HIGH POST OFFENSE

Teams such as UCLA, Princeton, Georgetown, Louisville, and others have had great success attacking defenses with the high post offense.  This offense is noted for its versatility and its ability to take advantage of five players who can share the basketball and pass it effectively.

Advantages of the High Post Offense

Because the offense is run off of the baseline, it draws the defense from the baseline.  This opens up the area below the free throw line-extended for backdoors and post-ups.  Because of the 2-3 set-up of the high post offense with the forwards at the wings and the center in the high post, the defense can be put into situations where they have to make decisions as to how they intend to guard the offense.

If the defense decides to guard the offense between the man and the basket, the perimeter jump shot becomes a real possibility.  Meanwhile, if the defense tries to pressure the offense, backdoor lay-ups open up for the offense.  Dead fronts of the high post can also lead to problems in that the lob pass becomes a possibility to where the center can score easily at the basket.

Second, the offense is versatile when it comes to tempo.  Depending on how the offense plays the defense, it can be a quick-hitting offense or it can run copious amounts of time off of the clock.  If the shots come quickly in the offense, we would prefer that it be the result of a defensive breakdown like that of what would be found running any other offense.

Finally, the offense also lends itself to other offenses and offensive alignments.  When the offense breaks down, there are a number of offenses that the high post offense naturally flows into including motion, the Flex, and even the pick-and-roll offense.  Also, the offense lends itself to five-out, 2-3 high, and 2-2-1 alignments that can be used to attack the defense.

Disadvantages of the High Post Offense

One of the problems with the offense is that it requires a center who is an outstanding passer who can play away from the basket.  The center must be able to play at least 15 feet from the basket and will be used as a passer a great deal of the time.  If you cannot trust your center to handle the basketball and be a threat to score away from the basket, running this offense will not benefit your team.

The other problem is that since the offense has four perimeter players in it, it requires that all four perimeter players must be capable of shooting from the perimeter.  Because the offense is perimeter oriented in nature, the players on the perimeter must be capable of scoring from the perimeter.

Guard-to-Post Pass

The first option in the high post offense is to get the ball to the high post.  When this is done, the passer will initiate the action that will follow.  The passing guard can dive to the low block on his side which will prompt the opposite guard to dive to the opposite low block (Diagram 1).  The look for the center is to hit either one for a backdoor lay-up.

The other possibility is to run a post split with a handoff to either guard (Diagram 2).  If the guard gets the ball, we want him to score.  If not, we will run from a three-around-two alignment which will be described in greater detail later on in the article.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

Guard-to-Forward Pass

When the guard makes a pass to the forward, the offense can go one of two ways:

First, the passing guard can make a UCLA cut to the direction of the pass with the other guard receiving a back screen from the center on a Hawk cut (Diagram 3).

Second, the passing guard can make a UCLA cut away from the pass and the other guard uses the back screen from the center to make a Hawk cut (Diagram 4).

Diagram 3

Diagram 4

Guard-to-Guard Pressure Release

If at any moment we cannot make a pass to the ball-side forward or the center, a pressure release can be made by making a simple pass to the opposite guard (Diagram 5).  From here, the guard who receives the pass can pass to either the forward on his side or the center in the high post area.

Diagram 5

Dribble Entry

If we cannot make a pass to the guard, forwards, or center, we can use a dribble entry to get the offense into action.  If the defense overplays the passing lane, the forward will fake high and cut backdoor (Diagram 6).

Should the defense sag off, we will run a dribble handoff (Diagram 7).  When this happens, the help-side guard dives to the help-side low block and the help-side forward v-cuts and replaces the help-side guard.

Diagram 6

Diagram 7

Running the Offense

Whenever the ball is passed from the guard to the forward and the guards have made their cuts.  We get into a three-around-two alignment as shown in Diagram 8.  Whenever this happens, we want to get the ball to the center in or near the free throw circle.

Diagram 8

When the center gets the ball (whether it is from the feed to the center by a guard or by a forward), we have two options as to how we want to get our guards back on top with the basketball in their hands.  The first is to have the guards cross before coming off of the down screens set by the forwards (Diagram 9).  The other is for the guards to come off of the down screens on their respective sides (Diagram 10).

Diagram 9

Diagram 10

When the ball is passed to a guard off of either the down screen or the guards crossing underneath, the center will cut directly to the basket.  The forwards can either pop out to the wings (Diagram 11) or cross and come out on opposite sides (Diagram 12).

Diagram 11

Diagram 12

If we make a guard-to-forward pass, we will look to get the ball inside to the center (Diagram 13).  After the guard-to-forward pass is made, the guard who makes the pass

If we are unable to make the pass to either the guard or the center on the post-up, the center will screen away to bring the help-side guard to the low post on a Hawk cut (Diagram 14).  When this happens, we will get back into a three-around-two alignment.

Should the guard be unable to pass to the forward, the center will come high and the 2-3 high set comes back into play.  This could be triggered by a denial to the forward or a guard-to-guard pass.

Diagram 13

Diagram 14

Counter from 3 Around 2

After the ball is passed to a forward and the offense gets into a three-around-two alignment, we want to get the ball to the center.  If we are unable to do so, we have a counter as shown in Diagram 15.  The center will start toward the ball to get the defender up the floor before cutting backdoor.  Meanwhile, the guards clear off of the blocks to open up room for the cutting center.

If the center cannot get the ball on the rim run, he will step to the ball and the guards will come high and change sides of the floor as shown in Diagram 16.  We want the guard who starts on the same side as the ball in this scenario to rub the center's man off of him so that we can get a low post entry.

Diagram 15

Diagram 16

Teaching the High Post Offense

For an offense like this, it is best to teach it with five players running the offense with no defense.  The options can be presented to the players and can be practiced.  It is important that the players realize what they can do in the offense and how they can score within the structure of the system.

The offense can also be effectively taught by breaking down certain aspects with two offense players or three offensive players.  To make this work best, start with no defenders involved in the maneuver you wish to teach before adding the defense to it.  Once you are done with this, bring back the offense to its five-on-zero/five-on-five work.

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