| I have commented on here, and many have chimed in in agreement with me that a lot of the subtleties of the game, the basics seem to have gone the way of the dodo in the past 15 to 20 years or so in the college game. One of the absolute essentials that I see done very poorly, when it is even attempted at all is the use of perimeter and interior screens to get men open for shots off the ball. The pick and roll is still utalized, and in fact has become the dominant form of screen used in the college game, but in reality is one of the easiest to defend because in almost every case these days it is being used primarily for the dribbler to come off of and shoot the three point shot or a jumper inside the arc. Rarely will you see the roll option being utalized. I am still of the mind set that the off the ball pick, whether it be a front facing pick and or a back pick on a defeder still opens up the most options offensively and create a wider range of defensive mismatches and the like. One of the first aspects of setting the screen comes from the man who is waiting for the screen. Now, I really want to emphasize "waiting", there for the screen. I to often see guys leaving way to early all wound up and running before the screen and or picks can be set often either creating a useless screen and or an illegal pick that at times should be whistled by the officials more often then it is. The man waiting for the screen should time it. As the man setting the pick comes down he should take a step towards his defender, or perhaps two or three steps depending upon how far off of him the defender is. In closing that gap when the screen sets for the pick, the man coming off negates the amount of space available to the defender to recover and at the very least will force the defender "under" the screen. Now most off ball defenders, depending upon where the ball is will try to "slip the pick" or come underneath the pick and close the space down between himself and the offensive player coming off the pick as he comes towards the ball. But, I would offer that no matter how he reacts, if the man waiting for the screen does just that, waits, he will have a few other options open besides the usual coming over the top of the pick. Often, defenders will be tight to the offensive player so coming over the top of the pick, and if the man setting the pick and offensive player coming off of the pick rub "shoulder to shoulder" the desired effect of creating space for the offensive player coming off the pick will occur. But, if a defender has gotten picked off a few times and now starts cheating off of the offensive player then what the offensive player does is as he walks towards the defender to set him up for the pick by closing that space, but sees the defendes is moving with him he then waits for the pick, comes into the man setting the pick, pushes him slightly in the back which signals the picker to simply turn and face the defender allowing the man getting the pick to "flare" back or off the pick a'la what Juan Dixon did a few times during the final four off of that baseline flex pick when his defender totally tried to anticipate the pick. When coming off the pick the offensive player should also always be ready to score. To often I see players come off picks and by the time they realize they are open they have to drop their butts and get ready to shoot and it is to late. A guy who was great in college of curling off the down picks was Ron Mercer when he was at Kentucky. The next, and perhaps even more important aspect of setting a pick is the positioning and stance of the picker himself. I see a lot of kids who go to set picks and are either afraid of contact and or simply do not know how to set a good head hunting pick. When you go to set a pick there are a couple of schools of thought. Some coaches like to have their kids bend over slightly and this way it gets them to drop their butts and put their hands on their knees thus keeping their elbows in. But, in the college and even very competative high school leagues out there you will get your block, which is now leaning down and forward, knocked off and you will end up thinking you are the "Batman". I think you first, when going to set that pick need to call out the guys name who you are going to set the pick for unless you are running a set play. Next, the picker needs to put a slight bend in his knees and take his hands, crossing them protecting his family jewels. This gives him something to do with his hands, and keeps his legs bent slightly and does not have him standing straight up and down like he is a stick figure. He needs to learn to, and this sounds like common sense but I swear I see more guys setting picks on their own men, the picker needs to remember to hunt for the defender of the guy he is setting the pick for. This is paramount and key and is something that can be worked on in practice. One of the oldies but goodies for drilling for this is three man strong side pass to the coach and have the two guards go down and set a double staggard pick for the wing player. You get three things out of this. Work on setting picks, taking picks and how to fight over and or under picks while communicating on offense and defense. |
| Screens and Picks |