How would I run the Villanova offense?

[Wildcat18]

As the title says, I'm looking to run something similar to the Villanova offense, particularly the "positionless" version that Jay has run since the 2018 championship team. I kind of know what to look for in recruiting for it - guys who can hit from three, pass well, and have good ball handling skills. What's the best sets and settings to use to approximate the offense?

Thanks.

Edit: Also, second question: what exactly does a player mean when they expect "starter minutes". I had a guy transfer his freshman year just as he was going to become the starting PG. I'm guessing it's because he wanted "starter minutes" and he was "only" the 6th man?

[NCAAhoops]

Don't get to see Villanova play a lot but Jay Wright ran a Motion Offense some years ago and I assume he still uses it, which is good for the type guys that handle and pass well. Might be worth trying.

2nd Most likely he transferred because he wanted to start as a freshman. Watch the players mood toward you as the coach and when it starts going down about the only thing you can do is play him more but if he wasn't ready to start on your team you are risking losing him as what happened. He may not have had a good team relationship and my guess he may had been a problem even if he stayed.

[Wildcat18]

Thanks. I’ve been running a Motion/Princeton offense with a lot of offensive freedom as Fordham, so I’ll continue doing that. Unfortunately, my guys don’t have great ball handling and passing yet (though they have potentials of at least 6/10) because pretty much my entire team is freshman and sophomores. There’s a lot of turnovers at the moment lol.

As for the second question, is there a minimum amount of minutes they require for “starter’s minutes” or is just being in the starting lineup good enough?

[PointGuard]

Probably somewhere between 20-30 minutes, but I think it would be greatly variable from player to player....and also how greatly NOT getting those minutes affects them. Most will probably just eat it, others will transfer. There wouldn't be a "minimum" set in stone.

[Orsalak]

I have found the players who "Expect Start Minutes" want between 20-25 minutes. As PG indicated, it seems to vary by player. For me, the people who have wanted 30 minutes usually say "Wants to Play" (25-30 mins). I haven't done a ton of tracking on this, but I did watch it for a couple of seasons and that was what I was finding.

[PointGuard]

I really don't worry about it. I play who I want when I think they should be playing and if they end up transferring, so be it. Just means I will be going after a transfer player to replace them. A guy who thinks he should be a starter but doesn't yet perform like it and can't handle not being one probably isn't the right guy for me anyway.

[Wildcat18]

Thanks for the replies! Reason I asked the follow-up question is that I’ve got 2 freshman who desire “starter’s minutes”. Given that I’m in a “rebuilding” year (7 of the 10 guys in my rotation are freshman or sophomores), I’m giving most guys about 20 minutes a game or so and trying to ride whoever’s hot that night. Only guy on the roster who’s playing 30+ minutes a game most nights is the junior SG masquerading as the PG because he’s got the highest passing rate on the team with 3.

[RandyR17]

The motion offense still puts your bigs (4/5) near the basket. You may want to just give a lot offensive freedom to your team, so they can play according to their 'tendencies'

Ask (call) your bigs to shoot more from the outside, instead of playing the post (assuming they have the skills to shoot). This will spread out the floor more, and your players somehow become 'positionless''

Having more offensive freedom allows your player playing the 1 position to shoot more, so this is an advantage for PGs who have good scoring skills

Aside from passing and ball handling, an important skill for playing lots of offense freedom is basketball IQ, as the players will have to 'decide' for themselves how they will run the offense

[Wildcat18]

The motion offense still puts your bigs (4/5) near the basket. You may want to just give a lot offensive freedom to your team, so they can play according to their 'tendencies'

Ask (call) your bigs to shoot more from the outside, instead of playing the post (assuming they have the skills to shoot). This will spread out the floor more, and your players somehow become 'positionless''

Having more offensive freedom allows your player playing the 1 position to shoot more, so this is an advantage for PGs who have good scoring skills

Aside from passing and ball handling, an important skill for playing lots of offense freedom is basketball IQ, as the players will have to 'decide' for themselves how they will run the offense

Thanks! What I've been doing lately (up until I ran into a bug regarding technical fouls I mentioned in another thread) has been running Motion about 25% of the time and offensive freedom the rest. Kind of wish we had the option to have a 4-out 1-in motion offense as well as the 3-out 2-in.

And yea, I've been recruiting bigs who are capable of shooting from the outside. They may not be Omari "lead the 2018 championship team in 3P%" Spellman from beyond the arc, but they've been capable of making a few per game. Ironically, it's the 4s that I've had trouble getting guys who can shoot from outside lol

[CoachC]

I'm running a similar system in my current 2020 association. The key for me has been to recruit highly athletic individuals with a wide variety of skills.