Mark Few: Motion and Quick Hitter Offenses Against a Man or Zone Defense

with Mark Few,Gonzaga University Head Coach;
Highest winning percentage (.836) in NCAA Division I basketball (min. 600 games);
2021 National Championship Runner-up;
2021 NABC Coach of the Year;
2021 Naismith Coach of the Year;
2017 NCAA National Runner-Up;
2017 AP Coach of the Year;
2017 Naismith Coach of the Year;
2017 Henry Iba Award;
2017 NABC Coach of the Year;
21 consecutive seasons in NCAA Tournament (2000-2021) with 10 Sweet Sixteens, 4 Elite Eights and 2 National Championship Appearance;
14x WCC Coach of the Year;
over 625 career wins;
Six straight WCC Regular Season and Tournament Championships (2013-18);
through 2021, has led Gonzaga to 20 Regular Season and 17 Tournament titles

How many set plays do you expect your players to learn over the course of the season? Do those plays work in any situation? Do those plays work versus any defense? Coach Mark Few demonstrates how a basic continuity set can be used against either a man-to-man or zone defense to generate ball and player movement and expose defensive weaknesses.

Coach Few demonstrates the Bulldog and Loop sets that can be used to run ball screens versus man-to-man or zone defenses. Working from a basic set, Few shows how to deal with switching defenses, traps and transition flow. Additionally, you will learn how to execute variations of each action, multiple strategies for countering defensive tactics, and breakdown drills for teaching the rules and reads for ball screens in these sets.

Bulldog Action

When you don't know what the defense is in, you need to run a set that will work against anything. Bulldog Action will help you identify your opponent's tactics while attacking them with a side ball screen continuity that incorporates great ball and player movement. Few shows you three additional sets that you can use to highlight players with different scoring options, including:

• Bulldog Shooter - Features extra stagger and single-double screens to free up players as the side ball screen occurs
• Bulldog Action - Helps you find any defense's weakness and gives you options for exploiting it in a variety of ways

Loop Action

Challenge defenses with another set play that runs defenders through multiple screens before hitting them with a middle pick & roll. Loop is another set that can be easily adapted to attack man or zone defenses and is the perfect complement to Bulldog. This action utilizes the middle ball screen. Few shows various tweaks to not only get shooters shots, but also ways to make non-shooters more effective in the offense. This is also an action that can be effective in transition.

Bulldog and Loop Actions vs Zone Defense

Coach Few goes on to demonstrate how he uses both Bulldog and Loop to attack a 2-3 zone defense. He shows how the zone will react and what your team can do to exploit it. Adjustments to get shooters or certain players shots are also provided. Against zones, the Fill Cuts will need to be adjusted on the strong and weak sides. The 1-3-1 defense reduces the effectiveness of the ball screen. Therefore, Few shows how they run more post screens and seals on the back defenders to create easy interior shots.

He points out that coaches do not need to have a different offense to attack man-to-man defense and zone defense, but rather shows how his teams use the same actions and read zone defenses similar to different ball screen coverages.

Breakdown Drills

Coach Few shows you three different 3-on-3 breakdown drills that his teams use every day to learn how to read the defense and prepare for their upcoming opponent. He goes on to discuss how he tweaks each drill based on the scouting report for their upcoming game so that his players are prepared and confident against their opponent.

Q&A Session

The secrets to these two sets and effectively using ball screens are revealed as Coach Few invites the audience to ask the questions that you'll be wondering about most. You'll learn strategies for countering numerous defensive tactics such as traps, switching, and icing ball screens. Find out how to run into Loop in transition and the adjustments needed to run both plays against zone defenses. This segment covers a diverse range of topics that will help to complete the picture of how Gonzaga implements their ball screen attack.

Coach Few's demonstrations are concise and well-explained. He not only shows you how to execute the offense, but also gives you additional insight into why the offense serves as the template for one of the most consistently successful programs in the nation. A comprehensive video packed with coaching gems from beginning to end. You'll find this video invaluable in helping develop and efficient scoring offense regardless of the talent level of your players!

Produced at the Spring 2016 Las Vegas (NV) clinic.

64 minutes. 2017.