The Wheel Offense 2-Pack

with Paul Biancardi,
St. Louis University Assistant Coach;
former Wright State head coach, 2004 Horizon coach of the year;
former OSU assistant coach

The Wheel Offense is a very efficient offense that leads to high a field goal percentage and points in the paint! His team at Wright State led the Horizon in Field Percentage at 49 percent overall and 48 percent in league play in 2004-2005. It always maintains great spacing, which is an essential part of a productive offense. Described as a series of broken plays, the Wheel can effectively break down the defense. The Wheel includes five positions: Driver, ball side post, weak side post, cutter and wing. Benefits of the Wheel Offense include its ability to force fouls, a goal for Biancardis teams were to make more free throws than the opponent attempts! Other benefits are tempo, interchanging positions, and isolation of good post up players. This offense is open in the middle and encourages penetration by all players to the middle of the floor or along the baseline. An important concept that is necessary in the wheel is "bail out" spots on penetration. The post duck in is demonstrated on the floor as a reaction to dribble penetration in the paint. Reversing the wheel is a concept that allows for flexibility and adaptability. Entries into the wheel include V-cut, L-cut, X-cut and floppy. Floppy is a single/double screening action taken from the NBA. Additional aspects of the wheel that Coach Biancardi emphasizes are many 2-man games, and hand-offs. Biancardi also explains how to recover when the Wheel breaks down. This "driving motion" offense puts maximum pressure on the defense that can lead to many easy baskets!

78 minutes. 2007.

with Paul Biancardi,
St. Louis University Assistant Coach;
former Wright State head coach, 2004 Horizon coach of the year;
former OSU assistant coach

Described as 'a series of broken plays,' the Wheel Offense can effectively break down the defense. Coach Biancardi breaks down the drills that make learning this "driving motion" offense achievable. Within these drills, an emphasis is put on cutting, footwork, shooting, stride and jump stop and dribble penetration. One-on-zero is a drill that works on cuts off screens using the inside pivot. The player faces up and shoots off the straight, curl or fade cut. The post duck-in drill develops a key piece of the Wheel. The two-on-zero drill works on penetration, shooting, reading and passing.Biancardi "teaches" the baseline drive and the opposite corner pass plus "one more". Other drills work on setting up open shots, adding defense, and establishing 'live' conditions. Biancardi does an excellent job of breaking down the Wheel into practical drills that reinforce skills and institute a clear understanding of this offense.

46 minutes. 2007.

See all the items in this series!

• The Wheel Offense
• Drills for the Wheel Offense