Instantaneous Ill-Informed Roundball Wrapup: Georgia Bulldogs 72, Vanderbilt Commodores 58

Basketball does not have as much strategy as football, but has far more than baseball, because baseball has almost none except between the batter and the hitter, and even that isn’t very complicated. (Yes, I implied it, now I’m going to say it: Baseball is a game for NOT thinking—it is almost 100% reaction.) While basketball has a lot of improvisation, especially in fast-break situations, half-court possessions are extremely structured on both offense and defense, and no team can win without being very good in the half-court game.

The strategies in basketball are far too many to list here, but wikipedia would be a good guide, podunkdawg: Coach Fox has instilled the triangle offense this year (look it up), an exceptionally complex motion offense that allows the ball-handler many choices at any given point in the possession. This was a GREAT choice for this team, because they do not have a very good point guard; most offenses in basketball are run through the point guard more than the triangle is. For comparison, the Lakers in the NBA have run this for years and have never really had a good PG because they don’t need one. But the triangle is harder to learn than most offenses, so it is not suprising that the team is getting better as the year goes on. This is a combination of coaching, familiarity, and comprehension, especially for young players like Travis Leslie.

On offense, basketball is defined by series of progressive cuts, picks, player spacing, and posts. A “post-up” is when a player positions himself with back to the basket at the top (high) or bottom (low) corner of the free-throw lane to get into “triple-threat” position: Shoot, drive, or pass. Players cut around each other very closely so as to pick off defenders and make space to receive passes and shoot. They also set picks, sometimes in progression of five or six on one play, in order to end up with a good player on a weaker player. Then there is the pick-and-roll, a staple play, where a player sets a pick for a ball-handler, then “rolls” toward the basket to receive a pass from the ball-handler; the confusion of two players criss-crossing is very hard to defend. One of the oldest basketball offenses is called “the weave,” where players run almost in circles, passing the ball to each other at the center of the court, gradually cutting more closely to the basket until one streaks open to receive a pass for a layup. But this offense was designed well before the advent of shot clocks, and it takes time to run, so it isn’t used much nowadays.

Quite frankly, I have a hard time watching college games anymore because the level of play is so poor. NBA games are exponentially more beautiful because of the player’s ability to correctly run offenses and anticipate what each other will do (and watching a good half-court set in a meaningful NBA playoff game is really something. I think there are few things that match the combination of beauty and intensity of NBA playoff basketball). In addition, they can actually shoot the ball, a real lost art in college. If you watch old videos of college games from 20 years ago, you can see how much better they were at passing and shooting.

Defense in BB is just as complex; there are multitudes of variations on zone and man-to-man. Again, wikipedia will help here. I’m going to leave with this, a now-classic discourse on the way basketball is played at the highest levels. I promise you’ll be amazed at just how much of a chess match it is:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html

Enjoy.