How to Recognize Offensive Strategies While Watching College Basketball
The avid college basketball fan can watch 1 minute of a game, understand the offensive movements, and conclude the players' general strategy. The basics are easy, but the variations endless.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Decipher the pace of the game. Is the offense a quick and good ball-handling team? Is it attempting to push and tire the defense?
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2
Weigh the number of outside shots taken. Is this team working the perimeter? Are players setting screens for the shooters?
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3
Discover whether the offense has a domineering post player. Watch how the others feed him or her the ball.
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4
See if a team does both: running inside/outside, which works the ball into the low post, then kicks it out on the perimeter if the inside is heavily guarded.
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5
Consider a team like Oklahoma, which has a good back-to-the-basket player. "If the defense is making it hard for the player to penetrate," says Chuck Cooperstein, play-by-play announcer for the NCAA Radio Network, "what is the offense doing to draw attention away from the player?"
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6
Watch to see if the offense makes an extra pass along the perimeter. Also, the point guard may attempt to penetrate, which could draw defenders toward him or her and leave space for the post player.
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1
Tips & Warnings
"A lot of it depends on who the other team is playing and who your best players are," Cooperstein says.
