53, 34, 13 and 24, Black, 52-Curl, 14, and Weave-Screen Plays (W2, W2-back, W3, W4) 41 Zone Offense Dribble-Drive Motion Offense |
Dribble-Drive Motion Offense.
The Dribble-Drive Motion Offense the latest "hot" offense, is a 4-out, perimeter-oriented offense, developed by Vance Walberg and adapted by John Calipari at Memphis. It features guard penetration and kick-out passes for 3-point shots. 5-Out Open-Post Motion Offense. The 5-out, "open post", offense is best for a team that has no strong inside post players, but has good outside perimeter players and shooters. Again, you open up the lanes for inside dribble-penetration, and get a lot of open 3-point shots. This offense can create problems for the defense when their "bigs" have to go away from the basket to defend on the perimeter, which is when you use your quickness to beat them off the dribble. But again you give up inside presence and offensive rebounding. You can also use this offense as a delay offense. Open Post Double-Up Offense Open Post (5-Out) Motion Offense Also see: 5-Out Zone Offense |
1-3-1 Offense
The 1-3-1 offense is a simple offensive set, easy to learn, with good spacing, a high post and low post presence, and would be a good choice for youth and middle school teams. For attacking man-to-man defense, several simple motion patterns are presented below, and a few simple plays are referenced. Additionally, the 1-3-1 set works well against the most common zone you will see, the 2-3 zone defense. 1-3-1 Offense Loyola Isolation 2 Baseline 3 1-3-1 Offense vs the 2-3 Zone |
1-4 Stack Offense
The 1-4 stack offense is set high at the free-throw line extended with both post players at the elbows. This opens up the space underneath the basket for back-cuts and dribble-penetration. You can create various plays off of this set. Also look at the 1-4 low set. 1-4 Stack Plays (45, 41, G-town, Hoyas, 43, 93-Low) 1-4 Low Set (Pinball, Double-Cross, Scissors, Spurs) 90 Series Kentucky Loyola MSU Texas |
"4-Corners" Delay Offense
Use this offense late in a quarter, or late in the game to delay and run time off the clock. Spread the floor while still looking for an easy lay-up. 4-Corners Delay Offense 2-1-2 High-Post Offense This is an excellent offense if you have an athletic O4 who can shoot from the high post or take the ball to the hoop. O4 can also be a screener. Many options are possible, and you don't need a great point guard for this offense. 2-1-2 High-Post Offense |
Shuffle Offense
The shuffle offense is an offense that has all five players rotate in each of the five shuffle positions. So this offense would be good for a team that has good ball-handlers but is not blessed with height or a strong dominant post player. There is continuity, and there are counters and options. This works best as a man-to-man offense. Shuffle Offense |
Flex Offense
The "Flex" is patterned offense featuring passing, screening, ball-reversal, options and counters. This offense is most effective against man-to-man defenses. Most scoring opportunities come off the "flex cut" inside, or a jump-shot from the elbows. Still you can run various options, counters, post plays, etc. Size mis-matches often occur due to the screening and defensive switching. A "High Flex" delay offense is also presented. Flex Offense High Flex Offense |
Swing Offense
This is not the same "Swing Offense" taught by Coach Bo Ryan at Wisconsin, an offense that combines elements of both the flex offense and the UCLA offense. This is a simple pass, cut, and fill offense that offers a variety of counter options based on how the defense chooses to play. It uses a 2-3 high set, or 4-out set. Swing Offense |
Thunder Offense
This offense is a variation of the Flex offense and is patterned offense. If you like running the "flex", you could use this offense as well. This offense is most effective against man-to-man defenses. Thunder Offense |
In summary, your offense can be as simple or as complicated as you want. Youth teams would be best served by keeping things as simple as possible, stressing learning fundamentals more than learning plays and sets. A simple man-to-man offense, a simple zone offense and a couple out-of-bounds plays is all you need, and all you will have time to practice. High school teams that practice every day can develop more detailed and multiple offenses, with options and plays. But again, simplicity is often the best.