Mountain State Times

Mountaineer Offense Fueling Early-Season Success

 The five-out motion offense Bob Huggins' teams have been running since his Cincinnati days is a thing of beauty to watch when he's got the players who are willing to pass the basketball and move without it.
 
But when the ball gets stuck, or one guy continually dribbles it while four others are standing around watching him, you want to turn your head and look the other way as was oftentimes the case last year. Already through 11 games this season, there is a night-and-day difference watching this edition of the Mountaineers compared to last year's.
 
Huggins was asked about this the other day.
 
"They like each other, and they're all on the same page," he explained. "Let's face the facts; they can shoot it as many times as those other guys did if they want to, but they want to win."
 
This team is sharing the ball like his successful offenses did at Cincinnati in 1995 when the Bearcats averaged 81 points per game or two years later when they averaged 80.7 per contest. It also didn't hurt to have some really good players such as LaZelle Durden, Danny Fortson, Darnell Burton and Ruben Patterson on the floor to run it. Yet all of them were willing to merge their personal ambitions with the team's goals.
 
It was the same deal with Huggins' two best offensive teams at West Virginia in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
 
His 2017 squad won 28 games and averaged 81.5 points per game without one great scorer. Jevon Carter was capable of being that guy, as he did in 2018, but Carter was part of a group of eight different players who averaged between 13.5 and 5.6 points per game.
 
One night JC did the scoring and the next it was either Daxter Miles Jr., Nate Adrian, Tarik Phillip, Elijah Macon or Sagaba Konate.
 
This year's team is scoring at a clip (81.9 ppg.) that hasn't been seen around here since the early 1990s when Gale Catlett's 1991 squad averaged 87.3 points per game.
 
The beauty of Huggins' five-out system is that everyone can get a piece of the pie. Without getting too deep into the weeds (there are plenty of YouTube videos and websites out there that break down Huggins' motion offense in fine detail), his system relies on spacing the floor and using a set of simple rules that help players determine their movements and actions.
 
Coaches who break down Huggins' offense cite its many benefits, specifically:
 
* Players learn how to play the game of basketball
* It's position-less because everyone is required to pass, cut, dribble, screen, shoot, etc.
* Every player contributes
* It's difficult for teams to scout because there are no set passes or actions
* The opposition can't crowd certain areas of the floor because of spacing
* It's easy to teach due to progressions 
 
The five players in Huggins' motion offense occupy the two corners, the two wings and the top of the key beyond the NBA 3-point line to create enough space for cutters. The rules are simple. If a player is being denied, back cut immediately. If the guy with the ball believes he can attack the basket and score, do it! 
 
Players must square up to the rim in triple-threat position when they have the ball, and every action must have a purpose. Cuts are expected to be hard, and screens are to be executed correctly. Players must never stand still after passing the ball. 
 
When all of this happens, it's a sight to behold!
 
Take this year, for instance. West Virginia has already had six games shooting better than 50%, or the same amount last year's team had in 33 games.
 
Ken Pomeroy's analytics say the Mountaineers have the nation's 21stmost efficient offense in the country. Statistically, as of this morning, it rates 27th nationally in points per game. 

And much like those other successful offenses, one night it could be Erik Stevenson scoring the points, or the next game it's Tre Mitchell or Emmitt Matthews Jr.
 
Jimmy Bell Jr. is coming off a career-high 18 points against Buffalo one week after Kedrian Johnson almost matched his career best with 17 points in the UAB win. Earlier this season, Joe Toussaint erupted for 18 points in the blowout win at Pitt.
 
Seth Wilson and Mohamed Wague have also had double-digit scoring nights this year. Kobe Johnson is capable of being the next to do it.
 
Stevenson admits this is the best offensive system he's played in since his sophomore season at Wichita State.
 
"This team reminds me of my sophomore year because we have so many guys who can knock down a shot," he noted. "We can score from the outside, we can score from the mid-range, and we can get close and score."
 
Stevenson said coach Gregg Marshall's motion system at Wichita State had many different sets that were predetermined from the sideline, while Huggins' system is based on reading and reacting to what the defense is doing.
 
"We probably had 65 or 70 halfcourt sets and then we probably had 10 different transition plays that we called 'quicks,'" Stevenson explained. "At the start of the game, he would give us three sets – on the first possession run this set and then on the next dead ball run another and then another. 
 
"We had 10 transition plays we ran, and you had some freedom within that, but here, I feel it's pretty open and pretty free - which wasn't the case at Wichita. We've got plenty of athletes who can get to the rim, and we've got floor spacers and a team full of unselfish players," he added.
 
The key to making this all work is the players' unselfishness. As Huggins likes to say, "One against five is a hard deal."
 
Will this team continue to score the way it's scoring right now when it gets into Big 12 play? Can it continue to shoot at the nearly 50% clip it's shooting through 11 nonconference games so far?
 
If it can, then the Mountaineers could be headed down a path toward some special things come March. 
 
"These guys want to win," Huggins reiterated. "Erik could have gone wherever he wanted to go. Tre could have gone wherever he wanted to go. Joe could have gone wherever he wanted to go. They chose to come here. Emmitt wanted to come back. We have guys who want to be here, and I don't think we had that a year ago.
 
"I don't have any reservations about this team from what it was a year ago," he added. "If you look back at it, we were in position to win a whole lot of big games, and we didn't. I don't think that will happen with this group. We've got different people."
 
Different people, for sure, who are willing and capable of running the same, old stuff that's been so successful for Bob Huggins through the course of his Hall of Fame coaching career.
 
"This is the stuff they were running when they first invented basketball," Stevenson joked. 

Original source can be found here