Did You Hear Dan Hurley on JJ Redick's Podcast?
A look into UConn's Offensive Design, ESPN's Chris Spatola
The UConn Huskies Offense
UConn’s Dan Hurley recently appeared on JJ Redick’s Old Man and Three podcast, providing a little insight into Huskies’ offensive design. Here’s a clip from that segment…
Now a look at some of those half-court options, starting with the play that went viral during the tournament.
Most “Horns Flare” actions begin with the shooter (Spencer) screening for the ballhandler. With Edey on the floor, Purdue switches 1-4. On the ballscreen, the skip pass is thrown to the corner big. The 4 (Karaban) is setting the flare screen for Spencer. Two defenders go with Spencer as Karaban’s defender jumps out to switch, worried about the 3PA. Karaban slips to the rim for a pass and finish at the rim.
Same Horns Flare action against Stetson in the first round; however, the Hatters play things a little differently.
This time Stetson is switching only 1-3. Spencer’s defender chases while Karaban’s defender stays home. That triggers the next action. I like to tell our guys to just “play to the next [action].” Karaban and Clingan go into an inverted zoom action with Tristan Newton, and when the defender goes under the zoom, Newton rises up to knock down the deep 3.
Against San Diego State, the Huskies used the play but “played to the next” after not handing off to Newton in the inverted zoom.
Slightly different to start, Spencer sets a ghost screen for the ballhandler, which keeps the defense from switching. Karaban and Clingan go into zoom after the skip. This time, the defense takes away the DHO to Newton. So, Newton continues towards the corner to screen for Spencer as Clingan turns back to go into zoom action.
A little detail here… As Redick alluded to in the original discussion, the constant movement in the half court keeps the defense from settling into help. Karaban continues to towards the corner instead of just spacing to the wing and Castle lifts from the corner. As a result, the help defender (i.e., low man) changes from Castle’s defender to Karaban’s defender. When Spencer comes off the DHO, Castle’s defender gets caught watching the ball, leaving Castle open on the 45-cut. Clingan finds himself open on the dump off when his defender steps over to help, resulting in a dunk at the front of the rim.
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Chris Spatola on UConn’s Last 24 Months, Succeeding on Today’s College Basketball Landscape
This week on A Quick Timeout podcast, ESPN’s Chris Spatola discusses UConn's run to a second consecutive title, team building in the current college environment, and the coaching carrousel.
Q: From a coaching and team building perspective, how impressive was the job Dan Hurley and his staff did this season?
Spatola: It was incredible. We expected them to be good, but I don’t think we expected back-to-back championships, given the turnover in their roster. Dan’s a special guy. He’s coming around at exactly the right time. He’s a wonderful combination of ego and down to earth. He’s good, and he knows he’s good. But there’s also an “every-man” to Dan Hurley that I think has a lot to do with the fact that he’s had to earn everything. He’s built his coaching career organically, from the high school level to varying levels in terms of D1 coaching. And he spans generations. He’s been around a long time. He’s a demanding guy. I think where this generation of athlete is and where the game is currently, I think Dan Hurley comes around at exactly the right time.
Listen to the full episode…
Also available on Apple Podcasts.
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