Switcheroo

How to beat switching man-to-man defenses

Two days after Hampton gave Brown fits with its switching man-to-man defense, Holy Cross was able to beat Hampton and its frequent on- and off-the-ball switches.

So I asked head coach Dave Paulsen afterward how the Crusaders were able to do it. As usual, he was honest and blunt in his assessment, admitting that his team was somewhat successful with its approach, but far from perfect.

“We scored it a few times, not as much as we would have liked,’’ said Paulsen, whose team scored several key baskets late in the game by posting up Hampton’s point guard after he switched onto one of their bigger and better post-up players. “But we didn’t handle it, you know, routinely, as well as I would have liked.’’

Holy Cross won this game, 67-61. In other words, the Crusaders scored just four more points than Brown did in its 71-63 loss to Hampton two nights before. But the Crusaders did turn the ball over less than did Brown, resulting in fewer transition baskets. Plus, a win is a win, so it’s safe to say Holy Cross was more successful in its approach.

So I asked Paulsen about some of the things Holy Cross did to beat Hampton’s switches, as well as some general strategies and approaches an offense can implement against a man-to-man defense that switches a ton.

Paulsen said one of the keys is to not let attacking a mismatch off a switch bog down the natural flow of your offense, like when you get an advantage in the post.

“It’s a fine line,’’ he said. “How do you exploit the switch without, like, staring it down and becoming stagnant? It’s a real fine line.’’

Holy Cross was also able to get a bunch of good looks and open drives by throwing off Hampton with slips or ghost screens. Basically, that’s when an offensive player moves to set a screen but then before reaching the teammate he appears to be screening for he cuts to the basket or to an open area on the floor. It can often throw off a switching defense as both defenders may end up either going with the would-be screener or the man he seemed to be screening for, leaving one player unguarded.

Obviously, the more screens an offense sets and the more movement it has, the more a switching defense can mess up and miscommunicate on a switch. But with so many offenses these days relying more on straight-line drives and simple ball screens, spacing three or four shooters around the 3-point line, that is less common.

So I asked Paulsen if there is an ideal offensive set, or a simple adjustment offenses can make to blow up a switching man-to-man defense. Not really, he said.

In fact, Paulsen said a team has to make sure it doesn’t throw itself off by running an offense it’s not familiar with, or that doesn’t fit its personnel.

He said it’s probably best for a team to stick with it’s base offense but maybe run more of the actions that might lead to miscommunications or bad switches, with maybe a few simple tweaks designed to exploit the switches.

“Whatever you do, I think, in a nutshell, we’d either slip ball screens or ghost out to the perimeter, where either we can get the guy on the slip, or we can get him on the ghost, or two guys go with him and we can get the drive,’’ he said.

In the end, like so much of the college game, it comes down to whether or not a team can execute its system better than the other team executes its.