How would I run the Villanova offense?

[Wildcat18]

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.

Do you run any particular sets, or do you have high offensive freedom?

[CoachC]

I run sets I wouldn't usually use. mainly 5 out and Flex. Since I don't have traditional big men, running Triangle and Princeton would be pointless. I probably could have used Motion, but need better ball handlers for that than what I started with. Low offensive freedom because everyone knows the sets well. about 35% on average.

[CoachC]

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.

any player that insists on "starter minutes" will usually be appeased if he's part of the rotation. If they transfer anyway, hey, it's their loss. I still remember my very first CBB association back in CB1. My 2nd year i managed to land a top 25 prospect who went on to average 26 points a game for me as a freshman. Nothing I could do would please him though. He transferred out after freshman year to North Carolina. 4 years later, when he was a 5th year senior, my team met NC in the final 4. This dipshit was sitting at the end of their bench while I beat the crap out of the Tarheels. At the end of the game, I imagined sticking my tongue out at him! lol

Moral of the story is, don't worry about players transferring. Only promise them while recruiting them what you can deliver, and you'll have few transfers. Most of the time, if they transfer, you either get a big headache out of the way, or you can use the transfer to give a scholarship to someone you'd rather have anyway!

[CoachC]

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

Unless you are at a privileged school where you expect most of your recruits to be one and done, or even 2 and done....75% offensive freedom is crazy! Offensive freedom favors teams that have very immediately (i.e, current v potential) talented players who won't be around long enough to learn a system. For the other 350 schools in DI though, it's best to teach your players your system, regardless of what sets you run at either end of the court, and run them! It's a matter of raw talent vs. experience, and a talented player that has experience AND skill is best of all!

[Wildcat18]

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

Unless you are at a privileged school where you expect most of your recruits to be one and done, or even 2 and done....75% offensive freedom is crazy! Offensive freedom favors teams that have very immediately (i.e, current v potential) talented players who won't be around long enough to learn a system. For the other 350 schools in DI though, it's best to teach your players your system, regardless of what sets you run at either end of the court, and run them! It's a matter of raw talent vs. experience, and a talented player that has experience AND skill is best of all!

Well, you won’t believe this but in my Fordham save that got killed by the technical foul bug, I actually ran 100% offensive freedom in the first two years and had one of the best offenses in the league! I started with a few upper-classman Gs who had 10/10 FGJ and high scoring ratings, and we basically just rained threes on opposing defenses all game. Made the tournament in year 1. Only reason we struggled in the following seasons was everybody who could play defense graduated after a year and I had a bunch of guys with defensive ratings of 1 and 2 .

Currently, in my new La Salle save that’s about 4 games old right now, I’ve got about 75% offensive freedom, but I’m also switching offensive schemes entirely from High Post/Flex/Triangle to Motion/Shuffle/5 Out. Although it doesn’t matter what we run, because we have a bunch of guys who can pass and nobody who can actually put the ball in the basket - we’re shooting .300 as a team. Good thing we can three guards who can score coming in as my first recruits.

[C-Bailey24]

I've also had better statistically shooting teams with lots of freedom. It's not just for the higher prestige teams