As a coach, I always ran set plays coming out of a time out or the beginning of a quarter. That is until I went to a high school clinic and a good friend of mine, Steve Pappas (God rest his soul) told everyone attending to watch out when they play me because Ken will run that lob play at the beginning of a game or quarter. So I had to change up slightly... I ran my plays during our second possession.

IF it was at the end of a quarter or game, we came out trying to run something that had several options taking into account of how much time was on the clock.

I would definitely recommend that upper level coaches run a set play coming out of a time out or the beginning of a quarter. Its always nice to catch the other team by surprise and possibly score quickly.

We tried to have different sets for different players with a couple of options so the defense couldn't play the play like our "all star PRACTICE players" would do at times. (I liked to call them that because they would be in the spot before the offensive player was -- so they forced us to design a couple of options that would account for that.... it just made me a better coach).

One thing I heard Steve say one time was to use the #5 for the last screen because most defensive 5s hate to help out.. (the good ones do). So every one of our sets where it wasn't for the #5, I changed to have him set the last screen and then make himself available to the ball.

I have a few favorite plays, one was a lob play with two other options, one was a simple 1-4 low letting my best player do his thing clearing one post player out giving him some room to take the ball to the basket... dump to the other post or kick it out to the wing if that defender left his man to help. A lot of my choices were made by where we in-bounded the ball.

What is your philosophy in regards to set plays? Do you run them after time outs?

Please leave your comments below...

Coaching Resources

How To Win at the End - Volume 1 - Over 35 situational end of game plays.

How To Win at the End - Volume 2 - Over 45 situational end of game plays for different situations than Volume 1.

Tempo Control & Delay Sets - Control the game and protect the lead with 12 different sets to choose from.

Comments Most Likes First   Oldest First   Newest First Stephen says: 12/13/2016 at 12:38:55 PM A wrinkle from our offense that i saw would work based on how they are playing us. This way I can save sets for the what might be a crucial time in the game. Like     login   register Dan says: 10/10/2011 at 2:16:49 AM I always call a set play out of a TO. It's an opportunity to get the ball to your best player (or hot shooter) without having to call or signal what you want which prevents the opponent from cheating if they have scouted you previously. It's also a momentum/confidence booster when you score coming out of a TO. I feel this situation is very important, as well as defending these situations (you need to scout extensively to see opponents favorite sets). There are at least 13 of these situations potentially (5 TO's for each team, plus the start of the last 3 quarters). If you are effective in these situations you have a big start on winning the game. Plus it gives your kids confidence in you, when you call a play and they run it for a score. They believe even more in what you are asking them to do. Like     login   register JB says: 2/18/2011 at 1:03:42 PM I like to call set plays out of time outs because you get eveyone on the same page. However, more importantly, I change my defense coming out of every time out so that the opposing coach has to change his set play while his players are one the court. Seems to work well. Like     login   register Coach Carper says: 2/25/2010 at 3:48:35 PM I like to run "wrinkles:" slightly different variations out of our half-court offense, such as a back-screen by the post or a pick-and-roll, that we haven't run up to that point in the game. Like     login   register

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