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PRINCETON APPROACH OFFENSE: Basic Series

© 2009, Forrest McKinnis

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No part of this book may b reproduced, stored in a data base or other retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without prior written

permission of the publisher.

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Table of Contents

KEY TERMINOLOGY Page 5

GENERAL RULES Page 6

POSITION DESCRIPTIONS Page 7

GUARD TO FORWARD ENTRY Page 8

GUARD TO GUARD ENTRY Page 10

LOW POST PHASES Page 13

DRIFT PHASES Page 19

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The backdoor offense, often referred to as the ‘Princeton’ Offense was made popular by Princeton University and legendary coach Pete Carril. Many youth coaches have moved away from the implications of this offense because of their fear of the difficult patterns it uses to produce scoring opportunities. True enough it is an offense that cannot be taught over night, and it almost certainly will not produce immediate results. Yet, the ‘Princeton’ Offense is extremely ef-fective in building successful programs and teaching players and coaches the true movements of the game.

‘Princeton’ is by all accords a ‘Read and React’ offense that houses maneuvers based on the position of the ball and the offensive players ability to read the de-fenders reaction to that position. Take my word, if you claim to be a motion coach, the time spent teaching this offense is certainly no more then what it takes to build a good motion attack.

The ‘Princeton Approach’ is a great offense for teams who are not the biggest or strongest, but full of heart. It’s a common rumor that you must have Ivy League players with Ivy League brains to run this offense—NOT TRUE! All you need is a group of young people interested in getting better, learning the true read and reaction fundamentals of the game, and most importantly a program that is to-tally saturated in its principles. You cannot be successful unless you run this program from the ground up. The basic series builds the foundation of the of-fensive and its basic movements in the low post using a series of well developed screens, cuts, and fakes to open up looks at the basket. It is perfect for ‘feeder systems’ such as junior high programs.

Once teams have developed the basics and understand the unique terminology, they should progress to part II in the series, Advanced Princeton Approach. Take advantage of the ‘Princeton Approach’ and be in every game by shorting the length of the game and attacking teams to apply pressure in the half court.

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Key Terminology

Guard

Any player who occupies to top two spots in the offense.

Forward

Any player who occupies the wing positions.

Post

Any player occupying a position around the key (high or low).

Pinch Post

The high elbow positions.

Flare Screen

A back screen set on perimeter for another perimeter player.

Read Spot

Area just off of the pinch post. Used for players to read & react.

Sweep

Dribble hand off on the perimeter.

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General Rules

A player should always watch the player in front them to determine what to do. Read & React.

Player has two options: 1. Defense over plays and offense should cut backdoor. 2. Defense sags and offense should sweep.

All cuts are done with a purpose. No dancing! Cut hard and with pur-pose.

If vacated, players should always fill spot above them.

Set good screens! Body to body contact is a must, no air-screens.

Dribble with a purpose.

When a player cuts backdoor from to top of the key they should always fill to the strong side. When cutting from the wing they should fill to the side they came from.

Post players should be working hard to stay in line with the ball if the ball is passed to the wing.

Keep the area below the free throw line empty when playing a more ath-letic and/or aggressive opponent.

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Positions

#1 Guard Position

Should be your best ball handler.

#2 Guard Position

Should be your best shooter and second best ball handler.

#3 Forward Position

A good passing forward.

#4 Forward Position

Should be your best post up forward and second best passing forward.

#5 Post

Is the best post player. Should be able to pass well, score on perimeter, handle the ball, and be able to read their teammates. MOST IMPORTANT POSITION.

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Guard to Forward Entry

G-F

Teams can use two looks to help them get into the initial 5 out Princeton set.

1. The first being a simple ‘v’ cut to get the wings open. In this diagram the wing has ‘v’ cut to get open on a Guard to For-ward entry.

1. The second entry is to use a forward cross. The forwards cross on the blocks and pop out to the forward position.

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Guard to Guard Entry

G-G

Entering into the offense is important because it signals to the rest of the team who to react. In the guard to guard entry the ball is re-versed from one side to another.

1. Guard passes the ball across to opposite guard. You must drill players on how to work to get open when closely guarded.

1. The reversal is continued, with a guard to forward entry. Now we follow the same rules as they applied to the guard to for-ward entry.

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Guard to Guard Entry

1. In continuing G-F entry. The post must adjust and reposition themselves in line with the ball. This maneuver is shown in this diagram.

1. On pass to forward, guard will cut through. If passing to wing guard should cut and move away from the ball.

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Low Post Feed

Elbow Screen Action

No matter who you talk to, it is agreed that the Princeton offense works through the post. In our feeder program we begin building our foundation using the ‘low post’ action.

1. When the ball is passed to the low post the wing can set an elbow screen. In this dia-gram the ball is passed to the low post.

1. The elbow screen is set when the wing passes to the low post and sets a screen for the ball side guard at the elbow or ‘pinch post’.

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Low Post Feed

Elbow Screen Action

1. If the defender has begun to overplay the screen, we teach our guards to go back-door.

2. The forward moves up.

3. If the guard doesn’t get a pass using the backdoor, they should fill out to the re-place the forward. The floor should always be balanced.

1. One of the most lethal elbow maneuvers is the ‘slip screen’. In the slip screen the for-ward moves like they plan to set the screen for the guard.

2. Instead of setting the screen the forward slips and cuts backdoor. Use this option when the defense is switching screens.

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Low Post Feed

Elbow Screen Action

1. The final action in the low post feed with the elbow screen is the skip pass to the op-posite side forward. Use this action when teams begin to take away the post by dou-ble team.

2. A great deal of practice should be involved in reading this defensive strategy.

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Low Post Entry

Forward Drop

If the forward doesn’t elect to screen at the elbow for the guard, the forward can ‘Drop’ into the deep corner.

1. This diagram shows the pass to the low post and ball side forward dropping to the deep corner.

1. If guard reads the forward dropping to the corner this signals the guard to set a curl screen for the opposite side forward.

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Low Post Entry

Forward Drop

1. After the curl screen, the screener (guard) will come back and fill the high guard spot again.

2. The deep corner guard who cut after read-ing the guard to forward entry moves up to fill the vacating guard.

1. On the pass back to the top guard, the low post moves up and fills the vacating for-ward spot.

2. The opposite side forward who curled now becomes the low post.

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Forward to Guard

Drift

Remember in the Princeton an entry must al-ways be initiated. In this diagram the initial entry is the guard to forward. The guard to guard is the other option.

After passing to the forward the guard under-stands that they must now cut through and opposite.

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Forward to Guard

Drift

What happens in the low post if the forward can’t pass to the low post? Enter the ‘drift’ phase.

1. The forward now passes to the top guard who dribbles at the forward.

2. The forward goes backdoor if dribbled at. (In the advance series we’ll discuss other options.) For now if dribbled at go back-door. Post fill up to elbow.

1. The guard will pass to the forward if un-able to drift backdoor.

2. The post moves out from the elbow area to set a flare screen for the passing guard.

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Forward to Guard

Drift

1. In this diagram the post sets the flare screen.

2. The forward returns the pass to the top guard.

1. Upon receiving the pass, the guard drib-bles to a side.

2. The high post vacates to the low block.

3. The low post moves out to the corner.

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Forward to Guard

Drift

1. Balance is achieved. The guard now be-gins the initial entry again with a guard to forward pass.

1. After passing to the forward the phase be-gins again. With a guard cut to the oppo-site deep corner.

2. The forward should look to feed the low post then set a elbow screen or drop. If unable to pass to the post a drift phase be-gins again.

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