GLENDALE, Ariz. โ In the summer of 2022, Connecticut coach Dan Hurley decided to adopt a new offensive system and a new way of teaching set pieces. Hurley chose the football approach. He devised a glossary of terms for various adjustments and actions.
He gives a made-up example of a “14 jet zoom pitch twin.”
The 14 represents alignment (1-4 low) and the Husky stacks the action. In this case, it's jet, then zoom, then pitch, then twin.
“It's like learning a language,” Hurley says.
A new offense focused on off-ball screening and movement helped the Huskies win the national title in 2023. And last summer, Hurley essentially tore up the university's dictionary and came up with a new glossary.
“We did it because of paranoia,” said assistant coach Luke Murray, the program's offensive coordinator.
UConn's choreographed set is already making opponents dizzy, so it probably won't be necessary. Defending UConn is like multitasking in a classroom full of screaming kids. Example from Saturday's semifinal against Alabama:
The play begins with the college's best shooter, Cam Spencer, catching the ball and passing it to the wing, with Donovan Clingan setting a chin screen and heading to the basket. He then went around and set up a back screen for Alex Karaban. This is where the confusion for Alabama's defense begins. Alabama's Aaron Estrada and Rylan Griffen are almost interchangeable.
Grant Nelson, guarding the Clingan, stands in the middle of the lane, leaning away from the Clingan, trying to act as air traffic controller. His head turns right and left, paying attention to what is happening behind him. With Alabama's two guards confused on the switch, Spencer turned to his right and set up the first of two stumble screens for Tristen Newton. Newton rejects the screen and cuts to the basket. This actually gives Griffen a chance to get back into position, but then comes another screen from Clingan. And Griffen is toast. Spencer curls and gets a free throw line jumper. Ideally Nelson would provide help, but he was trapped in the control center in the paint and afraid to completely abandon Clingan rolling to the rim.
You have to watch it three or four times to understand exactly what's going on. Now imagine trying to defend against all of this in real time.
โI have thoroughly studied the top offenses in the country over the past five years, and UW has the most complex offense due to its combination of off-ball screening, ball movement within sets, and number of sets. “I've seen that era,” said Jordan Sperber, former video coordinator at New Mexico State University and now the emperor of college basketball's X's and O's, in a weekly publication. We're documenting it all in our newsletter “Hoops Vision.'' Sperber created a college offense video last month titled “Why This Offense Is Basketball Poetry.”
“Their half-court offense is picturesque,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said.
Last week, Philadelphia 76ers wing Nicolas Batum tweeted that although he's not used to watching college basketball, “The way UW plays is the way basketball should be taught and played.” Especially at that age. โ
Bob Hurley Sr., Dan's father and a coaching legend in his own right, says all of his fellow coaches at East rave to him about how much fun this team is to watch.
Dan Hurley has long had a reputation for coaching tough teams that play hard. But an aggressive savant? Usually his defense was always better than his attack. The offense didn't rank in the top 50 until Hurley's 11th season as a college head coach. And last season, when the Huskies finished third, was Hurley's first season with a top-20 offense. This year's Huskies enter Monday night's national championship game against Purdue as the most efficient offensive line in college basketball. I feel like I'm just one step away from becoming a dynasty.
How did that happen?
When Hurley took over at Connecticut in 2018, the Huskies were in the American Athletic Conference. The best teams in the league were Houston and Wichita State. These teams were big and physical up front, so Hurley tried to match them. At Rhode Island, Hurley used a lot of ball-screen offense and played a lot of four-and-around-ones. He carried over the ball screen concept to his UConn, but now with his two posts on the floor. Spacing was an issue.
Hurley wanted a more modern approach with four players on the perimeter and brought in Murray to help the offense. Murray was with Hurley in his first season as head coach at Wagner College in 2010-11. Hurley attempted to close his talent gap that season by extending his shot clock. If you study all of his teams, perhaps the most discernible of his last two UConn teams is his first Wagner team. The strength of that roster was in shooting, with Hurley running a lot of floppy action against free shooters. Wagner finished 18th in assist percentage that season. For Hurley, no other team would have ranked in the top 100 in assist percentage until last year's team finished eighth. (This year's team is in 5th place.)
Murray rejoined Hurley in April 2021, but plans could not be made right away because Hurley felt loyalty to senior forward Isaiah Whaley. Also, point guard RJ Cole was best played off ball screens, so UConn played a traditional two-big lineup and relied on pick-and-rolls.
But in the summer of 2022, the plan was put into action. The Huskies had an elite shooter in Jordan Hawkins, who was perfect for running off screens and using gravity to exploit openings. Additionally, there was an ideal stretch four in Karavan, a freshman who graduated early and showed up during the semester break for the 2021-22 season.
“It was really clear that we were going to move to a more off-ball screening identity,” Murray says.
Hurley and Murray studied European teams and stole various concepts and packages they could use.
“It's not necessarily like a replica,” Murray said. โWeโre just piecing together what makes the most sense for our group.โ
The goal is to add stress to the defense by stacking up multiple actions that create indecision on the defense. Most set pieces are choreographed. While the Huskies have looked patterned at times, their offense is like a choose-your-own-adventure story.
“If you make the decision to deny the screen, it sets off a chain of events that involves two or three other off-ball scenarios,” Murray explains. “That's something we take seriously, because good defensive teams can often do a good job of forcing teams out of set pieces. But the randomness of how they cut, the randomness of how they screen. I think the gender and the diversity of players as passers, movers, screeners and shooters is what makes it really difficult.โ
Murray said the Huskies take great pride in their defense, which ranks No. 4 in the nation, but estimates the offense and defense are split 65-35 in practice.
“You can have the best concept in the world, but the players have to be able to execute it with intelligence, a knack for timing and spacing, and a deep understanding of how it is protected.” Murray says. “That's one of the things we focus on in preparing for games. Most of our scouting is based on what other teams are running. We often talk about how they protect us.โ
The Huskies set up so many off-ball screens that many teams switch frequently. That switch caused some problems for UConn at the beginning of the season. Injuries played a role in UW's loss at Kansas, but Kansas' switching defense also prevented the Huskies from suffering their first loss of the season.
They spent a lot of practice time early on learning what to do with these switches. Once Clingan was injured, they began to make more cuts into their sets, especially when moving to a five-out offense with Karavan under center.
“They were really good against guys who were sliding and making mistakes and switching,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. โIf you shoot under the screen or switch late, theyโre going to try to get out of there and make you pay.โ
Clingan is especially hard to stop when he gets the ball up top or in the corner and pulls off the rim protector. Clingan is good at reading defenses and his height allows him to see right through them easily. At this time, a back cut is fatal.
The defenders panic due to the endless cuts.
“If you don't cut and get the ball, you're opening up the ball for someone else,” Karavan said.
The Huskies can also punish switches with drives. If the big man switches to Newton, which will happen on the play below, he knows it's time to attack.
Klingan can also perform dribble handoffs, making these actions nearly impossible to defend as his bulk makes him difficult to avoid. And if the Clingan guy decides to make the switch, the Huskies will try to send him to the post and feed the ball from there.
Much of last year's offense was built around Hawkins running around screens endlessly, then Adama Sanogo ducking in late. The plan this year was to largely replicate what worked last year, except for more pick-and-rolls for Clingan and backup center Samson Johnson. It became necessary to find a replacement for Hawkins. The Huskies acquired Spencer, who shot 43.4 percent from 3-point range at Rutgers last season, but the Huskies realized he was more than just a knockdown shooter.
Defending last year's team was like solving calculus. This season is like trying to solve trigonometric functions. Spencer can handle the ball in the pick-and-roll and then has great movement without the ball. He has the best offensive rating in college basketball. Karaban can also pop out of the screen and is a great cutter. And they don't always come from the same place.
“They can do the same action or flip-flop players, but I don't think this is as common as everyone thinks,” Miller says.
โThe only thing this coaching staff does better than anyone else is they put you in a position to be successful,โ Spencer said. “They're going to help you play to your strengths and help you develop your weaknesses. There are times when you go off script and Coach Hurley will let you know when that happens, but honestly… , you don't have to do that with this team. We're so selfish, and the ball will find you. If it doesn't, too bad. It's not your night.”
This mindset is why UConn's shot selection is so good. This is also why the Huskies rank 328th in adjusted tempo, as many half-court possessions can end up deep into the shot clock.
“They're very patient and executed when they're in the half court,” Miller said. “But I think what makes them great is a combination of how elite they are in transition and how elite they are at running sets. In the college basketball world, in the open court. I don't think there is anyone more dangerous than this.”
This is another area where Harley wanted to be elite. He likes to hit missed shots quickly and wants his players to move quickly to the floor for transition 3s instead of looking for play calls from the sideline. According to Synergy, the Huskies are his seventh-most efficient transition team in college basketball, and he ranks fifth in half-court efficiency. They are the only team in the country to rank in the top 10 in both.
These numbers only reflect first-chance opportunities, second- and third-chance opportunities are not valued, and UConn ranks 13th in offensive rebounding percentage.
“The job starts when they take the shot, because they're going to be on the offensive glass,” McDermott said.
It's exhausting to play against the Huskies because there's never a relaxing moment. That's why they've won 11 straight games by double digits in the NCAA Tournament. Alabama hung on for 35 minutes Saturday before Spencer hit a line jumper for a free throw, followed by a Karaban 3-pointer in a complex 20-second set and then a pick-and-roll dunk by Clingan. Spencer then curled around Clingan's screen, engaged the defender, passed the ball and completed the dunk. This was also a beautiful play design that eliminated help.
The (Crimson) Tide crumbled as the Huskies scored on seven of their final nine possessions.
While every game seems inevitable, Miller cries out the remaining scary parts of college basketball.
“(Harley) has grown and evolved,” Miller said. “He's more polished and he's certainly more confident in himself.”
And his evolved offensive approach has him on the verge of winning back-to-back titles. No one knows how many more there are.
(Top photo of Cam Spencer: Elsa / Getty Images)