Memphis was just 2.1 seconds and a miracle 3-point shot by Mario Chalmers away from an NCAA Championship last season.
It wasn't Vance Walberg's team, but it was his offense.
Walberg created the dribble-drive motion offense while he was coaching in Fresno City, Calif. He experienced success with the scheme at both the high school and community college levels, but it wasn't until he went to study former UMass coach John Calipari that it started to get national recognition.
Six years ago, Walberg went to Memphis to study Calipari, but instead he became the teacher.
"Every year since 1987, I would go to a different coach to watch his practice," Walberg says. "I would spend the week with them and I did that just so I could get to know more myself, get better and do different things that way."
One night while Walberg and Calipari were discussing their philosophies at a Memphis steakhouse, Calipari - the Division I and former NBA coach - asked the community college coach what he ran.
"You really don't want to know, it is a little bit off the wall," Walberg told Calipari.
But Calipari insisted, and using salt and pepper shakers and sugar packets, the two discussed the X's and O's of what Walberg ran. Five years down the road, Calipari was playing in the NCAA championship game with the offense he had adopted from Walberg.
With just over 2 minutes, 12 seconds remaining, Calipari and his Memphis team had a nine-point lead over Kansas. The Tigers had executed the dribble-drive offense to a 31-1 record and were on the brink of the most coveted prize in college basketball.
Memphis proved that the offense could be used to win a national title; it was just a few missed free throws and one memorable shot that prevented it.
While Calipari and the Tigers made their run through the NCAA tournament, Walberg spent time with the team, including ots assistant coach, Derek Kellogg. As soon as Kellogg knew he was coming back home to coach the Massachusetts men's basketball team, he asked Walberg to join his staff as his assistant coach.
Kellogg planned to implement the dribble-drive offense with the Minutemen, and who better to help him than the man who created it.
The plain and simple
The dribble-drive motion offense was originally named AASAA, or attack, attack, skip, attack, attack, by Walberg to get the point across as to what he wanted his players to do.
"Obviously it says attack, attack, skip, attack, attack. So there are four attacks, which means what? Attack. We want to get to the hoop as much as possible," Walberg says.
The offense is based on the premise of getting the most points per possession; by either driving and getting a three-point play the old fashion way, or by hitting one from 3-point range. As the AASAA title describes, the main focus is to attack and for the point guard to get to the hoop.
The offense gives the point guard a lot of freedom and encourages him to take his man on 1-on-1. To help with this, the offense tries to open the court up as much as possible, opening up gaps for penetration. The offense creates the needed space by having its basic set-up with four players on the perimeter. It also creates space by moving the post player to the opposite side to leave the driving lanes less cluttered.
If the point guard begins to drive but is unable to beat his man, he is given numerous options, such as a lob pass to the four-man or a skip pass to his three-man who may be open to shoot a three. Where the point guard distributes the ball has to do with where he is on the court, and who comes in to help on defense.
When a guard drives to the basket, most teams are taught to collapse in on him, closing the lanes as he tries to go for the layup. When this happens, the guard running the dribble drive must recognize where the help is coming from and quickly make a decision.
With the dribble-drive offense, there is no need to call plays. Once players are proficient at running the offense everything just flows into one another.
Picking your team
The dribble-drive offense is an offense that requires players who are skilled at driving to the hoop as well as others who are knockdown shooters. Strong guard play is essential to the offense.
The prototypical one-man according to Walberg is a point guard who can get to the basket and set everyone else up. The guard must be quick on his feet to understand what zone he is in and to make decisions on whether to continue to the goal or dish the ball off to an open teammate.
As for the two-man, a guard who is a sniper first and thinks drive second is best. The same can be said for the three-man who will help keep defenses honest on the perimeter and stretch the defense out for the point guard to penetrate.
The four-man is what Walberg calls the biggest key to the offense. He is also a player who needs to be able to run the court. It's also essential for him to have an understanding of the offense, because the four-man needs to know when to "clean-up", "T-up" or "relocate".
As for the five-man, he is another player who thinks drive first and 3-pointer second, just as the one-man.
The personnel that UMass has fits well into what works best for the dribble drive according to Walberg. Chris Lowe is a speedy guard who knows how to get to the basket and score, while at the same time understands how to set others up and make them better.
The tandem Kellogg and Walberg have at the two- and three-man are almost exactly what they would want.
"Ricky [Harris] can shoot the ball very well; there is no doubt about it. Anthony [Gurley] can score from the three, so you have two pretty darn good perimeter guys right there that can do it," Walberg says.
The only concern for the assistant coach comes with Gurley (6-foot-3, 185-pounds) and Harris' (6-foot-2, 185-pounds) size. Walberg says it's best to have one of the two be in the 6-foot-5 to 6-foot-6 range.
At the four-man, the Minutemen have Tony Gaffney who Walberg feels is perfect for the role.
"Tony is one of those guys who just has high energy, high motor, complete team player and he is just one of those guys who is really good at that spot," Walberg says of the team captain.
Luke Bonner also is helpful to the offense because of his versatility. Bonner is a big man who can also move outside and shoot the outside shot, giving the offense another threat from beyond the perimeter.
The zones
There are four zones that the offense must know when playing the dribble drive: the breakdown zone, drop zone, drag zone and rack zone. Depending on how deep the guard gets in as he drives, the offense must react according to what zone the guard is in. The guard, who will be the player most often driving, must have an understanding of the zones as well, so he knows when to pick up his dribble, pass the ball or continue to the hoop.
The first zone is the breakdown zone which is located above the 3-point line. While here, the offensive player must decide whether he will be able to beat his man to get to the hoop, or how far he can get in the key, whether it is to the drop or drag zone. The main goal is always to get to the rack zone, located below the low blocks on each side of the key. Getting there gives the offense a chance for the two highest points per possession plays in lay-ups and free throws.
The sooner the attacker realizes he cannot get to the rack, the better. If he is able to pick up his dribble in the drop zone, located on the left and right side of the key between the free-throw line and the 3-point line, it gives him more options because this is the area where the offense really gets in motion.
The next zone is the drag zone, which is located in-between the drop and rack zones, from the foul line down to the low blocks on both sides of the key. If the racker is stopped here, he will look to the perimeter for someone open for a 3-pointer, whether it is the three-man or the five-man.
Penetration
Much of how the offense moves depends on where the penetration comes from. Two types of penetration are the lane penetration and middle penetration. Both start with the basic half-court positioning of the dribble-drive offense: the one-man and five-man split right and left, respectively, at the top of the 3-point line, the two- and three-man on the perimeter in the right and left corners, respectively, and the four-man on the post opposite the one-man.
With lane penetration, the one-man will drive down the court on the opposite side of the post-man with all intentions of getting to the rack. If he can't beat his man and get the layup there a numerous options. If the four-man's defender comes to defend on the penetration, the one-man can dump the ball off or give a lob pass to the four-man.
Once the one-man passes the drop zone, the offense begins to move. The four-man looks for a pass from the one-man or cleans up any missed shots. Another option for the one-man is to pass to the two-man for a 3-pointer if his defender comes in to help on the penetration. Both the three- and five-man drag to find open windows for passes from the one-man.
The five-man drags over to where the one-man began and the three-man drags up along the 3-point line to where five-man first was. This allows the one-man to find either an open three-man or to pivot and pass the ball back to the five-man, and then move under a screen set by the four-man and shift over to where the three-man originally was positioned. This sets the offense back up as it started and allows the five-man to now repeat the process.
The other type of penetration is the middle penetration. Here, the one-man penetrates down the middle of the key, toward the four-man. Once the four-man realizes the one-man is penetrating up the middle he relocates to the opposite block looking for the lob pass or to clean up.
Now the offense moves in a mirror image to lane penetration. The three-man stays put, looking for a skip pass for an open three (just as the two-man does in lane penetration). The two-man drags up (just as the three-man does on lane penetration) and the five-man drags behind the one-man looking to back up him up if he gets caught too deep.
As the guard drives his first look is always to go to the hoop and then to the four-man. If neither of those options are available he then looks for two other options, the drag five or drag three. The drag five is when he hits the five-man as he drags behind and is open for a 3-pointer. The five-man will always be open because defenses are taught to collapse on the guard as he penetrates. The drag three is when the one-man hits the three-man for an open 3-pointer on a skip pass if the three-man's defender comes in on the penetration.
The final type of penetration is baseline. Here, the two-man brings the ball up the court and penetrates along the baseline. Once the four-man sees this he must do what is called a "T Cut", moving up toward the foul line and then back to the rim looking for a lob pass back from the two-man. The one-man drags behind the two-man looking for a pass if the play needs to be reset. The five-man drags up looking for an open window and the three-man stays put in the corner looking for a skip pass along the baseline.
All three types of penetration are based on getting to the hoop and creating gaps and spacing, for better penetration and to open up skip passes for open threes.
Stop, drop and pass
If getting to the hoop is not possible, the next best option is to stop in the drop zone. When the one-man does this it gives him two options.
The first is the drop zone backdoor. Here the one-man picks up his dribble in the drop zone and the two-man must recognize this. As soon as he does this, the two-man calls for the ball as he cuts backdoor. The four-man must also realize that the dribble has been picked up, and consequently cut toward the foul line to open up the middle, creating space for the backdoor pass.
Once the two-man receives the ball, the four-man cuts back to the hoop looking for a lob pass and the three-man stays put in his corner looking for a pass for an open three. The five-man rotates over to try and find an open window.
The second option is for the drop zone no backdoor. Here it starts similar to the drop zone backdoor, but when the backdoor is not available, the two-man continues running baseline towards the three-man's corner. The one-man now hits the four-man who was cutting toward the foul line and does a give-and-go. If that is not available, the four-man has a quick out to someone on the perimeter.
Kick it
Once the defense starts looking for the backdoor plays, the offense adjusts and starts to run kick-ups or kick-backs.
A kick-up is when the defense is overplaying the back door. Instead of running backdoor once the one-man stops in the drop zone, the two-man runs up and receives a pass from the one-man. At this point the two-man is thinking going to the basket and runs a middle penetration. The one-man relocates to the two-man's corner and then the offense runs middle penetration.
When the defense jams the one-man or forces him toward the middle, the offense runs a kick-back. Here the one-man dribbles to the left and the five-man comes in behind to receive a pass. Now the five-man heads to the hoop, running a regular lane penetration, with the one-man rotating over looking for a pass if the five-man goes past the drop zone but cannot reach the rack.
Walberg has worked and tweaked with the offense for years now and has been able to see what works and what doesn't with it. Now with Kellogg trying to implement the offense at UMass, Walberg will be able to help speed up the learning process with his years of experience with it.
Jeffrey R. Larnard can be reached at jlarnard@dailycollegian.com.
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