Why Things Work: Staying Wide on the Break

[gary-7]

The geometry of good basketball is exemplified by the Carolina transition game. A basic principle is getting to your lane and staying wide. The guide line was the old hash mark for the 5 second line --- in Break drills our players are taught to hit that mark before cutting to the hoop unless it's a "run-out". Why? Geometry. It creates passing angles. Behold:

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On this big play notice that even in an improvising situation, principles still hold.
Hicks gets a high rebound. With PG Berry low in the fray, Paige's first responsibility as a 2 is to get wide to get an outlet pass. However, with the outlet covered he moves up the floor, but still stays wide, and Hicks correctly "busts out". and becomes the ball-handler Here's the key: Most Guards would have gone right to the basket (Wrong!), but by staying wide Paige stretches the defense and creates a de facto back-door for the pass off his cut. The result? FLUSH! DAGGER!

BTW: Also notice how well-drilled our guys are. The other Wing (Pinson) is hitting his mark on the other side anticipating a Secondary Break, and Jackson and Berry assume the respective Trailer lanes
On Clemson's side #20 committed an egregious error by not "sprinting to the hole" before moving up to stop the ball.

Bottom line is, if Marcus doesn't adhere to our principles, this highlight film play ain't happening!

 

[TarHeelMark]

There is nothing prettier than a successfully executed Tar Heel fast break.


GO HEELS!

 

[Archer2]

Nobody executes the fast break better than we do. I keep hearing announcers talk about how important transition defense is when playing UNC. A lot of teams will run off of a missed shot, very few will run off of a made basket like we do. We have guys who can run the court and several guys who can make the assist. This is one of the best passing UNC teams I can remember. It's why we're so efficient offensively.

If our defense catches up with our offense, we'll be extremely tough. And we have the potential to be great defensively. Hicks and Johnson have to learn to move their feet more and reach less. We can't afford to have them in foul trouble every game.

 

[gary-7]

Nobody executes the fast break better than we do. I keep hearing announcers talk about how important transition defense is when playing UNC. A lot of teams will run off of a missed shot, very few will run off of a made basket like we do. We have guys who can run the court and several guys who can make the assist. This is one of the best passing UNC teams I can remember. It's why we're so efficient offensively..

Bingo. We are regularly scoring nearly half our points in transition, which is a Carolina ideal. The official stats we see published don't reflect that because they don't identify the Secondary Break points that aren't immediate scores, but Roy & Co. know it.
Our transition points are up this season because:
1. We have two PGs on the floor, and the guy actually playing PG is a Carolina prototype
2. This is (as you stated) a tremendous passing team as a whole and unselfish to the core
3. It still has a ways to go, but this team is already better defensively than last season's
4. The ball ain't sticking to anyone's hands this season
5. Nobody's aimlessly pounding the ball (useless dribbling)

 

[TPFKAPFS]

UNC fastbreak (including the secondary) is the best in college history! Our transition is so scary that Clemson wasn't even putting peeps on the freethrow line to try to slow it down. Doesn't bode well for GT since they like to run too!

 

[Archer2]

Raftery, one of my favorite commentators, was talking about our fast break and how we routinely "run it up the other teams back". He said look at how often our first pass after a defensive board is to half court or better. This effectively gives us numbers almost immediately, and creates passing lanes and mismatches. And very few teams will look to do the same thing after a made basket but we will and do so routinely.

I've heard more than one Coach stress transition defense as the first thing you have to do when playing UNC.

 

[gary-7]

UNC fastbreak (including the secondary) is the best in college history! Our transition is so scary that Clemson wasn't even putting peeps on the freethrow line to try to slow it down. Doesn't bode well for GT since they like to run too!

Yep. And it absolutely floors me that some of our fan base (mostly those who don't remember Dean Smith) wanted a coach from outside the family when Doh was canned, and will again when Roy retires. What you just described is the essence of Carolina basketball, and I can tell ya, it just ain't played like that outside the family.
Sure, there are some fine coaches out there and fine systems... but they ain't the Carolina system.