Ed Cooley: Aggressive Transition Offense

with Ed Cooley,
Georgetown University Head Coach;
Providence College Head Men's Coach from 2011 to 2023;
2022 Naismith College Coach of the Year;
2022 Sweet Sixteen;
2022 NABC District 5 Coach of the Year;
2022 Big East Coach of the Year;
2022 Big East Regular Season Champions;
2014 Big East Tournament Champions;
Fairfield University Head Coach from 2006 to 2011;
2011 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Coach of the Year;
2011 MAAC Regular Season Champions;
2010 Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year

Transition offense is a fun and exciting way to play basketball. But how do you get your players to run transition offense in an organized and fast-paced manner? With Coach Ed Cooley, you will see exactly how to get a team to execute fast break basketball at an elite level.

Cooley shows you his three phases to transition offense from off the miss, to secondary break, to scoring against a set defense. See how to properly space all five players on the court no matter what part of transition offense you're in. Learn how to take the ball out of bounds quickly and efficiently. Also, discover quick hitting plays you can use in transition and learn the Boston play that used to get Ray Allen 3-point looks in transition.

Spacing the Floor in Transition

Learn how to maximize each portion of transition offense. Using on-court demonstrations, Coach Cooley illustrates the many options available in his transition offense. A focus is placed on the point guard to push the ball quickly up the floor and attempt to get the post player a high percentage shot. He introduces the concept of "street runners" who are the wings running wide looking for a drive, an open 3-point shot, or to feed the post.

Utilizing the concepts of effective floor spacing, Coach Cooley introduces the three phases of transition basketball off of a missed shot. You'll see:

• Scoring off a miss and getting a score within the first 3 to 5 seconds of offense
• Secondary break using ball reversal and the trail post player
• Scoring against a set defense and getting into your continuity offense

Drilled constantly, the 5-6 options provided set up for quick scoring opportunities that come as a result of rebounding a missed shot.

Getting the Ball Out of Bounds

Far too often, teams take too long to inbound the ball off a made basket. See how you can score quickly even if a team has scored on you. Coach Cooley uses repetition drills to train the concept of "tap and go" with his inbounder and point guard to start the transition offense. A two-player drill with the inbounder and the point guard is utilized to demonstrate the type of inbound pass to get the ball up the floor quickly.

Exhausting the Primary Look

The second part of the transition offense begins when the ball is passed to the trailer running the floor. The first possibility is for the trailer to swing the ball to the wing before screening away for the point guard. This provides an opportunity for a post-up or a pass back to the top to take advantage of the point guard's play making abilities.

The second possibility is to utilize a ball screen. The ball screen action is designed to take advantage of the spacing created in transition offense while also exploiting possible mismatches. The difficulty posed to the defense from the ball screens make the transition offense exceptionally difficult to defend.

End-of-Game Quick Hitters

Out of the transition offense, Coach Cooley shows a series of quick hitters that can be utilized in the final minutes of the game. From a five-out set, these quick hitters provide for a variety of scoring opportunities based on how many points are needed late in the game. Using the same maneuvers run in the transition offense, these plays are capable of causing fits for opponents.

The first transition quick hitter is designed to fake a dribble hand-off to get a scoring opportunity for any number of players. If you are in need of a 2-point shot, the drive by the point guard can take care of that. However, for teams in need of a 3-point shot, there is the opportunity to get a pass off of a fade screen or a pin-down screen.

"Boston" is designed to get an open three-point shot for your best shooter. This was used to get legendary sharp shooter Ray Allen open for 3-point attempts in transition. A variation known as "Boston Scissor" can get a 3-point shot using your best shooter as a decoy. Either of these plays can be called in a timeout or in the flow of action to get a shot opportunity for your best shooters with the game on the line.

Coach Cooley's style of play is designed to score quickly and wear down opponents with its reliance on speed and quickness. For teams looking to find ways to play faster or to be even better at playing up-tempo basketball, this is a video that will help your team achieve either objective.

Produced at the Spring 2016 Pittsburgh (PA) clinic.

76 minutes. 2016.