College teams get big men involved
The Golden State Warriors changed the way the NBA game was played by utilizing small lineups, spreading the floor to scatter defenders and create space, and relying heavily on the 3-point shot.
The successful tactic — last year’s championship was their fourth in eight seasons — has dribbled down to college basketball, with Baylor, Villanova and Virginia winning NCAA tournament titles with their versions of position-less basketball.
Now that the NBA is starting to experience another shift with a resurgence of the big man, the college game is following suit.
“We trickle down from the NBA to college,” said ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg, who spent more than three decades as a college coach. “Everyone’s playing position-less basketball, but you can play position-less basketball with a big who can do a variety of things.”
College basketball still has plenty of teams sticking to the five-out scheme, but more and more are playing with four guards or wings working around a big man in the paint.
No. 3 Purdue has funneled its offense through 7-foot-4 Zach Edey, the likely frontrunner for national player of the year who has led the Boilermakers to the No. 1 ranking twice this season.
No. 8 Arizona’s Oumar Ballo, a 7-footer, followed Tommy Lloyd two years ago when the former Gonzaga assistant left the Bulldogs to take over the Wildcats. Ballo has taken huge strides by teaming with Azuolas Tubelis to form one of the nation’s best frontcourts.
No. 14 Indiana funnels its offense through Trayce Jackson-Davis (6-9), who is having an All-Americacaliber campaign. Adama Sanogo (6-9) helped No. 20 Connecticut rise as high as No. 2 earlier in the season. Kentucky’s Oscar Tschwiebe (6-9) is the reigning national player of the year, though he hasn’t been quite as dominant this season.
Preseason No. 1 North Carolina hasn’t lived up to expectations after reaching the NCAA championship game last year, but Armando Bacot (6-11) is a doubledouble machine for the Tar Heels, averaging 17.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.
“I love to see big men getting some love,” said Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, who certainly qualifies at 6-10. “The game has evolved, and so have the big men.”
The big man’s domain is still on the low block, but coaches have found ways to get them involved in a game that’s become more free-flowing.
A popular action is for the big man to set a screen, often above the foul line. If the screen doesn’t create an opening for a shooter, the big man can roll all the way to the basket, stop on a short roll to set up another teammate or crack back and set another screen.
Coaches also will set up big men in the dunker spot along the baseline between the basket and the 3-point arc, where they can be available when a driver draws in the defense.
Arizona has one of the toughest big-man sets to defend, swapping Ballo and Tubelis in a high-low action. The Wildcats get several easy baskets a game in this manner and free up perimeter shooters when teams are forced to rotate a defender to help down low.
“I love playing with big guys, and I really value them,” Lloyd said. “We spend a lot of time on our bigs touching the ball, and we spend a lot of time teaching our guards how to pass the ball to the bigs so they get to touch the ball in advantageous situations.”