Mike Brey Notre Dame Fighting Irish Half Court Offense

pick and roll defense

Written by Coach Peterman

I have coached at the NCAA Division 2 (Southwestern Oklahoma State University), NAIA (USAO), and JUCO Levels (Blinn College and Carl Albert State College) as well as high school. I just felt that fellow coaches especially young coaches need to constantly work on their “game”. Just like the basketball players that we coach. We as coaches need to improve ourselves. That is my story and why I do this blog.

May 4, 2015

Mike Brey Notre Dame Fighting Irish Half Court Offense

“The Men’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish half court offense (2014-2015) consisted of blocker mover principles. Notre Dame’s spacing, shooting ability and constant movement forced defenses to closeout multiple times per possession, ultimately this is when Notre Dame was at its best. Notre Dame’s two most common sets throughout the 2014-15 NCAA tournament were their Over Under and Scissor Double Down sets. Notre Dame would also use their Over Under set in attacking match-up zones – more specifically screening to gap penetration.”

The most admirable thing about the Notre Dame performance against the Kentucky Wildcats was that they looked like a massive underdog on paper. From the beginning to the end, the Notre Dame fighting irish played toe to toe with a team that hadn’t lost in 37 tries. The Mike Brey Notre Dame Fighting Irish Half Court Offense didn’t have to make a crazy number of three-pointers to stay in the game (they finished just 4-for-14) and didn’t catch Kentucky on a fluky horrible shooting night (the Wildcats made 53.2% of their field goals and were 4-for-8 from the three-point line).

Instead, the Mike Brey Notre Dame Fighting Irish Half Court Offense had a plan and executed it almost to perfection. All year long, teams have tried to go inside against Kentucky with disastrous results, so the conventional thinking was that Notre Dame would need to hit perimeter shots to have a chance.

What the Mike Brey Notre Dame Fighting Irish Half Court Offense did instead was spread the floor to create space, drawing Kentucky’s big men out to the perimeter to open up driving lines and backdoor cuts. Notre Dame, a team with just one true big man in 6-10 junior Zach Auguste, finished with 40 points in the paint.

Early Pick and Roll Attack

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Bio:

Jon Giesbrecht
Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Currently in second year as an assistant coach with the University of Manitoba Men’s Basketball program. In fourth year as head coach of the John Taylor Collegiate Junior Varsity boys team. Head coach and director of Manitoba Basketball Academy. Former 17U Male Provincial assistant coach for team Manitoba. Currently a student at the University of Winnipeg – 3rd Year Education.

Quote: Judge a tree by the fruit it bears, not the fruit it talks about. ~ Les Brown

Click on the pdf link to download the Mike Brey Notre Dame Fighting Irish Half Court Offense:

Mike Brey Notre Dame Fighting Irish Half Court Offense

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