Steve Pikiell's Sizzling Inbounds & Special Situation Plays

with Steve Pikiell, Rutgers University Head Men's Coach;
4x America East Regular Season Championships (2010, 2012, 2013, 2016);
4x America East Coach of the Year (2010, 2012, 2013, 2016);
2020 Jim Phelan Award recipient;

Coach Steve Pikiell has found ways to win at every stop in his coaching career and has become known for incredible knack for turning around basketball programs with a previous history of losing, into tough-minded, highly competitive, winning programs. This success, however, has required some ingenuity on his part as a coach, and the Rutgers head men’s coach describes how he has developed inbounds and special set plays that highlight and complement the strengths of his roster. 

In this highly valuable on-court instructional video, Coach Pikiell shows viewers how to develop your offensive playbook and provides the best practices for filling it with clever ideas to not only modify the plays you already run, but also teaches you how take advantage of situational basketball with inbounds plays and proven tips for executing with precision during key in-game moments.

Inbounds Plays

Coach Pikiell begins a terrific section on inbounds plays by providing viewers with coaching advice on building a team’s offense. The coach explains that with limited time to put in an effective offense, the best way to make the most of the situation is to have a basic play. And from that basic play, he explains how to best mix in a variety of wrinkles that can be added to take advantage of personnel and to confuse an opposing defense.

Beginning with an effective baseline inbound play called ‘Winner,’ Pikiell shows how this one set play can be turned into eight different sets with different looks that can be used in a variety of game situations. Using on the floor demonstrations, the coach shows viewers how to disguise ‘Winner’ by utilizing three different alignments. Viewers also learn how to apply the play successfully in sideline inbound and press-break situations. 

In addition, Pikiell provides three other modifications that coaches can utilize to provide ‘Winner’ with good scoring opportunities for other players on your team.‘Winner’ is the perfect example of how Pikiell looks to find a play that he likes and works to be creative with it to find new and different ways to use it as a means to give his team an edge.

Stacks Series: Set Plays For Specific Players

To being the section on his Stack Series, Coach Pikiell reinforces the idea that when you are putting together your offense and set plays every year, that you need to think about your roster in terms of what types of players you have, what their offensive strengths are and what you’re trying to accomplish against that specific opponent.

Pickiell provides you with four options from the Stacks half-court set and shows how you can utilize an effective perimeter scorer – including providing two basic options for utilizing a ram screen to disrupt the defense’s ability to help on ball screens. Other options can turn the play to the other side of the court or create an open look for your best 3-point shooter.

You’ll also learn how to become unpredictable on zone offense with a series called, ‘Knockout.’ This offense operates based on principles rather than patterns to keep the defense guessing. The Rutgers coach shows how the zone quickly becomes distorted as the defenders try to keep up with ball movement and player movement. Pikiell further explains how you can adjust the roles in this offense to maximize your personnel.

This highly valuable offensive video teaches you how to easily expand your playbook to confuse defenses and maximize your talent, while providing exciting and game-tested plays that you can immediately add to your playbook.Coach Review:“Every coach is looking to find a way to do the most with the least, but Coach Pikiell demonstrates in this video why he is the master of turning around down programs!” 

41 minutes, 2022.