Hope you all are having a FANTASTIC weekend! In this week’s Backyard Buckets newsletter we will discuss…
5 solutions to switching defense ft. Arizona Wildcats (NCAAW)
Two of the most recent Backyard Buckets Podcast Episodes
3 Basketball Resources I Studied This Week (Links attached)
How good was the NCAA Women’s basketball tournament!? SO GOOD, basketball is amazing…anyway let’s get into the good stuff!
Switching is the one coverage that that tends to frustrate teams in the pick & roll. Especially teams who aren’t patient! The objective of setting a ball screen is to create chaos and more importantly an advantage…but when teams switch correctly they are able to take away the initial 2 on 1 advantage, since the ball handler has been picked up by the screener’s defender and and the ball handler defender now guards the screener. The benefit to switching is that in a perfect world, if the switch is executed properly, no other players outside of the PnR should have to rotate or help - keeping the coverage a 2 man game, reducing scramble or X out scenarios... This is ideal as the less help/rotations are needed defensively, the easier it will be for players to stay in proper positioning and remain on their appropriate matchup.
Watching the Arizona vs. Uconn Women’s game just a few weeks ago was the real motivation for covering this topic. I’ve spent a TON of time in the last year or so studying how to attack switching defenses and it is definitely one of the more advanced concepts for players and young coaches like myself to truly understand. Here are a few of the solutions I have seen to exploit the on ball switch!
Solution #1 - Reject The Switch
You see the confusion at the point of the screen. Paige Bueckers looks like she is trying to go under the screen and Nelson-Ododa ends up having to step up to show resulting in a quick switch. The ball handler #23 (Bendu Yeaney) takes one dribble towards the screen and then aggressively crosses back the other way to reject the switch. Nelson-Ododa switches out high with an angle to send Yeaney back towards her right hand. As Paige Bueckers tries to get inside position on the post player she switched onto, it is almost physically impossible for her to get back to square on her original matchup. This creates the open lane for Yeaney to attack the bucket for an easy two.
Here we see another example of Arizona exploiting Uconn’s ball screen defense. Throughout most of the NCAA Tournament games, Uconn had success switching practically every ball screen that involved Aliyah Edwards because she is a mobile post player and can disrupt shots with her length. Aari McDonald, arguably the NCAA tournament’s most valuable player takes 1 dribble towards the screen as the on ball defender slides under (like in the last clip) and then aggressively changes direction causing a moment of indecision between the two defenders. By the time Christyn Williams is able to fight back over the screen to switch back, Aari McDonald is already letting it fly! I must point out that this shot happens because of the awareness of the screener to roll on top of the switching defender.
Rejecting the switch can be a great solution to open up a driving lane, create space & most certainly confusion for the defense!
Solution #2 Split The Screen
Being able to split a screen is by far one of the more advanced but most rewarding options in terms of defeating the switch. I say the most rewarding because once you split the screen you now are attacking downhill with a major advantage. Remember the switch is designed to keep the PnR a 2 man game and ideally to NOT have to help with any other players outside of the action. When the screen is split now those secondary help defenders who were not expecting to have to help, are forced to come over and try to make a play.
Splitting the screen is something that needs to be repped over and over again, with the focus of keeping the dribble low as the switching defender jumps out to get square, the ball handler uses a hard change of direction to attack that space between the new defender and the point of the screen. A major key is pushing that ball out ahead on the crossover like Aari Mcdonald does in the clip above, so that the defense can’t stick a hand in and make a desperation play on the ball.
Solution #3 Slip The Screen
The most commonly taught solution to switching screens at almost all levels is the slip. I can say first hand that slipping was without a doubt my go to action in any screening situation as a player. My definition of a slip would be “a cut to the basket right before or in some cases even as a player begins to use a screen”. I was an undersized post with guard skills, but I was typically setting more screens than I was using, and the best way to get easy layups, in my opinion, was to not even set the screen in the first place.
This isn’t the greatest example of a slip but I wanted to focus on the Arizona vs. Uconn game in particular so it’ll have to do. After Uconn switches the initial few dribble hand offs in the middle of the floor (which is great action to get the defense off balance before turning the corner) watch how the post at the elbow just opens up and dives to the bucket as McDonald receives the handoff. Forcing 3 switches within 3 seconds of this possession left the defenders wondering who they were supposed to be guarding. From an offensive standpoint, you can usually bet that by the 3rd action within a play the defense is probably likely to breakdown and have some sort of miscommunication.
The big thing when it comes to slipping an on ball screen is to listen to the defense! As you prepare to set the screen, the moment you hear switch is your cue to dive to the bucket with your hands ready, head on a swivel, and feet ready to react to a help defender stepping over (NO CHARGES, easier said than done, I know)... If you’re lucky and the defense is really sleeping, you’ll be able to catch in stride for an uncontested layup!
Solution #4 Attack Outside Hip
Alright, whew #4! We’re almost done, I promise… This one’s pretty basic and any player with speed will probably have the most success with this option… So Uconn switched with Edwards and sometimes Nelson-Ododa (I think unintentionally, looked like a hedge that ended up being a switch but whatever) who are high caliber athletes but are still slower than the guard who was originally on the ball. As an offensive player if you know the defense is switching and you also know who will be switching onto you…use speed to your advantage. Even though Pellington misses the layup in this clip, it’s a good representation of attacking a defenders outside hip with speed and turning the corner. It’s a tough ask for a post to have to slow down a guard coming full speed off a ball screen so as soon as you see the post player step up to switch, get lower and accelerate by.
I know the counter to this, which I also like as an option is to have the guard pull it out and then re-attack the big in a sort of “boomerang” like action that is trending these days, but sometimes you just don’t need to waste any time - turn the corner and go!
Solution #5 Attack Through The Help
Last but certainly not least is attacking the switch through the help defense. I just began to understand this concept very recently through watching and studying a ton of European basketball and coach Ryan Pannone. Instead of the advantage coming from the actual screen itself like in the other options, attacking through the help is a way of exploiting the tendencies of the defenders that were NOT involved in the original screen… Stay with me here, this one will really make you think but it’s awesome.
Watch as Paige Bueckers and Christyn Williams switch the dribble hand off on the wing. Paige ends up on a bigger player and naturally tries to fight in front for position. Next rewatch the clip and watch Aliyah Edwards, the player in the weak side corner behind Paige. See how she leans in to help Paige? She’s being a great teammate and most good defensive players will look to help more when they know their teammate is stuck on a bad matchup. This is where as an offensive player we exploit the switch! Edwards decision to help Paige leaves her victim to a quick throw back to her matchup (who is a shooter) causing a wild close out & foul.
Throwing back to an offensive player who is now open due to the tendency of good defenses to help on a bad matchup is a great way to attack a switching defense that I had never thought about until recently. The things I learn just keep getting better & better!
In Case You Missed It….
The Latest Backyard Buckets Podcast Episodes
1) Dianne Nolan - Building a Championship Program | Former Fairfield University Head Coach
What I Studied This Week….
1) Special Situations & Sideline Out of Bounds Clinic (video)
2) Zak Boisvert Clinic (video)
3) Dean Oliver’s Basketball on Paper (book)