In competitive markets, sustainable advantages are rare. Few companies have "moats" of unassailable strength - Apple, Google, Coca Cola. Basketball is similar. Don't be seduced by the latest idea. Think for ourselves and find tools to improve our teaching and our players.
Even with the best coaches, a college basketball program flies or dies with the quality, the character, and the chemistry of the players. When Bob Cousy coached Boston College, he knew that offering NBA insights and the BC academics wasn't enough. Some other schools offered parents jobs and players "experiences" (read, girls) and BC couldn't match them. A "college education" doesn't mean much if your plan isn't GPA but NBA. This isn't new.
The Princeton 1996 upset win over UCLA "feels" like the high water mark for the Tigers. Was it?
A "Princeton Offense" Google search of 0.43 seconds yields over 64,000 results. Add "NCAA champions" and the number drops to 468. The team experiencing the most success with the Princeton Offense was...Princeton, with 13 Ivy Titles. Yet, the best Princeton team was Bill Bradley's 1964-1965 team under Butch van Breda Kolff that went to the Final Four. But the combined number of NBA and NCAA titles won with the Princeton offense is zero.
I'm not "anti-Princeton" but pro development. Carleton Ravens coach Dave Smart says, "Don’t just do it because somebody else does it." The "castle" for some elite teams is the college, the "moat" is the coach, and the "sharks" are the players. Some wide and deep moats sit home watching the Tournament. Filling your moat with lemon sharks won't get the job done (but can make you a lot of money...see Abilene Christian).
The Triangle Offense produced 11 NBA titles, often courtesy of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. It generates too many midrange shots to be relevant today.
"Princeton" advocates argue that players who run motion well, back door cut, and have perimeter shooting skills excel with this offense. Skilled players run every offense better. What's a better investment for young players, fundamental and athletic growth or tens of hours learning more options off the Chin Series?
These aren't novel ideas. "After all, how useful really is an offense that takes all of a team’s time and attention to institute, if it comes at the cost of your defense, transition game, rebounding and player development?"
This diagram (from the article above) serves as a checklist for a tactical and technical framework:
- GEOMETRY Spacing-player movement-ball movement
- FOUNDATION Decisions-effort-skill
Our best hope for more productive offense includes having smart, skilled players who buy in to our process and make good decisions. The "novelty" of the Princeton Offense and coach Pete Carril helped. Players who went to Princeton met those criteria, which explained their success.
Lagniappe. Billy Donovan's "95" is the 95% of the time you don't have the ball. Kirby Schepp demonstrates (less than 2 minute clip)
Lagniappe 2. Drill. "Force to tape." (from Kevin Eastman)
Lagniappe 3. (Dave) Smart tips via Basketball Immersion
-Teams usually play zone defense because they don’t cover well in man (hiding a weakness). That has always been true with our developmental teams. We play man until we absolutely prove we can't.
-Philosophy of Carleton’s man offense is to get the ball to eight feet from the rim, cause defensive reactions and closeouts, get to smart open space, make good decisions, exploit the advantages gained.