EXPLOSION SERIES for POSTS• Player starts can start as a flasher or as a trailer• Player to catch and establish pivot foot • Player to execute the drives below.• Strong, compact dribbles (primarily 1 dribble)• Coach to pass from top of key

Execute the following finishes:

1) Middle drive off catch, stride stop, 8-10 foot pull-up2) Baseline drive off catch, stride stop, 8-10 foot pull-up3) Middle drive off catch, get to rim, baby hook lay-up (use glass)4) Baseline drive off catch, get to rim, put man in jail lay-up5) Middle drive, perimeter to post move. Controlled spin.6) Baseline drive, perimeter to post move. Controlled spin.7) Middle drive, stride stop, to step thru.8) Baseline drive, stride stop, to step thru

Chris Mack, Xavier Assistant Coach - mackc@xavier.edu

Our coaching staff gets asked all the time how we can develop our post players to be more capable from the perimeter. It’s very important in our program that our post players are not out of their element when they catch the ball on the perimeter. The drill below, Explosion Series for Posts, teaches our players to make aggressive moves to the basket and finish in different ways without steamrolling into their defender. Our posts will work the Explosion Series on a weekly basis throughout the course of the season. Again, our goal is to make our post players comfortable on the perimeter and arm them with an attacking mentality when the situation presents itself.

http://interviewbasketball.com/

The Samford Bulldogs run a variation of Pete Carril’s Princeton Offense. And it’s all because 12th year Head Coach Jimmy Tillette doesn’t play golf.

TILLETTE: “I needed something to do in the spring, so when I was an assistant coach [at Samford in the mid 1990's], I decided I was going to investigate the Princeton system. I spent four or five hours a day looking at tapes. I initially took 99 pages of notes trying to figure out the Princeton Offense.”

“It has Plato’s definition of good judgment, the ability to discern the difference in similar things and similarity in different things. So many things look the same, but are different, and vice versa.”

Tillette put together 20-30 offensive concepts on transparencies.

However, he ran into difficulties getting in touch with legendary Princeton head coach Pete Carril. During his coaching career, Carril refused to consult with opposing coaches about the Princeton Offense due to concerns that they would work to implement defenses designed to stop it.

TILLETTE: “Years ago, you’d call him saying ‘I want to talk about your offense’. He’d say ‘figure it out yourself’ and hang up the phone.”

“You had to fight. He’s a crusty old guy.”

“They got calls all the time from people saying ‘listen, I’ve been playing golf all summer, would you mind giving me all your hard earned ideas?’ They don’t have a lot of tolerance for that.”

Eventually, Tillette finally was able to convince then-Princeton Assistant Coach Bill Carmody to allow him to come up to share his ideas and learn more from the Princeton staff.

TILLETTE: “I put together 20 to 30 concepts on some transparencies. I really went up there like a geek bearing gifts. I showed them my work.”

Carmody and fellow assistant Joe Scott looked at Tillette’s work and explained the sophistication and nuances of the Princeton Offense.

When LSU hired John Brady in 1997, Samford promoted Tillette as Head Coach. Tillette’s 1997-98 Bulldogs were the youngest Division I team in the country. He had only one senior. The rest of his players were sophomores and freshmen. Tillette decided that season was a perfect time for the Bulldogs to implement the Princeton Offense.

TILLETTE: “Of course, we adapted it to our own style and the way we like to play. There’s a lot of ways to play it.”

“”I don’t think there’s one Princeton Offense. It’s constantly in flux and constantly changing. One of its strengths is its malleability. You can change it, but still retain the essence of it.”

He called his offense “SAM,” an acronym for spacing, angles, and movement, the three cornerstones of the Princeton Offense.

After going 14-13 his first season, Tillette and his Bulldogs made the NCAA tournament as the TAAC-auto bid the next two seasons.

Today, Tillette is the only head coach running the base Princeton Offense who was not a former assistant or player for Carril.

A

3

4

B

C

3-2 alignment. 5 and 4 are constantly working together to find an open area in

the zone. 5 forms a high low by flashing to the ballside high post while a wing, 3, has

the ball. 4 is in the short corner.

1, 2, and 3, use ball fakes and attempt to dribble penetrate the zone. 2 penetrates

middle and passes opposite to 3 as 5 and 4 work together to find open areas.

The top guard can cut through or dribble loop the wings. 1 passes to 3 and cuts

through. An overload is formed by 5 flashing opposite as well.

2

5

3

4

2

5

1

4

5

1

2

1

3

A

3

B

C

2-3 alignment. 1 passes the ball to the baseline to 3. The opposite post flashes

to form an overload. This action can occur to both sides.

The ball can be passed to 3 on the baseline from 2. 3 and 2 (the passer) interchange positions. 1, 2, and 3 can

be interchangeable.

3, 4, 5, can work in a together as 1, 2 are out front as "ball movers".

The offense looks to attack gaps. Pass fakes are emphasized by the perimeter players.

2

5

3

4

2

5

1

34 54

21

1

“BLITZ” the ballhandler before the ballscreen is set on a sideline ballscreen. This is a way of dealing with a great player in a pick and roll situation.

A

2

5 X5

X4X1

3

B

C

The offense creates a ballscreen action for an excellent player - 1.

As 1 begins to position himself to use the ballscreen by 4 and clearly before 4 sets it, X4 "blitzes" the

ballhandler preventing him from using it and disrupting the offense's action away from the ballscreen.

X4, X1 corner 1. X5, X3 form the two interceptors and X2 is the protector.

2

53

4

25

34

X3

X2

X4X1

4

1

1

1

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