Baseline Out of Bounds play
BLOB Circle Elevator: Samford's Wing Three at Kansas
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 12 steps
About this play
Samford's baseline out of bounds play for a three, run against Kansas in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on March 21, 2024, in Salt Lake City. Down 90-86 with 22 seconds left, Rylan Jones took the ball out to the left of the basket. Jaden Campbell, the shooter, started at the right elbow with A.J. Staton-McCray below him on the right lane line, and the two bigs, Jermaine Marshall and Achor Achor, on the left lane line a body apart, Marshall at the elbow and Achor below him. Campbell goes first: through the lane to the left baseline, under Achor. Staton-McCray follows, circling the left side outside Achor, and as Campbell climbs back up the lane Staton-McCray screens Nick Timberlake, the first hit on the shooter's man. Then the doors. Campbell pops out between Marshall and Achor to the left wing, and Marshall, Achor and Staton-McCray close into a wall of three behind him. Jones hit him on the wing and the three made it 90-89. Why the circle? An elevator only works when the shooter's defender is trailing, and a defender who starts beside his man at the elbow is not trailing anyone. The cut to the baseline and back puts Timberlake a step behind, the guard's screen on the way up makes it two, and the doors take the rest. Three screeners in a line is the part that travels: the guard who ran the circle is the third body in the wall. Personnel: 2 is your best catch-and-shoot player and has to run the whole circle hard, 4 and 5 are bigs who hold the lane line and close late, 1 a guard who will screen a guard, and 3 a passer who can throw to a spot on the wing. The read is X2. If he trails the circle into the doors, the pass goes to the wing. If he cheats over the top and waits at the wing, 2 keeps going to the corner and 5 slips down the lane to the rim. If the wing is covered, 1 is the last man in the wall and can slip to the rim. Common mistakes: the doors closing before the shooter is through, the shooter jogging the circle so his man stays attached, and the inbounder staring at the wing the whole time instead of selling the cutters. I drew this one off the broadcast clip Gibson Pyper posted on Half Court Hoops, and the elevator itself, with its counter, is in my baseline out of bounds post.
