Film Room: Offensive Growth Sparks Big Ten Championship Run

Entering the 2019-2020 season, Wisconsin hoped to break free from the post-up heavy offense it had relied on with Ethan Happ as the highest-usage player on the team.

Without Happ, Wisconsin did not have any star offensive power and needed to source the offense from a balanced attack, ball movement and improved shooting. This was easier said than done, as they struggled offensively early in the season. What was intended to be free-flowing, position-less, wide-open offense was often slow, disorganized and disconnected.

A few key adjustments and developments occurred throughout the season, which allowed the offense to turn the corner. Aside of Micah Potter’s arrival after 10 games, three key things catalyzed this transformation:

1) More structure

2) Increased half-court pace and tempo

3) Improved court vision, passing and anticipation

The analytics clearly signify a dramatic improvement on the offensive side of the ball. Pre-Potter, the offense ranked 58th nationally in Adjusted Efficiency, per barttorvik.com. From Jan. 27 onwards, they ranked 24th nationally. During the final eight-game winning streak, the Badgers ranked No. 3 nationally. Contrasting the first 10 games of the season with the final eight, Wisconsin improved about seven points/100 possessions on the offensive side of the ball, according to raw efficiency. Factoring in opponent strength, this translates to 15 points/100 possessions when comparing the two sets of games.

Wisconsin came into the season with the goal of establishing a free-flowing, motion-based offense with the classic Swing and Flex principles baked in. This style can be tough to guard if there are no set plays and all five players are reading and reacting to each other on the floor. This is reminiscent of the 2014-2015 Badgers' offense, which rarely relied on set pieces. While UW saw a little success early this season, it mainly struggled to adjust to making the reads and passes with enough pace to pressure the opposing defense.

When observing this play (above), it’s easy to notice the struggles Wisconsin was enduring. Initially, Kobe King tries to drive middle, but Aleem Ford fills at the top of the key. Ford sprints over to set a side-ball screen, but King was hoping to drive middle without the screen and finish or dump to Nate Reuvers. Reuvers has to dribble over into a handoff with Brad Davison, while Trice/King jog through a back screening action on the elbow.

Reuvers was facing away from basket with the ball, so the Trice/King action doesn’t lead to a post feed. They then get into a ball screen with Davison and Reuvers, but Davison picks up his dribble and has to feed Reuvers in the corner, which leads to a tough turnaround 18-footer.

This play demonstrates the unfamiliarity and disorganization that surfaced early this season. This sequence was bogged down by conflicting actions, miscommunication and disjointedness. These types of sequences occurred far too often to allow the offense to be efficient, and eventually the staff implemented a little more structure.

This action was something that was installed midway through the season and was typically used five possessions per game. It’s a simple set piece where the backside guard and forward work a two-man game, but it was a productive introduction to an offense that was in dire need of some quick hitters.

The major structural change, however, was the implementation of the "Chin" package to this offense. This was a higher volume look UW relied on, with an estimated usage of around 15-20 possessions per game. The Chin offense and all of the variants UW employed will be covered in depth at a later date, but the basic principle is an elbow backscreen, which feeds into ball screens, cross screens, flex cuts and pin-downs.

The first appearance of this package was during the Big Ten opener against Indiana. This set is a marriage of free-flowing and structured principles. In this clip, Reuvers sets the initial backscreen for King, and receives the pass. He looks to feed King for a quick post touch, but elects to get into a dribble hand-off, side-ball screen with Trice. Trice hits the screen hard, King replaces the wing and this leads to an open look.

Clean, innovative sets and concepts are only as good as the offensive execution. A long running staple of Wisconsin’s offense has been the flex series. There are limitless variations on how to run this, but UW typically likes to run a series of back screens and flex screens for post ups and open 3s.

Here, UW gets into a typical flex-series look. Ford makes the initial cut and appears to have deep position. King doesn’t seem to read the play and is standing two feet inside the line on Ford’s side, which prevents Brevin Pritzl from feeding the post. King is then supposed to shuffle-cut over to the left lane line, but his confusion and lack of urgency bogs down the set and forces UW into a bailout action.

Contrast that with this clip from later in the season. UW goes to the flex series, but runs it with pace and good spacing. Davison and Pritzl both cut hard off the screens, which force the screener’s man to provide help in the lane. Pritzl then sprints into the pindown screen and creates ample room to get the shot off. This is all a result of running the set piece with pace and intensity.

One area UW struggled with is anticipation and passing. This is expected when role players turn into high-usage players and are required to shoulder a bigger load. These skills eventually come with familiarity and reps.

This may not seem like much, but it is representative of some of the struggles faced early this season. Trice gets into a pick-and-pop action with Reuvers, and this requires Pritzl’s man to stunt at Reuvers. Reuvers was a little slow to see this and Braxton Beverly was able to recover in time to prevent the corner pass for the open 3.

This growth shown on this play is a microcosm of the season. Wisconsin gets into a Swing initial action and breaks into a “floppy” with simultaneous pindowns. Trice gets the handoff from Reuvers, who begins to roll. Trice anticipates Ford’s man tagging Reuvers and immediately kicks the ball over to Ford on the wing replace, and Ford knocks down the open 3. The improvement in passing and anticipation, as shown here, was a huge factor in the improved offense down the stretch.