FIBA ASSIST MAGAZINE | 04 2003 | PAGE 25

NOTRE DAME BASKETBALL:MOTION OFFENSE

FIBA EUROPE

Sean Kearney, former assistant coach atProvidence with Rick Pitino, atNorthwestern with Bill Foster, andDelaware, he became associate headcoach at Delaware and, three years ago,at Notre Dame.

BASIC PRINCIPLESOur “Motion Offense” under head coachMike Brey is basically 3 players outside, 2players inside. In the halfcourt, with theball on top, we are in screening pairs withthe two inside players working togetherwith the perimeter players to get open.These initial screens can be a variety ofdifferent angles. We encourage theplayers to get to different spots on thefloor to receive screens. We want to getaway from it always being a big playersetting a down screen for a perimeterplayer. Once we get the ball to the entry(foul line extended) the perimeter playerswill work together as will the insideplayers.

WHY MOTION OFFENSE?We love to be “hard to guard”. We’vebeen fortunate to have versatile / multi-talented players in our program that haveflourished within this system. Naturally,as a result of our success, we continue torecruit talented young guys who will fit uswell.

Teams that run motion offense are diffi-cult to defend and difficult to scout. Weteach our guys to read the defense andmake the right play. We have certainlyinstituted some rules but we try to giveplenty of freedom. Whether they areresponsible enough to handle that free-dom is something coaches need to workthrough. Defining roles with your group isjust as important as where you are ente-ring the ball. If your best perimeter shoo-ter is not getting enough touches andshots then you have work to do.Teammates need to understand theirroles and then trust each other within

COACHES - OFFENSE

by Sean Kearney

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FIBA EUROPECOACHES - OFFENSE

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their own assignments. Coaches need tohave the ability to loosen the reins at first,then pull them back in as your team handlesthis freedom.

INITIAL ALIGNMENT4 and 5, the big players, screen for 3 and 2and 1 passes the ball to one of the wings, 2in this case (diagr. 1 and 2). Spacing is so

important for us in this offense. We use thethree-point line as a guide for our perimeterspacing. 2 can either pass to 5, in this case,who posted up right away or 5 can screen tothe other side for 4. At the same time, 1 and3 are working together, either screeningaway or 1 can set a fade screen and thenshaping up to ball on top. If 5 has screenedacross for 4, after he does that he will imme-

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diately shape up high and get himself tothe high post (diagr. 3).

Like all good offensive situations, ballreversal is crucial to the success of thisoffense. It is so much easier to make apenetrating dribble or post feed afterwe’ve moved the defense some withreversal. Most often reversal will comethrough the perimeter player who hascome to the top. We do, however, love toget reversal through the big player in thehigh post. As the big player catches theball in the high post, we teach him to lookfor his shot (depending on personnel),look to feed his partner in a high-lowsituation, or to reverse to the oppositeperimeter player at foul line extended. Attimes we have had a rule where anytimethe ball is reversed through the high postyou must follow with a screen on the ball.We will generally either roll the big playerto the basket or have him step out to theshort corner. Our angle of the ball screenis usually back to the middle. On penetra-tion, the guard will have numerousoptions which will include the other bigplayer at the opposite side of the court oreven the other perimeter player in a driveand kick pass situation.

It is important that once the ball is passedto the wing, the perimeter players arepatient to allow the big players to worktogether before they look to reverse theball. We teach that, for the most part, ifyou can see the jersey of our big playerand he has a guy on his back, the ball hasto go in there. It may not always be for ascoring opportunity, but it does flatten outthe defense and we get more chancesfrom there. We may play two man gameon the same side and go inside - out witha shooter. He may look to go low to highfor the other big player for a jumpshot atthe corner of the three second lane. Orwe may look to make a skip pass acrossthe lane to the perimeter for reversal: allgood options in our motion.

AUDIBLESAlong with our initial screening pairs wehave several audibles we will utilize.

a. “Shallow” - probably used most often.1 dribbles to the wing 2 and 2 will replace1 to the top. 3, the other wing, may choo-se to go down below 4 and get help witha screen or just get to the top as quicklyas possible. For good spacing we encou-rage them to get a foot in the lane as theymake their cut (diagr. 4). Anytime we“shallow” a wing, 4, the big player, and 3,the perimeter player on the other side,

should time it so the down screen occursjust as the ball is coming back to the topfrom 1 to 2 (diagr. 5). We will get an awfullot of good looks with this movement. Theinitial pass from the wing back to the topcannot be a lazy one. We don’t use it asfrequently but we could shallow fromwing to top as well. When 2 passes theball to 3, 2 makes a screen for 1 and 5comes to the high post, for keeping thedefenders busy and not allow them tohelp (diagr. 6).

b. “Circle” - 1 dribbles at 2, the wing, andpushes the perimeter players 2 and 3,around on the three-point line, eachreplacing the other (diagr. 7). 5, the ballside big player, will post up. 4, the opposi-te big player, will look to down screen for2, who was “circled” initially. Timing isimportant. We may or may not get a shotor dump down to the big, but it does get usgood ball reversal, with the ball passedfrom 1 to 3 and from 3 to 2 (diagr. 8).

c. “Cross” - With ball in center of floor, 2and 3, the perimeters players, will crossunder the basket and receive downscreens from 4 and 5 to get open (diagr. 9).We have generally always crossed underthe basket with both players coming outon the low side. This year we have madea slight adjustment. The perimeter playerscoming from left to right will come off at adifferent angle of the big player at theright elbow. We are very interested to seethis evolve. It should initially create somegood three point opportunities (diagr. 10).As teams look to fight over the screens toget to our shooters, we should have bigplayers rolling to the basket. The perime-ter players will also have a significant dri-ving area with the big players in a highposition.

d. “Exchange” - Perimeter players willdribble exchange at any opportunity. It ismore of an exchange than a dribbleweave (diagr. 11). We teach for the ballhandler to try to drive the defense back bypenetrating and flipping back the ball tothe teammate to create some space(diagr. 12). This has even evolved to thepoint where we may wind up with one ortwo exchanges followed by a big player,who makes a screen on the ball on the topof the three second lane (diagr. 13) .

e. “Release” - Most defenders of the bigplayers are not comfortable defendingout on the floor away from the basket.Against teams who we have difficultymake the entry pass directly to the wing,we will just make a “release” pass to a

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to score, but are aware of the other groupon the opposite side of the floor.

d. 5 vs. 0 motionWe are now in a position to put it alltogether. We are using our initial scree-ning pairs to enter the ball as well as ouraudibles. Footwork and communicationare important. The wing, who has just cau-ght the ball, may tell the ball side bigplayer to go screen away because he isnot open. They have to trust each otherthat they will get it back and that they arehelping each other. We are also in a posi-tion to preach defensive balance thatwhen a shot goes up we are being surethat the guards are thinking about beingback and not going to the boards.

SUMMARYOur Notre Dame version of the motionoffense has truly “evolved” over the cour-se of the last eight years under HeadCoach Mike Brey. Initially we were muchmore inclined to have more rules than lessbecause it is difficult to let the control outof your hands. Much of this evolution hadas much to do with the players we werefortunate to have and their individual abili-ties. Just as much had to do with theirimproved ability to read defenses andmake decisions with the basketball. A one

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dimensional player, such as a low blockonly big man, may not enjoy great successin our system. Hopefully we can recruitthe right type of player to help us continueto have success and win championships.In the meantime, we may continue totinker with it some and make subtle chan-ges. The interesting thing is that someti-mes you can just sit back and watch whatyour team may be able to do with it them-selves. Players can do that. Don’t be afraidto let them show you some new thingsevery once in a while.

There are many ways to run motion offen-se. Ours has helped us to three straightNCAA Tournament appearances, inclu-ding a Sweet Sixteen finish last season.During that time we have been the mostconsistent team in the Big EastConference, the only one to reach theNCAA’s each of the last three years. Ontop of the successes, our Motion Offenseand how we play are what we are knownfor. Our style of play is Notre DameBasketball under Head Coach Mike Brey.Coaches and fans alike always remark tous about how well we play the game.What a great compliment for now!

big player, who comes out high to beginour motion (diagr. 14). 1, the ball handler,will take the ball away from that big on topand than pass the ball to him, 5 in thiscase. We may look for a quick duck - inand post up and then we are into motion.You need to feel comfortable with that bigplayer catching and handling the ball andmaking decisions with it out there.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENTEverything we do in regard to our indivi-dual improvement plan is centeredaround our motion offense. We want toteach them the offensive “dance” withinour offense. Simple drills which emphasi-ze catch and face without traveling arevital to our development. Can our bigplayers flash high, catch the ball andmake a high to low post feed without tra-veling? Can our perimeter players comeoff a big down screen, catch the entrypass and under great duress make agame winning post feed?

HOW DO WE BUILD IT?a. Perimeter players 3 vs. 0Using all of the audibles, the perimeterswork together to get open. Great empha-sis for them on proper spacing, particu-larly in the high post, need to keep thatarea clear for the opposite big player.Getting them to read drive and kick passsituations, reading the defense. May adda coach to the post to allow them to makepost feeds and read situations off of that.

b. Big players 2 vs. 0With passers at each entry pass to thewings, big players work together. Need toget both high and low posts filled and veryimportant for them to communicate witheach other. Must shape up to the ball afterscreening, screener most often the openguy! Big players may also step out tomake a ball screen for passers. Mostlycoming from high post to be a ball scree-ner but will also allow them to some out oflow post to accomplish the same thing.

c. 3 vs. 0 on a sideWith twelve players we will have fourgroups of three active players in this drill,two at each end. Again without defense,the ball handler has ball on top and bigand perimeter players are workingtogether in screening pairs. We look tostart in different alignments and getvarious angles. Once the ball is entered tothe wing, big player posts up. On postfeed, the perimeter players work together,either screening for each other, basketcutting and replacing, or by just replacingthemselves on the perimeter. Players look

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