2015 Final Four Series | Wisconsin Badgers vs. Kentucky Wildcats

Continuing forward with the 2015 Final Four Series and looking at a few last plays from the Wisconsin/Kentucky National Semi-Final game. After breaking down a few half court actions I looked at two baseline out of bounds plays that led to baskets. The first one was a set play Kentucky ran against Wisconsin’s Man to Man BLOB defense. Although a very basic play it accomplished exactly what UK was hoping for, 1 on 1 with the ball 15 feet from the rim in their best dribble drive player’s hands. In the video included you will see that #1 Booker took the ball out and didn’t run the play correctly. You can tell he screwed the play up because #5 Harrison in the corner of the court is pointing and yelling at him to run off the double screen being set by the 4 & 5. Booker entered the ball to #2 Harrison who popped back to catch the ball at the elbow. With a shooter in the ball side corner, and the in-bounder running off a double screen set by the two bigs it eliminates help side defense so that Harrison now can play 1 on 1 from 15 feet away from the basket. In this particular play against Wisconsin he goes right to the basket for a lay-up.

Looking for more plays from the Kentucky Wildcats? You can check the 2014-2015 Kentucky Wildcats Playbook

The next 2015 Final Four Series baseline out of bounds play in the video provided is one Wisconsin ran to get a dunk against Kentucky’s man to man defense. A traditional screen the screener set out of this normal formation would have the 5 man screening for the guard so the guard can pop to the corner and the 5 can dive to the rim. In this particular play Wisconsin reversed the action as they had already ran the traditional screen the screener once. Kaminsky instead of screening in received a screen and was able to roll right to the basket for a wide open slam dunk. #10 Nigel Hayes stays spaced out all the way on the opposite side of the floor to remove the other big from being located near the basket.

Both of these simple yet effective  2015 Final Four Series baseline out of bounds plays resulted in lay-ups in a game that featured two of the best defensive teams in the country. An isolation play like Kentucky ran is great to have in your playbook for a quick hitter to get a player who is feeling it a quick look or attempt to get an opponent in foul trouble. The screen the screener action that Wisconsin ran is a great concept to put in your playbook to allow your players to make reads or give options off other screen the screener sets.

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Kevin Bruinsma is entering his third year as the Men’s Director of Basketball Operations at Youngstown State University. Before joining the staff at YSU in 2013-2014, Bruinsma spent the 2012-2013 season as the Director of Basketball Technology at the University of Portland. Prior to heading out west to Portland, Bruinsma served as the Graduate Manager/Video Coordinator at Cleveland State University from 2009-2012. During his time at CSU the Vikings won the Horizon League Regular Season Championship, participated in two Post-Season NIT’s, and had a first round NBA draft pick. While working at Cleveland State he received his Graduate degree in Sports Management. His first video experience was in the Summer of 2008 as Bruinsma served as a video & scouting intern for the Orlando Magic throughout the NBA summer leagues. After his experience with the Magic, he applied those skills as an Advanced Scout for Albion College during the 2008-2009 campaign. Along with multiple years of video, and scouting experience Bruinsma has also been a Head Coach at the High School level serving as the JV Boy’s Head Basketball Coach at Concord High School from 2007-2009. Bruinsma graduated from Spring Arbor University where he played Basketball, and Soccer. As a basketball player SAU won the 2005 NCCAA National Championship, while on the Soccer field he was a two-time All-Region Selection, and Team MVP.

Bruinsma runs his own coaching website: https://bruinsmablog.wordpress.com and is a contributor to Fast Model Sports.

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2015 Final Four Series | Wisconsin Badgers vs. Kentucky Wildcats