Dean Smith shares his experience in A Coach's Life. He explains how a Mathematics major led him to quantitative measures in coaching. He discusses the origins of the "Run and Jump" defense (he preferred the term "Run and Surprise") and how it came about...a six-foot-one guard at Kansas named Al Kelley would inexplicably leave his man to attack the dribbler. He added they initially limited its use to after free throws and in the comeback game.
And Smith notes that Run and Jump became "Scramble" at Carolina when they elected to double team the ballhandler.
His first "big break" came while assisting Bob Spear at the Air Force Academy where necessity forced them to compete with no players taller than six-foot-four (aircraft cockpit size limited height). USAF had to find ways to win without size. Enter the Shuffle.
Air Force used the "Shuffle Offense" pioneered by Bruce Drake, and defeated Al McGuire's Marquette, a Cal power under Pete Newell, and lost by 2 to UCLA's Bruins under John Wooden. Later, Coach Smith explains how the Cadets upset Henry Iba's Oklahoma State.
I digress. Coach Jackson shares the Shuffle here. Naturally the eponymous cut (The Shuffle Cut) is a key component, along with ball reversal and movement.
He writes, "The Post man is basically a picking machine who sets up at the elbow of the key on the opposite side to the feeder and the same side as the first and second cutters. His job as a picking machine is to head hunt the 1st and 2nd cutters defensive man."
Many offenses use the "Shuffle cut" as a component. FastModelSports shares examples.
We can envision running Triangle into shuffle action.
Here's extensive video illustrating the Shuffle in action at BC:
What you see a lot of is: 1) pass and 'bury' (cut to near corner), 2) Shuffle cut, 3) Ball reversal through 5, 4) second cut
The video shows numerous examples of failure. What the video show is 'marginal' cutting, absence of "head hunting screens" (body on body), and ineffective use of off-ball screens by cutters. Sometimes they're running the first pass from the hash, which creates long passes and bad angles. All of which explains why the BC offense didn't execute well. In the video, it worked better with 'freelance' action against overplays and help.
As Coach Newell would say, reproductions are often poor copies of the original.
Conversely, with elite talents executing well, note the difference. The Spurs favored dribble handoff to start the Shuffle.
See 1:20 of the video with this DHO, Shuffle into back cut action. Later, they don't run the 2 through, and run the second Shuffle cut by screening the 5 (Duncan) with the 3.
Coach Smith had numerous offensive styles, the Four Corners, 1-4 high, and Passing Game offense. He analyzed points per possession before fashionable, and sometimes scored practice scrimmages by shot quality instead of results. This led to the Tarheels almost always leading the ACC in field goal percentage during his tenure.
His dignity and class within the coaching profession are examples for us all.
