Seamlessly Shifting Between 4-Out & 5-Out Motion Offense

with Lennie Acuff,
Samford University Head Coach;
Lipscomb University Head Coach from 2019 to 2025;
2025 A-Sun Regular Season Champions;
2025 A-Sun Tournament Champions;
2025 A-Sun Coach of the Year;
University of Alabama-Huntsville Head Coach from 1997 to 2019;
2x Elite Eight appearances;
8x Gulf South Conference (GSC) Regular Season Champions;
3x GSC Tournament Championships;
8x GSC Coach of the Year;
4x NABC District Coach of the Year;
over 550 career wins

Lennie Acuff has been coaching for three decades, and in that time, he has gained many insights into the game. In this on-court instructional video, Acuff not only shares his fluid 4- and 5-out motion offense, but also passes on some great thoughts on the game, on practices and on coaching players. You'll get a look at how a veteran D-II coach consistently finds success and how his 4- and 5-out offense is almost unscoutable while presenting immense challenges for any man defense.

Philosophy

Coach Acuff provides several questions to ask yourself regarding your personal coaching philosophy. "What will get you beat?" is the most important question a coach has to ask. Being able to work backward and develop a philosophy based on protecting against your team's weaknesses will help you be successful on the court.

As you work to build your team, making your practices and the way you play fun will help make it better for everyone. Acuff discusses ways to get your players to love the game in order to help build a championship caliber team.

Shooting Progressions

Getting shots up is essential to any offense, especially when those shots come from your best players. Discovering how to get them the best shots possible within your motion offense will make your team much more efficient.

Acuff demonstrates several shooting drills to build your players' form and confidence. He showcases shooting progressions that he teaches his players to develop a shooting regiment within their offense. Each shot is predicated by getting at least one foot in the paint. Getting paint touches will make these actions successful as you draw the defense into the paint.

Concepts within Offense

Rounding out this video, Coach Acuff demonstrates how he takes his shooting progressions and applies them to his half court offense. Any action that Acuff teaches his players starts with cutting to score or create help. Cutters constantly look for an easy bucket in the paint or look to draw help defense on them so the ball handler can get a paint touch off a drive. Coach Acuff also demonstrates a wedge screen when post players look to set a wing ball screen, but instead, the player slips the screen, which creates more space for the driver.

Coming up with an offensive system that players enjoy playing in while coaches feel like they have some control is always challenging. Coach Acuff shows you an offense in this video that allows both the coach and the player to have success. With constant motion, fundamental concepts, and a multitude of options, Acuff's 4- and 5-out offense is sure to be a hit with your players, your staff and your team's fans.

69 minutes. 2020.