Bill Self Hi/Low motion

1Bill Self1999, 2002 and 2005

True motion is hard to teach. The 3-out 2-in high/lowmotion is good for shooters, and for post playerswho aren't great scorers, they are sealers. Thebiggest negative is that if a really creative player hasthe ball, there is always a post player who has to getout of his way, so they spend a lot of time workingon emptying the post.

1 wants to enter the offense from the chute betweenthe elbows. Wings 2 and 3 can be above or belowthe foul-line extended, outside the arc. There arethree basic entries - pass to a wing, pass to a highpost, or dribble over.

1) Entry pass to a wing

a) Weakside corner cut

1 passes to 2 and cuts to the weakside corner, 5steps across his defender with the inside foot andflashes to the high post for a pass.

25 catches with an inside (left) pivot foot, but makes acheat step outside with his right foot for balance,then forward pivots to face up. If you don't cheatstep you will slow down and the defender can runthrough the pass. 5's options in order are shoot,dump inside (a two-hand pass from the forehead),reverse.

Bigs post directly between the ball and the basket,making their defender decide how to play them, andopening up backdoor angles when the ball is at thetop. You aren't going to score on the first side, sopost strong, but don't fight it, let the defender gowhere he wants.

You want to reverse the ball, not pass it back to 2. 3screens for 1 to get open (or 3 and 1 caninterchange, 3 fake a screen for 1 and self replace,or 1 fadescreen for 3 then step to the ball), 4 followsthe ball on a pass to 1. Now there is a ballsidetriangle (overload situation). There is no weaksidehelp, 1 looks to throw the ball to the corner of thebackboard for 4.

The high post always screens away after passing, 2sets his man up, and will bump and fade, curl intothe lane, or pop behind the arc if his man runs intothe screen.

John Brady (LSU) - a high post can follow his passto ballscreen.

3On a pass to 2 he takes one or two dribbles toimprove his passing angle inside to 5, 1 gets highand wide.

1999 (shown)

4 screens for 3, who walks his man down to theshort corner.

2005

4 steps across his man and flashes high (see theLSU fast break).

If 1 passes to 3 in the corner, 1 cuts weakside usinga backscreen from 4 who then ballscreens, except if4 is a good post player, then he just stays and postswithout screening for 1 or 3. 5 screens for 1 exitingweakside.

See Georgia motion, Nets offense.

4On ball reversal to 1, 3 cuts to the weakside corner.

1999 (shown)

4 cross-screens for 5, who goes under (betterchance of a layup), then 4 comes high.

2005

4 and 5 have to duck in with the ball at the sweetspot (out top), forcing their defenders to play high-side. There is no cross-screen on the pass to 1, 5comes high.

If the ball has been reversed once and a perimeterplayer catches it at the top, he has to go weaksideafter passing.

Dennis Felton (Georgia) - have 4 cross-screen andcome high to keep 5 close to the basket.

5On a pass to 4 out top, 2 and 3 interchange, on apass to 3, 4 single screens weakside for 1. 5 followsthe ball.

If 1 passes inside to 5, 4 dives to the front of the rim,other players relocate to spot up on the perimeter.5's looks are shot, his buddy 4, fan the ball to theother side, pass back where it came from.

On a pass from 3 to 1 out top, he would dribble tothe left wing.

Bill Self (bbhighway.com) - a low post can chaseany pass out to ballscreen.

6b) Strongside corner cut

1 passes to 2, cuts to the strongside corner, 5comes high.

7On ball reversal to 3, 2 and 5 stagger screen for 1, 2gets behind the arc once 1 clears his screen (therule for perimeter players when screening for otherperimeter players), 5 slips and finds ball afterscreening for 1 (the rule for bigs when screening fora perimeter player).

3 has to get open on his own. If he is denied, it's anautomatic backdoor, one bounce by 5, then backcutby 3 (the key is that 4 is posting in the middle of thelane). If there is no pass on the backdoor, 3 comesback out because X3 has to snap his head if he isoverplaying. 3 has to get open.

A pass from 3 to 1 out top gets into 3-out 2-inmotion.

2005 - if defenders switch, probably 2 will act like heis screening, 1 acts like he is coming off the screenthen pops back to replace himself, 5 screens for 2.

Argentina 2003 (and Seth Greenberg slice offense) -2 shuffle cuts using 4, 4 and 5 stagger screen for 1,3 runs the baseline on a pass to 1 using 2, 4 and 5.

82) Entry pass to a high post (1-4 high)

Against pressure. Start in an inverted stack with theguards on the blocks (or 4 and 5 start further outand downscreen, shown), 2 and 3 use screens topop behind the arc.

9If 2 and 3 are denied, 4 and 5 flash to the elbows fora pass. To get a backdoor, 3 has to make his manbelieve he is going to get a pass, 5 catches the ballon the move (a bounce pass most of the time), and3 has to be above ball level so his defender has toturn his head to see the ball.

3 steps across his defender (crossover step with hisright foot) all the way to the lane then widens out tothe ballside corner if there is no pass. 5 drop steps(reverse pivot on his inside (left) foot, looking tomake a bounce pass with his outside (right) hand. Atthe same time 2 walks or trots his man into the lane,not too fast or his man will cover the backdoor.

If 1 passes to 3 from the 1-4 set, 1 corner cuts, 5moves down to post, 4 comes high.

2005 - 1 passes to 3 out of a 1-4 set and cuts to thestrongside corner (he can cut weakside), 5 cross-screens for 4 then pops out top. They love to cross-screen the posts when they are high at the elbows.

104 fade screens for 1, 5 takes one dribble and makesa two-hand overhead pass over the top to 1.

114 and 5 doublescreen for 2 then split, a pass to 2out top gets into the high-low passing game, 4 and 5duck in.

If 1 drives baseline, X2 is the weakside helper, 2 willbe wide open at the top.

2002 - 3 is high and wide.

See the Colour quick hitter.

12Houston (a special)

Run pinch post, 1 passes to 5 and comes off for ahand-off. 2 stays high and wide, 5 and 4 doubledown for 3 then split into 3-out 2-in.

133) Dribble over

If no one is open after stacking and breaking, 1dribbles towards 3, who loops (zipper cut), 5 pinsdown then opens to post between the ball and thebasket (if X5 shows on 3, look to get the ball inside,that happens a lot).

141 gets to the foul-line extended, 3 catches above theelbow so he has space to make a play, he will catch,rip and go with an outside-foot pivot (he doesn'tcatch, square and read).

4 ballscreens while the pass is in the air to force abad hedge (X4 is a weakside defender, not yet in aposition to hedge). 3 comes off the screen to shoot,drive, kick to 2, or, if defenders switch, drag theswitch man to the point where there is a mismatchinside (mouse in the house). 4 rolls, 5 widens outone step off the lane then replaces, 2 adjusts,relocating where his man can't recover..

2005 - 4 doesn't roll to the basket, he rolls to a pointwhere he can keep X4 above him, creating spacefor a pass from 5 (shown).

15Then it's into the offense. Look for a hi-lo on a passto 5 out top, on reversal to 1, 3 and 5 would staggeraway.

162005 - for a pressure-release entry, 2 and 3 crossgoing half speed, 4 and 5 flash up once they clear.