Breakdown of UConn's Offensive Dominance in March Madness

UConn had one of the most high-powered offenses in college basketball this season. Their main concepts that their system is built around are 1. Staggers 2. Zoom Action 3. Pindowns
In this video, we'll look at the innovation of Coach Dan Hurley's offense, and how they were able to control the pace of games, while being so efficient in their scoring.
00:26 - HoopsKing Sponsorship
01:34 - Stagger Screens
02:47 - Zoom Action
03:48 - Pindowns
04:37 - Innovation
09:50 - Control the Pace
This video is sponsored by HoopsKing. To get your customized board, here's the link www.hoopsking.com?aff=166
LinkTree - linktr.ee/thebasketballfilmroom

[@TheFilmRoom1]

To get your customized board, here's the link 👉🏾 www.hoopsking.com?aff=166

[@charlesjag3407]

Uconn basketball is a pleasure to watch. Such a beautiful union of talent and tactics.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Absolutely agree.

[@jmlui]

@@TheFilmRoom1 Did they run a similar offense against zone or did most teams not even attempt zone because of how well UConn can space the floor?

[@TheFilmRoom1]

@@jmlui when teams went zone (which some did) they wouldn’t run super complex offenses against them, but they did do a great job of spacing and quick ball movement (which lead to one 3s for their good shooters), and driving gaps, which lead to dunks for Donovan, and kick out 3s. People didn’t play zone long, because they torched it.

[@juancarlosmartinez6411]

The key, training plays, training plays, training plays and more training plays

[@nickcarnelli7120]

Shoutout to Luke Murray... (Bill's son). Huge hand in their offensive schemes. Gonna be a legit HC someday, but hopefully not soon! (Uconn fan here)

[@TheFilmRoom1]

He’s done a phenomenal job.

[@nickcarnelli7120]

@TheFilmRoom1 Also shoutout to you and all your vids. Stellar work and insight every time bro. ✌️

[@TheFilmRoom1]

@@nickcarnelli7120 I appreciate it Nick. Thank you!

[@utar-kc1dg]

Favorite UConn's Offensive，because ballscreen dominated in most teams，however UConn use off ballscreen sweep oppents in March Madnes in a row，so they play unique style，appropriate it

[@tylurarnold9323]

Love that Hurley runs so many actions in a set which is very Euro (Hardline Princeton or Euro flow B/S a bit too) in my opinion. It's all a setup for a primary action. But my criticism of Euro teams is all the false actions gives the defense 4 or 5 seconds to relax or to load up to the primary coverage with detailed scouts. Hurley has mastered teaching all the reads and while yes he has a primary action, he's looking to setup but you can NEVER relax. His guys have the greenlight to score 5 seconds into the shot clock or 25 seconds in shot clock. Talk about a nighmare to scout and play against. Great stuff as always. Always engaging and thought provoking.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Appreciate your thoughts. It’s truly impressive to see how he’s taken these new players and gotten them to buy in so quickly. Thanks for the kind words as always, the encouragement means a lot.

[@LadyTerelle]

Luke Murray had a huge part in that as well - he's known for watching plays for non-American teams (Euro, Asian, you name it) and building strats from that.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

@@LadyTerelle you can definitely see it.

[@plwiza]

It’s absolutely just beautiful. Back to old school team focused basketball.

[@blkmamba247]

Wow, they involve you in so many actions as a defense you’re constantly having to be on the lookout for the next action and they have all been coached on reads and how to attack them. Amazing breakdown as always.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Exactly right! And thank you for the kind words 🤝

[@wesmohn8700]

Its wild, for most of the tourney they didn’t even shoot well, they can shoot really well but they had some bad % games. As a result games were close until that point in the 2nd half where the other team just gets exhausted from all of this meticulous movement. Once they get those few stops it’s like you see them hunt for more. The Illinois 30-0 run was insanity.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

@@wesmohn8700 exactly right. And I didn’t even talk about their offensive rebounding, which is one of their greatest strengths. This team was simply tougher than everyone they played.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

@@wesmohn8700 exactly right!

[@weskdubs]

Just simply beautiful basketball

[@jamesbrowning206]

Well-designed by the coaches and well-executed by the players.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Agreed!

[@mr.screenshot9452]

Thanks a lot

[@steadylearner1]

Your analysis of Uconn tactics is mindblowing.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Haha I appreciate that. Thank you very much

[@tavliberty7564]

GREAT content….extremely informative. Thanks

[@TheFilmRoom1]

You’re very welcome. Thanks for the kind words

[@christianmalave5342]

This is beautiful

[@matthewrussell1027]

The execution is only a part of it. The UConn culture of fuck 'the world' has been there starting with Calhoun. It is built into UConn. UConn passes for top players year in year out let them go to other 'blue blood' schools...unless they possess that UConn factor...good parents, ability to be team/family oriented, selfless. These guys...from Chris smith, Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen, Travis knight, jake voskhul, R.gay, Omega O, ...endless etc. all have that. Coachable, underated, good family ..or the complete opposite. Carin Butler, no one wanted, khalid el-emin...Ricky Moore...DNA animals You end up with the basketball capital of the world. Truth is. Dan Hurley is good. Any competent coach can win at UConn. Fuck even Kevin Ollie did.

[@Ken-Hung]

100%. The right “UConn guy” is hardworking, high-IQ, & unselfish. They may not have a 30ppg player but over the entire season, all five starters AVERAGED double digit pts. That’s a crazy stat and shows how balanced a team this is.

[@_GloryHolz]

This is why they destroy everyone in non-con tournament play, but struggle on occasion in conference. It’s impossible to properly scout all these actions on short notice. In order to get all these actions down and blow them up, like Creighton did, you need weeks of prep or to see them multiple times to get it all down. Such a beautiful offense.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Couldn’t agree more. Great observation

[@jayanthsambaraju6562]

Creighton was the only team that beat a fully healthy UConn team. Castle was out vs Kansas and I’m pretty sure clingan got injured during the seton hall loss.

[@aburks41]

Awesome video. I have a stupid question. How "scripted" is an offense like this? Like in the NFL they script the first 10-15 plays of each half. But with basketball, how the hell do they know what action to run once the first one breaks down? Is that Hurley barking out orders in real time or would they have an entire book of plays, each of which with 3-4 backup actions and then they just progress through them until they get the shot they want? It's incredible how they are ALWAYS on the same page and it's so fluid. They make this look easy but there isn't a single other college team out there that could replicate what Hurley (and Luke Murray) are running.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

This is such a great question! And I know I won’t be able to give an answer worthy of the question through the comment section, but I’ll tag a video as well. Essentially, everyone in college basketball has a “flow” that they get into if there’s no set play called, which can be everything from random Ballscreens, to Euro, to Princeton concepts, or probably the most common is 4-1 dribble drive motion trying to create advantages. The best teams are the ones who can make the smoothest transition from a set play to their “flow”. So if UConn runs a play to get a shot on their stagger twirl, and the shot isn’t open they’re very good at getting right into a step up ballscreen and playing from there almost like it was a part of the play. UConn runs the unique ball screen continuity/zoom/princeton “flow” that takes a TON of chemistry (which you build from just playing a lot of 5v5 together & having smart players. So to answer your question, I’d be willing to be Hurley only scripts maybe the first 2-3 plays of the game, then calls/draws something during timeouts, and everything else is then running an action he calls live (like the gut zoom to horns flare - which is just a play call that he makes) and after the set is over, it’s just them playing together & using those concepts I just talked about. That’s what separates offensive teams and UConn is elite at it. I’ll drop the Instagram vid 👇🏾 to give you a little more context. Thanks for the question!

[@TheFilmRoom1]

instagram.com/reel/C4nceorulZZ/?igsh=MWM4cWo2dzBpaTA0MQ==

[@aburks41]

@@TheFilmRoom1 excellent, that makes sense. Thank you!

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Just saw this on Twitter. I think with my explanation and this video it will make more sense. I actually do/did the same thing as a head coach with our players. x.com/patlenehan14/status/1781349182655103095?s=46&t=y3OZU8Rp17zJheXEzW3LPQ

[@aburks41]

@@TheFilmRoom1 Yup I saw that earlier as well. Hurley kinda of answered my original question in that JJ interview too. Super interesting stuff. Him and Luke Murray are geniuses

[@joshct9426]

I live in Connecticut and am a huge basketball fan but I do not know all of these plays. Really enjoying your Channel

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Thanks Josh! Really appreciate that. Hope you’re able to get to some games next season.

[@drew4564]

Last team to beat them in the tournament was where I went to college the NMSU Aggies

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Something to be a proud alum about for sure!

[@1000hills]

This was great, thank you. How does the communication on how to run multiple actions on a set occur?

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Part of it is just by design. So the action at the end of the video where they ran shuffle stagger twirl, to another stagger twirl is just the play design. But after that, they’re just playing basketball together with (what I assume is) some principles and a few rules - but tons of freedom.

[@1000hills]

@TheFilmRoom1 thanks for your reply. Does the coach call the play every time? Or the PG some too?

[@TheFilmRoom1]

@@1000hills from what I’ve seen, Hurley calls most of their sets. And in the video (04:38) (06:12) (08:25) you’ll see in each clip that Coach is calling out plays and then the PG either echos it to the other players, or he just starts running it. There may be some situations where the PG has the freedom to get them into some “flow” type action, but anytime these sets are run, from what I’ve seen Coach Hurley is the one calling them.

[@1000hills]

@TheFilmRoom1 Thanks so much! I'm getting back into coaching, and the game has changed a lot since my playing days. Your videos really help me understand the modern game. Appreciate it.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Really happy to hear that, and I’m glad you’re trying to keep up with the times! Best of luck. Let me know if I can help or add value to your program.

[@timothykeane3873]

There's no standing around and no bull shit iso's with too much dribbling. This offense is a thing of beauty to watch.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Couldn’t agree more.

[@ieronimo18]

Hurley & staff play chess while the opponent is playing checkers.

[@greatvibessproductions]

i love it “the film room” help me get my iq up!

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Your too kind. I appreciate you 🤝

[@DavidFein]

Could you breakdown the loss to Creighton explaining where things went wrong?

[@TheFilmRoom1]

That would be a great video. I’ll put it on the list. Can’t promise I’ll get to it, but I’ll do my best.

[@ballinwitac6090]

Sir I gave a question what is a veer screen

[@TheFilmRoom1]

instagram.com/reel/C2ug-AEOZEd/?igsh=MTRkMzZwYm8wbW1sdg==

[@lucasschnuriger8564]

my question is how do you think they scaffold these actions in their season. actions r nice, but how r the players on the same page all the time…

[@TheFilmRoom1]

That’s a great question, and without being in their practices I can’t give you a definitive answer. But I can tell you it’s a combo of very clear & detailed teaching of their system, high iQ players, and a lot of reps together both 5 on 0 and 5v5.

[@jayanthsambaraju6562]

Thats another credit to Hurley and his staff.

[@daboss289]

Won by an avg of 23 ppg not 33

[@TheFilmRoom1]

My bad. Thanks for the correction

[@ryanharrison4058]

Yeah they “only” won by 23 😂

[@daboss289]

@@ryanharrison4058 where did you read only? Don't be dumb.

[@JC-ch7lr]

Wait.....No stand in the corner and run high screen and roll?

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Hahaha I can hear the sarcasm. You will see little to none of that.

[@ny3793]

In college you rarely have enough time to scout actions and with the longer shot clock this works beautifully. Not really sustainable at higher levels. We see this in the nba where set actions get taken away deeper into the playoffs.

[@thebeastmode4]

BAMA was the only game that was close

[@sullyspub7087]

Why pick plays where they always miss

[@wesmohn8700]

Players make or miss open and covered shots, they clearly were into these specific actions and combos/outcomes

[@tA_aT287]

Because not every team or player is going to make every shot

[@tavliberty7564]

lol. Thinkin’ the same thing.

[@butter7734]

In 3 years you will have multiple teams trying to run this offense.

[@Acewingman11]

Try 1 year. In 1 year you’ll have two dozen teams trying to imitate it.

[@josephwofford5090]

Lots of moving screens by the bigs.

[@jayanthsambaraju6562]

Waaaah waaaah 😢

[@wiltchamberlainisthegoat13]

Can’t other coaches just try to copy what Hurley is doing? But of course, the key word is “try”.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

They can certainly attempt. It’s just much easier to attempt and fail than succeed in this area of basketball.

[@CJSmith-yz8hq]

Another BIG FACTOR. You normally see UConn pull away in the second 1/2 half. They wear teams down with all this movement. Fustration and lack of stamia from teams to keep up leads to poor decisions, loss of form from shooters and forcing bad shots. Combine this with one of the top defense in country. They literally WEAR TEAMS DOWN.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Couldn’t agree more

[@BlyGuy]

UConn Defense was better

[@wiltchamberlainisthegoat13]

What college basketball (and football) really needs is some sort of salary cap like the NFL. Otherwise, the richest schools like Duke with lots of billionaire alumni will start to,gobble up most of the talent. It’s out of control.

[@BlyGuy]

UConn didn't win each game by an average margin over 30 points haha. They outscored their opponents by 140 over 6 games. Do the math.

[@goldenspatian517]

He probably mixed up that UConn before Alabama had at least a 30 point lead in every game. But yeah it’s like 23

[@tnicoletnicole]

Think what he meant is that at some point in every game besides maybe the final four there was a 30 point lead at some point.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

My mistake. Thanks for the correction.

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Thanks. Just made a mistake

[@TheFilmRoom1]

Just made a mistake. Thanks!