Cuts From The Offensive Playbook – Inside Triangle

We’re back! This time we’ll be jumping right into the next offensive break down in the series – “Inside Triangle” often called “3-Man” within the organization. Part 1 of this session I focused on Sides if you’d like to revisit and compare. Again, the purpose of this will be informational to help differentiate our various offenses from each other and better understand how they function. I’ll be referring to it as “Triangle” from here by shorthand.

Our Inside Triangle offense, similar to Sides, is a motion-based offense that typically has no pre-determined movement. The players, once again, work off of and with each other to read the defense and then to react accordingly. The main difference here is in the structure and what it’s trying to set up. Unlike Sides which, as we established last time, keeps a guard at the point and then another guard and post on each side of the floor, with all players able to interchange between regions; Triangle keeps two players stationary on either wing, with the vast majority of the screening and motion happening between three players around the lane, inside of the three-point line. The “Triangle” portion of the name references these three players as points, as they move around each other setting ball screens, backdoor screens, etc., attempting to create open looks at the rim, to clear out space around the rim, to create distraction, and generally to keep their defenders occupied and fighting through a series of actions. It helps to have as many shooters as possible in this offense, which is why we most often saw it run in our Small Ball lineups toward the latter half of the season last year. When any of the screeners are threats to leave the screening action or to execute a pick-and-pop, the three-point shot best capitalizes on the opportunity, and the need to defend that far out also more opens up the space around the rim for drivers/cutters. When the two static wings are threats to shoot, it ensures that their man is less able to cheat his way into the play.

If the goal of Sides is most commonly (and unsurprisingly) to keep spacing to play through one side of the floor, the goal of the Inside Triangle (also the goal of the offense I’ll cover in the next section but executed differently) is to open up the middle of the floor to allow more clean looks at the rim or to punish through outside shooting if the defense sags off or cheats. The most common iteration gets the ball to one of the two wings and has it stick there, while the other three players cut off of each other until an open look is generated or until enough of a distraction is created such that the wing has a clear path to take his man off of the dribble to the hoop without the defense having the ability to help well from the off side. But, there are many different ways that the offense can unfold and evolve as it reacts to the defense, from one of the three motion players playing the point as the primary ball handler and navigating ball screens to attempt to attack the rim or kick our to the wing for an open look, to even two-man screen action between one of the motion players and one of the wings. As is staple of a CTB base offense, it’s all about reading what the defense is doing and reacting/having many different options to do so. As always, this is best understood with visual aid, so let’s go to the tape and try to take a look at most of these scenarios.

As an intro, let’s look at the play below and then I’ll point out some core concepts afterward:

While it’s not the first time we used the offense this past season, this was the game where it got its foothold and really shaped what our strategy was to become for the second half of the season. This is the first UNC game at home where both Bacot and Nance were out of the game and where we were still struggling inside in the first half despite that. Looking to mix it up somewhat radically, CTB trotted out this four-guard offense with Clark (#0), McKneely (#11), Beekman (#2), Franklin (#4), and Vander Plas (#5). I should point out, and it will be clear later, that the offense doesn’t need to reduce the number of post players to work – we had been trying it earlier with them in the game and did again later in the season, but it does work best with as many outside shooters as possible. BVP was instrumental in our best versions of this. I imagine Jacob Groves will be instrumental in our best versions of it this coming season. Here we have Clark and McKneely at both of the wing positions with Beekman, Franklin, and BVP executing the motion element. Notice how Clark and IMK stay roughly in their respective areas in this one while the big movement comes from the other three. When we start the clip (a little late but just a few seconds in so this was the first action), BVP actually pops out to the point, with Franklin under the rim, and Beekman trotting down through the lane. Clark passes him the ball and he passes it over to IMK on the other side. This is a common action that we’ll see in many of the clips below, someone from the triangle popping out to the point to take the ball and either reverse sides of the floor or to attempt to create something off of the bounce. Notice, BVP’s man has to respect him at the three-point line and plays up on him. There’s a nifty little action then between Beekman and Franklin where Franklin appears to be ready to set a back screen for him but, instead, Beekman flares out casually toward the opposite elbow and Franklin, his man trailing, extends to the near-side in that mid-range area, taking the pass from IMK with his back to the basket. Meanwhile, BVP has drifted down inside the three-point line and Beekman runs like he’s going to use him as a pin-down screen. His man is caught trying to make sure he doesn’t get beaten for a three, but Beekman curls it tight off of the screen and now is firmly between his man and the hoop, running downhill. After BVP sets the screen he drifts outside to the three-point line out closer to Clark, so his man is forced to make the decision of helping on the cutting Beekman and leaving his man wide open outside, or staying close enough to recover. He picks the latter (a bad choice) and Franklin finds Beekman in stride, able to finish around the rim without a post presence to impact the shot.

So, that’s the core foundation of the offense. Some things to call your attention to early on – notice that IMK and Clark were just hanging out on each curve of the arc, stationary throughout. BVP, Beekman, and Franklin functioned as a motion triangle in the middle, but BVP often playing outside of the three-point line or moving out there as the play developed, created an open middle after the quality curl screen he worked with Beekman. Franklin was mostly a decoy on the play but commanded his man’s attention in a spaced-out post and had a great passing angle to deliver the pass to the cutter. Any of these three could have popped outside to threaten to shoot, worked as screeners, or worked as cutters.

Let’s take a few more looks at how some of this screening action creates opportunities. This next one below is gorgeous and illustrates a lot of the key structure. Notice Clark and IMK again on the wings. Clark has the ball with Beekman out at the point – you can see he and BVP and Franklin are in a pretty symmetrical triangle at the start of this play. Beekman’s man is attempting to deny him the pass out, so BVP flashes to the three-point line and takes the pass from Clark. Now Beekman has to react to this, and does by running toward BVP with the option to take the ball with a hand off. BVP chooses to keep the ball and Beekman is able to use him as a rub screen while he still has the ball (I love plays where the ball handler also acts as a screener). Beekman’s defender is #2 Caleb Love on UNC and this action puts him behind Beekman since he was over-playing the ball denial. With Beekman having had advantage created for him, BVP looks for the pass – but it’s made more difficult with his man right on him. This is my favorite part, as BVP passes it down to Franklin in the extended post, who uses this to both keep his own man occupied and to take the new passing angle to get the ball to Beekman wide-open at the rim.

Really pretty and also a good example of how that motion adapted to and exploited what the defender was attempting to do (over play Beekman from getting the ball at the point).

Here’s a look against Wake a little later. We’ve got Clark and IMK on the wings again as well as Beekman in motion, but we also have Jayden Gardner (#1) and Francisco Caffaro (#22) in the triangle. Now neither Caffaro nor Gardner is a threat to shoot from outside of the three-point line, but Gardner has a nice midrange jumper and Caffaro was probably our most impactful screener. The ball goes from Clark through Gardner to IMK on the bottom wing (again, using top and bottom to differentiate sides of the floor for visual purposes). IMK holds for a considerable while as Gardner and Caffaro coordinate a double screen for Beekman at the elbow. Beekman flares to the point out of it and Gardner dives, drawing both defenders with him. IMK attempts to dribble in from the wing (something we’ll talk about later), but Gardner’s dive brings the defense right to him so he has to pull the ball back out by passing it to Beekman. The offense resets a little, now with Beekman as the primary ball handler, still as a part of the three-man, and IMK backing back out to the wing. Gardner identifies and uses a curl screen from Caffaro to give himself space. Wake switches the screen post-to-post, but the defender is sagged too far off in the process and Gardner is able to pull up in the mid-range to hit his shot.

There are a few things to call out about that one above. For one, the offense doesn’t get deterred when it crosses a few wires. IMK saw a driving lane and attempted to take it, but Gardner saw that same space as a potential landing spot after setting his screen for Beekman, bringing his defenders into the play. IMK just reset, they played the ball through the point, and Gardner used Caffaro as a screener again to create his own look. Note, we don’t have to be small as we weren’t here. We played this Triangle with two big non-shooting threats (from outside at least). Caffaro’s screening and threat around the rim is more palpable and Gardner is able to play it for the mid-range shot. But, it is a little less effective. One of the best ways to defend this offense is to switch the inside screening and to sag defenders into the middle of the lane, which is easier if your bigger defenders don’t have to pull as far from the rim. When Gardner dove to the rim, Wake defended him with two players and felt correctly comfortable leaving Caffaro alone at the free throw line, which also clogged the IMK drive. They also switched the screen from Caffaro on Gardner that was the correct read, the defender just stayed too low and didn’t get out quickly enough on Gardner’s jumper. So, yes, it’s still viable and bigger players need less space to convert opportunities inside… but it’s much more cluttered when you don’t have those same shooting threats to pull the inside defenders away from the lane.

Let’s contrast that look above with another look with two post players, but this time Shedrick and BVP. Franklin accompanies them in the Triangle and Clark and McKneely are on either wing. Initially the ball goes down to McKneely with Shedrick standing on the near post. BVP sets a back screen for Franklin who attempts to cut back door on the far side of the rim, and then pops outside of the three-point line. Notice that Pitt has to make sure they aren’t sagging off of him out there, and he takes the pass and reverses it over to Clark. Meanwhile, Franklin sets a screen for Shedrick to free him up cutting baseline and he takes the pass between the post and the three-point line. This gives him the ability to face up but also draws his defender enough so that there’s space behind him. This allows BVP to set a screen for Franklin that he could use as a pin down, but instead curls around and dives to the spot that Shedrick had just vacated, taking the pass for the wide-open dunk.

That screening motion in the play above was nice and created an open cut for Franklin, but I want to call out why the look was SO open compared to the previous Gardner midrange jumper. For one, BVP is a formidable post player who requires some size to defend, but he spent most of that time as the top point on the Triangle; catching the ball around the three-point line and drawing his man, a traditional big, away from the hoop. Pitt was unwilling to switch the screens re: Franklin and Shedrick because it would create mismatches either way (as opposed to Wake being willing to interchangeably switch Gardner/Caffaro). This left Franklin’s man in the unenviable position of having to fight through all of the screens without switching help and, thanks to the spacing when Shedrick caught the ball and BVP’s threat to shoot at the point, without rim protectors able to help on him. What I’m hopefully illustrating here is that personnel matters quite a bit when running this offense because it’s so important to being able to achieve that open spacing in the middle of the defense. Contrast, again, with Sides, in which almost all of those ball screens are a big and a guard as opposed to big-to-big and guard-to-guard so there’s automatically less incentive to switch screens unless you just have a lot of a very specific type of defender who can guard either kind of player (and most teams don’t). It’s why most of the best stretches of this offense last year happened with BVP on the floor when he was shooting well and defenses were respecting it.

Here’s a look from the N.C. State game that’s similar to the Wake game, again, with BVP out of the game. Shedrick and Gardner are in the Triangle along with McKneely this time and Franklin and Clark are on the wings. The ball goes to Franklin in the wing, Shedrick sets a cross screen for Gardner who catches the ball in between the block and corner, who finds himself open and elevates into a slightly fading baseline jumper.

There isn’t a lot to this play – it’s just one screen action and a jumper – but N.C. State does switch the post-to-post screen and D.J. Burns simply doesn’t come out far enough or respect Gardner’s shot enough. So, the opposition is punished for sagging in the lane and not respecting the jumper, but in all cases you will still take a long two over an uncontested shot at the rim. Again, highlighting how you can execute this offense effectively without a shooter in the post but how you don’t get those same clean looks and/or if the opposition doesn’t respect your shot from a big, they aren’t punished for the extra point. It’s effective offense, but it’s less efficient offense than the Triangle is designed to be because of who is running it.

Back to having that shooter on the floor in BVP, Gardner, and Franklin in the Triangle and Beekman and Clark on the wings. This time when BVP has the ball at the point his man has to be up on him. Gardner stretches his man into the short corner, and Franklin sets the back screen for BVP. With Filipowski for Duke having to be all of the way out on the three-point line defending, that’s a lot of space for a man of his size to have to recover through a screen, and there’s a lot of open room for BVP to run. Note, also, Mark Mitchell for Duke is defending Franklin and he can’t sag off to help on the cut because he has to be aware of Franklin just popping out and taking a three. BVP cuts, catches the lob/lead pass from Beekman, and finishes the easy layup.

In the clips above, we’ve seen the screening action within the three players in the triangle creating open looks either at the rim or in the midrange. I’ve spoken to why that’s so much more effective with as many shooters on the floor as possible, but let’s take a look at some of that action:

Below we have what should be starting to look familiar screening action. McKneely and Clark are on the wings with BVP, Franklin, and Beekman in the Triangle. BVP pops out to the point and reverses the ball from Clark to IMK, then he goes down to set that screen we’ve seen a lot of where it could be a pin down or a curl screen. Franklin curls it around and this time BVP’s man sags off of him to help defend that action and not give Franklin a wide-open layup. BVP recognizes that and simply pops outside of the three-point line and punishes the defense with the bomb.

Here’s another look, below, against FSU, with Beekman, BVP, and Gardner on the inside and Franklin and Clark on the wings. BVP sets a ball screen at the point for Beekman (which we’ll talk about momentarily) but then he just camps the three-point line throughout the remainder of the possession. Beekman drives, Clark slides down to the corner, fakes a shot, drives, and then kicks to BVP for the shot. But, basically, here, BVP demands that his man not camp the lane to clutter and, when he does anyway, punishes by converting the catch and shoot.

And here’s one, below, that’s really interesting. This play starts out as a Sides look and then turns into the Inside Triangle. They did this from time to time to set a false look and misdirect the defense. IMK initially takes the pass to the wing and replaces to the point, and passes over to Clark. This makes it look like Sides with IMK at the point. Then Clark and Franklin establish as the wings and IMK runs through screen action to take a pin down outside of the three-point line!!!

This is not a designed play. It’s a very neat wrinkle and is even harder for the defense to identify and defend; especially if they’ve gotten into a flow of defending one or the other of the offenses. Very sweet.

So, we’ve seen how the interior screening action can free up looks inside or how players can pop outside to exploit help defense. Another wrinkle this offense builds into those concepts is ball screens between people within the Triangle. Rather than having the ball camp on the wing while we go through our cutting action, we’ll use the wings as spacing and then play through the point. Here, Beekman, Franklin, and BVP are part of the Triangle with Clark and McKneely on the wings. BVP actually fakes the ball screen and then moves to the other side of Beekman, who just takes his man off of the dribble, and finds Franklin who makes himself available inside for the dish when his man moves over to help on Beekman.

Below is another similar look and you can see the standard Triangle action at the beginning of the play with Beekman, Franklin and BVP all clustered at the elbow and IMK and Clark on the wings. BVP uses a double pin down screen from Beekman and Franklin to flash out to the three-point line, takes the pass from Clark, draws a hard contest and swings it over to IMK. He sets up a back door screen with Beekman but flares it wide and Beekman take the ball at the point. Now BVP comes up again, fakes the ball screen one way and adjusts to the other side, altering the position of his defender. Beekman rejects the ball screen and explodes to the hoop, with no back side defense because Franklin is extending his man. A lot of actions at the beginning of this play but notice at the end, the lane is completely cleared out on the back end of the rejected ball screen.

Below is another look, this one from the ACC Tournament against Clemson. We’ve got Clark and Dunn on the wings (interesting point, we often played Dunn on the wing out of this offense rather than a screener) and Franklin, Gardner, and Beekman in the middle. There’s no BVP, but still two out of the three screeners are capable of a deep shot. Still, Clemson is heavily switching at this point, being willing to send PJ Hall onto Beekman after Gardner’s cross screen early in the possession and then using sagging help to recover to their respective men. Dunn has the ball on the wing for this and kicks it out to Gardner who passes to Franklin on the point and then immediately sets a ball screen for him. Clemson has to switch the screen again, creating mismatches for both Franklin and Gardner. Franklin takes the switch off of the dribble to the hoop, drawing help from both Dunn’s man and his original man, sagging into the lane. Gardner rolls to the hoop and takes the bounce pass up for the layup before his original man (Hall) can get back into the play.

And then, this last of these against Duke – kind of a crazy variation with IMK, Clark, and BVP on the inside and Dunn and Beekman on the wing (Clark was far more effective typically on the wing in this set than as a screener but they would sometimes do this to make different defenders have to guard different things). Here BVP fakes the ball screen but Clark draws the big man Filipowski and is able to use his quickness to explode by him for the leaning layup.

The thing I like about ball screening actions within the Triangle is that they work as a bit of a failsafe when the opposition is playing the switch heavily or the off-ball action just isn’t functioning as effectively. For all practical purposes, you can clear out and play a two-man game out of the offense and force them to defend a pick and roll/pop with the added benefit that the other defenders aren’t primed/prepared to defend it and are still concerned with the other actions within the offense.

Similarly, the offense can provide good spacing for clear outs in the post if we get a mismatch. With all of the switching that defenses often do, this is often relevant, and it gives a lot of space for the offensive player to work while the defensive player isn’t often prepared to defend the inside one-on-one. Here’s a great example. UNC attempts to defend Armaan Franklin with the much shorter/smaller RJ Davis so that they can put Leon Washington on Beekman and Leaky Black on BVP. Franklin pins down for Beekman to get the ball at the point and then simply turns/posts Davis in the middle of the lane. BVP immediately backs out to the three-point line to stretch Black and keep him from being able to get into the play effectively, and Armaan just exploits the mismatch without having to worry about help side defense blocking his shot.

Here’s FSU attempting to switch the ball screen between Franklin and Gardner, below (BVP as the other motion player and Clark and Beekman on the wings). Matthew Cleveland gets switched onto Garnder and while that’s a similar size matchup, Cleveland is no match for Gardner in the post. Gardner sits down just outside of the block and calls for the ball, Cleveland overplays the pass trying to recover in time to deny entry rather than defending from behind, and Gardner just catches, pins, turns, and wrecking balls his way through the lane for the bucket.

And here’s one more against Pitt where the offensive screen action doesn’t really work. Gardner, Shedrick, and Franklin are in the Triangle with Beekman and Clark initially on the wings (Clark switches to the point in the Triangle and Franklin swaps to the wing mid possession). Pitt sags and clogs the middle on the screening action when Gardner has the ball in the extended post from both Shedrick’s man and from Beekman’s on the back side. We have to reset our offense through Clark at the point and notice how Gardner goes to set the ball screen which, as we covered, is a good way to attack a cheating defense in a different way. This time, however, rather than clearing out, Shedrick just ducks into the lane really quickly, seals his man, takes the pass, and finishes at the rim; isolating the post/mismatch.

The clips above are post mismatches that directly lead to buckets. In these next few we’ll look at the post commanding the defense’s attention but then passing out of it. Of note, this next one is, again, set up from what I’ll call a quasi-Sides look where Dunn cuts from a pin down from Beekman before taking the ball on the wing and Armaan passes it over to him. This, at the very least, represents Sides to both Franklin and Dunn’s men. Then Beekman shows that cross-screen action to free up Gardner in the post who gets the ball, and Franklin is able to just cut back door through the center of the lane through the vacated space without even needing the back screen.

Two elements I really like about this look is that Gardner could have faced up or posted his man here, and also the initial Sides look helped to set up Franklin’s man on the back cut because he had a harder time recognizing the offense and likely misattributed Franklin as the point in Sides as opposed to the point of the Triangle (where this type of cut wouldn’t have happened).

Here’s something very similar in the Duke game where we set up the Triangle with Shedrick, BVP, and IMK in the middle and Clark and Franklin on the wings. BVP swings the ball from Clark through the point to Franklin, then IMK sets him a back door screen. Franklin passes to Shedrick in the extended post, who then dishes to BVP in his cut for the finish.

Okay! So far, I’ve spent the vast majority of the time talking about the three interior screeners/cutters of the Inside Triangle. They work with and off of each other in a variety of ways, but the wings aren’t solely passing fixtures, and play a key role within the offensive flow as well. For one, they can function as lethal driving threats, freed up by the stationary aspect of their role, the potential for their man to relax while guarding them, and the screening action on the back end distracting the help side defense.

Here’s a look, below, in the UNC game illustrating what I’m talking about – it’s early in the game and we have IMK and Beekman on the wings with Franklin, Shedrick, and BVP inside the Triangle. At first it looks like Beekman is playing the point, but then he trots over to the wing position – so just a quick point of note there to illustrate the different looks they give leading into these offenses which is intentional to confuse the defense (but can also confuse the viewer). Franklin pops out to the point from the Triangle as we’ve seen many others do above, and swings it over to IMK at the other wing. He then sets a pin down screen for BVP, also flashing to the point, but with his defender getting into decent position, BVP swings it back to Beekman again. But this time, at 11 seconds into this clip, Beekman explodes baseline with his dribble after catching the ball. Check out this mark – both UNC help side defenders have their backs turned to this action as they’re trying to figure out how Shedrick and Franklin are screening for each other. No one on UNC is even aware of the drive except for the defender on the ball until Beekman has already drawn the foul.

Kihei took advantage of this the most last year. Here’s a look against FSU with Gardner, BVP, and Beekman on the interior and Franklin and Clark on the wings. The ball goes to Clark and the nearside post, Gardner, goes up to set a back screen for Beekman at the point. Clark just takes this opportunity to explode by his man into the vacated space and, while the opposite post does attempt to get back into the play, it’s too late.

This time, below, we see a Beekman drive start to the baseline, but adjust the route. Shedrick, Gardner, IMK are in the interior and Beekman and Clark are on the wings. The ball initially gets set through Shedrick at the point back up to Beekman at the wing. With Gardner on the opposite block and IMK setting a back screen for Shedrick, Beekman attempts to take his man off of the dribble. This time the ball defender initially gets enough momentum to shut down the angle, and the drive starts from far enough away that Gardner’s man slides across the lane in an attempt to help on the drive. But, this time, Beekman slams on the breaks, crosses-over toward the middle of the lane, and finds Gardner who has drifted up to the elbow for the midrange jumper. Now, again, you’d much rather this be a three-point shooter because the look would be worth more and the defender wouldn’t be in range to help on the drive/would have farther to recover if he did. It’s much more punishing for a defense when the shot is worth 3 and makes that decision to help on the layup more difficult. That being said, this is still viable for the midrange shooter.

Now, another variation that’s similar is that the wing can also cut without the ball in the right circumstance. This is a nifty little look where it happens twice. Gardner is setting a ball screen for Beekman at the point with BVP on the opposite block and Franklin and Clark playing the wings. As Beekman drives, NC State’s Burns sags trying to cover both Beekman and Gardner, but Clark takes the opportunity to cut from the wing backdoor on the baseline. It doesn’t work here, the play is recognized a little late and Burns has gotten too deep into the lane/Clark’s man is close enough that he can’t go up with the ball, so instead he dribbles through the lane and resets on the other side, actually using a ball screen from Gardner to curl toward the middle. BVP attempts to post up in the middle which is a little awkward for driving options, while Clark maintains his dribble. Instead, Beekman makes the same back door cut on his man from the same wing, and this time Clark finds him for the bucket. A very good piece of adaptable play.

Now, often when he was on the floor we’d stick Ryan Dunn out on the wing, I think mostly because he was less experienced in the screening/cutting motions and how to string all of those together. But here’s another look, below, and this is an interesting one. Dunn and Clark are on the wings, Franklin, Gardner, and Beekman are in the Triangle. Franklin takes the pass at the point and Gardner sets a pin down for Beekman also bouncing back up top. He initially attempts to post, but then gets wide and this works as a straight clear out for Beekman to isolate and take his man off of the dribble (another interesting variation in which the offense can evolve). But while this is all going town, Dunn is sneaking in from his wing slot to crash the glass and does so effectively to clean up the play.

Some of Dunn’s most explosive put back dunks came crashing the offensive glass out of this offense.

Of course, it’s ideal when your wings are strong shooters in this offensive, as well. This look below starts out as our clear-out play in transition which we’ll talk about as part of my next piece. Beekman attempts to isolate and drive but ands up getting stalled and kicks the ball back out to BVP. They reset the offense such that Franklin and IMK are the wings with Dunn, BVP, and Beekman as the interior of the Triangle. Franklin gets the ball and IMK clears down to the opposite wing with BVP and Dunn beginning to establish screening action. But Beekman has already curled attempting to probe down the lane again and Franklin finds him. This action draws Franklin’s man too, who comes with Beekman in a quasi-double but mostly to ensure there isn’t an easy bucket. Franklin just re-adjusts, slides farther up the wing (BVP is also open at the point), catches the return pass and rips the trey.

Basically, you want those guys constantly spotting up when they aren’t the passers/drivers so that they can punish any help that their men try to give/keep them honest. As the year progressed, our opponents did start sagging/helping off of Dunn when we would attempt to camp him out there, so it is important that our guys who play that position are either threats to shoot or at least appear to be.

Okay, let’s take one more look at the offense being run through and coming together and this will be a little teaser for next week as well. Watch it play out and then I’ll wrap by walking it through prior to the conclusion:

We start the offense in our “Flow” or 5-out continuity ball screen look that we’ll tackle next week but then quickly transition into the Inside Triangle. Shedrick, BVP, and Franklin establish as the Triangle while Beekman and Clark set up on each wing. BVP grabs the ball at the point after a pin down from Shedrick and Franklin replaces him at the point with BVP looking to become a screener again. Franklin continues the ball down to Beekman at the wing and Shedrick takes a high pass into the extended post. This messes with the timing on the BVP back screen for Franklin and Notre Dame gets caught up amongst itself sagging low to defend it anyway. BVP takes this cross-up of the N.D. defense as an opportunity to pop outside for an open three, which he could have and likely would have earlier in the season, but he was in a bit of a cold spell at this point. Instead, he attempts a pump fake and to drive out of it. Seeing this, Franklin reacts and extends himself into the corner outside of the three-point line, forcing his man into a decision. His defender stays home to help on the drive, which gives BVP an easy kick out for the pure Armaan three. So many of the actions on display here from the transition into the Triangle out of a different offense, to the multiple screens taking place inside, attempting to pass from different angles, including the extended post, attempting to drive out of the open space and, finally, spreading to punish help with a three-pointer.

In Conclusion

The Inside Triangle is a good offense for savvy screeners and cutters especially when backed up by as many quality shooters as possible, especially from the bigs on the floor. Like Sides, it’s a movement-based offense with few scripted motions but with a framework for patterns of play. Unlike Sides, rather than playing through mostly two-man games on either side of the floor and grinding out incremental advantage through repeated post-guard screens, the Inside Triangle attempts to distract and open up the middle of the floor for one precise cut/pass, a clean driving lane, or an outside look from someone whose man has felt compelled to help. It’s differentiated by mostly static play from the two wings and continual motion in the middle of the floor from the other three players as opposed to the continuous motion from all 5 that you see in Sides (and from the mostly shell positioning with ball screens that you’ll see from “Flow” or “Continuity Ball Screen”). Like Sides, there’s a lot of play and options to this offense and you do not have to play it in any one way, looking to isolate the best mismatches that it creates whether that be in the post, on the wing, or putting an opposing player into lots of movement/tension with his decisions. Unlike Sides, it’s an offense that’s exponentially more effective the more shooters you have on the floor, especially with the inside screening positions so as not to allow frequent switching or cheating off of players attempting to spread the middle of the floor. The best way to defend it is to switch the screening action, compounded by the fact that there are many more big-to-big screens on the inside so if you do not have the correct personnel to punish a switch, the offense won’t ask much of the defense on the inside. As a result, I would say that it’s probably the easiest offense of our base three to defend in a vacuum, but also the one that creates the cleanest/most wide-open opportunities when it does work. This past year I spent a lot of time talking about how Gardner and Shedrick were best paired together in Sides and BVP and Dunn were best paired together in the Inside Triangle. If that thought process wasn’t clear then, if the logic behind that thought is at least clear now, it likely means that you understand the differences between Sides and the Inside Triangle now (as well as what each of the players brought to the table).

As for this coming year’s squad, I imagine we could have some success running this. I mentioned earlier that I think most of these lineups (at least the most effective ones) will feature Jacob Groves on the floor in that BVP role. Play him at the 4 or even at the small ball 5 and surround him with Beekman, McKneely, Rohde, Dunn, Murray, potentially Bond, and you could have the makings for some good spacing, punishing shooters, and playmaking around the rim. That being said, I think this will be our least effective offense for this coming team’s roster. It’s not likely the best offense to have many (or any) of Minor, Buchanan, or Harris on the floor… and maybe even Bond depending on how honest he can keep teams defending his outside shot. And other looks we offer should better take advantage of our abilities to put the ball on the floor and for the majority of our bigs to get their points around the rim.

Next week we’ll focus on our least utilized offense last year, the 5-out Continuity Ball Screen or “Flow” as it’s called close to the program. There are a few variations we’ll tackle including early looks vs. running the full offense and both 5-out and 4-around-1 variations. It was used regularly during our championship season (not to be confused with the 5-Out offense that we ran in 2020-2021 which was a different system entirely) and is, perhaps, the best fit for our roster this coming year. Until then!