Question about new offense.

[OldHoyafan]

I watched the Temple-Princeton game last weekend and noticed how much time the Princeton offense (PO)is focused on passing the ball away from the basket. So much so that the commentators remarked their need to go to the basket more.
I also noticed that in the PO the center gets the ball at the top of the key most of the time.
therefore for the backdoor cuts to the basket to work, the center must be a triple threat (shoot, drive, or pass) from this position on the court.
MY question for those who have attended games is , is the new offense a hybrid of the PO or the same offense?
I have read several posts that pointed out the Hoyas unwillingness to go the basket more. If the Hoyas ofense is more the PO than a hybrid then we can get used to low scoring games. Also, it would seem to me that the only big man the Hoyas have now who can shoot, drive or pass with the proficiency to make the defenders of his teammates keep one eye on him(thereby making the backdoor cut possible) is Green.
Big Roy doesnt seem to shoot or drive that well that far from the basket. So what is it PO or hybrid?

[SaxaCD]

It's a hybrid, I guess, but really, the principles are the same. The problem is that for it to work, everybody has to know what they're doing, where they're going, and where everybody else is at all times. Right now the guys are still learning. That's why you'll see a few really beautiful basketball plays of the type I haven't seen a GU team pull off maybe ever, but then things will just bog down for long stretches, because the passer and the cutters aren't in tune, or because guys are hesitant to make a good, quick decision on what to do. The irony is that this kind of offense allows a lesser team to compete with a much better team if it's run the right way, because fundamentals can add up to a lot of easy buckets; but it actually can make a team with better talent look worse than the sum of its parts sometimes, because the guys aren't running it right.

Right now I'm just looking for the hopeful signs, and there have been a few. Roy can't shoot the 3, so he's not that kind of a "triple threat", but he can put the ball on the floor a bit, and that really helps him in the offense. Jeff has that triple threat ability, and I think it will only get stronger.

After watching the past two games, it doesn't seem that we're not looking for shots -- it's that by the time the guy with the ball decides to pass, it's not there anymore, so the whole play has to "reset". Hopefully as the season progresses more of the parts will synch up, and then we'll be able to attack the basket more.

[SirSaxa]

I would say it is too early to say whether this is a hybrid or not. Princeton has been playing that same offense for years. The new coach is an old PU guy who has taken over JT3's team, so it is essentially a continuum of what went before.

Our team is trying to learn the offense. Monday, they looked awful. Slow. Passing for the sake of passing. waiting for a guy to cut - thus telegraphing the upcoming pass.

Today, especially in the second half, we were getting a lot quicker with it. We will get better as the season progresses, then we can evaluate better how much is the "traditional" Princeton offense.

Secondly, JT3 is playing it with only one of his own recruits -- Wallace. Give him a couple of years to instill the offense in our guys and to recruit shooters like Thornton and Cutters like Spann (and Edgerson?) and we'll see where we get.

I do think Hibbert can be very effective as the center in this kind of offense. When I remember he only turned 18 a week ago, and has joined a team where everyone is learning new prinicples, it is easy to see why it will take him some time to develop. He can put the ball on the floor - generally we won't want him to dribble more than once, or twice -- but that is enough for a guy of his size to get to the hoop from the foul line.

Thank goodness we are in this tournament and playing some decent competition. The team needs it to develop.

[1803]

The Princeton offense is much like football's West Coast Offense. It is only as good as the players who are asked to execute it.

If you recruit a bunch of guys who set great screens, cut to the basket precisely, and are patient enough to wait for an open jumper ( that they can knock down ) then the offense is going to be successful. If not it will not be.

Good teams to use as examples are Temple and Syracuse. They both play zone defense, which of course is not the same as the Princeton offense. But this is the distinctive style of their head coaches, and they look for guys who are going to be able to execute the principles they are teaching. Some years you have Eddie Jones, Mark Macon, and Pepe Sanchez winning you games, and sometimes the cupboard is bare and you lose.

Same thing with Syracuse. They made the NIT in 2002, then won the NCAA with Carmelo Anthony in 2003.