THE 1-4 HIGH OFFENSE

While I was at William Jewell College with Larry Holley, our teams always ran a 1-4 high offense designed to take advantage of pressure and sagging man-to-man defenses.  We felt more comfortable with our personnel running a set offense and the 1-4 high worked well against either a pressure or sagging man-to-man defense and it also had its advantages against certain types of zone defenses depending on how we utilized the offense.

Advantages of the 1-4 High Offense

The 1-4 high offense works great when you have two post players who are complimentary and three players who can play on the perimeter.  This is a double-post offense and your post players will be working in and around the free throw lane and free throw circle.  Your perimeter players will only go into the post on rare occasions, but they will mostly stay on the perimeter.  Limiting the area where they have to play can make the offense more simplified for your players.

Second, the 1-4 high offense is set up in such a way that the point guard has four near receivers to pass to as a way to start the offense.  This allows the point guard more options as to how he can start the offense.  He can enter with the dribble or the pass to either one of the four players at the free-throw line extended.  This helps especially when the point guard is facing a pressure man-to-man defense.

Third, the high alignment allows for great backdoor and post-up opportunities.  The posts being brought high allows for post passes to turn into quick hitters with wing players cutting to the basket.  The posts are also set up so that if there is a dead front of the post, a lob play can become an automatic.  Also, when the ball gets entered to the wing on the dribble or the pass, the posts can situate themselves in such a way that they can post up high or low to receive the basketball.

Fourth, the 1-4 high offense works well against zone defenses in that the four high players can permit entry into the offense either with an entry into either one of the post players or either one of the perimeter players.  The 1-4 high set can be used to get your team into your zone offense.

Finally, the 1-4 high offense, like many other set offenses, is easy to teach and it can be installed in a matter of days.  Unlike motion offense, the 1-4 high offense allows players to learn the system quickly and there is such a diversity of options that you can take advantage of what your players can do well.

Disadvantages of the 1-4 High Offense

Like all patterned offenses, the 1-4 high offense has the tendency to be easily scouted.  Actions are all predetermined by what happens based on ball movement and player movement.  Being predictable can get you beat if you are playing a team that can successfully scout out everything you want to do.

Second, the 1-4 high offense requires three-out/two-in personnel.  Very rarely can you run this offense if you don't have this type of personnel on the court.  Adjustments are necessary and it can put players in a disadvantageous position if you don't adjust.

Finally, unless you put specific elements of two-man games and three-man games into your offense, your defense will suffer.  Being able to put certain elements in your 1-4 high offense should help, but you may need to take away from practice time to work on elements that are not incorporated in your offense.

Post Option

On our post option play, #1 passes in to either #4 or #5 in the high post (#4 in illustration).  Once ball-side and help-side have been established by the pass into the post, the ball-side wing will cut to the basket and look for the backdoor.  The help-side post steps out in anticipation of setting a flare screen for the point guard.  The help-side wing will start down the sideline and go to just above the help-side low block getting ready to set up for the point guard's decision.  From here, the point guard will make a decision as to which way he goes.

The first option for the point guard is to pop to the ball-side wing and look for the ball from the post player with the ball.  If the point guard gets the ball, the post who passed it to him is going to slide down to the ball-side low block and #2 is going to come off of a stagger double set on the help-side lane line by #3 and #5.  The options for the point guard are as follows:  #4, #2, #5 on the slip to the basket if the screen is switched and #3 on the slip to the corner.  If #1 cannot get the ball, #4 stays put and waits for the stagger double to develop.  In that case, #4 can pass to #2, #5 going to the basket or #3.

If the point guard decides to use the flare screen set by #5 and not follow his pass, #2 will clear out to the ball-side corner and #3 will put his head under the basket.  #4 will look to pass to #1 to set up the double down for #3.  Here, #4 and #5 will set a double down screen for #3 after #1 has received the ball.  Our #3 will come off of the help-side shoulder of #4 and go straight to the point where he will receive the ball from #1.

When the plays are completed and a shot not be taken at the end of these plays, we can do one of three things:

1. Reset the offense and run the 1-4 high again.

2. Enter into our motion offense.

3. Get into the pick-and-roll with the nearest big screening the ball and everyone else spotting up accordingly.

4. Back out and run a different set offense.

Wing Option

Like our post option, we have two options whenever we enter the ball to the wing.  Whenever the ball is entered to the wing, we run a UCLA cut for our point guard.  From here, he can either go to the ball-side corner or to the help-side corner.  His cut will determine what play we will run.

Let's say that our point guard decides to cut to the ball-side corner.  If this happens, #5, who starts as the weak-side post, will flash to the ball-side low post in anticipation of #2 passing him the ball once #1's man clears.  Meanwhile, #4 will pop to the perimeter off of the screen to get open.

Should the ball go to #4, #1 will make a flex cut off of #5.  If there is a switch, #5 will seal the defender and flash to the ball.  Meanwhile, #3 will v-cut and replace himself so as to get open.  When #4 has the ball, his passing options are #1, #5 and #3.

Once the ball is entered to #3, #1 will set a cross screen for #5 to bring #5 to the same side as #3.  After #5 goes to the low-side block, #4 will down screen for #1 and bring him back to the point.  Should there be a switch on the down screen, #4 will slip to the basket for a possible pass from #3.  So, #3's options are #5, #1 and #4.

The point guard also has the option of cutting through to the weak-side block off of the UCLA cut.  Here, as he goes through, #5 will drop to the low block as soon as #1 clears and #3 will spot up behind the three-point arc halfway between the free-throw line-extended and the lane line-extended.  #4 will set a ball screen for #2 and roll to the basket once #2 clears.  From here, the options for #2 are as follows:

1. Drive to the basket if your defender chases over the top of the ball screen.

2. Shoot if your defender goes under the ball screen.

3. Pass to #5 on the help-side low block.

4. Pass to #3  for an open jump shot.

5. Pass to #1 for an open jump shot.

6. Pass to #4 on the roll to the basket.

Again, when the plays are completed and a shot not be taken, we can reset the offense and run the 1-4 high again, enter into our motion offense, get into the pick-and-roll with the nearest big screening the ball and everyone else spotting up accordingly or back out and run a different set offense.

Dribble Option

While I am not a big fan of using the dribble to enter into the offense, the dribble can be an effective weapon in the 1-4 high offense in that you can get a back cut off of the dribble to the wing.  If that doesn't work, we have a couple of plays that can be used to get the ball into the post or to get the ball on top.  Understand that we will only go to a dribble option play if we cannot enter the ball into either post or either wing.

The first option for the wing is to set a back screen for the ball-side post, or to create a Utah cut for our ball-side big man.  The point guard keeps his dribble alive until he's totally committed to the pass.  The pass options with the Utah cut are to hit the big man in the low post or to hit the wing on top if the low post is not open.  If the ball goes back to the top, we will run a middle pick-and-roll with the weak-side post setting the ball screen.

The wing can also set a back screen for the help-side post.  When this happens we have three options off of the play: the pass into the low post to the weak-side low post coming off of the wing's screen, the wing coming off of the down screen set by the ball-side big man or the ball-side big man slipping to the basket on a possible switch.

Should none of the options become available off of either of the choices made by the wing, we can either reset and run the 1-4 high again, enter into our motion offense, get into the pick-and-roll with our nearest big screening the ball and everyone else spotting up or back out and run a different set offense.

1-4 High Offense Pre-sets

There are two main pre-sets that I like to use to illustrate the 1-4 high offense and both allow us to teach the offense and present it with four available receivers.  The first is the basic 1-4 high alignment which is the regular alignment for running this offense.  With this alignment, it is important that the post players start below the free-throw line-extended and the wings start above the free-throw line extended.  This way, we have a better chance of getting the backdoor if we throw to the post players.  By starting the wings closer to the half court line than the posts, we can create enough separation between the wing and the wing's defender to get the backdoor.

The second is the 1-4 flat formation.  From the 1-4 flat, we have the bigs and the wings come up to the elbows and the free-throw line-extended respectively.  We have the wings break the three-point arc twice while we have the bigs break the lane line twice.

Standard 1-4 High Formation

1-4 Low into 1-4 High Formation

There are times where we want to get the ball to the wing so that we can attack from the side.  Usually, we do this against a sagging defense and it can pay off with the screening action off of our wing option plays.  The pre-sets that we use are "Down" and "Kentucky".  With these two pre-sets we start with the wings on the low blocks and the posts at the elbows.  "Down" has both bigs setting down screens for our wings while our wings rub off of our bigs from the inside and over the top.  When "Down" or "Kentucky" is called, the wings are the first options and the posts are the second options.  The dribble option is used only as an option of last resort.

"Down" Pre-set

"Kentucky" Pre-set

Likewise, there are times where we want to get the ball into the post either to take advantage of overplay at the wings or just to get the ball into the post area to start a possession.  The best of these pre-sets are what we call "Albertson" and "Cross".  "Albertson" allows our bigs to come high to the elbow to replace the wings who started there.  Meanwhile, "Cross" has our wings crossing from one side to the other with the intent of clearing the defensive players off of our posts so that we can attack inside.  With all of these pre-sets, we start our reads with our bigs then work our way to the wings and dribble option as the option of last resort.

"Albertson" Pre-set

"Cross" Pre-set

Teaching the 1-4 High Offense

In introducing the 1-4 high offense, I will always start out by teaching the offense during offensive script.  I will start with either the post entry first because I want to emphasize entering the ball into the post whenever possible.  Second, I go into wing option because I want that to be the second option for the point guard.  Finally, I teach the dribble option as the option of last resort.  Until we have completely installed the plays, we will not teach any of the presets, which we will teach during offensive script.

The offense can be taught 3-on-0 in our breakdown work.  To do this, you need to have one point guard, one wing and one post player.  You can have the post player set up on the side opposite of the wing or on the same side as the wing.  In teaching the wing option plays, you need the post and the wing on the same side, though I believe you could have him start on the weak side to teach the flash cut on the strong-side corner cut by the point guard.

To teach our post entry, we only use the post and the wing on the same side so that we can teach the backdoor off of post entry.  As for our dribble entry, we will work on the back screen by the wing with the post setting up on either elbow so that we can work on the Utah cut from both elbows since the wing has the option to screen for one or the other.

When we face a zone, we can use the 1-4 high as a pre-set against certain types of zone.  A post entry is perfect against a 1-3-1 zone or a 3-2 zone.  The wing option is always available to us against a 1-2-2, 2-1-2 or 2-3 zone.

I should also mention that if you are uncomfortable in giving options to your players as to how they cut/screen in the offense, you can replace the options with calls for certain set plays.  A younger and more inexperienced team would benefit more from this than in having cutting/screening options for certain players.

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