Mailbag: Question about the lack of ball movement in the UVA offense

I think that almost everyone agrees that Ryan Odom exceeded expectations in his first year. However, I have a lingering concern about the offensive scheme he ran this past season, which is the lack of assists.

The Tennessee game (a rare example of UVA Basketball being outplayed) is a good example. They had 20 assists, and we had 12.

There seems to be a lack of ball movement, screens, cutters, etc. to get players open shots. 

Perhaps it was because all the players were new, but I give Odom credit for creating good team chemistry. 

Have you written about this issue? If not, do you share this concern?

Frank

Solid observation – this was noticeable in the last few games of the season.

Season-long: KenPom data has assists on 58.3 percent of made baskets for our guys, which ranked 53rd nationally – so, top 15 or so percent.

For comparison, I looked back at our 2019 championship team, and I was surprised to just see – assists on 55.9 percent of made baskets, ranking 67th that season.

I would have bet any amount of money that the 2019 team would have had a much higher assist-to-FGM percentage.

The 2016 team: 57.2 percent (63rd nationally).

Michigan (61.0 percent) and UConn (64.9 percent) were a lot better than us this year.

Where I noticed it was in our last three games, and yes, small sample size, but:

• 9 assists on 24 made baskets (37.5 percent) in the ACCT game with Duke (74-70 L)
• 12 assists on 28 made baskets (42.9 percent) vs. Wright State (82-73 W)
• 12 assists on 27 made baskets (44.4 percent) vs. Tennessee (79-72 L)

Looking at our other losses:

• 6 assists on 29 made baskets (20.7 percent) vs. Butler (80-73 L)
• 15 assists on 32 made baskets (46.9 percent) vs. Virginia Tech (95-83 L, 3 OT)
• 14 assists on 29 made baskets (48.3 percent) vs. North Carolina (85-80 L)
• 10 assists on 16 made baskets (62.5 percent) vs. Duke (77-51 L)

Commonality: in the games in which our guys struggled, the assists-FGM ratio was under 50 percent in all but one of the above.

Cherry-picking from some of the near-misses:

• 8 assists on 24 made baskets vs. Northwestern (83-78 W)
• 12 assists on 24 made baskets vs. Boston College (73-66 W)
• 9 assists on 21 made baskets vs. Ohio State (70-66 W)

The best days (Power 5 games only):

• 23 assists on 30 made baskets (76.7 percent) vs. Cal (84-60 W)
• 19 assists on 26 made baskets (73.1 percent) vs. Virginia Tech (76-72 W)
• 18 assists on 25 made baskets (72.0 percent) vs. SMU (72-68 W)
• 15 assists on 21 made baskets (71.4 percent) vs. Louisville (79-70 W)
• 18 assists on 26 made baskets (69.2 percent) vs. Pitt (67-47 W)
• 18 assists on 26 made baskets (69.2 percent) vs. Syracuse (72-59 W)
• 17 assists on 25 made baskets (68.0 percent) vs. Stanford (70-59 W)
• 17 assists on 25 made baskets (68.0 percent) vs. Wake Forest (75-70 W)
• 18 assists on 28 made baskets (64.3 percent) vs. Texas (88-69 W)
• 23 assists on 36 made baskets (63.9 percent) vs. Georgia Tech (94-68 W)
• 18 assists on 29 made baskets (62.1 percent) vs. Miami (86-83 W)
• 14 assists on 23 made baskets (60.9 percent) vs. Florida State (61-58 W)
• 18 assists on 30 made baskets (60.0 percent) vs. Maryland (80-72 W)

That’s 13 games vs. Power 5 opponents (out of 23 on the schedule) with a better-than-60 percent assist-to-FGM percentage.

From memory, the main actions in the Odom scheme this year were:

• a high screen in the middle third, with the big rolling to the rim or popping to the perimeter.
• a sort of weave involving the guards above the circle to get the defense out of position, hoping to open space in the gaps.
• simple dribble penetration.
• dump the ball to Thijs de Ridder for a clearout, to get him one-on-one or, if a double comes, he’s supposed to spin the ball out to the open guy (though too often, the doubles seemed to either force a TO or just led to nothing).

I’d think the offense could benefit from using some of the actions that Tony Bennett used in his mover/blocker, with screens to free the shooters, and lane cuts by the bigs if the defense cheats.

I’ll be interested to see if Adrian Autry brings anything with him to add to the playbook from his Syracuse days.

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