The Villanova-Pittsburgh game Saturday featured a classic NCAA tournament buzzer beater. To the average fan, the play seemed like a scramble in which Scott Reynolds broke free with the dribble but to basketball coaches, it looked like a finely crafted play executed to perfection.
With 5.5 seconds left on the clock, Villanova had enough time to inbound the ball and dribble the length of the court. Pittsburgh’s main objective was to apply pressure in the backcourt to cause Villanova to eat up more clock. However, Pittsburgh’s second objective was to keep the ball in front of them, which the Panthers did not do.
As you can see in the diagram, the ball is passed over the top of two defenders. Once the pass is made, Scottie Reynolds (1) sprints up the right side. On the catch, the pass immediately is made to Reynolds. Due to Reynolds’ quickness with the dribble, the initial defender has no chance to stop the ball, which means Nova now has a 3-on-2 break going the other way. As Bill Rafferty noted immediately after the game, Pittsburgh was in trouble as soon as the ball hit mid-court.
With Nova players cutting hard to the hoop from each wing, Reynolds dribbled to the middle of the lane. The cutters forced the defenders, especially the strong-side defender (Dejuan Blair), to respect the possibility of a pass. Reynolds blew past Blair and hit a driving shot in the lane with the final defender in his face. Watch the video of the play below.
Reminded me a lot of Tyus Edney.
Comment by Randy Mabery — March 30, 2009 @ 5:32 pm
Coach Mabery is right….that was very similar to Tyus Edney’s game-winner. So, coaches, tell me where the defensive breakdowns occur with this stuff and how can it be avoided in late-game situations?
Comment by mpodoll — March 30, 2009 @ 5:54 pm