Florida’s offense has gone through multiple changes throughout the season as Mike White and the Gators continue to tinker with what works for this particular group of players. As teams progress they adapt, and of course the Gators have had to deal with losing their best player early in the year which further throws a wrench into how they want to construct their attack.
Early in the season the Gators were determined to play fast. They pushed the ball at every opportunity, taking over 20% of their shots in transition and sporting a top-25 average length of possession. Mike White had been promising a rapid pace of basketball ever since he got to Gainesville and early in the season, he looked to be delivering.
Then, against Alabama, things changed. Florida went into the game with a strategy to play at slower, and more methodical pace. They tried to isolate particular matchups and then go one on one, something that didn’t work when the ball was with someone other than Tre Mann or Tyree Appleby going against Alabama’s long, physical defenders. The Gators still ran out on a few occasions, but only on 13% of opportunities, well below their previous number and below the national average. Of course, this game didn’t go well for the Gators and they came away with an 86-71 loss.
Next they took on Kentucky, and despite the offensive strategy of slow, methodical isolations not working against Alabama and their long perimeter defenders they went to it again against Kentucky, to even worse results. They isolated even more, on over one fifth of their possessions, and ran even less, on only 10% of opportunities.
Once again the Gators got hammered, this time by a score of 76-58.
Coming off of two embarrassing losses a distinct change was made against Ole Miss. The Gators, instead of holding on to the ball and going one on one, went deep into their playbook and ran as many set plays as we have ever seen.
Last year the Gators got rather set dependent, playing a structured brand of basketball that was a response to previous years where their more “read and react” style of dribble drive offense that empowered players simply didn’t work well enough. Against Alabama, it was that and more. Here are a few of the sets Florida ran:
The Gators went as deep into their playbook as I have ever seen against Ole Miss. Princeton into multiple reads, Spain pick and rolls, elevator screens, empty into wide pin down, duck in ghost screen with an exchange exit…They used a lot, and it diversified the offense greatly. pic.twitter.com/R56lOEycTR
— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) January 14, 2021
To explain…
The first four clips are “Princeton” offensive sets, something the Gators ran a year ago. You’ll know it’s the Princeton when Florida’s center sets a “chin” screen for a player to cut right towards the hoop. Then, the ball gets passed to him and the offense really begins. The first two plays are “Pinch Post” plays where a guard passes to the big and then runs over the top of him on their way to the hoop. The defender will often trail, meaning that guard can have a free pass to the rim.
The next two are other reads out of the Princeton, but I won’t explain them here. If you want to read more about the Princeton offense I wrote about it last year and broke down a lot of the options, and you can read it here.
In that clip you’ll also see the Gators running “Spain” pick and roll where a shooter sets a screen for the player involved in the pick and roll before popping out for a catch and shoot opportunity.
There is also an “elevator” screen for a shooter, where two bigs stand just close enough that the shooter can run through before the screeners pinch off the lane. Imagine 2 saloon doors swinging open for the shooter to run through, and then closing in time to cut off the chasing the defender. In this case the play was a disaster with Anthony Duruji tripping Noah Locke and Colin Castleton picking up an offensive foul, but it’s a good play design.
You also see the Gators running an empty side post up into “wide” pindown for Noah Locke, and while it didn’t turn into a shot for Locke, it was a post isolation for Castleton which he was able to take advantage of.
Then you saw a “ghost” pick and roll by Noah Locke who pretends to go set a pick but then escapes into the corner. Samson Ruzhentsev “lifts,” which confuses Ole Miss’ switching defense. Omar Payne ducks in to put pressure on the rim and interior defense, and Mann’s ability to get into the paint ensures help defenders need to come, making Locke wide open.
Ultimately the Gators were at 1.1 points per possession with their halfcourt offense which is a solid number. Any time a team gets above 1 point per possession they are happy and the national average is currently around 0.95, so Florida was well above that number.
What makes it even more impressive is the fact that Florida didn’t even run their half court stuff particularly crisply. We saw the elevator screen play end in disaster, and while that was certainly the most notable of failed plays a lot of their stuff looked a lot like the team was still learning it and in a lot of ways, they probably were. Florida started the season not running many set plays and instead looking to score early in the clock and allow players to make reads, and then after Johnson went out they went to an isolation-heavy attack that only involved a few offensive players. Now that they’re going to more set-based offenses, there is clearly a lot to learn.
Will Florida continue down this path of set-reliant offense? It will be interesting to see. Running the style of sets they run is going to slow down their offense as it takes time for players to get into position and then go through the various progressions of the set. If Mike White and the Gators are truly determined to play as fast as possible, running the Princeton and running sets for Noah Locke that rely on multiple progressions is not exactly going to mesh.
However, there is certainly room for middle ground here. The Gators can always look to run in transition and try to score in early offense, and if there is nothing there back it up, get to spots, and run their half court sets. Basketball above anything else is a game of efficiency. It’s about getting the most points out of every possession and maximizing your opportunities. What running sets does, in most cases, is make sure that shots come from the players you want in the areas you want them taken. When Florida was running dribble drive offense that gave players freedom to make reads and decisions based on what they were seeing it meant you’d often have players taking shots that weren’t totally geared towards their skill sets. Scottie Lewis driving in traffic, Noah Locke running ball screens, or Anthony Duruji taking contested catch and shoot threes. That’s not the way to maximize your team’s talent. The way to maximize your team’s talent is to make sure each player is taking the best shot for their skill set.
In the Princeton offense, they have the ball in the capable hands of Colin Castleton to make reads.
When they run duck in ball screens, they allow Tre Mann to use his dribbling abilities to get to the hoop and finish.
When they run Noah Locke off screens, they allow him to take catch and shoot threes.
These are all sets where the Gators maximize their talent and put their players in the best positions to succeed. Will it slow them down? At times, yes. But playing structured in the half court doesn’t mean they need to take away runout opportunities, and if the Gators can put both offensive strategies into action they’ll be in great shape. Earlier in the season we saw the Gators look great in transition and struggle in the half court. Now, they’re running less but they had a fantastic structured half court offense versus Ole Miss. If they can maintain the half court efficiency while contributing some transition buckets, their offensive ceiling becomes quite high.
Florida is still feeling out the best way to play but if Ole Miss was any indication, their offense is evolving and it could very well be the best for this group of players.