Baseline Out of Bounds play
Full Court: Need a Three in Three Seconds
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 12 steps
About this play
The full-court play when the game needs a three with three or four seconds left, drawn from half court: Coach's Clipboard's "Maryland" and the Valparaiso "Pacer" that Bryce Drew made famous. The inbounder is the strongest arm. The two posts start near half court and the shooters start wide; the shooters screen for the posts, who cut to the sideline past half court for the long pass, and the shooter back-cuts off his screen and sprints down the arc toward the ball; the catcher pivots or taps the ball to the shooter running into his shot. Why the posts catch and the shooter shoots: the long pass is the hard part, and a big with his hands up is the target a strong arm can hit; the shooter arrives after the catch with momentum into a three. The read is whether the catcher can pivot or has to tap. The counter is for the defense that drops both of its bigs back to the arc to take away the long catch: the point becomes the decoy near the ball, the post cuts hard to half court for a shorter pass, and both shooters back-cut to the arc on either side for the pivot pass. Common mistakes: the clock starting before the catch is secured (it starts on the touch, not the throw), the shooter arriving before the catch, and the pass thrown to a stationary target instead of a cutter. Maryland comes from Coach's Clipboard's full-court buzzer beaters, Pacer from Bryce Drew's Valparaiso, and Teach Hoops' end-of-game full-court video will take you deeper for the spacing.
