Comment by Dana Altman about high-screens

[tornado]

First - what's the single aspect of college basketball that makes you the sickest....and especially in the Missouri Valley -

Well if you're like me it's the countless illegal screen calls in every Valley game that plasters 2 or 3 early fouls on everyone's center
No matter how careful those guys are and no matter how motionless those picks are...we still get hammered by the guys who ref in the valley--with plenty of illegal screen whistles on our guys........right?

Well, in a premium site interview of Dana Altman here's Dana's opinion...and he really unloads about the ball screens but sees it totally differently than I do.......

"Dana Altman: Well, we are looking at guards and they have to be able to
handle the ball. The game has evolved. There are so many dang picks on the
ball now. A lot of the movement and set plays have gone out.

First of all, they aren't calling any illegal picks. As long as they don't do that,
the offensive team gains a tremendous advantage by going up there and
setting an illegal pick all night. So, I think that is what everyone has
recognized.

If you take for example, the title game - How many possessions did not
have any type of pick on the ball during the possession? Hardly any and you
are talking about two teams that run a lot of sets in Butler and Duke but yet,
they were picking on the ball all night. So, it's kinda the way the game has
moved.

So, we need ball handlers, guys who can put the ball on the floor and come
off those picks and vary the options you have at attacking the basket off
the dribble. I just think all of your guards need to be able to handle it and put
the ball on the floor.

... high ball screens have become such a large part of the college game. Do
you like it?
Well….it doesn't matter whether I like it or not (laugh). I mean, until they
start calling the illegal picks, it just gives the offensive team such a
tremendous advantage to go up there and set a ball pick.

It gets their defense on their heels. It gets their big man away from the
basket. You can set them in a variety of ways. As I mentioned, I think there
are a lot of picks that are not very legal but nothing is being called. Until the
powers that be make an adjustment on how those are called, then I think it
could change the game back.

Right now, it's not being called whether I like it or not and everyone is going
to it."


He thinks there aren't enough high screen fouls called!
Was he watching the same games I was watching? Did he not notice guys like Matt Howard (Butler), Brian Zoubek (Duke), and the big guys on Michigan State always picking up fouls on those plays and then having to sit the bench?
Has Dana never noticed that when he plays Bradley we always have our centers sitting the bench with 2 or 3 high screen fouls every game?
So doesn anyone else think we need more ball screen fouls?

[Beninator]

I have noticed a lot of teams utilizing their centers for screens and consequently the centers are in foul trouble. IMHO, coaches should utilize players from other positions to set screens for guards.

[houstontxbrave]

I absolutely hate the high screen.

From a BU prospective we get very little out of it other then a moving screens. It does little to get the ball handler into the lane or free to shoot. It also does nothing for the screener because we dont have anyone capable of rolling to the rim and handling a pass in motion.

Then again I also hate our 3 man weave. If we had the talent and size of Butler the weave might be a decent occasional offensive set but we run it with 3 guards at about 6 ft and it often ends up with very little or a desparation shot.

I agree with Altman, the moving of the high screen is not called enough. It is called, yes, a few times in a game but virtually all high screens move, likely because the screener is moving to even get to the area to set the screen. And ball handlers do not wait for a screener to get set, both feet held in one position. They often lead the defender to the screener before the screener is there. Maybe just starting with the screener at the key and not moving from the post to 25 ft out would help.

But then again I think the college game ignores a lot of rules... especially carrying the basketball and 3 second violations.

I prefer more movement on offense and the use of a man on the block who is capable of passing and making decisions. I also prefer a point guard who is a decision maker and handles the ball and gets his team into an offense and not depending on a 5 to set screens 25 ft from the rim.

[Beninator]

A lot of this has to do with the officiating. The MVC referees call an illegal screen on a high screen at the drop of a hat. However once a team gets into the NCAA tournament, the illegal screen isn't called as regularly.

[Double D]

Everyone hates the hand offs (weave) and the ball screens. They are a result of the absolute butchery that goes on elsewhere on the court. You cannot cut and get open or screen for a cutter away from the ball without being grabbed or bumped by the defender. In other words the passing game and motion games are gone. It is all dribbling and screening for the dribbler.

The Duke/Butler title game was the perfect example of this. It was a football game! So no matter your opinion, most of the calls are either for or against the ball screener, because that is all that is happening on the offensive end.

[SFP]

I'm a big fan of the motion offense which does not rely so much on the dribbling but passing and the ability to hit mid-range jumpers. UNI ran a motion offense especially when Jordan Eglseder was not on the court. What I hate to see more then a moving screen is a call on the guy who screened correctly and even more then that when refs do not call hand checks. I believe players should be allowed to use the forearm at this level but using the hand and stiff arm just takes the flow out of the game and allows an inferior defensive team to stick around. Duke was running a ton of illegal screens throughout the Tourney, especially on the secondary screens.

[peoriaspitfire]

But then again I think the college game ignores a lot of rules... especially carrying the basketball and 3 second violations.

I absolutely agree. People get away with too many carries. It drives me utterly crazy when I'm playing pick up games myself and people do this. They'll make some crazy ankle breaker move, thinking they did something miraculous, but all they did is carry the ball. Try calling that in a pick-up game!

[peoriaspitfire]

The Duke/Butler title game was the perfect example of this. It was a football game!

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought that game was a football like. There were some games that some of the other 'bigger" schools played as well, that were rugby like.